Chapter Summaries

Zhou Wanwan cured the Second Princess’s face and Zhao Kun’s legs in exchange for valuable jewelry and 160,000 taels of silver, then warned him about Zheng Linglong. The next morning, she awoke on a dragon throne in an underground palace, with hundreds of ministers bowing to her as their emperor.

• Zhou Wanwan persuaded the Second Princess to give her a set of jewelry and cured the toxins on her face with Old Scholar Tree’s help.
• After seeing the Second Princess’s recovery, Zhao Kun asked Zhou Wanwan to treat his legs, and she charged him 160,000 taels of silver.
• Old Scholar Tree repaired Zhao Kun’s bones and sinews while Zhou Wanwan applied ordinary medicinal ingredients and guided their power through his meridians.
• Zhao Kun regained the use of his legs, and Zhou Wanwan warned him that Zheng Linglong had other lovers and that the child might not be his.
• Zhou Wanwan went to sleep exhausted and woke the next morning on a dragon throne as hundreds of kneeling ministers hailed her as Your Majesty.

Zhou Wanwan handled reports about labor shortages, the War God Hall, and Great Xia’s order to attack Great Qi, then visited the Zhao Family. Jiang Yunyao severed ties with her children, and Zhao Kun defended Zhou Wanwan after Zhao Mingzhu insulted her for coming to eat.

• Zhao Muyuan reported that the farms lacked workers and that the first level of the War God Hall was nearly ready to open; Zhou Wanwan said she had plans for Great Qi and ordered more shops and supplies.
• Old General Xie told Zhou Wanwan that Great Xia’s emperor had ordered an attack on Great Qi, and she rejected the plan and decided to use Qin Yuan’s soldiers to grow grain.
• Qin Ziyu, Qin Zixuan, and Qin Zimo argued with Jiang Yunyao over the debt, then signed a document severing their relationship with her.
• Qin Ziyu insulted Jiang Yunyao and the Jiang Family, while Jiang Yunyao said she was glad to be free of the children’s trouble.
• Zhao Mingzhu accused Zhou Wanwan of coming to sponge a meal, but Zhao Kun defended Zhou Wanwan and offered to have food prepared for her.

Zhou Wanwan diagnosed Old Madam Zhao with gu poisoning and cured her after demanding 200,000 taels. She identified Madam Lin as the culprit, but Old Madam Zhao refused to believe that Lin Shuang had poisoned her.

• Zhao Kun asked Zhou Wanwan to examine his ailing mother, despite Zhao Botong’s objections.
• Zhou Wanwan diagnosed Old Madam Zhao with poison and demanded 200,000 taels to treat her; Old Madam Zhao agreed and rebuked Zhao Botong for refusing to pay.
• Zhou Wanwan and Old Scholar Tree removed the gu worms from Old Madam Zhao, who soon woke feeling better.
• Zhou Wanwan named Madam Lin as the person who poisoned Old Madam Zhao, and Old Madam Zhao protested that Lin Shuang could not have done it.

Zhou Wanwan confronted Lin Shuang over poisoning Old Madam Zhao with a Life-Bound Gu, and the group found the Gu hidden in the kitchen. Lin Shuang confessed that she had been seeking revenge for her mother, while Old Madam Zhao disputed the story Lin Shuang had been told about their past.

• Old Madam Zhao accused Lin Shuang of putting a Gu in her, and Zhou Wanwan proposed searching for Lin Shuang’s Life-Bound Gu.
• Zhao Botong ordered his men to hit Zhou Wanwan, but Zhao Mingzhu and Zhao Yuzhu were struck instead whenever he tried.
• The Old Scholar Tree found the Life-Bound Gu in a clay pot in the kitchen, and Zhou Wanwan identified it as a Leech Gu.
• Lin Shuang admitted that she had harmed the Zhao Family to avenge Lin Yan, her mother.
• Old Madam Zhao said Lin Yan had tried to have her attacked, and that she had turned Lin Yan’s scheme against her.

Lin Shuang’s mother revealed the truth about her past and died by suicide, while Old Madam Zhao punished Lin Shuang and her daughters and rewarded Zhou Wanwan for saving her life. The crown prince of Great Qi tried to recruit Zhou Wanwan to help him deal with Consort Li, but she refused, as Lin Shuang’s master continued plotting to seize the Zhao Family’s resources.

