Chapter Summaries

Zhou Wanwan and Old Scholar Tree uncovered Cui Wenyuan’s plan to disgrace Madam Cui and exposed Cui Zhiyi in her place. Madam Cui confronted Cui Wenyuan before the assembled officials, accusing him of protecting his niece at his own daughter’s expense.

• Zhou Wanwan had Old Scholar Tree switch Cui Zhiyi and Madam Cui, then took Madam Cui and Cui Zhining to watch from the roof.
• Cui Wenyuan and more than a dozen prominent families discussed profiting from grain and salt while waiting for the drug in Madam Cui’s room to take effect.
• Cui Wenyuan led the officials to the room, expecting to expose Madam Cui, but they found Cui Zhiyi there instead.
• Cui Wenyuan claimed the woman in the room was Cui Zhining, and Madam Cui entered with Cui Zhining to challenge his lie.
• Madam Cui accused Cui Wenyuan of trying to ruin his daughter’s reputation to protect Cui Zhiyi, his niece.

Cui Zhining and Zhou Wanwan crippled Cui Wenyuan after he tried to attack Zhao Qiuping, and the doctors could not treat him. Cui Wenyuan refused to beg Zhao Qiuping for help until he learned he might never walk or father children again, then confronted her while she was hosting a barbecue.

• Cui Zhining stabbed Cui Wenyuan with a silver needle while Zhao Qiuping held him down, and Zhou Wanwan used salt water to wake him after he passed out.
• Zhou Wanwan sealed Cui Wenyuan's leg channels with a needle, leaving him unable to move his legs.
• Doctors confirmed that Cui Wenyuan's legs were crippled and warned that his ability to have children might also be permanently lost.
• Cui Wenyuan refused to ask Zhao Qiuping for help until Chief Steward Cui reminded him that he could not avenge Cui Zhiyi if he stayed crippled.
• Chief Steward Cui pushed Cui Wenyuan into Zhao Qiuping's courtyard, where she was eating barbecue with guests, and Cui Wenyuan demanded an explanation.

Cui Wenyuan agreed to divorce Zhao Qiuping and repay her dowry after Zhou Wanwan healed his leg. Desperate to replace the lost wealth and protect himself, he accepted Lord Cui the Younger’s offer to arrange a wealthy merchant’s daughter as his new wife and other merchants’ daughters as concubines.

• Cui Wenyuan demanded that Zhou Wanwan heal his leg, while Su Jingzhi and Zhao Qiuping confronted him over his alleged crimes and the children’s identities.
• Zhao Qiuping demanded a divorce and her dowry, and Zhou Wanwan revealed that Cui Zhining had sold herself to her for ten thousand taels of gold.
• Zhou Wanwan used silver needles to heal Cui Wenyuan’s leg, and he promised to return Zhao Qiuping’s dowry within two days.
• Cui Wenyuan privately worried that the Cui Family had already spent Zhao Qiuping’s dowry, and Lord Cui the Younger proposed finding him a new wealthy wife.
• Lord Cui the Younger brought five wealthy merchants to Cui Wenyuan, who agreed to marry Master Wan’s daughter and accept the other merchants’ daughters as concubines.

Zhao Qiuping reclaimed her dowry from Cui Wenyuan and exposed Liu Meiniang’s past and Cui Wenyuan’s broken promise to marry her. After revealing that Cui Wenyuan had drowned her newborn son and bringing forward two wet nurses as witnesses, Zhao Qiuping filed a complaint against him, but he insisted the county yamen was under his control.

• Cui Wenyuan sent Zhao Qiuping her dowry, and she demanded another hundred thousand taels while Cui Shaoting and Cui Shaoyu rejected her as their mother.
• Liu Meiniang came to see Cui Zhiyi and claimed Cui Wenyuan had promised to marry her, but Cui Wenyuan called her his elder brother’s concubine and had her taken to the rear courtyard.
• Liu Meiniang confronted Cui Wenyuan about his promise, and Zhao Qiuping arrived to accuse them of plotting against her and expose Liu’s children’s identities.
• Zhao Qiuping accused Cui Wenyuan of drowning her newborn son and produced two wet nurses who had confessed.
• Zhao Qiuping took the wet nurses to the county yamen to file a complaint, while Cui Wenyuan warned that its officials were his people.

