Chapter Summaries

Zhou Wanwan settled her people in Black Wind Stronghold and planned to build homes and grow crops there. That evening, Old Scholar Tree arrived with more than thirty old friends from Azure Dragon Mountain Stronghold.

• Tie Niu showed Zhou Wanwan around Black Wind Stronghold and agreed to divide the land between their groups.
• Tie Niu explained how hardship had driven him and his companions to become bandits, and reassured Zhou Wanwan that her people could settle without using his food stores.
• Zhou Wanwan ordered Liu Xiuyuan to tear down the drafty shacks, keeping some for livestock and using the rest to shelter the group for the night.
• Zhou Wanwan told Liu Su'e to feed the villagers and planned to plant greenhouse vegetables and replant the sweet potatoes.
• Big Scholar Tree arrived at the stronghold with more than thirty old friends from Azure Dragon Mountain Stronghold and offered their help to Zhou Wanwan.

Zhou Wanwan and Lingbao directed more than a thousand tree spirits to build houses and prepare the land overnight while Zhou Wanwan infused the plants with spiritual power. The villagers and Tie Niu woke to find five brick-and-tile houses and planted greenhouses, and Tie Niu asked them to help build houses for his stronghold.

• Zhou Wanwan learned that the tree spirits Lingbao had gathered came from Azure Dragon Mountain Stronghold and agreed to have them help build houses.
• Lingbao instructed the tree spirits to dig foundations and stack bricks while Zhou Wanwan channeled energy into them.
• The tree spirits built five large brick-and-tile houses, and Zhou Wanwan had them prepare twenty greenhouses and plant herbs, sweet potatoes, and vegetables.
• Zhou Wanwan spent the night infusing the plants with spiritual power, then drank water from Lingbao and fell asleep exhausted.
• Liu Xiuyuan, Zhou Fusheng, Liu Su'e, and the others woke to discover the houses and greenhouses, then wondered who had built them.
• Tie Niu arrived, marveled at the new houses, and asked the group to help his stronghold build brick-and-tile houses in the future.

Zhou Wanwan woke after a day of sleep and planned to exchange 100,000 taels of silver for grain to support Liu Family Village and the people from Black Wind Stronghold. When she went to the city with vegetables and charcoal, she discovered that Cheng Xiao had posted ugly wanted portraits of her and her companions at the gate.

• Azure Dragon Mountain Stronghold's chief discovered that hundreds of trees had vanished overnight, but his men found no tracks or footprints.
• Zhou Wanwan woke up, and Liu Su'e urged her not to overwork herself despite her role as Liu clan leader.
• Zhou Wanwan told Liu Su'e she would exchange 100,000 taels of silver for grain and help feed the people from Black Wind Stronghold.
• Zhou Wanwan ate lotus-leaf chicken, then set out for the city with Liu Su'e, Liu Xiuyuan, and more than twenty people carrying vegetables and charcoal.
• At the city gate, Liu Xiuyuan spotted wanted notices bearing Zhou Wanwan's companions' portraits, and Zhou Wanwan angrily complained that hers had been drawn terribly.

Zhou Wanwan forced her way into the city despite the guards’ toll, while Cheng Xiao discussed ways to raise money and agreed to meet Hai Yan. Hai Yan revealed his deep hatred of the Feng Clan, leaving Cheng Xiao with a potential ally against the family that had ruined him.

• Zhou Wanwan ordered Liu Xiuyuan to take their group into the city, where the guards demanded fees for the people and their vegetables.
• A guard recognized Zhou Wanwan, fainted, and the crowd rushed through the gate without paying the toll.
• At an opera house, Jiang Wu urged Cheng Xiao to extort merchants, litigants, gentry, and landowners, but Cheng Xiao feared the court would discover it.
• Jiang Wu suggested Cheng Xiao meet Hai Yan for protection against the Feng Clan, and Cheng Xiao agreed.
• Hai Yan told Cheng Xiao that the Feng Clan had destroyed his family and that he hated them.

Eunuch Hai persuaded Cheng Xiao to join a smuggling scheme targeting the Snow Khanate and other neighboring countries, promising wealth and a promotion. Cheng Xiao agreed, eager to destroy the Feng Clan, and ended by vowing to make Feng Jiao beg for mercy.

• Cheng Xiao told Eunuch Hai that Feng Jiao had cheated him out of more than a million taels, and Eunuch Hai proposed working together.
• Eunuch Hai revealed that the Feng Clan secretly had a money house and a private army, leaving Cheng Xiao shocked by Feng Jiao’s secrecy.
• Cheng Xiao agreed to help Eunuch Hai smuggle goods across the border after Eunuch Hai promised him a share of the profits and a possible promotion to prefect.
• Eunuch Hai arranged for two of his men to assist Cheng Xiao and left, while Cheng Xiao promised Jiang Wu a place in his future success.
• Cheng Xiao vowed to crush the Feng Clan and make Feng Jiao beg for mercy.

