Chapter Summaries

Zhou Wanwan rescued Zheng Yuanbao’s sisters and the maids from the Azure Dragon Mountain Stronghold after they tried to hang themselves. The sisters asked to stay with Zhou Wanwan, though Second Miss Zheng still hoped her fiancé would marry her.

• Zheng Yuanbao mourned his parents and accepted half the recovered valuables from Zhou Wanwan as her reward.
• Zhou Wanwan told Zheng Yuanbao she had found his sisters, and he asked her to help rescue them.
• At the stronghold, the Zheng sisters and their maids faced the bandits’ plans; ten of them tried to hang themselves.
• Zhou Wanwan and Old Scholar Tree lowered the ten people and revived them, while Zheng Yuanbao reunited with his sisters.
• Eldest Miss Zheng asked Zhou Wanwan to take in the sisters and maids, and Second Miss Zheng said she still hoped her fiancé would marry her.

Zhou Wanwan’s trees raided Azure Dragon Mountain Stronghold and brought its buildings, silver, and supplies back to Liu Family Village. While Zhou Wanwan sorted through the stolen fabric, the stronghold’s chiefs woke up naked and confused, beginning to realize what had happened.

• Zhou Wanwan led the trees through the stronghold, where they condemned the bandits after learning about their crimes.
• Old Scholar Tree and the other trees brought the entire Azure Dragon Mountain Stronghold back to Zhou Wanwan’s home overnight.
• Old Scholar Tree told Zhou Wanwan that Jiang Wu, Cheng Xiao, and a spirit medium from Zhou Family Village had taken most of the silver, but Zhou Wanwan decided not to pursue them yet.
• Zhou Wanwan and Liu Su'e sorted the stronghold’s fine fabrics and chose material for clothes for their family.
• The chief of Azure Dragon Stronghold woke naked on the ground, and the other chiefs realized they might be in their stronghold.

Jiang Wu and Cheng Xiao learned that an entire bandit stronghold had vanished and feared the mysterious thieves, while Old Madam Zhou continued to grow wealthy and boast about her family. Zhou Wanwan prepared to take the Zheng sisters to meet their fiancés and find out whether they would accept them.

• The bandit chief told Jiang Wu that his entire stronghold had disappeared overnight, and Jiang Wu denied taking it.
• Jiang Wu reported the missing stronghold to Cheng Xiao, who agreed they should avoid provoking the mysterious thieves and hide their wealth as grain.
• Jiang Wu and Cheng Xiao decided to ask the shamaness to choose a wealthy household in another county.
• Old Madam Zhou ordered the Zhou Family Village to buy more grain and mocked her absent fourth son and Liu Family Village.
• Zhou Wanwan praised the Zheng girls' cooking and offered to take them to their fiancés' homes to see whether they would accept them.

Eldest Miss Zheng and Second Miss Zheng confronted Scholar Li over the family betrothal token, but his family denied the agreement and insulted them. At Old Master Zhou's birthday celebration, they learned Zhou Yi had dismissed Second Miss Zheng as dead and planned to pursue the Xu Family's sickly young lady for her inheritance.

• Eldest Miss Zheng asked Scholar Li whether their betrothal still stood, and he said he had married someone else two days earlier.
• Eldest Miss Zheng demanded the Zheng family's jade pendant, but Scholar Li denied it existed and his mother claimed it was a Li family heirloom.
• Scholar Li's mother drenched Second Miss Zheng with cold water and insulted the Zheng sisters, who left without the pendant.
• At Old Master Zhou's birthday celebration, Old Master Zhou boasted that his family had demanded a hundred thousand taels to marry Second Miss Zheng and said they would not seek her.
• Zhou Yi met his sister-in-law Yaoniang, who revealed she was carrying his child and proposed that he marry the Xu Family's ill young lady for her inheritance.
• Zhou Yi agreed to have his mother propose to the Xu Family the next day, and Yaoniang said the young lady would likely accept.

Zhou Wanwan helped the Zheng sisters confront Scholar Li’s family and moved the Li family’s house and possessions to the mountain stronghold. She returned jewelry to Eldest Miss Zheng, who offered the sisters’ skills in service, while Zhou Wanwan warned her about helping people without judging their character.

