Chapter Summaries

Zhou Wanwan refused Old Madam Zhou’s demand to trade her three-courtyard residence for Zhou Wanwan’s six-courtyard one, then moved her family out after the empress dowager ordered them to surrender the house. Old Madam Zhou’s family arrived expecting to claim it, unaware the residence had been emptied, and she told visiting noble ladies that the empress dowager had given it to her.

• Zhou Wanwan mocked Old Madam Zhou’s proposal to exchange residences and told her to seek help from the empress dowager.
• Old Madam Zhou complained to the empress dowager, who ordered Zhou Wanwan’s family to move out and give Old Madam Zhou the residence.
• Zhou Wanwan moved her family and all the house’s contents to another residence, leaving the original house bare.
• Old Madam Zhou’s family celebrated their expected move and planned to occupy the six-courtyard house immediately.
• Noble ladies arrived with housewarming gifts, and Old Madam Zhou claimed the empress dowager had given her a bigger residence.

Zhou Wanwan left Old Madam Zhou and the others to discover that both the Zhou Residence and their old home had been stripped bare and overrun with unnaturally fast-growing weeds. The authorities could not explain the strange damage, while Zhou Wanwan disappeared with Old Scholar Tree after reclaiming the Zhou Family’s valuables.

• Old Madam Zhou accepted gifts from visiting noblewomen and went with Song Qingfeng and Zhou Fuyu to inspect the Zhou Residence.
• Song Qingfeng mocked the grand princess’s residence, but the group found it reduced to empty thatched huts surrounded by waist-high weeds.
• Old Madam Zhou blamed Zhou Wanwan, and Zhou Fuyu abandoned his hopes of moving into the residence.
• Zhou Wanwan told Old Scholar Tree that she had reclaimed the Zhou Family’s rewards because they had continued to target her, then disappeared with him.
• Old Madam Zhou found her valuables missing from the family’s old home and called the authorities, but the minister of the Court of Judicial Review could not explain the rapidly grown weeds and fled with Chen Ankang.

Zhou Wanwan reassured her family that supplying goods to Princess Jianing and Xie Cheng'en earned her more than running shops herself, then learned how badly students from Dongshan Prefecture were being treated in the capital. The chapter ended as Zhou Wanwan arrived at her restaurant and overheard Jiangnan and capital students mocking her and the students relying on her.

• Chen Ankang told the minister of the Court of Judicial Review to stay out of the matter, while Zhou Wanwan joked that the empress dowager's gifts could cover Old Madam Zhou's rent.
• Zhou Qingyan, Zhou Qingchen, Zhou Qinghe, and Gu Sinian visited Zhou Wanwan and worried that rival shops had taken much of their family's business.
• Zhou Wanwan explained that she supplied goods to Princess Jianing and Xie Cheng'en, earning profits without managing their shops herself.
• Zhou Wanwan asked about the imperial examination and learned that students from Dongshan Prefecture faced hostility and were refused even basic supplies.
• The next morning, Zhou Wanwan went to her restaurant and overheard Jiangnan and capital students ridicule Dongshan Prefecture's students for depending on her.

Zhou Wanwan met with Shen Wanjun, Cheng Chao, and Chen Ankang, then faced Jiangnan scholars and Cheng relatives who condemned her companions for serving her. The chapter left Cheng Chao refusing to return to the Cheng Lineage Clan as his family pressured him with expulsion and public shame.

• Zhou Wanwan asked Shen Wanjun and Cheng Chao about their work, and learned Shen Wanjun had revamped brothels while Cheng Chao was resisting the Cheng Family’s demands to return.
• Chen Ankang warned Zhou Wanwan that the Brocade Guard was investigating her, and Shen Wanjun said the new hotpot restaurant would open the next day.
• Jiangnan scholars confronted Shen Wanjun and accused him of disgracing them by serving Zhou Wanwan, but he rejected their criticism.
• Cheng Huaiyu threatened to remove Cheng Chao from the Cheng Lineage genealogy unless he returned to help the family with business.
• Feng Caigu and Cheng Xiao urged Cheng Chao to go back, but Cheng Chao refused and said he could start a separate page in the genealogy.

