Chapter Summaries

Zhou Wanwan took the elementary scholar exam, finishing quickly before sleeping and eating a lavish lunch. During the exam, Zhao Tiangui signed a contract of servitude in exchange for food, and the chapter ended with his family learning he had sold himself to Zhou Wanwan.

• Shen Tao led Zhou Wanwan through a private search route and into the examination grounds because she was a girl.
• Old Scholar Tree prepared Zhou Wanwan’s booth, and she slept until the exam papers arrived, then finished her paper in half an hour.
• Zhou Wanwan offered Zhao Tiangui food in exchange for signing a contract of servitude, and he accepted before eating and falling asleep.
• Zhao Tiangui wrote that he could not answer the exam, while Zhou Wanwan slept through the afternoon.
• After the exam, Zhao Tiangui followed Zhou Wanwan and told his attendants he had become her servant.
• Zhao Tiangui’s attendants reported the news to Old Master Zhao, who was shocked and furious.

Zhou Wanwan welcomed Zhao Tiangui to her estate, then saved his gravely ill father, Old Master Zhao, with Lingbao’s rootlets and medicinal herbs. After Old Master Zhao recovered, Zhou Wanwan proposed working with the Zhao Family and its extensive trade network.

• Zhou Wanwan brought Cui Wenyuan and Zhao Tiangui to her estate, where the Old Scholar Tree praised Zhao Tiangui’s business talent and suggested training him.
• Old Master Zhao arrived in a rage after learning Zhao Tiangui had sold himself to Zhou Wanwan, then fainted when Zhao Tiangui admitted he had written “I don’t know how” on his imperial examination.
• The Old Scholar Tree diagnosed Old Master Zhao as critically ill, and Zhou Wanwan used Lingbao’s rootlets and medicinal herbs to treat him.
• Doctor Ji confirmed Old Master Zhao’s pulse had recovered from a death pulse, and Old Master Zhao thanked Zhou Wanwan and offered to work for her.
• Zhou Wanwan served a lavish meal, then told Old Master Zhao she wanted to cooperate with the Zhao Family because of its broad trade channels.

Zhou Wanwan arranged for the Zhao Family to help sell her estate’s grain, herbs, tea, and wine, then traveled back to Yanmen Pass with Zhao Kun, Zhao Tiangui, Cui Wenyuan, and Shen Tao aboard Old Scholar Tree. The group reached Yanmen Pass and saw its imposing walls and Ironclad Army, contradicting Zhao Kun’s gloomy stories about the place.

• Zhou Wanwan showed Old Master Zhao her estate’s crops and medicinal herbs and offered his family some sales rights in Great Qi.
• Old Master Zhao agreed to sell the goods, and Zhou Wanwan set off for Yanmen Pass with Zhao Kun, Zhao Tiangui, Cui Wenyuan, and Shen Tao.
• As they rode on the walking tree, Zhao Kun and the others speculated that Yanmen Pass was desperately poor, prompting them to promise donations of grain and money.
• Zhou Wanwan told them they were overthinking things and accepted their offers to provide porridge and grain.
• The group arrived at Yanmen Pass, where Shen Tao questioned Zhao Kun’s claim that the walls were ruined, and Zhao Tiangui admired the Ironclad Army’s armor and weapons.

Zhou Wanwan returned to Yanmen Pass, where the soldiers and people welcomed her as their city lord, and confronted Old Madam Zhou, who suspected she was not the original Zhou Wanwan. After settling in, Zhou Wanwan prepared to discuss Great Qi’s mobilization at court, while her new followers struggled to understand their roles in the city.

• The soldiers recognized Zhou Wanwan at Yanmen Pass and knelt to welcome her, surprising Shen Tao, Zhao Kun, Zhao Tiangui, and Cui Wenyuan with the city’s imposing walls and prosperity.
• The people knelt as Zhou Wanwan entered the city, and Cui Wenyuan and Zhao Tiangui reacted to discovering that their young master was the city lord.
• Old Madam Zhou confronted Zhou Wanwan outside the city lord’s residence, accused her of being someone else, and threatened to expose her; Zhou Wanwan ordered the soldiers to kill her if she tried to enter.
• Zheng Xing'an and Zheng Yunsui welcomed Zhou Wanwan home, and she bathed before saying she would discuss Great Qi’s imperial edict ordering its soldiers into battle at court.
• Zheng Xing'an showed Shen Tao, Zhao Kun, Zhao Tiangui, and Cui Wenyuan their dormitory and told them they would attend court, leaving Shen Tao confused about whose emperor he was expected to obey.

