Chapter Summaries

Luo Qitong fell ill after eating sweet soup, and Prince Rui brought Zhou Wanwan to watch the Luo family’s reaction. When Lord Luo accused Princess Rui of poisoning her sister, Princess Rui confronted him with evidence that he knew about the plots against her and the deaths of her grandmother and mother.

• Luo Qitong visited Princess Rui with sweet soup, and Zhou Wanwan persuaded her to taste several bowls.
• That evening, Prince Rui paid Zhou Wanwan to watch the Luo residence, where physicians diagnosed Luo Qitong with the deadly Qianji Poison.
• Lord Luo blamed Princess Rui for Luo Qitong’s poisoning and threatened to make Prince Rui divorce her.
• Prince Rui and Zhou Wanwan returned to the residence, where Lord Luo demanded an antidote and tried to attack Princess Rui.
• Princess Rui accused Lord Luo of knowing about the attempts to poison her and her child, and said he had also known about her grandmother’s and mother’s deaths.
• Princess Rui laughed at Lord Luo’s concern for the family’s reputation and accused him of killing his legal mother.

Zhou Wanwan exposed Lord Luo and Madam Luo for poisoning Old Madam Luo and produced evidence and witnesses that proved their guilt. After the couple were imprisoned, Prince Rui’s Consort thanked Zhou Wanwan and departed for her fief, while Zhou Wanwan returned to preparing a large batch of banquet orders at Black Wind Stronghold.

• Prince Rui took Lord Luo to Old Madam Luo’s opened grave, where coroners confirmed that she had been murdered with arsenic.
• Zhou Wanwan found Old Madam Luo’s written statement and dowry lists, then brought forward two servants who testified that Madam Luo poisoned the old woman while Lord Luo watched.
• Madam Luo taunted Luo Qiwu about the poison in her body, but Luo Qiwu revealed that it had been cured and that she expected to give birth.
• Prince Rui’s Consort mourned her grandmother, gave Zhou Wanwan jewelry, and said she would return to her fief the next day.
• Zhou Wanwan returned to Black Wind Stronghold, where she worked to fulfill a rush of orders for twenty banquet tables.

Zhou Wanwan’s stronghold impressed Master Lu’s guests with an elaborate, affordable banquet and attentive service, bringing in a flood of new orders. She then asked Old Scholar Tree to take her and her companions to see how the stronghold gathered seafood, and they prepared to head to the sea.

• Master Lu’s guests praised the banquet dishes, wine, milk tea, and service after learning that Zhou Wanwan’s stronghold had supplied them.
• Master Lu paid twenty taels and promised to order again, while several guests booked large banquets with the steward.
• Zhou Wanwan reviewed the many new orders and told Zheng Xing'an that the stronghold earned its money through service, quality, and labor.
• Zhou Wanwan asked Old Scholar Tree to show her how the trees gathered seafood, and he agreed to take her that night.
• Zhou Wanwan brought her brothers, and Gu Sinian and Old Ancestor joined her in preparing to visit the sea.

Zhou Wanwan and the trees traveled to the coast, where Old Scholar Tree and Old Ancestor discovered they could extract salt from seawater. While they produced salt, the trees tried to gather seafood but spent hours fleeing sharks and returned with no catch.

• Zhou Wanwan explained how to make salt from seawater and why the government controlled its sale.
• Old Scholar Tree and Old Ancestor immersed themselves in the sea and found they could produce salt from crystals on their roots.
• The other trees failed to turn seawater into salt and went into the sea to gather seafood while Zhou Wanwan rested on shore.
• After Zhou Wanwan mentioned sharks, several sharks pursued the trees, who fled while Little Ginseng taunted them.
• Zhou Wanwan replenished the trees' energy as they outran the sharks, then they returned ashore empty-handed after two shichen at sea.
• Old Scholar Tree showed Zhou Wanwan a bucket of salt, and Old Ancestor proudly claimed he had made two buckets.