Cheng Chao refused Cheng Xiao and the Cheng Lineage’s demand that he return, exposing the lineage’s financial troubles and defending his choice to follow Zhou Wanwan. Meanwhile, Zhou Wanwan faced criticism from Dongshan Prefecture scholars over her support for impoverished fellow townspeople and offered to cover the reasonable needs of those staying at her restaurant.

• Cheng Chao told Cheng Xiao he would not return to the Cheng Lineage and said his current income far exceeded what the lineage could offer.
• Cheng Huaiyu threatened to remove Cheng Chao from the lineage rolls, and Cheng Chao accused the lineage of wanting him back to manage its failing businesses.
• Scholars from Dongshan Prefecture argued over Zhou Wanwan’s aid, while some complained that their fellow townspeople were being mocked and denied supplies.
• Zhou Wanwan challenged the wealthier scholars to help their fellow townspeople instead of ridiculing them, and they blamed her for making life harder for Dongshan Prefecture people.
• Zhou Wanwan told the scholars staying at her restaurant to charge their reasonable needs to her account, prompting Jiangnan scholars to doubt she could afford it.

Zhou Wanwan visited her brothel and found it packed with prominent guests watching unusual performances. Shen Wanjun explained that the venue was earning heavily from entertainment and drinks, while the story left Zhou Wanwan marveling at its profits.

• Zhou Wanwan arrived at her brothel and saw Zhou Fuyu, Zhou Qingzhou, Song Qingfeng, and other prominent scions drinking there.
• Shen Wanjun showed Zhou Wanwan the Flying Apsaras Dance, which he had brought from a palace performance and used to draw a packed crowd.
• The brothel staged a circus with tigers, lions, panthers, and bears, and Shen Wanjun told Zhou Wanwan that he had brought dozens of tigers and lions, ten bears, and more than a hundred wolves from their zoo.
• The lions and tigers appeared to fight during a dramatic performance, and the host reassured the frightened guests that it was staged.
• The brothel continued with a disappearing-person trick that Zhou Wanwan had taught the stronghold, and Shen Wanjun revealed that drinks alone brought in more than ten thousand taels a day.

Zhou Wanwan watched a spectacular performance at a brothel before confronting Zhou Fuyu, Zhou Qingzhou, and Song Qingfeng over their unpaid bill and attempts to make her pay. Song Qingfeng claimed the Grand Princess should return to him, while he and Zhou Fuyu were left arguing over who would cover the 1,200-tael charge.

• A performer made a woman vanish from a sealed chest and reappear, then entertained the brothel guests with more acts.
• The madam demanded that Zhou Fuyu's party pay 1,200 taels, and Zhou Fuyu tried to make Zhou Wanwan cover the bill.
• Zhou Qingzhou threatened that his grandmother would report Zhou Wanwan, while nearby guests discussed Song Qingfeng's divorce from the Grand Princess.
• Song Qingfeng tried to claim Zhou Wanwan as his granddaughter and insulted the Grand Princess, but Zhou Wanwan mocked his demands for her to return and apologize.
• Song Qingfeng admitted he had brought no money, and Zhou Fuyu said he had expected Song Qingfeng to pay for the drinks.

Song Qingfeng was forced to pay his brothel bill after people mocked him and spread rumors about Grand Princess Mingzhao. Zhou Wanwan accepted Xie Cheng'en's challenge to gamble against him and a group of wealthy merchants at his new gambling house.

• The brothel madam publicly shamed Song Qingfeng for owing 1,200 taels, and he paid after hearing that Grand Princess Mingzhao had fallen on hard times.
• Cheng Chao suggested visiting their gambling house, where Zhou Wanwan learned that Xie Cheng'en had opened a rival establishment across the street.
• Xie Cheng'en taunted Zhou Wanwan about her finances and invited her to gamble against him and wealthy merchants from several regions.
• Zhou Wanwan accepted the challenge, and the group arrived at Xie Cheng'en's gambling house, angering Cheng Chao because it stood across from theirs.

Zhou Wanwan entered Xie Cheng'en's grand gambling house with Cheng Chao and the wealthy merchants, intending to win their fortunes. After the merchants wagered their properties, Xie Cheng'en chose pai gow, hoping the game would prevent Zhou Wanwan from cheating.