Zhao Qiuping’s court complaint against Cui Wenyuan failed, and Cheng Xiao then went with Feng Caigu to confront Cheng Chao over his planned marriage to Zheng Xing'an. The chapter ended with Zheng Xing'an asking Cheng Chao whether they were still getting married after hearing Feng Caigu insult her.

• Zhao Qiuping accused Cui Wenyuan in court, but Cui dismissed her claims as madness, and Cheng Xiao dismissed the hearing.
• Cheng Xiao learned that his son Cheng Chao planned to marry Zheng Xing'an and decided to oppose the match.
• Cheng Xiao and Feng Caigu visited Cheng Chao’s residence with several wealthy young women, but Cheng Chao refused to abandon his choice of bride.
• Cheng Chao challenged Cheng Xiao to write a document disowning him, while Feng Caigu called Zheng Xing'an old and unworthy.
• Zheng Xing'an, Zhou Wanwan, and Feng Jiao arrived, and Zheng Xing'an asked Cheng Chao whether they were still getting married.

Cheng Chao rejected his parents’ attempts to arrange another marriage and insisted he would marry Zheng Xing'an. Cheng Xiao tried to win Feng Jiao back, but Shen Chaoge intervened, and Cheng Xiao recognized him as a man he had believed dead.

• Feng Caigu brought wealthy young women for Cheng Chao to choose, but he said he would marry Zheng Xing'an and had given her his money and estates.
• The young women left after Cheng Chao said he would marry into a family and give his betrothal gifts to Zheng Xing'an.
• Cheng Chao told Feng Caigu he was marrying the next day and offered Cheng Xiao six beauties to serve him.
• Cheng Xiao praised Feng Jiao’s appearance and urged her to return with their daughter, Yueyao.
• Shen Chaoge joined Feng Jiao and declared that she was his wife, then threatened Cheng Xiao for insulting her.
• Cheng Xiao recognized Shen Chaoge and recoiled, asking how he could still be alive.

Feng Jiao confronted Cheng Xiao and Feng Caigu, while Cheng Chao apologized and prepared to marry Zheng Xing'an. As Zheng Xing'an accepted Zhou Wanwan's support, Feng Caigu plotted to disrupt the wedding by summoning Zhou Yi and his mother.

• Feng Jiao slapped Cheng Xiao and Feng Caigu after they insulted her, and Cheng Chao criticized his mother for teaching him to scheme.
• Cheng Chao apologized to Feng Jiao, confirmed he would marry into Zheng Xing'an's family, and said their children would bear the Zheng surname.
• Zhou Wanwan asked Zheng Xing'an whether she truly liked Cheng Chao and promised her eighteen chests of dowry and a place to return if the marriage went badly.
• Feng Caigu decided to ruin Zheng Xing'an's wedding by calling in her former fiancé, Zhou Yi, and Zhou Yi's greedy mother agreed to help.

Zheng Xing'an prepared for her wedding to Cheng Chao, but Zhou Yi and his mother interrupted the ceremony, claiming she was still engaged to him. After Black Wind Stronghold defeated the guards sent to seize her, Cheng Chao warned Zhou Yi that he would deal with him the next day.

• A bridal attendant dressed Zheng Xing'an, and Zhou Wanwan and Zheng Chunhe gave her wedding gifts before she and Cheng Chao served tea to Zheng Chunhe and Gu Chaoyang.
• Zheng Yuanbao carried Zheng Xing'an to the bridal sedan, where Zhou Yi accused her of abandoning their engagement and his mother rallied the neighbors against her.
• Cheng Chao confronted Zhou Yi over the child his sister-in-law was carrying, while Zheng Chunhe challenged Mother Zhou to prove the engagement with a genuine betrothal token.
• Mother Zhou presented a jade pendant and ordered her men to seize Zheng Xing'an, but fighters from Black Wind Stronghold defeated the guards.
• Cheng Chao recognized the guards as men sent by his mother, let them go with a warning, and told Zhou Yi he would deal with him starting the next day.

Cheng Chao married Zheng Xing'an despite his parents refusing to attend, with Feng Jiao and Shen Chaoge taking the seats of honor. After the wedding, Cheng Xiao and Feng Caigu were thrown out, while Zhou Yi and his mother returned home and discussed Cheng Chao's influence.

