Chapter Summaries

Zhou Wanwan confronted Lord Wen about the Broken Kiln Village murders and accused him of rising suspiciously quickly through the ranks. After Lord Wen tried to leave and his men attacked, Zhou Wanwan brought forward surviving yamen runners and villagers to accuse him, leaving him facing their testimony.

• Zhou Wanwan told the officials she had solved the wasteland murder case and challenged Lord Wen over his rapid promotion.
• Lord Wen ordered his attendants to attack Zhou Wanwan, but hidden fighters defeated them; he then surrounded the gathering with more than three hundred men.
• Nie Shi'an and Shen Congrong urged Zhou Wanwan to stop, while Chen Ankang questioned whether Lord Wen was involved in the case.
• Zhou Wanwan summoned Lord Wen's subordinates, who accused him of killing villagers in Broken Kiln Village and trying to kill them and their families afterward.
• Zhou Wanwan brought in surviving villagers from Broken Kiln Village and asked Lord Wen why he had killed more than seven hundred people.

Zhou Wanwan exposed Wen Jingshan’s crimes, and her supernatural allies defeated his forces and punished him. The next morning, the officials found themselves alive, and Chen Ankang agreed to serve under Zhou Wanwan.

• Zhou Wanwan presented villagers and witnesses who accused Wen Jingshan of poisoning Broken Kiln Village’s well and ordering its massacre.
• Wen Jingshan ordered his men to kill everyone, then revealed that the mountain’s coal and black oil had made him hundreds of thousands of taels of silver each month.
• As Wen Jingshan’s forces closed in, they suddenly collapsed, and the Old Scholar Tree’s vines captured Wen Jingshan and began cutting him to pieces.
• The great trees dragged the governor’s men into the woods, while Zhou Wanwan’s group survived and woke up the next morning.
• Zhou Wanwan served breakfast to the officials and pretended not to know where Wen Jingshan had gone.
• Chen Ankang kowtowed to Zhou Wanwan and pledged to serve under her, prompting everyone to erupt.

After Hu Yiming demanded that Zhou Wanwan leave the judicial commissioner's yamen, she quit and decided to visit White Deer Academy to study its teaching methods. She planned to go with Shen Congrong, while he warned her not to try to recruit the academy’s highly esteemed headmaster.

• Nie Shi'an warned Zhou Wanwan that the Chen Family might object to Chen Ankang becoming her subordinate, but Chen Ankang promised to honor their contract.
• Hu Yiming questioned Zhou Wanwan about Wen Jingshan and his missing troops, then ordered Nie Shi'an to remove her from the yamen.
• Zhou Wanwan quit her position, and Nie Shi'an reluctantly agreed to see her out.
• Zhou Wanwan announced that she wanted to study at White Deer Academy, and Shen Congrong offered to accompany her.
• Shen Congrong warned Zhou Wanwan that the academy's headmaster was a respected former imperial tutor whom even the emperor treated with great deference.

Zhou Wanwan discussed her academy options with Shen Congrong while Hu Yiming planned to sell coal and black oil to the Snow Khanate before returning to the capital. At home, she proposed that her family take White Deer Academy’s entrance examination together.

• Zhou Wanwan told Shen Congrong she only wanted to see White Deer Academy, and he suggested Songyang Academy or Yingtian Academy instead.
• Hu Yiming learned that a buyer from the Snow Khanate would pay a high price for coal and black oil, and he ordered the goods sold so he could stock up on supplies.
• Hu Yiming told his adviser that a diviner had warned him to leave Dongshan Prefecture and that Wen Jingshan’s annihilated force made him suspect the imperial family was involved.
• Liu Su'e and Zhou Fusheng worried that Zhou Wanwan spent too much time among officials and suggested returning to Black Wind Stronghold.
• Zhou Wanwan encouraged Zhou Fusheng to study at an academy and proposed that the family take White Deer Academy’s entrance examination.

Zhou Wanwan defended her family against Zhou Fuyu and Qian Huihui’s plans to send her to the Cui Family as a concubine, then decided to visit Cloud-Hidden Temple. On the way, she asked Zhou Qingyan and Gu Sinian about their plans to attend White Deer Academy and learned that its men’s and women’s schools were separate.