Zhou Wanwan visited Feng Jiao and Feng Yueyao, then used medicinal powder to escape a yamen encirclement. She led her family to the county yamen to see an old friend and teased a proud pine tree, where the chapter left her as another pine approached.

• Zhou Wanwan reunited with Feng Yueyao and told Feng Jiao she had moved because Jiang Wu planned to deal with Liu Family Village.
• Zhou Wanwan sold vegetables and charcoal to Feng Jiao’s steward, while Feng Jiao told her that nearly two boatloads of grain were being transported to the city.
• Zhou Wanwan learned from nearby trees that yamen officers had surrounded Feng Jiao’s home and warned Feng Jiao not to fight them.
• Zhou Wanwan had Lingbao scatter medicinal powder at the back gate, incapacitating the officers long enough for the group to leave.
• Zhou Wanwan led her family to the county yamen and joked with a boastful pine tree before another pine approached.

Zhou Wanwan recruited a little pine tree at the county yamen, then raided the yamen and seized a shipment of grain, ironware, and a boat intended for the Snow Khanate. She returned to Black Wind Stronghold with the animated trees, leaving Liu Su'e frightened by their behavior.

• The little pine tree begged Zhou Wanwan to take it along, and she gave it energy and brought it to the stronghold’s side.
• The pine tree told Zhou Wanwan that the county magistrate was corrupt and that grain and ironware were being sent to the Snow Khanate in collusion with Eunuch Hai.
• Old Scholar Tree and the other trees dug up the county yamen’s buildings and carried them back to Black Wind Stronghold.
• Zhou Wanwan followed the little pine tree to the docks, where Old Scholar Tree’s medicinal powder knocked out the people unloading the shipment.
• Zhou Wanwan ordered the trees to take the cargo and the boat, and they carried them back to the stronghold.
• Liu Su'e asked Zhou Wanwan why the trees acted like monsters and helped her.

Zhou Wanwan reassured Zhou Fusheng that she could heal his leg and used Old Scholar Tree’s roots to realign his bones. After leaving him to recover, she went to inspect the buildings the trees had brought back from the county yamen.

• Zhou Fusheng worried that his leg could not be healed, and Zhou Wanwan promised to treat it while Liu Su'e reminded him why their family had left home.
• Zhou Wanwan urged Zhou Fusheng and Liu Su'e to learn to read and write so they could manage the household and support their sons’ future ambitions.
• Zhou Wanwan prepared to treat Zhou Fusheng’s leg conservatively and asked Old Scholar Tree to help realign the bones with its roots.
• Old Scholar Tree adjusted Zhou Fusheng’s bones under Zhou Wanwan’s direction, and she said he would recover with rest and Lingbao bathwater.
• Zhou Wanwan went to the yamen and learned that the trees had brought back the county yamen’s buildings, leaving behind only the latrine.

Cheng Xiao failed to find the fugitives he accused Feng Jiao of hiding and tried to pressure her into returning to him by threatening Zhou Wanwan. After thieves robbed the county yamen of its tax silver, Cheng Xiao rushed back and found its gates shut.

• Cheng Xiao accused Feng Jiao of harboring fugitives and offered to take her back as his principal wife if she handed them over.
• Feng Jiao refused to return, and Cheng Xiao ordered the yamen runners to search her residence for Zhou Wanwan and the other fugitives.
• Jiang Wu reported that the search had found no suspicious people, so Cheng Xiao withdrew his men after Feng Jiao warned him about her family’s influence.
• Zhou Fuyu told Cheng Xiao that thieves had robbed the county yamen, taking more than a thousand taels of tax silver.
• Cheng Xiao stormed back to the county yamen and found its gates tightly shut.

Cheng Xiao discovered that the county yamen had been stripped of its buildings and then learned that the eunuchs’ two boats had also been hijacked, causing him to faint. Meanwhile, Zhou Wanwan traveled with Lingbao and the old locust tree into the mountains, where they found dozens of frozen snakes and no sign of Lingbao’s other friends or Grandpa Purple Lingzhi.

• Cheng Xiao found the county yamen’s buildings and belongings missing, and his investigation turned up only a witness who claimed to have seen a talking tree.
• The eunuchs told Cheng Xiao that both of their boats had been hijacked, and he fainted after hearing the news.
• Zhou Wanwan prepared several kinds of wine and traveled with Lingbao and the old locust tree to visit Grandpa Purple Lingzhi.
• The old locust tree scattered a pack of starving wolves that tried to attack Zhou Wanwan.
• Lingbao found dozens of frozen snakes and asked Zhou Wanwan to use her energy to save them, while searching for his missing mountain friends.