Shen Tao and his companions discovered that Zhou Wanwan was the emperor of Great Xia when they watched her hold court beneath Yanmen Pass. They also learned that many familiar people from Great Qi had joined her, and the chapter ended with Zhao Kun recognizing children from prominent clans among the officials.

• Shen Tao and his companions settled into Yanmen Pass, where Zhao Tiangui learned that Zhou Wanwan's status guaranteed him a place at Yan Mountain Academy.
• Zheng Xing'an led them to watch court in the underground palace, where they saw Zhou Wanwan seated on the dragon throne.
• Zhao Muyuan reported that Crushed Stone Fort's shops had earned more than 200,000 taels of silver in the past month, and Zhou Wanwan said she expected to win Tongtai Bank through a bet.
• The General Who Proclaims Might recognized Shen Tao as Imperial Uncle Shen, and Shen Tao explained that the Shen Clan had pledged loyalty to Zhou Wanwan.
• The General Who Proclaims Might told Shen Tao that Great Qi's generals received salaries from both kingdoms, while Zhao Kun recognized children from prominent Great Qi clans among the people at court.

Zhou Wanwan ruled Yanmen Pass without declaring a country, then secretly took iron ore from Zhao Lili's mine to supply her workshops. The next day, Princess Jianing arrived at the city lord's residence and caused a scene when the guards refused to let her in.

• Zhou Wanwan told her ministers that Yanmen Pass needed iron and said she would find ore, while explaining that she planned to stay independent and avoid drawing other countries' attention.
• Zhou Wanwan rested, ate dinner with Shen Tao and the others, then traveled with them to Zhao Lili's iron mine.
• Old Scholar Tree's disciple put the mine's workers to sleep, and the trees mined all the ore and carried it away before morning.
• Zhou Wanwan sent the ore to the workshop for smelting and went back to sleep.
• Princess Jianing demanded entry to the city lord's residence, but the Yanmen Pass guards ignored her, and her own guard warned that they could not force their way in.

Princess Jianing clashed with Zhou Wanwan over guards, while Shangguan Wan'er and Old Madam Zhou confronted Zhou Wanwan about her family and a proposed marriage. Zhou Wanwan agreed to keep the ten-year-old Prince of Dai with her, but treated him as her little brother, leaving him following her around Yanmen Pass.

• Princess Jianing dismissed Zhou Wanwan's guards, bought ten guards from the Tongtai Escort Agency, and bragged about them to Zhou Wanwan.
• Shangguan Wan'er accused Zhou Wanwan of being unable to afford entry to the War God's Tomb and criticized her for turning away Old Madam Zhou.
• Old Madam Zhou and Old Consort Hui announced that Zhou Wanwan should marry the Prince of Dai, but Zhou Wanwan refused to become his wife.
• After learning the Prince of Dai had a six-city fief near the frontier, Zhou Wanwan agreed to let him stay with her and raise him like her son.
• Zhou Wanwan told the Prince of Dai to call her big sister, and he agreed and followed her around.

Zhou Wanwan healed the Prince of Dai, who willingly signed over his fief and became her servant. She showed Shen Tao and Zhao Kun the enormous Huaishuo City, where soldiers from four nations trained and lived together, and offered Zhao Tiangui a look at Yan Mountain Academy.

• The Old Scholar Tree cleared the clotted blood from the Prince of Dai's brain, and the Prince of Dai remembered that his mother consort had injured him with a vase.
• The Prince of Dai willingly signed a deed of servitude to Zhou Wanwan and offered her his six-city fief in gratitude for saving him.
• Zhou Wanwan explained to Shen Tao why she did not want to become emperor of Great Xia and said armies from four nations had gathered at Yanmen Pass.
• Zhou Wanwan took Shen Tao, Zhao Kun, and Zhao Tiangui to Huaishuo City, where soldiers, their families, and people from four nations lived and trained.
• Zhao Tiangui admired the army, and Zhou Wanwan offered to take him to see Yan Mountain Academy.