• Zhou Fuyu insisted Zhou Wanwan should become a concubine in the Cui Family, but Zhou Fusheng and Liu Su'e rejected the idea.
• Zhou Wanwan offered to help Qian Huihui pursue a match at the Cui Family, then revealed that Cui Hongyuan was betrothed to Cui Rou and was visiting Cloud-Hidden Temple.
• After Zhou Lan demanded to accompany her, Zhou Wanwan refused, then set out for Cloud-Hidden Temple with Zheng Xing'an to confront Lu Yao and Lu Zhiwei.
• In the carriage, Zhou Wanwan asked Zhou Qingyan whether he and the others planned to attend White Deer Academy.
• Gu Sinian praised the academy’s library and explained that its men’s and women’s schools were separate and taught different subjects.

At Cloud-Hidden Temple, Zhou Wanwan rebuffed the Lu sisters’ attempt to tarnish her reputation and reunited with Su Zhixia and Shen Yunshu. As the Lu Family’s pleasure-boat banquet began, Xie Cheng'en and his companions plotted to ruin the young women’s reputations, with Xie choosing Zhou Wanwan as his target.

• Zhou Wanwan confronted Lu Yao and Lu Lan, explaining that she had helped expose and arrest the State-Pacifying Temple abbot for stealing the golden Buddha.
• Zhou Wanwan hinted that Lu Zhiwei had made a secret deal with monks, prompting Lu Zhiwei to deflect the accusation and change the subject.
• Shen Yunshu gave Zhou Wanwan fashionable jewelry from the capital, while Su Zhixia and Shen Yunshu rejected Nie Rou’s complaints and defended Zhou Wanwan.
• Lu Lan led the guests to two pleasure boats for a marriage-oriented banquet hosted by the Lu Family.
• Xie Cheng'en, Nie Feng, and Cui Hongyuan discussed ruining the young women’s reputations so they could take them as concubines, and Xie chose to target Zhou Wanwan.

Zhou Wanwan demanded compensation after a maid stained her expensive dress, then foiled Xie Cheng'en and Nie Feng’s attempt to assault her aboard the Lu Family’s pleasure boat. She rescued Song Zhixia and Shen Yunshu and prepared to show them what had happened as the guests began to investigate.

• A Lu Family maid spilled tea on Zhou Wanwan, and Zhou Wanwan insisted the Lu Family pay for her cloud-gauze dress worth more than ten thousand taels.
• The Lu Family’s shopkeeper confirmed the dress’s value, and Lu Lan agreed to pay while Zhou Wanwan went to change with Su Zhixia and Shen Yunshu.
• Su Zhixia and Shen Yunshu suddenly fainted, and Xie Cheng'en and Nie Feng entered the room to seize Zhou Wanwan.
• The Old Scholar Tree bound Xie Cheng'en, Nie Feng, and their companion, and Zhou Wanwan took the unconscious women off the pleasure boat.
• Zhou Wanwan revived Song Zhixia and Shen Yunshu and told them she would take them to see a good show as Lu Lan and Nie Rou wondered why she had not returned.

Zhou Wanwan’s scheme left Lu Yao and Lu Zhiwei disgraced, and the Lu Family’s reputation collapsed across Dongshan Prefecture. Lu Zhiwei sought the shaman’s help to change their appearances again, while Zhou Wanwan prepared to attend White Deer Academy.

• The women discovered Lu Yao and Lu Zhiwei with several men in the pleasure boat, and Su Zhixia realized Zhou Wanwan had protected her and Shen Yunshu from the same trap.
• Lu Lan accused Zhou Wanwan of arranging the incident, but Zhou Wanwan denied it and told her to stop threatening her.
• News of the scandal spread through Dongshan Prefecture, breaking off the Lu Family girls’ engagements and leaving Lu Yao and Lu Zhiwei distraught.
• Lu Zhiwei took Lu Yao to the Jianghu Alliance, where the shaman accepted jewelry and changed both women’s appearances, warning that Lu Zhiwei’s face would remain stiff.
• Old Scholar Tree told Zhou Wanwan about the Lu women, then asked whether she would review for White Deer Academy; Zhou Wanwan explained that she was already studying demanding lessons assigned by Zhao Muyuan.