Zhou Wanwan and Lingbao rescued the medicinal herbs from palace agents and revived them with energy. The herbs suspected Xie Cheng'en of revealing their hidden home, then offered to acknowledge Zhou Wanwan as their master, and colored lights appeared.

• Zhou Wanwan revived several snakes, and Blue Treasure told Lingbao that palace agents had taken the medicinal herbs.
• Zhou Wanwan followed the agents’ footprints with Lingbao and the Old Scholar Tree, then Lingbao’s powder knocked the agents unconscious.
• Lingbao found the herbs in boxes, and Zhou Wanwan channeled energy into them until Grandpa Purple Lingzhi and the others awakened.
• Grandpa Purple Lingzhi and Sister Huang Jing suspected Xie Cheng'en had betrayed their secret, so Zhou Wanwan proposed investigating the Xie Family.
• The revived herbs offered to follow Zhou Wanwan as their master, and purple, yellow, blue, and white lights appeared.

After acknowledging Zhou Wanwan as their master, the medicinal herbs recovered and gained the ability to leave the soil for an hour each day. Zhou Wanwan traveled to Anding County to investigate the Xie Family, whose influence the guards described as formidable.

• Grandpa Purple Lingzhi and Lingbao explained that the herbs’ sacrifice would improve Zhou Wanwan’s health and lifespan.
• The Brocade Guards failed to find the herbs and blamed the Xie Family, who were reprimanded by Noble Consort Ning.
• Zhou Wanwan helped the injured herbs recover, and Grandpa Purple Lingzhi told her how he learned about the world and showed her a map of Great Xia.
• Zhou Wanwan learned that the Xie Family was in neighboring Anding County and decided to go there that night.
• Zhou Wanwan and the trees crossed Anding County’s wall and overheard guards discussing the Xie Family’s ties to Noble Consort Ning and the county magistrate.

Zhou Wanwan and the walking trees investigated the Xie Family to learn whether Xie Cheng'en had betrayed them. They found him confined in the ancestral hall, where he complained about the Brocade Guards and boasted that he would surpass his cousin.

• Zhou Wanwan and her companions explored the Xie residence and questioned an outer-courtyard willow, which Old Scholar Tree and the other trees beat until it revealed what it knew.
• The willow said Xie Cheng'en had changed after nearly dying a couple of years earlier and directed them toward the inner courtyard.
• The group entered the inner courtyard, where a pine tree offered to guide them to Xie Cheng'en in exchange for being taken along.
• Zhou Wanwan and the trees reached the ancestral hall and overheard Xie Cheng'en complain that the Brocade Guards had failed to find the medicinal herbs he had told them about.
• Old Master Xie scolded Xie Cheng'en for his temper and said his noble consort aunt needed the herbs to make an elixir of immortality.

Zhou Wanwan and the plants discovered that Xie Cheng'en and his servants planned to exploit and destroy the medicinal herbs that had once saved them. After learning more about the servants’ betrayal, the plants intervened when Lu Ming’s men attacked Zhao Hu, leaving their fate uncertain.

• Xie Cheng'en agreed with Old Master Xie to search for medicinal herbs and dismissed the plants as worthless, while Zhao Hu objected to the plan.
• Zhou Wanwan and Lingbao heard Xie Cheng'en’s words, and Old Scholar Tree destroyed the plum blossom tree that had lied about his courtyard.
• The chrysanthemum told Zhou Wanwan that Xie Cheng'en had tormented her sisters, and Zhou Wanwan promised to take them home.
• Zhou Wanwan and the plants overheard Lu Ming admit that he and Xie Cheng'en had wanted to eat the herbs, while Lu Ming’s men beat Zhao Hu for defending them.
• Lingbao and Old Scholar Tree subdued Lu Ming and his men, but Purple Lingzhi worried that the punishment might kill them.

Zhou Wanwan and the great trees raided Xie Cheng'en’s luxurious residence, carrying its houses, furnishings, and supplies back to Black Wind Stronghold before dawn. The next morning, her family marveled at the new buildings, while Zhou Wanwan woke among maids and began exploring the treasures they had taken.

• Old Scholar Tree led the great trees in stripping Xie Cheng'en’s courtyard of its buildings, furnishings, and valuables.
• Zhou Wanwan and the trees carried their haul and supplies from the Xie Family’s storehouses to Black Wind Stronghold in one shichen.
• Zhou Wanwan fed the exhausted trees energy and served them potent wine, after which they went to sleep.
• Liu Su'e, Zhou Qingyan, Zhou Qinghe, and Zhou Qingchen discovered the luxurious houses and contents that had appeared overnight.
• Zhou Wanwan woke with maids attending her and examined Xie Cheng'en’s clothes, accessories, jewels, and jade ornaments.

Zhou Wanwan explored Xie Cheng'en's lavish house, collected its jade ornaments, and discussed her family's future with Liu Su'e and her brothers. Meanwhile, Xie Cheng'en planned to find the talking medicinal herbs and present them to his aunt, the Noble Consort, hoping to gain a powerful position.