• Zhou Wanwan said she planned to fleece the wealthy merchants, while Xie Cheng'en and Cheng Chao reassured them that she had ample money and powerful allies.
• The merchants mocked Shen Wanjun and Cheng Chao, and Zhou Wanwan promised to avenge them; Old Ancestor and Old Scholar Tree followed, confident she would win.
• Cheng Chao led the group through Xie Cheng'en's lavish gambling house, where Zhou Wanwan recognized that its fruit and milk tea came from her own businesses.
• Xie Cheng'en said he already knew Zhou Wanwan's assets, and both sides brought forward shops, farmland, ships, trade goods, and other property to wager.
• Xie Cheng'en rejected dice and proposed pai gow, expecting the game's dealers and watching thousand hands to catch any cheating.

Zhou Wanwan played pai gow against Xie Cheng'en and wealthy merchants, losing early hands before winning a ten-million-tael pot with Supreme Treasure. Xie Cheng'en and the merchants refused to let her leave and demanded another game.

• Old Ancestor used his fine roots to inspect Zhou Wanwan's tiles and urged her to fold her weak hands.
• Xie Cheng'en sat down to play after Zhou Wanwan mocked him for being too timid to bet.
• Zhou Wanwan raised the stakes to the gambling house's ten-million-tael limit while the Jiangnan merchant and Xie Cheng'en kept calling.
• The Jiangnan merchant revealed two sixes, and Xie Cheng'en revealed a two and a nine, but Zhou Wanwan's three and six formed Supreme Treasure and swept the table.
• Zhou Wanwan told Cheng Chao, Shen Wanjun, and Chen Ankang to collect her winnings, while Xie Cheng'en accused her of cheating and insisted on continuing.

Zhou Wanwan won a fortune from Xie Cheng'en and the merchants at gambling, leaving Xie Cheng'en’s family to face the losses. Noble Consort Ning summoned Zhou Wanwan to demand the estates and shops back, threatening her brothers’ imperial examinations if she refused.

• Zhou Wanwan beat Xie Cheng'en and the wealthy merchants at dice, winning their chips and taking properties to cover the gambling house’s debts.
• Zhou Wanwan returned home with gold and moved her winnings to the mountain stronghold, while the capital learned of the gambling losses.
• Third Master Xie beat Xie Cheng'en for gambling away his property, and Xie Cheng'en blamed Zhou Wanwan.
• Noble Consort Ning promised Xie Cheng'en she would force Zhou Wanwan to return the estates and shops by threatening her brothers’ examinations.
• Eunuch Hai waited for Zhou Wanwan to wake and told her Noble Consort Ning had summoned her to reclaim the properties.

Zhou Wanwan traded back Xie Cheng'en’s lost estates and shops for the palace’s discarded ore, which she needed to strengthen her land and make products. After hauling home more than three hundred cartloads, she encountered Old Madam Zhou and her group waiting at her entrance.

• Eunuch Hai told Zhou Wanwan that Xie Cheng'en had complained to the palace, and she vowed to return the estates and shops while making him work their fields for her.
• Noble Consort Ning confronted Zhou Wanwan about gambling, and Zhou Wanwan criticized Xie Cheng'en for losing the property Ning had given him.
• Zhou Wanwan agreed to return the estates and shops in exchange for the palace’s unwanted stones, and Noble Consort Ning signed the deed.
• Eunuch Hai arranged for more than three hundred cartloads of ore to be hauled out of the palace, and Zhou Wanwan explained that she could process the stones and use their energy to boost her estates.
• When Zhou Wanwan returned home, Old Madam Zhou and a group of people were waiting at the entrance, claiming they had come to see how the family was doing.

Old Madam Zhou tried to arrange Zhou Wanwan’s marriage to her nephew, Feng Wancai, despite Zhou Wanwan’s family rejecting her and the proposed match. Zhou Wanwan refused, but Old Madam Zhou insisted she would settle the betrothal that day.