Zhou Wanwan agreed to pursue the throne after Zhao Muyuan emotionally pressured her, then set off with a large party for White Deer Academy. She arrived at the academy and called out to Nie Feng, who turned away and walked into the crowd.

• Zhao Muyuan urged Zhou Wanwan to win Dean Zhu's favor at White Deer Academy and argued that only she could save the people of Dongshan Prefecture.
• Zhou Wanwan promised Zhao Muyuan she would crawl her way onto the throne, then departed for White Deer Academy with more than thirty people from Black Wind Stronghold.
• Shen Wanjun, Cheng Chao, and fourth-rank official Chen Ankang joined Zhou Wanwan's party, with Chen Ankang driving her carriage.
• Zhou Wanwan reached White Deer Academy and spotted Nie Feng among the scholars, but he froze when he saw her and walked away without greeting her.

Zhou Wanwan faced rejection from former acquaintances and clashed with Ji Huai and Luo Xue, who mocked Shen Wanjun for serving her. Luo Xue announced she was breaking off her engagement with Shen Wanjun, while the Old Scholar Tree revealed she was secretly involved with Ji Huai and pregnant.

• Xie Cheng'en and Cui Hongyuan avoided Zhou Wanwan and called her a jinx.
• Ji Huai insulted Shen Wanjun for serving Zhou Wanwan, and Luo Xue joined in mocking him.
• Zhou Wanwan traded sharp insults with Luo Xue and the Jiangnan scholars defending her.
• Luo Xue declared that she was breaking off her engagement with Shen Wanjun.
• The Old Scholar Tree revealed that Luo Xue had secretly been involved with Ji Huai and was carrying his child.

Zhou Wanwan challenged Luo Xue’s grand claims and impressed White Deer Academy’s female head with her own words, while exposing trainee Liu Shuyi’s bias. Luo Xue’s Jiangnan supporters turned on Zhou Wanwan, and Shen Wanjun warned her that Luo Xue had many influential admirers.

• Luo Xue praised White Deer Academy and claimed she sought learning to ease the people’s suffering, winning admiration from the gathered scholars and teachers.
• Zhou Wanwan recited an ambitious saying about serving the people and challenged Liu Shuyi when she accused the six-year-old of repeating someone else’s words.
• A female teacher revealed that Liu Shuyi was only a trainee, and the female head invited Zhou Wanwan to try to join the academy.
• The headmistress questioned Liu Shuyi about favors from the Luo Family after Liu Shuyi urged her to admit Luo Xue.
• Luo Xue whispered that Zhou Wanwan should leave, but Zhou Wanwan retorted that Luo Xue should go home before making a spectacle of herself.
• Luo Xue’s Jiangnan supporters berated Zhou Wanwan, and Shen Wanjun warned her that Luo Xue had many supporters.

At White Deer Academy, Zhou Wanwan challenged Luo Xue’s slander by betting that Luo Xue was pregnant, with the wager recorded in writing. Three directors examined Luo Xue and unanimously confirmed the pregnancy, leaving her stunned and furious.

• Shen Wanjun defended Zhou Wanwan after Luo Xue called her a mountain bandit, and Zhou challenged Luo to provide proof of the accusation.
• When the students rushed to defend Luo after Zhou suggested she was pregnant, Zhou called out their double standards and offered to apologize and pay ten thousand taels if Luo was not carrying a child.
• Zhou raised the wager to one hundred thousand taels of gold, produced silver notes as proof she could pay, and wrote an agreement with Luo.
• Zhou asked for several physicians to examine Luo, and the academy’s leader summoned Directors Liu, Zhang, and Li.
• The three directors unanimously confirmed that Luo Xue was pregnant, and Luo denied their conclusion in shock.