• Cheng Xiao hosted colleagues who mocked Cheng Chao for marrying Zheng Xing'an, and Feng Caigu predicted the groom might call off the wedding.
• When the bridal sedan arrived, Cheng Xiao and Feng Caigu refused to leave the side hall, expecting Cheng Chao to invite them to the ceremony.
• Cheng Chao led Zheng Xing'an into the main hall, where Feng Jiao and Shen Chaoge sat in the seats of honor, and the wedding proceeded without his parents.
• Feng Jiao explained that Cheng Chao was marrying into the Black Wind Stronghold, and Shen Chaoge ordered attendants to remove Cheng Xiao and Feng Caigu.
• The Old Scholar Tree's men followed Zhou Yi and Mother Zhou home, where Zhou Yi warned that Cheng Chao was dangerous and said he had business outside.

Cheng Chao and Zheng Xing'an defied Cheng Chao’s parents when they tried to assert authority over the newlyweds. At the Cui residence, Madam Cui the Younger again urged Zhou Wanwan to become her thirteen-year-old son’s concubine, and Zhou Wanwan rejected the offer by mocking his scholarly achievement.

• Cheng Chao kept Zheng Xing'an in bed and told her she did not need to serve his parents tea.
• Feng Caigu tried to summon Zheng Xing'an, but the Cheng residence guards and Honghong’s maid fought off the servants she sent.
• Cheng Chao joked with Honghong about the beaten servants and refused Feng Caigu’s demand that he divorce Zheng Xing'an.
• Cheng Chao took Zheng Xing'an to the Cui residence to serve Zhou Wanwan tea.
• Madam Cui the Younger pressed Zhou Wanwan to become Cui Hongyuan’s concubine, and Zhou Wanwan refused, pointing out that she had passed the scholar examination at six.

Zhou Wanwan rejected Madam Cui the Younger’s renewed attempt to make her marry Cui Hongyuan, while lavishly gifting Zheng Xing'an and Cheng Chao. After leaving the Cui household, she examined colorful ore Cheng Chao had brought and discovered that fluorite could suddenly transfer energy into her body.

• Zhou Wanwan told Madam Cui the Younger that she would not become a concubine or marry into the impoverished Cui Family.
• Cheng Chao and Zheng Xing'an served Zhou Wanwan tea, and Cheng Chao rebuked Madam Cui the Younger for insulting his mistress.
• Zhou Wanwan presented Zheng Xing'an and Cheng Chao with lavish gifts, making Madam Cui the Younger envious.
• Madam Cui the Younger offered to let Zhou Wanwan become Cui Hongyuan’s equal wife, but Zhou Wanwan refused and left.
• Cheng Chao showed Zhou Wanwan colorful rough ores, and she felt energy surge into her body when she gripped a piece of fluorite.

Zhou Wanwan welcomed her parents and brothers, served them ice bowls, and agreed to attend Zhou Mei’s wedding feast for the entertainment. When Old Madam Zhou demanded that Zhou Wanwan provide a lavish banquet for free, Zhou Wanwan refused and insisted the family pay.

• Cheng Chao told Zhou Wanwan he had bought her shiny stones from the Jianghu Alliance, and Zheng Xing'an explained that Cheng Chao had become her loyal follower after dreaming of a grim fate as her enemy.
• Zhou Wanwan welcomed Zhou Fusheng, Liu Su'e, and her brothers, served them ice bowls, and agreed to go watch the wedding festivities at the old house.
• Old Madam Zhou asked Zhou Wanwan to arrange a hundred tables of the Unrivaled Imperial Banquet for Zhou Mei’s wedding, expecting her to pay the ten thousand taels.
• Zhou Wanwan rejected Qian Huihui’s appeal to family ties and said she would arrange the banquet if they paid for it.
• Old Madam Zhou berated Zhou Fusheng for letting Zhou Wanwan keep her business earnings, and he defended his daughter’s right to her own money.

Zhou Wanwan’s family agreed to cater Zhou Mei’s wedding feast but rejected pressure to provide a lavish wedding gift. They returned to the village dressed plainly and prepared to give eighty-eight wen, where Zhou Fuyu immediately reminded Zhou Fusheng of the five thousand taels he had given at his son’s wedding.