Zhou Wanwan and the trees caught seafood in the deep sea, then met a sperm whale named An'an who offered to take them to his family’s supply of ambergris. After medicinal herbs made An'an pass a large amount of black matter, he led Zhou Wanwan and the others to Whale Island, where Gu Sinian, Zhou Qingyan, and the rest were stunned by the sight of so many whales.

• Zhou Wanwan and the trees sailed into deep water and kept the best fish and shellfish from their catches.
• Little Ginseng asked a sperm whale about ambergris, and the whale said his family had plenty at home.
• Zhou Wanwan gave An'an medicinal herbs, which made him feel energized and pass a large amount of black matter.
• An'an ate more fish, introduced himself to Little Ginseng as An'an, and offered to take the group to his home.
• An'an led Zhou Wanwan and the others to Whale Island, where Gu Sinian, Zhou Qingyan, and the rest were stunned by the many whales.

Zhou Wanwan and her companions reached Whale Island seeking ambergris, and she and Old Scholar Tree healed An'an’s mother by removing a deep-sea bone lodged inside her. After An'an’s father gave them the whale stones, An'an led them to a nearby island, where the forest trees were shocked to see Old Scholar Tree walking.

• An'an introduced Zhou Wanwan and her companions to An'an’s father, who agreed to give them ambergris if they could treat his injured wife.
• Old Scholar Tree examined An'an’s mother and found a deep-sea bone embedded in her inflamed, rotting flesh.
• Old Scholar Tree carefully removed the bone while Zhou Wanwan used medicinal herbs and energy to ease the pain and heal the wound.
• An'an’s father gave Zhou Wanwan the whale stones, and An'an saw the group off before offering to show them a nearby island.
• An'an led Zhou Wanwan and her companions to a large forested island, where the trees stared in shock at Old Scholar Tree walking upright.

Zhou Wanwan helped the island trees learn to walk and prepare the land, then enjoyed a seaside feast and sunrise with her companions. When she returned to the Black Wind Stronghold, she found soldiers surrounding it, led by the famed Great General Xiao Bang, and offered them freshly caught fish.

• Zhou Wanwan gave the island trees energy so they could walk and assigned them to clear and turn over the fertile land.
• Zhou Wanwan and her companions made salt, cooked a seafood feast, and spent the night by the sea.
• Zhou Wanwan and Gu Sinian watched the sunrise, then ate seafood instant noodles with the others before taking their catch home.
• Zhou Wanwan found soldiers surrounding the Black Wind Stronghold, and they declared that Great General Xiao Bang would wipe out the bandits.
• Zhou Wanwan questioned the soldiers' accusations and offered them some of her freshly caught sea fish.

Zhou Wanwan drugged Great General Xiao Bang and his men with fish and wine, then staged a court scene at Black Wind Mountain Stronghold to reveal that Xiao Bang’s supposedly dead relatives and other officials were alive. Xiao Bang realized he was not in the underworld, and explained that he had come to suppress the bandits under an imperial edict despite his family’s troubles in the capital.

• Zhou Qingyan and Zhou Wanwan gave Xiao Bang’s soldiers sea fish and homemade wine, which Xiao Bang and his men ate and drank before collapsing.
• Xiao Bang and his subordinates woke tied up in a hall, where Zhou Wanwan appeared in imperial robes and the gathered officials hailed her as empress.
• Xiao Bang recognized his second uncle Xiao Bingwen and several other officials he believed had died, and mistook the hall for the underworld.
• Zhou Wanwan revealed that they were at Black Wind Mountain Stronghold and asked how Xiao Bang planned to wipe out the bandits.
• Xiao Bingwen grabbed Xiao Bang by the ear, and Xiao Bang said he had obeyed the emperor’s order because the Xiao Family was struggling in the capital.

Zhou Wanwan considered taking in Xiao Bang and the Xiao Family Army, then assigned Xiao Bingshan to win them over as part of her plans for Black Wind Mountain. Xiao Bingshan reunited with his former soldiers, who agreed to follow him up the mountain, while Xiao Bang was left trapped and the men asked where he had gone.