• Lin Shuang’s mother confessed that jealousy had ruined her life, then poisoned herself after admitting she had tried to kill Old Madam Zhao.
• Lin Shuang was confined to the estate, and Old Madam Zhao sent Zhao Mingzhu and Zhao Yuzhu to the ancestral hall for punishment.
• Old Madam Zhao gave Zhou Wanwan valuable family heirlooms, welcomed her as an honored guest, and asked her to stay for the winter banquet.
• The crown prince of Great Qi told Zhou Wanwan that the War God's Tomb had opened and urged her to help him deal with the pregnant Consort Li, but Zhou Wanwan refused.
• Lin Shuang’s master rebuked her for failing and insisted that they still had to take down the Zhao Family for its resources.

After attacks left several Zhao Family males dead or injured, Zhou Wanwan was accused of bringing disaster and then asked to save the wounded. While Shen Tao agreed to investigate, Zhou Wanwan and Zhao Kun encountered a crowd accusing the Treasure-Gathering Bank of refusing to honor a bank note.

• Lin Shuang told her master that Zhou Wanwan had countered her gu poison, and he ordered the Zhao Family's males killed so their property could be seized.
• Several Zhao Family men and boys were attacked, prompting Zhao Botong to blame Zhou Wanwan until Old Madam Zhao rebuked him and asked Zhou Wanwan to save the unconscious men.
• Zhou Wanwan accused Zhao Botong of benefiting from the attacks, and the family questioned why his children had been spared.
• Shen Tao offered to help investigate, and Zhao Botong accepted after Zhou Wanwan supported the offer.
• Zhao Kun took Zhou Wanwan shopping, where they found people gathered outside the Treasure-Gathering Bank, claiming it would not let someone withdraw money against a bank note.

Zhou Wanwan helped expose a forged Treasure-Gathering Bank note and then proposed building a night market in Xin'an County. She secured Shen Tao’s agreement to develop it and recruited Zhao Kun into her service, leaving him asking what his family was good at.

• The Treasure-Gathering Bank manager explained how the bank verified its notes, and Shen Tao had constables arrest a man who tried to pass off a forgery.
• The manager showed six genuine banknote issues featuring paintings by Old Ancestor, while Zhou Wanwan, Shen Tao, and Zhao Kun went to her hot pot restaurant.
• Zhou Wanwan suggested that Shen Tao create a night market in Xin'an County, and he agreed to plan the area and give her seventy percent of its revenue.
• Zhou Wanwan asked Zhao Kun to become head of the Zhao Family and sign a contract serving her, and Zhao Kun signed and put his mark on it.
• Zhou Wanwan told Zhao Kun that he had sold himself into service rather than for his looks and asked what the Zhao Family was especially good at.

Zhou Wanwan offered to supply the Zhao Family with cheap salt and exposed Zhao Mingliang as the man behind the family’s deaths and stolen property. Zhao Kun became clan leader and tried to make the entire clan sign indenture contracts, but Old Madam Zhao defended his decision by reminding the elders that she had saved the clan from ruin.

• Zhou Wanwan offered to sell Zhao Kun salt at a price twenty percent below his current cost, and he said his mother could decide whether the Zhao Family would accept.
• Zhou Wanwan confronted Zhao Mingliang over his affair with Lin Shuang and the deaths of the Zhao Family’s men, while Zhao Kun’s people found six estates, four shops, three workshops, and farmland transferred into Zhao Mingliang’s name.
• Zhao Botong refused to save Lin Shuang’s children, and the Zhao Family drove Zhao Mingzhu, Zhao Yuzhu, Zhao Jingheng, and Zhao Jingyu out.
• Old Madam Zhao removed Zhao Botong from managing the family and put Zhao Kun in charge.
• Zhao Kun became head of the Zhao Family and demanded that everyone sign indenture contracts, threatening to smash the ancestors’ memorial tablets when the elders resisted.
• Old Madam Zhao backed Zhao Kun before the elders and reminded them that she had saved the Zhao Clan from debt and ruin with her dowry and borrowed money.

Zhou Wanwan became the Zhao Family's master after offering them cheaper, unusually fine salt, and the family signed deeds of servitude. At the Zhao Family's winter banquet the next day, Old Madam Zhao teased her guests about the divine physician who had saved her and healed the Zhao men, leaving them eager to meet the doctor.