Zhou Wanwan brought the Prince of Dai, Shen Tao, and Zhao Kun to Yan Mountain Academy, where she challenged arrogant Yunheng Academy disciples to three contests for rare books and a million-tael wager. The academies’ teachers gathered to witness the contest, and the chapter ended before the challenges began.

• Zhou Wanwan promised to send the Prince of Dai, Shen Tao, and Zhao Kun to Yan Mountain Academy to study literature and martial arts.
• At Yan Mountain Academy, Yunheng Academy disciples mocked its students and coveted its collection of rare books.
• Zhou Wanwan proposed three contests, offering Yunheng Academy the rare books if it won, and agreed to wager a million taels of silver.
• Yue Yunxiao produced a million-tael wager, and Zhou Wanwan matched it with a bank note from the Treasure-Gathering Bank.
• Dean Zhu and other great scholars arrived after hearing that the academies’ students were fighting, but found the sides gathered peacefully instead.
• Dean Bai urged Yue Yunxiao and Yunheng Academy’s other final disciples to win and protect their academy’s reputation.

Zhou Wanwan’s academy defeated Yunheng Academy in poetry and policy essays, winning the wager for one million taels. Hu Qing challenged Zhou Wanwan to an archery contest for another five hundred thousand taels, and the chapter ended as she chose a small bow and he mocked her chances.

• Dean Bai and the other deans agreed to settle their wager with contests in poetry, policy essays, and archery, and both sides put up one million taels.
• Meng Yan beat Fang Zhongwen in the poetry contest with a poem about the battlefield, and the scholars praised his work.
• Han Xiuyuan defeated Yue Yunxiao in the policy essay contest by addressing the danger posed by powerful feudal princes, giving Yan Mountain Academy two wins.
• Hu Qing challenged Zhou Wanwan to an archery contest for five hundred thousand taels, and they each put up the money.
• At the martial practice ground, Zhou Wanwan chose a small bow while Hu Qing mocked its power and doubted she could hit the target.

Zhou Wanwan defeated Yunheng Academy in an archery wager, donated her winnings to Yan Mountain Academy, and promised to help Xie Guangyuan’s wife. Old Scholar Tree diagnosed the wife with breast rock and said treatment was possible but would be costly.

• Zhou Wanwan hit the archery bullseye and won the wager, leaving Hu Qing and Yunheng Academy with 1.5 million taels to pay.
• Zhou Wanwan hosted a lavish feast and announced that she would donate all her winnings to Yan Mountain Academy.
• Hu Qing listed the requirements for becoming the number one academy under heaven, and Zhou Wanwan vowed Yan Mountain Academy would reach that goal.
• Xie Guangyuan asked to join Yan Mountain Academy and told Zhou Wanwan that physicians could not cure his wife’s illness.
• Zhou Wanwan went with Xie Guangyuan to see his wife, and Old Scholar Tree diagnosed breast rock and said it could be treated with costly medicinal ingredients.

Zhou Wanwan and Old Scholar Tree treated Madam Xie, and she recovered enough to wake up as Xie Guangyuan prepared to move his family to Yan Mountain Academy. Meanwhile, Zhao Lili learned that mountain spirits had emptied her mine, received two replacement mineral veins from the Great Qi emperor, and faced his proposal to make their child crown prince.

• Zhou Wanwan and Old Scholar Tree cleared most of the toxins from Madam Xie's body, and Xie Guangyuan learned she might live another ten or twenty years.
• Xie Guangyuan thanked Zhou Wanwan and agreed to move his family to Yan Mountain Academy.
• Zhao Lili learned the Jianghu Alliance would no longer investigate for her because she had become a consort, then paid the Thousand Mechanisms Pavilion to identify who had emptied her mine.
• The Thousand Mechanisms Pavilion told Zhao Lili that mountain spirits had taken the mine's contents, but she dismissed the explanation and suspected the empress.
• Zhao Lili pinched the swaddled child and complained to the Great Qi emperor, who gave her two mineral veins and said he wanted their child to become crown prince.
• Zhao Lili objected that the empress's child should be crown prince, and the Great Qi emperor told her he wanted her to become empress.