Zhou Wanwan exposed Luo Xue’s pregnancy, enforced their contract for one hundred thousand taels of gold, and saw Luo’s reputation and plans for marrying into the Ji Family collapse. Luo then accused Shen Wanjun of fathering her child, and Zhou Wanwan demanded proof before deciding who owed compensation.

• Zhou Wanwan pointed to the signed contract and demanded that Luo Xue pay one hundred thousand taels of gold after the examination confirmed Luo was pregnant.
• Ji Huai appealed to Shen Wanjun to defend Luo Xue, but Shen and the academy heads stood by the examination, while nearby scholars condemned her.
• More than thirty physicians confirmed that Luo Xue was over two months pregnant, and Zhou Wanwan revived her with silver needles after she pretended to faint.
• Luo Xue pleaded with Shen Wanjun to save her, then claimed he had promised to marry her and that he was the father of her child.
• Mother Shen celebrated the prospect of becoming a grandmother, while Shen Wanjun denied knowing anything about the child.
• When Luo Xue tried to dash herself against a pillar, Zhou Wanwan stopped her and demanded that she prove Shen Wanjun’s guilt or compensate him.

Zhou Wanwan demanded the gold Luo Xue owed, but the Luo Family refused to pay and sent Luo Xue to her instead. Zhou Wanwan accepted Luo Xue’s deed of servitude and planned to use her to gain control of the Luo and Ji families’ property, then decided to retaliate against Master Luo’s scheme to sell salt and grain at inflated prices.

• Zhou Wanwan rebuked Luo Xue for signing the debt contract, rewarded people who spoke up, and went to register before heading to a restaurant.
• Steward Luo refused to pay Zhou Wanwan’s hundred thousand taels of gold and brought Luo Xue to her.
• Luo Xue admitted she had nowhere else to turn and signed a deed of servitude, while Zhou Wanwan chose to let her keep her unborn child.
• Zhou Wanwan told Zheng Xing'an that Luo Xue could help her obtain the Luo and Ji families’ property because she was skilled at managing businesses.
• Zhou Wanwan learned that Master Luo planned to sell salt and grain at high prices and decided to give him a taste of his own medicine.

Zhou Wanwan stripped Master Luo’s residence of its valuables and gardens, then gave its grain and salt to disaster victims while warning Zheng Xing'an that the drought could last for years. At White Deer Academy, she faced wary students, and Luo Xue publicly declared that Zhou Wanwan was now her mistress.

• Zhou Wanwan and Old Scholar Tree arrived at Master Luo’s residence after Master Luo and Luo Shuang mocked Luo Xue and their plan to exploit her.
• A camphor tree revealed that Luo Xue had tended the garden and managed the family business, and Zhou Wanwan’s trees removed the garden and invited its trees to join them.
• Master Luo and Luo Shuang awoke in tree pits to find their residence stripped bare, while Zhou Wanwan found the family’s gold, grain, and salt.
• Zhou Wanwan ordered the grain made into free congee and the salt distributed to disaster victims, and she told Zheng Xing'an the drought might last three years or longer.
• At White Deer Academy, a woman accused Zhou Wanwan of humiliating Luo Xue, and Luo Xue stood beside Zhou Wanwan and called her mistress.

Luo Xue cut ties with the Luo family and accepted Zhou Wanwan as her mistress, trusting her more than Ji Huai or her relatives. Zhou Wanwan excelled in the White Deer Academy examination, then learned a gambling house was already taking bets on the results.

• Luo Xue told Xu Rong and Luo Shuang that she had left the Luo family and would serve Zhou Wanwan.
• Luo Shuang mocked Luo Xue and warned that she would receive no share of the Luo family's properties.
• Zhou Wanwan reminded Luo Xue that Ji Huai was engaged and offered her work managing estates and medicinal herbs.
• Zhou Wanwan swiftly answered the examination's disaster policy essay, murder case, and arithmetic problems, then submitted her paper.
• Cheng Chao told Zhou Wanwan that a nearby gambling house was taking bets on the examination, and she questioned how they could do so before candidates finished.