• Xiao Bang offered Zhou Wanwan the Xiao Family Army and explained that its thirty thousand soldiers had been neglected and deprived of supplies by the court.
• Xiao Bingshan vouched for the army, and Zhou Wanwan asked him to persuade its soldiers to join her before announcing plans to start a takeout business.
• Xiao Bingshan took Xiao Bang through the stronghold on a living tree, then the tree dropped Xiao Bang into a trap after he criticized Zhou Wanwan.
• Xiao Bingshan told Xiao Bang that loyalty depended on choosing a worthy ruler, while Xiao Bang questioned their decision to follow a six-year-old.
• Xiao Bingshan appeared before his former soldiers, who knelt and pledged to follow him up the mountain.
• A vice general asked Xiao Bingshan where Young General Xiao had gone.

Xiao Bingshan brought Vice General Xiao and his soldiers into Black Wind Stronghold, where they accepted Zhou Wanwan as their empress and were stunned by the stronghold’s treants and comforts. Zhou Wanwan returned to the Cui Family and faced criticism from Madam Nie and Madam Cui after she called Old Man Zhou and Old Madam Zhou relatives who had severed ties with her.

• Xiao Bingshan introduced Zhou Wanwan as the empress, and Vice General Xiao and his soldiers pledged loyalty to Black Wind Stronghold.
• General Xiao led the soldiers to a lavish dining hall and promised them a meal while they waited for food to be prepared.
• Xiao Bingshan punished Xiao Bang for disrespecting Zhou Wanwan, showed him the treants’ power, and reminded him that the Xiao Family recognized Emperor Wan.
• Xiao Bang joined Xiao Bingshan at the dining hall, where he eagerly ordered and praised the stronghold’s food.
• Zhou Wanwan returned to the Cui Family and told Madam Cui that Old Man Zhou and Old Madam Zhou were relatives who had severed ties with her.
• Madam Nie and Madam Cui accused Zhou Wanwan of being unfilial for rejecting her grandparents.

Zhou Wanwan confronted Old Madam Zhou over jewelry her family had taken and exposed Madam Cui and Madam Nie for neglecting their poor relatives. She forced the two women to pay their elders and then suggested Old Madam Zhou stay with the Cui Family.

• Old Madam Zhou visited Zhou Wanwan and demanded gold jewelry for Zhou Mei's wedding, while Madam Nie and Nie Rou urged Zhou Wanwan to give some.
• Zhou Wanwan returned with an IOU and demanded the return of her gold bracelet and her mother's jade set, worth over a hundred thousand taels, threatening to take the matter to the yamen.
• When Madam Cui argued that Zhou Wanwan should let the matter go because the jewelry had been given to family, Zhou Wanwan summoned the Cui and Nie clan elders.
• The elders confronted Madam Cui and Madam Nie about leaving their poor relatives at a remote estate and threatened to expose their treatment of them.
• Madam Cui and Madam Nie each ordered a hundred thousand taels brought for their relatives to divide.
• Zhou Wanwan told Old Madam Zhou to stay with the Cui Family, saying Madam Cui could provide her food and lodging.

Zhou Wanwan refused to trust Madam Cui and Madam Nie’s promise to pay for a lavish banquet, then let Nie Rou face an unseen whip after Nie Rou tried to order her around. When the Cui Family’s honored guests arrived, Zhou Wanwan denied agreeing to cater their banquet and demanded proof.

• Madam Cui ordered thirty tables of Zhou Wanwan’s hundred-tael banquet, but Madam Nie said they would pay only after the meal, and the women planned to avoid paying.
• Zhou Wanwan told Zheng Xing'an she would not prepare the banquet without payment, while the Cui residence decorated for Cui Wenyuan and his family from the main branch.
• Nie Rou entered Zhou Wanwan’s room, claimed Zhou Wanwan was still her maid, and was chased and whipped by an unseen force after Zheng Xing'an knocked her chopsticks away.
• Madam Cui’s servants carried the screaming Nie Rou off, and Madam Cui ushered Cui Wenyuan and the officials into the reception hall.
• When Madam Cui sent her head maid to demand the food, Zhou Wanwan denied agreeing to cater the thirty tables and asked for proof.