• Old Madam Zhou told Zhou Fusheng she planned to match Zhou Wanwan with her nephew and claimed the scholar would bring the family help from the Empress Dowager.
• The Grand Princess defended Zhou Wanwan, while the Old Scholar Tree revealed that the nephew was pimple-faced, fourteen, and had five bedwarming maids, one of them pregnant.
• Old Madam Zhou returned the next morning with Yang Hongmei and Feng Wancai, using the Empress Dowager’s waist token to enter the house.
• Zhou Wanwan met Feng Wancai and challenged Yang Hongmei when she criticized her, then rejected Old Madam Zhou’s claim that she could decide the marriage.
• Old Madam Zhou insisted that Zhou Wanwan would marry Feng Wancai and that they would exchange birth-date cards and settle the betrothal that day.

Zhou Wanwan had Old Madam Zhou and her relatives pay to rent a separate courtyard after they tried to force their way into her household. Old Madam Zhou revealed that she wanted Feng Wancai to marry Zhou Wanwan because she believed the girl had won tens of millions of taels, but Feng Wancai questioned whether her family’s wealth would benefit him.

• Old Madam Zhou insisted that she could interfere in Zhou Wanwan’s family affairs, but Zhou Wanwan ignored her and ate while guards restrained Old Madam Zhou, Yang Hongmei, and Feng Wancai.
• Zhou Fusheng and Liu Su'e joined Zhou Wanwan for lunch, and Zhou Fusheng refused to release the visitors despite Old Madam Zhou’s threats.
• Zhou Wanwan agreed to let Old Madam Zhou’s group stay in the side courtyard for fifty taels per person, then charged sixteen hundred taels for the thirty-two people who arrived.
• Old Madam Zhou’s group moved into the dusty courtyard, where Zhou Fuyu complained about its condition.
• Old Madam Zhou told Yang Hongmei and Feng Wancai that Zhou Wanwan had won tens of millions of taels and that she had brought them to arrange a marriage, but Feng Wancai doubted he would gain access to the family’s wealth.

Zhou Wanwan and Old Scholar Tree used supernatural tricks to frighten Feng Wancai, Yang Hongmei, Zhou Fuyu, and Zhou Qingzhou after learning the family planned to marry Feng Wancai to Zhou Wanwan for her inheritance. The visitors woke the next morning shaken and exhausted.

• Old Madam Zhou and Yang Hongmei planned to get Zhou Wanwan to marry Feng Wancai so he could benefit from her family's money.
• Zhou Wanwan and Old Scholar Tree began their scare campaign that night, terrifying Old Madam Zhou and Old Man Zhou with ghostly figures.
• Zhou Wanwan staged a wedding-night nightmare for Feng Wancai, who fainted when his veiled bride revealed a skull beneath her veil.
• Zhou Wanwan sent a rotting, maggot-covered man to seduce Yang Hongmei, who fainted after he kissed her.
• Zhou Fuyu and Zhou Qingzhou also encountered frightening beauties, and all four visitors awoke with dark circles under their eyes.

Old Madam Zhou hired a blue-robed Daoist to unleash venomous creatures on Zhou Wanwan’s household, hoping to kill its occupants and take control of their wealth. Instead, Zhou Wanwan’s spirit-fed creatures overwhelmed the attackers, leaving the Daoist unable to control the swarming courtyard.

• Old Madam Zhou refused to leave and plotted with Yang Hongmei to use a wandering practitioner and wild beasts against Zhou Wanwan’s household.
• Old Madam Zhou hired a blue-robed Daoist for 100 taels, and he summoned snakes, scorpions, and centipedes into the courtyard that night.
• Old Scholar Tree and Old Ancestor summoned the household’s own spirit-fed snakes, which gathered in far greater numbers than the Daoist’s creatures.
• Zhou Wanwan told the creatures to play with the intruders, while the Daoist’s snakes ignored his commands and spread through the courtyard.
• Thousands of snakes surrounded the Daoist and the Zhou and Feng family members, and the Daoist admitted that he could not make them retreat.

Old Madam Zhou hired a Taoist to unleash venomous creatures against Zhou Wanwan, but his master stopped the attack and made his disciple apologize. Old Madam Zhou then demanded food from Zhou Wanwan, left after being told to pay, and went to the palace to see the Empress Dowager.