Zhou Wanwan visited the imperial examination betting pool, where Jiangnan students mocked Dongshan Prefecture and Ji Huai insulted her and Luo Xue. She bet heavily on herself and Gu Sinian, while Xie Cheng'en backed them too, angering Ji Huai.

• Cheng Chao explained that Zhou Wanwan and Gu Sinian had long odds in the betting pool, and Zhou Wanwan went to see it.
• Jiangnan students taunted the Dongshan Prefecture students, while Xie Cheng'en and Ji Huai joined in the argument and Ji Huai mocked Zhou Wanwan.
• Zhou Wanwan ridiculed Ji Huai, and Luo Xue revealed that he had been with five girls the previous night and rejected his marriage proposal.
• Ji Huai claimed Luo Xue was carrying his child and offered to make her a concubine, but she refused and said she had sold herself to Zhou Wanwan.
• Zhou Wanwan bet a million taels each on herself and Gu Sinian to win, and many others backed Ji Huai.
• Ji Huai put a hundred thousand taels on himself, but Xie Cheng'en split his ten thousand taels between Zhou Wanwan and Gu Sinian, prompting Ji Huai to storm away.

Gu Sinian and Zhou Wanwan placed first and second in the White Deer Academy exam, while Ji Huai accused them of cheating and failed to find fault in their papers. Madam Ji tried to take Luo Xue as Ji Huai’s concubine, but Zhou Wanwan refused to release her until her debt was paid.

• Zhou Wanwan learned that her brothers and Gu Sinian had taken the exam and that several people had wagered on the results.
• Gu Sinian placed first and Zhou Wanwan second, prompting Ji Huai to accuse Dongshan Prefecture’s scholars of cheating.
• White Deer Academy’s teachers defended the exam, and the posted papers convinced Ji Huai that Gu Sinian and Zhou Wanwan had written excellent answers.
• Ji Huai asked Madam Ji to take Luo Xue as his concubine, and Madam Ji agreed with Master Luo to pay ten thousand taels of silver for her.
• Luo Xue refused to leave without the three hundred thousand taels of gold she owed Zhou Wanwan, and Zhou Wanwan rejected Madam Ji’s demand to take her away.

Luo Xue rejected Ji Huai and exposed her father and the Ji Family in court, where the magistrate ruled in her and Zhou Wanwan’s favor. Afterward, Luo Qingshan fumed over having to return Luo Xue’s mother’s dowry.

• Madam Ji accused Zhou Wanwan of abducting Luo Xue, while Ji Huai secretly urged Luo Xue to repeat his lies in court and promised to marry her.
• At the hearing, Luo Xue accused Luo Qingshan of selling her into servitude, withholding her earnings and her mother’s dowry, and accused Ji Huai and the Ji Family of breaking their promises and framing Zhou Wanwan.
• The Chaoyang County magistrate ordered Luo Qingshan to return the dowry and pay Luo Xue a fine, and ordered Ji Huai to pay Luo Xue and Zhou Wanwan and publicly apologize.
• Zhou Wanwan offered the magistrate two thousand taels, which he initially refused, while his adviser excitedly asked for her autograph.
• Luo Qingshan angrily complained that Luo Xue’s mother’s dowry filled eighty-eight chests.

Zhou Wanwan saw the worsening drought and growing numbers of displaced people and decided to do more to help them. She summoned a court in her stronghold to discuss relief, where Gu Sinian presented a detailed policy essay outlining measures to address the disaster.

• Madam Luo and Master Luo planned to replace Luo Shuang’s promised dowry with fake goods.
• Zhou Wanwan prepared to enter White Deer Academy with Zheng Xing'an and Luo Xue, and learned that refugees were increasing as the drought worsened.
• Zhou Wanwan told Chen Ankang she wanted to help disaster victims beyond distributing porridge, then brought him and others into her throne hall, where she sat in a black dragon robe.
• Zhou Wanwan asked her assembled officials for solutions to the drought, and they debated grain relief, waterworks, and the limited stores of grain.
• Zhou Wanwan asked Gu Sinian to present his policy essay, which proposed distributing grain, resettling refugees, digging wells and canals, reassuring localities, and preventing merchants from raising grain prices.