Zhou Wanwan returned to the Cui residence as the family learned that Cui Wenyuan’s two half-brothers could not have children, leaving him as the Cui Family’s only hope of continuing its line. Cui Wenyuan then passed the tongsheng examination, while the young men from Old Madam Cui’s family failed.

• Zhao Lili coaxed the emperor of Great Qi into agreeing that the empress’s child should be crown prince, then arranged to seize two iron mines for Zhou Wanwan’s forces.
• Zhou Wanwan returned to the Cui residence to check the examination results and found Old Madam Cui arguing with Old Master Cui over Cui Wenyuan.
• Old Madam Cui’s relatives mocked Cui Wenyuan and boasted that one of their own would pass the examination.
• A household physician found that Eldest Master Cui and Second Master Cui would never have children, while Cui Wenyuan could have children, so Old Master Cui declared that the family would center on him.
• A messenger announced that Cui Wenyuan had passed as a tongsheng, while none of Old Madam Cui’s relatives had passed.

Zhou Wanwan came first in the tongsheng exam and claimed the Sun Family’s bank and escort agency under their wager. At the Cui Family celebration, she accused Wang Baochuan of being pregnant, and Shen Tao proposed summoning physicians to verify it.

• Shen Tao announced that Zhou Wanwan had placed first in the tongsheng exam, and she presented the contract requiring the Sun Family to hand over its bank and escort agency in Xin'an Prefecture.
• Old Master Cui celebrated Zhou Wanwan’s result while Wang Cuizhi and her sister-in-law discussed arranging a marriage between Cui Wenyuan and Wang Baochuan.
• Zhou Wanwan said Wang Baochuan was three months pregnant, prompting Cui Wenyuan to refuse the proposed marriage and Wang Baochuan to weep.
• Sun Tai accused Zhou Wanwan of slandering Wang Baochuan and cheating in the exam, but Shen Tao defended her and offered to summon physicians to check Wang Baochuan.

Zhou Wanwan exposed Wang Baochuan’s pregnancy, ending the Wang Family’s attempt to marry her to Second Master Cui and prompting the Second Princess to break their engagement. She demanded half the Cui Family’s fortune in exchange for curing the Cui brothers, and the chapter ended after a physician confirmed that they had been cured.

• Zhou Wanwan called in female doctors, who confirmed that Wang Baochuan was three months pregnant, and the Cui household threw her and the eldest sister-in-law out.
• The Second Princess ended her engagement to Second Master Cui and reclaimed her betrothal gifts.
• Zhou Wanwan refused to treat the Cui brothers without payment and demanded half the Cui Family’s fortune; Cui Wenyuan delivered her detailed list of requested property.
• Old Master Cui and Old Madam Cui agreed to transfer the requested estates, wooded mountains, and shops to Zhou Wanwan, who then treated the two brothers.
• The residence physician examined the Cui brothers and confirmed that they had been cured.

Zhou Wanwan visited the Sun Family to claim its banks and escort agencies, but Old Master Sun had her locked up at an estate and demanded she surrender her own properties. She and Old Scholar Tree escaped her room and inspected nearby estates, where Sun Family managers discovered Zhou Wanwan’s unusually productive crops and asked to buy her seeds.

• Zhou Wanwan arrived at the Sun Family to take over its banks and escort agencies, but Old Master Sun ordered her imprisoned and demanded she hand over all her property.
• Zhou Wanwan was taken to a Sun Family manor outside the city, where she and Old Scholar Tree planned to assess the family’s assets and redecorated her room with items from its storeroom.
• Zhou Wanwan and Old Scholar Tree escaped through a window and inspected a nearby estate, finding its soil too barren to grow grain.
• Managers from neighboring estates visited Zhou Wanwan’s estate and saw rice and wheat growing in winter, along with abundant vegetables, ginseng, and watermelons.
• The estate manager told the visitors that the seeds had been specially bred and went to ask Zhou Wanwan whether they could buy them.