• The Zhao elders objected to being sold until Zhao Kun introduced Zhou Wanwan as their master and she revealed she was the city lord of Yanmen Pass.
• After Zhao Kun promised the family salt at twenty percent less, Zhou Wanwan showed the elders her fine, fragrant salt, and they signed deeds of servitude.
• Old Madam Zhao invited Zhou Wanwan to the winter banquet and gave her the main courtyard and jewelry in gratitude for healing the Zhao men.
• Zhou Wanwan bathed, rested, and chose an outfit for the next morning's banquet.
• Old Madam Zhao told her prominent guests that a divine physician had saved her and healed the Zhao men, making them press to learn what the physician looked like.

At Old Madam Zhao’s digestion banquet, Zhou Wanwan revealed her divine physician reputation and refused to treat the families who insulted her. When Old Madam Ye’s grandson choked on a jujube pit, Zhou Wanwan demanded five hundred thousand taels before her subordinate would save him, and Old Madam Ye began offering valuables and money.

• Old Madam Zhao introduced Zhou Wanwan as a divine physician, but Old Madam Cui and the other madams questioned her ability and mocked her.
• Zhou Wanwan declared she would never treat the Cui, Xu, Chen, Ye, or Bai families, and Old Madam Zhao traded insults with Old Madam Ye about their families.
• A maid reported that Old Madam Ye’s grandson had choked on a jujube pit, and a servant explained that the Ye Family had brought the jujube despite a warning.
• Old Madam Ye accused the Zhao Family of plotting against her grandson, then begged Zhou Wanwan to save him after his household physicians failed.
• Zhou Wanwan demanded five hundred thousand taels for her subordinate’s help, and Old Madam Ye offered her jewelry and two hundred thousand taels as the child’s condition worsened.

Zhou Wanwan treated a child and uncovered that a young woman’s husband had concealed their unconsummated marriage and his venereal disease. At the Zhao Family banquet, Zheng Linglong confronted Zhao Kun, then Zheng Xinyi fell into the lake as Qin Zixuan prepared to rescue her.

• Zhou Wanwan charged Old Madam Ye 500,000 taels for saving a child, then told another guest that ordinary consultations cost far less.
• Zhou Wanwan discovered that a young woman had never consummated her marriage and that her husband had venereal diseases, then advised her mother to arrange a divorce.
• Zhou Wanwan’s lavish banquet impressed the guests, who learned that Zhao Kun had become head of the Zhao Family.
• Zheng Linglong confronted Zhao Kun and threatened him after he rejected her advances and told her to care for herself during her pregnancy.
• Zhou Wanwan stopped Zhao Kun from jumping into the lake to rescue Zheng Xinyi, and Jiang Yunyao warned Qin Zixuan not to intervene.

Qin Zixuan rescued Zheng Xinyi from the lake, but she claimed he had promised to marry her, while Cui Yanran arrived to end their engagement over the Qin Clan’s treatment of Jiang Yunyao. The second princess also dissolved her engagement to Qin Zimo and began returning the betrothal gifts in public.

• Qin Zixuan pulled Zheng Xinyi from the lake, and Zheng Xinyi’s mother demanded that he take responsibility for her.
• Zheng Xinyi claimed Qin Zixuan had said he wanted to marry her, but Qin Zixuan denied it and insulted her.
• Cui Yanran announced she was breaking off her engagement to Qin Zixuan because of the Qin Clan’s conduct toward Jiang Yunyao.
• Qin Zixuan and Qin Zimo defended their father’s actions and attacked Jiang Yunyao, but Cui Yanran refused to marry into the Qin Clan.
• The second princess dissolved her engagement to Qin Zimo because she had agreed to it out of respect for Jiang Yunyao, then had the betrothal gifts counted for return.

Jiang Yunyao watched the Qin family’s engagements break apart and refused their pleas to return, while her friends worried about her serving Zhou Wanwan. Qin Yuan recognized Zhou Wanwan as the girl from Yanmen Pass and accused her of being a Great Xia spy.