• Zhou Wanwan collected the jade pendants and played a guqin for the maids in Xie Cheng'en's house.
• Liu Su'e and Zhou Wanwan discussed making the house a home, and Zhou Wanwan assigned rooms to her parents and brothers.
• Zhou Qingyan, Zhou Qinghe, and Zhou Qingchen admired the furnishings and questioned why Xie Cheng'en owned so many hair ornaments.
• Zhou Wanwan told her brothers that they were not wanted criminals and that Cheng Xiao had only used portraits to frighten them.
• Lu Ming told Xie Cheng'en that he and the others had been injured after being thrown onto the road, and Xie Cheng'en gave him money for a physician.
• Xie Cheng'en said he would search for the talking medicinal herbs and offer them to his aunt, the Noble Consort, to secure a high official position.

Xie Cheng'en's family discovered that their courtyard and stores had vanished, while Zhou Wanwan collected grain amid the locust plague. Cheng Xiao, desperate for money after losing his county yamen, set out to consult Zhou Fuyu's mother, a spirit medium whose predictions about the locust plague had come true.

• Xie Cheng'en found his courtyard stripped down to bare ground, and Old Master Xie ordered the second Xie son to search for the missing buildings and goods.
• The second Xie son searched for half a month without finding any clues, then heard that Qingshui County's yamen had also disappeared overnight.
• Zhou Wanwan went to Feng Jiao and received a boatload of grain bought with one hundred thousand taels of silver.
• Cheng Xiao worried about rebuilding his vanished county yamen, and Zhou Fuyu suggested that his mother could help him make money.
• Jiang Wu praised Zhou Fuyu's mother's accurate predictions, and Cheng Xiao decided to visit her after hearing she had foreseen the locust plague.

Cheng Xiao recruited Old Madam Zhou as his strategist, and she urged him to stockpile supplies and target wealthy Zheng Baiwan for money. After Jiang Wu and bandits raided the Zheng household, the county magistrate’s office concealed the crime and took the family’s wealth.

• Cheng Xiao visited Old Madam Zhou, who said his divorce from his wife had harmed his fortune and that Zhou Wanwan had changed his fate.
• Old Madam Zhou accepted Cheng Xiao’s offer to become his strategist and advised him to stockpile grain, water, and medicine.
• Old Madam Zhou named Zheng Baiwan as a source of wealth, and Jiang Wu persuaded Cheng Xiao to let him handle the matter discreetly.
• Old Madam Zhou contacted the Azure Dragon Mountain Stronghold, and its chief led more than two hundred bandits in a bloody raid on the Zheng household.
• Young Master Zheng reported the massacre to Cheng Xiao, who claimed the authorities were investigating while Jiang Wu revealed they had taken silver, gold, jewelry, and grain.

Feng Jiao learned that Cheng Xiao had destroyed the Zheng Family but chose not to intervene. After the orphaned Zheng Yuanbao was driven to despair, a talking tree offered to take him to Zhou Wanwan, while Gu Sinian continued to impress Zhou Wanwan and the Zhou brothers at the academy.

• Feng Jiao learned that Cheng Xiao had taken the Zheng Family's silver and wiped them out, but she decided to leave the matter alone.
• Zheng Yuanbao was mocked by his classmates, rejected by his relatives, and driven to attempt suicide after his family was killed and his sisters disappeared.
• A talking tree stopped Zheng Yuanbao from hanging himself and offered to take him to Wanwan if she would accept him.
• At the academy, Zhou Wanwan and the Zhou brothers admired Gu Sinian's exceptional memory and handwriting.
• Gu Sinian clung to Zhou Wanwan in fear after spotting a cockroach, and she scolded him for acting ridiculous.

Zhou Wanwan helped Zheng Yuanbao investigate the massacre of his family and learned from the plants that the Azure Dragon Mountain Stronghold was responsible and had taken his three older sisters. She also found the chest his father had buried for him, leaving Zheng Yuanbao with family savings and a letter of advice.

• Zhou Wanwan ordered Gu Sinian to raise cockroaches so he could overcome his fear before the examinations.
• Old Scholar Tree brought Zheng Yuanbao to Zhou Wanwan, and Zheng Yuanbao asked her to help discover who killed his family and find his missing sisters.
• Zheng Yuanbao agreed to serve Zhou Wanwan in exchange for her help, and she traveled with him to the Zheng Family residence after dark.
• Zhou Wanwan questioned the courtyard plants, which identified the Azure Dragon Mountain Stronghold as the killers and said the bandits had taken the young women.
• Old Scholar Tree dug up a chest buried by Zheng Yuanbao's father, and Zheng Yuanbao found savings and a letter urging him to live well and remain upright.