• Qian Huihui ordered a hundred two-tael tables from Zhou Wanwan, and Zheng Xing'an took her payment before Zhou Wanwan had her sign an agreement.
• Old Madam Zhou demanded a wedding gift for Zhou Mei, but Liu Su'e said she was not close to Zhou Mei and would decide the gift herself.
• Old Scholar Tree told Zhou Wanwan that Zhou Mei’s prospective husband had many concubines, gambled, and had bought his scholar’s title.
• Zhou Wanwan traveled to the village with her family, who dressed in coarse clothes; Liu Su'e said she would give Zhou Mei eighty-eight wen.
• Zhou Fuyu greeted Zhou Fusheng at the village entrance and demanded a gift at least as large as the five thousand taels Zhou Fusheng had given for his son’s wedding.

Zhou Wanwan gave Zhou Mei imitation gold jewelry as bridal gifts so the family could enjoy the banquet in peace. Meanwhile, Xiao Yuhan asked Zhou Fuyu to let his guests spend the night with the Black Wind Stronghold maids, and the chapter left Zhou Fuyu tempted by the promised chance of advancement as the guests praised the food.

• Zhou Fusheng complained about his family's hardship and asked Zhou Fuyu to return the five thousand taels he had given for Zhou Fuyu's son's wedding, but Zhou Fuyu said he had borrowed the money.
• Zhou Mei criticized her wedding dress and demanded gifts from Zhou Wanwan, who gave her gold-colored jewelry that she later revealed was fake brass.
• After receiving the gifts, the Zhou family welcomed Zhou Wanwan and Liu Su'e more warmly, and Zhou Wanwan had the stronghold's workers serve the banquet.
• Xiao Yuhan admired the Black Wind Stronghold maids and asked Zhou Fuyu to arrange for them to keep his male guests company; Zhou Fuyu hesitated but was swayed by the promise of official advancement.
• The guests ate the banquet dishes and praised the food and watermelon juice.

At Zhou Fuyu’s wedding banquet, Zhou Wanwan refused to provide another meal without payment, and the Zhou family ordered food from town instead. After the trees replaced the spoiled dishes, the guests ate them and suffered severe diarrhea, leaving the Zhou family and the prominent young masters blaming Zhou Wanwan.

• Zhou Mei entertained the prominent young masters, who mocked the stronghold’s girls and asked whether they were for sale.
• Zhou Fuyu asked Zhou Wanwan to prepare a hundred more banquet tables on credit, but she refused and he ordered food from town.
• Zhou Wanwan smelled that the delivered food was spoiled, and nearby trees removed it and replaced it with similar dishes.
• The guests praised the replacement dishes, but Xiao Yuhan and others noticed the fish smelled foul before the diners began suffering stomach pains and diarrhea.
• Zhou Wanwan learned from Old Scholar Tree that the Zhou family blamed her and the young masters wanted to settle accounts with her.

Zhou Wanwan exposed Zhou Fuyu’s family for ordering contaminated banquet food from the Fortune Come Restaurant and made them pay for the resulting trouble. After leaving the ruined house to stay with Daniu and Erniu, she went with her family to investigate a cave on the mountain.

• Old Madam Zhou and the relatives accused Zhou Wanwan of causing the contaminated banquet, but Zhou Wanwan revealed that Zhou Fuyu’s family had ordered the food from the Fortune Come Restaurant without a contract.
• The restaurant owner arrived to collect fifty taels, and Zhou Fuyu’s ruined banquet ended as guests fled the foul-smelling courtyard.
• Zhou Wanwan found a thousand-tael silver note in Old Madam Zhou’s pillow and told Zhou Fuyu to take responsibility for compensating the guests.
• Zhou Fuyu arranged a ten-table apology banquet for the next day, and Old Madam Zhou paid Zhou Wanwan a hundred taels under a signed contract.
• Liu Su’e took her family to stay with Daniu and Erniu, where Zhou Wanwan checked Zhou Xiaoyan’s pregnancy and said the child was healthy and a girl.
• Zhou Wanwan, her brothers, and Gu Sinian went to the mountain, where Old Scholar Tree said a large cave awaited them and they would be busy that night.