• Qin Ziyu accused Jiang Yunyao of ruining her sons’ futures, and Chen Yu and the second princess announced that they were breaking off their engagements with the Qin family.
• Jiang Yunyao reunited with Chen Yu and Cui Yanran, who questioned why she had become Zhou Wanwan’s servant, but Jiang Yunyao insisted she served Zhou Wanwan willingly.
• Qin Zimo, Qin Zixuan, Qin Ziyu, and Qin Yuan urged Jiang Yunyao to return to the Qin Clan, but she refused and told them to focus on their debts.
• Cui Yanran and Chen Yu demanded that Qin Yuan repay what he owed their families.
• Zhou Wanwan reminded Qin Yuan of their encounter at Yanmen Pass, and Qin Yuan recognized her as a girl from Great Xia and ordered his guards to seize her as a spy.

Qin Yuan accused Zhou Wanwan of being a spy, but she won the crowd’s sympathy and took payment from the second princess to investigate three potential husbands. Meanwhile, Jiang Yunyao produced proof that Qin Yuan had authorized huge wartime debts, and he tried to leave her responsible for repaying them.

• Qin Yuan accused Zhou Wanwan of spying, but Shen Tao, the crown prince, Old Madam Zhao, and others questioned his treatment of the six-year-old.
• The second princess said she could choose her own husband and paid Zhou Wanwan a hundred thousand taels to investigate three men.
• Qin Zimo and the crown prince urged the second princess to consider Qin Zimo, but she rejected the match because the Qin Clan was heavily in debt.
• The Cui Family and Chen Yu presented records of Qin Yuan’s debts, and Jiang Yunyao showed his letter authorizing her to borrow money and grain for the army.
• Zheng Linglong tore up Jiang Yunyao’s letter, but Jiang produced copies, while Zhou Wanwan laughed at Qin Yuan for denying responsibility.
• Qin Yuan insisted Jiang Yunyao should repay the debts herself, and Shen Tao remarked that she had suffered a terrible misfortune.

Qin Yuan refused to repay the Cui and Chen families, while Zhou Wanwan arranged a marriage between Zhao Kun and Jin Xinyue and exposed Zheng Linglong’s scheme against Zhao Kun. Zhou then went to the Qin Clan, where Zheng Linglong tried to persuade Qin Zixuan to marry Zheng Xinyi for her substantial dowry, but the household’s unpaid wages remained an immediate problem.

• Qin Yuan dismissed the Cui and Chen families’ accusations and left without agreeing to repay their money.
• Zhou Wanwan chose Jin Xinyue as Zhao Kun’s bride despite Madam Jin’s attempt to promote Jin Mingyue, and warned Zhao Kun to treat his wife well.
• Zhou Wanwan told Zhao Kun that Zheng Linglong had arranged his ambush and then staged his rescue to win his gratitude.
• At the Qin Clan, Qin Zixuan refused to marry Zheng Xinyi, but Zheng Linglong urged him to reconsider because of her large dowry and his upcoming imperial examination.
• Steward Qin told Zheng Linglong that the previous month’s wages were due, and she said she had no money to pay them.

After the Qin Clan’s servants quit and took the household’s valuables to cover their unpaid wages, the family was left destitute and in debt. Qin Yuan sent Qin Zimo and Qin Zixuan to summon Jiang Yunyao, who remained indifferent as she ate breakfast with Zhou Wanwan.

• Steward Qin told Zheng Linglong that the Qin Clan had no money or property left and still owed substantial debts, so she dismissed the unpaid servants without offering their wages.
• The servants looted the Qin residence and left, while Zhou Wanwan learned that Steward Qin was honest and capable and decided to hire him.
• Zheng Linglong discovered that her room had been emptied, and Qin Zimo, Qin Zixuan, and Qin Ziyu reported that their belongings were gone too.
• Qin Zimo found Qin Yuan at a brothel and told him the house had been cleaned out; back home, Qin Yuan and Zheng Linglong argued over their ruined finances as Old Madam Qin demanded Jiang Yunyao’s return.
• Qin Yuan sent Qin Zimo and Qin Zixuan to fetch Jiang Yunyao, while Zhou Wanwan told her they were coming and Jiang Yunyao said she no longer cared whether they came.