Zhou Wanwan’s estate manager sold costly, high-yield grain and fruit seeds to neighboring estate managers, while Zhou Wanwan gathered produce and returned to the Sun Family’s estate. She and Old Scholar Tree emptied the Sun Family’s storehouse and mined its gold overnight, leaving Zhou Wanwan satisfied with the haul.

• Zhou Wanwan’s estate manager sold seed lots, promising crops that matured quickly and offering compensation if his claims were false.
• The estate managers bought grain, watermelon, and other seeds after tasting Zhou Wanwan’s seedless watermelon.
• Zhou Wanwan collected melons, fruit, vegetables, chickens, and fish before returning to the Sun Family’s estate.
• Old Scholar Tree told Zhou Wanwan that the Sun Family was moving out and that Zhao Lili’s iron mine was already being worked; Zhou Wanwan urged caution despite their powerful trees.
• Zhou Wanwan and Old Scholar Tree took the Sun Family’s treasures and spent the night mining its gold, then Zhou Wanwan wondered whether the Sun Family regretted inviting her as a guest.

Zhou Wanwan was threatened by the Sun Family but forced them to surrender their bank and escort agency, then faced Madam Shen’s accusations at her estate. The chapter ended as Shen Tao arrived while Madam Shen was ordering Zhou Wanwan seized.

• Old Master Sun accused Zhou Wanwan of taking the Sun Family’s property and ordered her tortured, but the Old Scholar Tree and Old Ancestor turned the punishments on the Sun Family.
• Old Master Sun agreed to sign over the bank and escort agency, and Zhou Wanwan left the torture chamber.
• Madams from prominent families visited Zhou Wanwan’s estate after hearing about her seed grain, and Madam Shen accused her of having an improper relationship with Shen Tao.
• Zhou Wanwan taunted Madam Shen with an accusation about her cousin, and Madam Shen ordered her men to drag Zhou Wanwan away and beat her.
• Shen Tao arrived at the estate with a group of people, intending to discuss the price of Zhou Wanwan’s seed grain.

Zhou Wanwan exposed Qin Shuang’s affair with her cousin, prompting Shen Tao to demand a divorce, while letters brought the dispute before Old General Qin. As the guests enjoyed Zhou Wanwan’s estate, she revealed that she knew more about the Qin family and enraged the general.

• Shen Tao confronted Qin Shuang after Zhou Wanwan accused her of having an affair with her cousin, and he declared he would divorce her.
• Qin Shuang summoned Old General Qin, but Zhou Wanwan presented letters from Qin Shuang’s room that appeared to document the affair.
• Zhou Wanwan invited the ladies to explore her estate, where they saw rice, rice paddy fish, and strawberries while she and the others continued the family dispute.
• Qin Shuang denied the accusations and called the letters forged, while Shen Tao pointed out that their sons resembled her cousin.
• Zhou Wanwan told Old General Qin that he had raised another man’s children, and he ordered his men to seize her.

Zhou Wanwan exposed Madam Qin’s affair and revealed that Qin Shuang and her brothers were not General Qin’s biological children, prompting General Qin to divorce Madam Qin. After Shen Tao and Qin Shuang completed their divorce formalities, Qin Changkong arrived with troops.

• Zhou Wanwan challenged Old General Qin to sign an indenture, betting that she could prove Qin Shuang and his sons were not his biological children.
• Zhou Wanwan took Old General Qin to an estate, where he overheard Madam Qin confess that her three children were fathered by her lover and that she hoped their son would gain a title through the crown prince.
• General Qin confronted Madam Qin and beat her and her lover, while Zhou Wanwan revealed that Qin Shuang and her brothers had helped conceal the affair.
• Shen Tao rejected Qin Shuang’s excuses and completed their divorce formalities, while General Qin decided to divorce Madam Qin.
• Qin Changkong arrived with a troop of men just after the divorces were completed.