Zhou Wanwan demanded one hundred thousand taels to prepare the Cui Family’s welcome banquet at the last minute, then served a lavish feast that impressed the guests. Cui Zhining ate nearly everything on the tables, so Cui Yingying and Nie Rou led the hungry girls to Zhou Wanwan’s courtyard.

• Madam Cui discovered Zhou Wanwan had prepared nothing for the welcome banquet and confronted her.
• Zhou Wanwan demanded one hundred thousand taels in silver notes and agreed to prepare the feast without signing Madam Cui’s penalty contract.
• Half an hour later, Zhou Wanwan served thirty tables of exquisite food, impressing Cui Wenyuan and the officials.
• Cui Zhining ate most of the food, leaving Nie Rou and Cui Yingying with nearly empty tables.
• Cui Yingying and Nie Rou led the girls to Zhou Wanwan’s courtyard, where Zhou Wanwan was about to eat lunch.

Zhou Wanwan discovered that Cui Zhining’s uncontrollable hunger came from a Swelling Gu planted in her body, and agreed to cure her for fifty thousand taels. After Cui Zhining’s mother left the room, Zhou Wanwan asked Old Scholar Tree to investigate the gu.

• Cui Zhining ate the feast Zhou Wanwan had prepared, then begged to become her maid and follow her.
• Zhou Wanwan examined Cui Zhining and identified a Swelling Gu that made her constantly hungry and would eventually kill her.
• Cui Zhining’s mother offered Zhou Wanwan fifty thousand taels to cure her daughter, and Zhou Wanwan accepted.
• Zhou Wanwan had Cui Zhining lie down and asked Old Scholar Tree to send roots into her body to examine the gu.

Zhou Wanwan and the Old Scholar Tree removed the Swelling Gu from Cui Zhining and learned that her older cousin had planted them. Cui Zhining chose to stay as Zhou Wanwan’s maid, while the Gu’s death caused Cui Zhiyi to collapse in pain, leaving the doctors unable to find an explanation.

• The Old Scholar Tree drew the Swelling Gu from Cui Zhining, and one worm revealed that Cui Zhining’s older cousin had planted them to compete for favor.
• Cui Zhining woke up and insisted on staying with Zhou Wanwan, so she signed a deed of servitude despite her mother’s objections.
• Zhou Wanwan explained that killing the Swelling Gu would cause backlash in the person who planted them, and Madam Cui poured boiling water into the jar.
• Madam Nie reported that Cui Zhiyi had suddenly collapsed in pain, and Madam Cui found her surrounded by doctors who could not diagnose her.
• Cui Wenyuan argued with his wife over whether she cared about Cui Zhiyi, then focused on finding a way to save her.

Zhou Wanwan helped Madam Cui Wenyuan discover that Cui Wenyuan and his sons planned to kill Cui Zhining and fake the deaths of her and her mother. When assassins attacked, vines pulled them from the room, and Madam Cui Wenyuan embraced her daughter, who survived.

• Madam Cui Wenyuan learned from Cui Zhining that her two brothers bullied her, then followed Zhou Wanwan to spy on Cui Wenyuan and the others.
• Cui Zhiyi claimed Cui Zhining had broken her gu worm, and Cui Wenyuan ordered his men to kill Cui Zhining.
• Cui Wenyuan revealed that he planned to stage a bandit attack on the journey back to the capital so Madam Cui Wenyuan and Cui Zhining would die.
• Madam Cui Wenyuan rushed to Cui Zhining's room as the girl fought off the attackers, but vines dragged the men outside.
• Madam Cui Wenyuan hugged Cui Zhining, and Zhou Wanwan advised them to act as though nothing had happened and rest until morning.

Zhou Wanwan learned from the Great Snow White orchid that the Cui family’s valuables were hidden at their old residence, then cleared out the family’s wealth with Old Scholar Tree. The next morning, Cui Wenyuan accused Madam Cui of not caring about Cui Zhiyi, while she calmly defended how she had treated Zhiyi.