Zhou Wanwan uncovered Old Madam Zhou’s hidden supplies and then turned the wealthy guests’ demand for thirty beautiful women into a chance to help women trapped in a brothel. She promised to cure them and arrange places for them in prominent families in exchange for their loyalty, leaving them ready to sign their deeds of sale.

• Zhou Wanwan found Old Madam Zhou’s cave full of grain, cloth, and clothing, then ordered Old Scholar Tree to take everything away.
• Xiao Yuhan came to fetch Zhou Wanwan, and Zhou Fuyu promised a banquet after his earlier trick had left Xiao Yuhan sick.
• Zhou Fuyu and Xiao Yuhan demanded that Zhou Wanwan bring them thirty beautiful women, and she agreed after securing five hundred taels.
• Zhou Wanwan asked Cheng Chao to find thirty pretty women with disease, then offered to cure them and help them enter prominent families if they became her people.
• The women accepted Zhou Wanwan’s offer, and she presented deeds of sale for them to sign.

Zhou Wanwan treated the women rescued from the rear courtyard, while the men who had been with them later fell ill and blamed her. The scions and Zhou family members confronted her at the Cui Family residence, where Zhou Wanwan demanded an appearance fee before bringing her people in to face the accusations.

• Zhou Wanwan and the Old Scholar Tree used herbs and their roots to remove the toxins from the rescued women, giving them a chance to start over.
• Several days later, more than thirty scions and members of Zhou Wanwan’s family developed symptoms of venereal disease, and their households erupted in accusations and panic.
• Zhou Fuyu brought the affected men to the Cui Family residence and demanded that Zhou Wanwan hand over the women and pay compensation.
• Zhou Wanwan denied that the women could have infected them and mocked the men for blaming her for a disease they knew how they had caught.
• When Xiao Yuhan demanded the women be brought in, Zhou Wanwan agreed only if they paid two thousand taels for the women’s appearance.

Zhou Wanwan forced the aristocratic young men to pay compensation after physicians confirmed the women were healthy, then watched their reputations collapse when news of their disease spread. That night, Old Scholar Tree took her to the Zhou Family's home, where Old Madam Zhou cursed an older man for bringing disgrace and illness upon the family.

• Zhou Wanwan demanded a contract requiring the young men to pay 5,000 taels to each woman and 100,000 taels to her if the physicians found the women healthy.
• More than a dozen physicians examined the women and declared them healthy, so the young men paid the women 150,000 taels in compensation.
• The women refused to marry the young men or become their concubines, and Zhou Wanwan let them leave with their money.
• Zhou Fuyu demanded Zhou Wanwan hand over the compensation, but she challenged him to spread the story; news of the men's disease soon circulated after physicians revealed it.
• Xiao Yuhan accused Zhou Wanwan of spreading the news, but the young men learned that bribed physicians had leaked it, and several engagements and marriages ended.
• Old Scholar Tree took Zhou Wanwan to the Zhou Family's home, where Old Madam Zhou berated an older man because his sons and grandsons had contracted the disease.

Zhou Wanwan responded to famine and soaring prices by selling affordable rice and salt, while Old Ancestor rapidly produced salt with energy-charged ores. When Zhao Lili surrounded Zhou Wanwan’s restaurant with six Earth Ranking experts and demanded to buy it, Zhou Wanwan refused her offer.

• Old Madam Zhou beat Old Man Zhou while Qian Huihui blamed Zhou Wanwan for the scandal, and Fang Ting had Zhou Qingzhou thrown out.
• Zhao Muyuan told Zhou Wanwan that famine had spread and food and salt prices were soaring, so she ordered her grain shops to sell rice and salt at fixed low prices.
• Crowds flocked to the four grain shops, while Zhou Wanwan expanded her granaries and supplied Old Ancestor with energy-storing ores that helped him produce more than thirty barrels of refined salt a day.
• Long Aotian told Zhou Wanwan that Zhao Lili had surrounded their restaurant with six Earth Ranking experts and accused her people of stealing something.
• Zhao Lili offered Zhou Wanwan ten thousand taels for the restaurant and threatened to have her crippled when Zhou Wanwan refused to sell.