• Old Madam Zhou and her family were surrounded by venomous creatures, so the young Taoist summoned his master for help.
• The old Taoist drove the creatures away, refused Old Madam Zhou’s request to send them next door, and ordered his disciple to return her silver and apologize to Zhou Wanwan.
• The old Taoist and his disciple knelt before Zhou Wanwan, then left; outside, the master warned his disciple that she could have killed them.
• Old Madam Zhou demanded lunch at Zhou Wanwan’s house, but Zhou Wanwan asked her to pay five hundred taels for the meal.
• Old Madam Zhou refused to pay and went to the palace, while Liu Su'e and Zhou Wanwan worried about her growing closeness to the Empress Dowager.

The empress dowager summoned Zhou Wanwan, the Grand Princess, and several betrothed young women to a New Year’s banquet, prompting them to suspect she had a hidden motive. At the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility, Princess Jing'an and Princess Ningyuan taunted the Grand Princess and Zhou Wanwan over property they had taken.

• Eunuch Hai delivered the empress dowager’s order summoning Zhou Wanwan and the women of the Grand Princess’s residence to the palace banquet.
• Su Zhixia, Feng Yueyao, and Shen Yunshu told Zhou Wanwan that they had also been summoned, and Zhou Wanwan urged them to attend and find out what the empress dowager intended.
• Zhou Wanwan, the Grand Princess, Liu Su'e, and Zhou Fusheng traveled to the palace, where guards searched their carriage and left their belongings in disarray.
• The Grand Princess told Zhou Wanwan that the empress dowager had harmed her mother’s clan, and Zhou Wanwan revealed that the clan was enslaved in a village in the western suburbs.
• Princess Jing'an and Princess Ningyuan mocked the Grand Princess over her estates and shops, then teased Zhou Wanwan about her own land and produce.

Zhou Wanwan traded barbs with Princess Ningyuan and Princess Jing'an, exposing their family troubles before joining Grand Princess Mingzhao at Cining Palace. There, Old Madam Zhou accused Liu Su'e and Zhou Fusheng of neglecting her, while the empress dowager questioned the betrothals of Su Zhixia, Feng Yueyao, and Shen Yunshu, and Su Zhixia said she was betrothed into the Zhou family.

• Old Ancestor and Old Scholar Tree discussed Zhou Wanwan's more than two hundred estates and the trees' nightly labor.
• Zhou Wanwan taunted Princess Ningyuan about having no son and Princess Jing'an about her youngest son's imprisonment after killing Marquis Jing'an's legitimate second son.
• Grand Princess Mingzhao took Zhou Wanwan to Cining Palace to pay respects to the empress dowager.
• Old Madam Zhou complained that her residence was unlivable and claimed Zhou Fusheng and Liu Su'e resented having her stay with them.
• The empress dowager reprimanded Zhou Fusheng and told him to be properly filial to his birth parents.
• The empress dowager asked the three young women about their betrothals, and Su Zhixia said she was betrothed into the Zhou family.

At the Empress Dowager’s banquet, Princess Jianing promoted her shops’ snacks and cosmetics, while Zhou Wanwan noticed the palace was relying on takeout and dismissing its cooks. Shangguan Wan’er then taunted Zhou Wanwan over complaints about the quality of her cosmetics, leaving their rivalry unresolved.

• The Empress Dowager questioned Zhou Fusheng, Feng Yueyao, and Shen Yunshu about their families, then rewarded Su Zhixia, Feng Yueyao, and Shen Yunshu with gifts.
• Zhou Wanwan noticed that the banquet’s seafood had come from takeout, while the imperial kitchen’s cooks worried they would all lose their jobs.
• Auntie left to seek Zhou Wanwan’s help for the imperial chefs.
• Princess Jianing arrived with snacks from her shop and boasted that her supplier’s products were beyond ordinary people’s abilities.
• Princess Jianing handed out samples of her cosmetics, and Shangguan Wan’er claimed they had cleared her acne and improved her appearance.
• Shangguan Wan’er accused Zhou Wanwan’s cosmetics of being shoddy and said someone had complained about her products.