Jiang Yunyao refused Qin Zimo and Qin Zixuan’s demand that she return to the Qin Clan, and Zhou Wanwan took her to inspect Great Qi’s border troops. Zhou Wanwan entered Yong'an City with a military tally and demanded that its deputy commanders obey her, while Deputy Commander Zhang recognized her and turned pale.

• Jiang Yunyao rejected Qin Zimo’s request to return and treat the Qin Clan’s problems, reminding him and Qin Zixuan that the clan had cast her out and left her family burdened with its debts.
• Qin Zixuan declared that Jiang Yunyao was no longer his mother, and Jiang Yunyao said she had stopped being their mother long ago.
• Zhou Wanwan brought Jiang Yunyao and Zhao Kun to Yong'an City, where she presented a black military tally to the guards and ordered them to summon the deputy commanders.
• Zhou Wanwan walked through the soldiers’ city with Jiang Yunyao and Zhao Kun before Deputy Commanders Zhang and Feng arrived with other officers.
• Zhou Wanwan asked whether possessing the tally meant the troops had to obey her, while Deputy Commander Feng challenged her and threatened to cut her down.
• Deputy Commander Zhang recognized Zhou Wanwan’s face and turned pale with fright.

Zhou Wanwan confronted Great Qi deputy commanders Zhang Yu and Feng Xiaoyao at their frontier camp, revealing that Feng had once tried to shoot her. She explained that their families were safe guests at Yanmen Pass and challenged the commanders to consider following her despite their fears of betraying Great Qi.

• Zhang Yu recognized Zhou Wanwan and tried to make Feng Xiaoyao kneel, but Feng mocked her until she reminded him of the time he had tried to shoot her.
• Feng Xiaoyao recognized Zhou Wanwan and knelt, while she asked to see the soldiers’ living quarters and listened as he described the camp’s lack of supplies.
• Zhou Wanwan showed the commanders the Great Qi military tally and suggested that they could avoid fighting, but Feng Xiaoyao refused to betray his country because the emperor held his family in the capital.
• Zhang Yu begged Zhou Wanwan to spare their families, and she explained that she had invited them to Yanmen Pass as guests and offered to let the commanders visit them.

Zhou Wanwan brought Zhang Yu, Feng Xiaoyao, and the generals to Yanmen Pass, where they reunited with families who had been rescued and learned the court and Qin Yuan had abandoned them. Furious at the betrayal, they swore loyalty to Zhou Wanwan and signed contracts of servitude, while she showed them the farm and told them their children could attend school.

• Zhou Wanwan led the generals through Yanmen Pass and showed them the estate where their families were living.
• Zhang Yu and Feng Xiaoyao reunited with their wives and children, who explained that they had been confined and left without food until Master rescued them.
• Jiang Yunyao gave the generals letters showing that Qin Yuan and the court had agreed to abandon their families and let Qin Yuan's aides take their property.
• Zhang Yu and Feng Xiaoyao believed the letters, and the generals swore loyalty to Zhou Wanwan and signed contracts selling themselves into servitude.
• Zhou Wanwan offered to show them the farm and explained that their children could attend free literary or martial academies.

Zhou Wanwan revealed her imperial identity and the treants on her estate to Feng Xiaoyao, Zhang Yu, and the Great Qi commanders, who agreed to follow her. Qin Yuan, desperate to repay over a hundred thousand taels of gold in debt, led a huge army to suppress bandits in the mountains near Yanmen Pass, while Zhou Wanwan remained unaware of the danger as she reviewed her shops’ profits.

• Shen Chaoge, Qin Shan, Old General Xie, and the other commanders bowed to Zhou Wanwan and addressed her as Your Majesty, shocking Feng Xiaoyao and Zhang Yu.
• Zhou Wanwan showed the commanders the moving treants on her estate and warned them to keep her secrets as the treants prepared a feast.
• Feng Xiaoyao, Zhang Yu, and the soldiers enjoyed the estate’s food and agreed to follow Zhou Wanwan.
• Qin Yuan told Feng Xiaoyao and Zhang Yu that his clan had been stripped of its wealth and that he owed over a hundred thousand taels of gold.
• Qin Yuan ordered Zhang Yu to bring his soldiers, then led an army of over two hundred thousand to the mountains near Yanmen Pass to kill the people he called bandits.
• Zhou Wanwan reviewed the shops’ profits at morning court and celebrated that they had increased more than tenfold.