• Zhou Wanwan told Madam Cui that her two sons might not be her biological children and set out to find the Cui family’s valuables.
• The Great Snow White orchid led Zhou Wanwan to carriages full of treasure at the Cui family’s old residence.
• Zhou Wanwan discovered that the courtyard trees knew where Cui Wenyuan had hidden his wife’s dowry, and Old Scholar Tree pulled five chests from the ground.
• Old Scholar Tree loaded the treasure onto the carriages, leaving the Cui family plundered overnight.
• After Cui Zhiyi passed out from pain, Cui Wenyuan accused Madam Cui of sleeping peacefully instead of worrying about her, and Madam Cui defended how she had treated Zhiyi.

Madam Cui decided to divorce Cui Wenyuan rather than pawn her last jewelry sets, then sought Zhou Wanwan’s help to uncover the truth about the Cui family. Zhou Wanwan revealed that Madam Cui’s two sons had been drowned and that the family had schemed to take her dowry, before showing her something recovered from the Cui family’s old residence.

• Cui Wenyuan demanded that Madam Cui pawn her last two jewelry sets to pay for Cui Zhiyi’s physician, and Madam Cui agreed outwardly.
• Madam Cui told her nanny she would divorce Cui Wenyuan and reclaim her dowry, then brought one jewelry set to Zhou Wanwan as a token of sincerity.
• Madam Cui visited Cui Zhining, who said she was happy living with Zhou Wanwan and was progressing in martial arts.
• Madam Cui asked Zhou Wanwan to uncover the truth about Cui Zhiyi, Cui Shaoting, Cui Shaoyu, and her missing sons.
• Zhou Wanwan said Madam Cui’s two sons had been drowned, Cui Zhining had survived a gu, and Liu Meiniang was Cui Wenyuan’s mistress who helped the family target Madam Cui’s dowry.
• Zhou Wanwan led Madam Cui to a storeroom and showed her items she had found at the Cui family’s old residence.

Madam Cui the Younger reclaimed her dowry and refused to accept blame when Cui Wenyuan demanded money for Cui Zhiyi’s treatment. Cui Wenyuan imprisoned Zhao Qiuping and plotted to ruin her reputation, then sought funds for ginseng—only to learn that the Cui Family’s old residence had vanished overnight.

• Madam Cui the Younger brought her valuable belongings to Zhou Wanwan, then told Cui Wenyuan that thugs had robbed her on the way to pawn her jewelry.
• Cui Zhiyi complained of pain in front of visiting madams, who questioned her illness and criticized Cui Wenyuan for demanding Zhao Qiuping’s dowry.
• Zhao Qiuping challenged Cui Wenyuan to separate by mutual agreement, and Cui Wenyuan ordered guards to lock her up.
• Cui Wenyuan plotted to ruin Zhao Qiuping’s reputation to extort money from the Zhao Family, while Cui Zhiyi said ginseng soup eased her pain.
• Cui Wenyuan ordered his steward to buy ginseng and retrieve valuables from the old residence, but the steward could not find it and learned the Cui Family had been cleared out overnight.
• The steward reported the vanished residence to Cui Wenyuan, who refused to believe that his 128-room family home could have disappeared.

Zhou Wanwan uncovered Cui Wenyuan’s hidden silver and learned that he and other powerful clans were driving up the prices of grain and salt. She began selling ginseng to the Cui Family at an enormous markup, and Cui Wenyuan promised Cui Zhiyi he would punish Zhou Wanwan that night.

• Zhou Wanwan had Old Scholar Tree dig up six chests of silver from Cui Wenyuan’s ancestral graves after learning where he had hidden them.
• Old Scholar Tree reported that Cui Wenyuan and more than a dozen prominent clans had restricted grain and salt supplies, causing prices to soar.
• Zhou Wanwan decided to stabilize prices by taking supplies from the clans, while her trees reported that Cui Wenyuan was buying rare ginseng for Cui Zhiyi.
• Zhou Wanwan sent ten hundred-year-old ginseng roots to her apothecary, where the Cui manager bought them for twenty thousand taels.
• Cui Zhiyi improved after drinking the ginseng soup, and Cui Wenyuan told her he would punish Zhou Wanwan that night.