• Second Miss Zheng wanted to confront Scholar Li, but Zhou Wanwan stopped her and decided to visit Miss Xu after dealing with Scholar Li.
• Zhou Wanwan learned from the plants that Scholar Li’s new wife was wealthy and spoiled, and Eldest Miss Zheng revealed that the wife’s unborn child belonged to her cousin.
• Zhou Wanwan moved the Li family’s house and possessions to the mountain stronghold overnight and gave a box of jewelry to Eldest Miss Zheng.
• Eldest Miss Zheng refused the jewelry and offered her and her sisters’ business, cooking, and sewing skills to Zhou Wanwan.
• Eldest Miss Zheng grieved that people her father had helped had schemed against the family, and Zhou Wanwan advised her to judge people before helping them.
• Mother Li woke to find the house, silver, and hens gone, while Yinggu accused Li Youcai of conspiring to take her dowry.

Zhou Wanwan offered to cure Miss Xu and secured a contract requiring the Xu family to refuse a proposal from Zhou Yi or pay her sixty thousand taels. The next morning, matchmakers arrived to announce that Zhou Yi wanted to marry Miss Xu.

• Yinggu blamed Li Youcai for the thefts, then agreed to let him and Mother Li live at her residence under her rules.
• Zhou Wanwan told Master Xu she could treat Miss Xu and made a contract tying her fee to whether the Xu family accepted Zhou Yi's proposal.
• Zhou Wanwan examined Miss Xu, treated her with acupuncture and medicine, and saw her wake.
• Master Xu and Xu Fengjiao doubted Zhou Yi would ever propose, given her poor health.
• Two matchmakers arrived at the Xu household on Zhou Yi's behalf and praised his intention to marry Miss Xu.

Old Master Xu learned that Juren Zhou had proposed to Xu Fengjiao, who admitted she wanted to marry him despite her father's reservations. After treating Xu Fengjiao and collecting the promised payment, Zhou Wanwan warned Old Master Xu that Juren Zhou and Yaoniang were conspiring to gain the Xu family estate, but Xu Fengjiao rejected her accusation.

• Old Master Xu told Xu Fengjiao that Juren Zhou had sent matchmakers to propose, and Xu Fengjiao confessed she had taken a fancy to him.
• Zhou Wanwan said Xu Fengjiao's health could recover in about half a year, but warned that strong emotions could bring her illness back.
• Zhou Wanwan told Zheng Xing'an she suspected Xu Fengjiao would marry Juren Zhou because she had fallen for him.
• After hearing Xu Fengjiao was going to marry Juren Zhou, Zhou Wanwan visited the Xu Family and accepted sixty thousand taels of silver and medicinal ingredients from Old Master Xu.
• Zhou Wanwan warned Old Master Xu that Juren Zhou and Yaoniang were having an affair and planned to marry Xu Fengjiao to get the family estate.
• Xu Fengjiao called Zhou Wanwan's accusation nonsense and insisted Juren Zhou valued her virtues and improved health.

After learning that Zhou Yi and Yaoniang were having an affair, Xu Fengjiao asked Zhou Wanwan to help expose them. The villagers caught the pair embracing in the woods, and Xu Fengjiao publicly accused Zhou Yi and the Zhou Family of betraying her.

• Old Master Xu limited Xu Fengjiao's dowry to one shop and one estate, warning her not to reveal the family's wealth.
• Yaoniang urged Xu Fengjiao to bring a larger dowry to help Zhou Yi, but Xu Fengjiao grew suspicious when Yaoniang appeared pregnant.
• Xu Fengjiao asked Zhou Wanwan to catch Zhou Yi and Yaoniang in the act, and arranged for more than a hundred people to hide in the woods.
• Zhou Wanwan watched as Zhou Yi and Yaoniang met in the woods and became intimate.
• The village chief and villagers caught Zhou Yi embracing Yaoniang, who admitted that she was three months pregnant.
• Xu Fengjiao wept and accused Zhou Yi and the Zhou Family of treating her unfairly.

Xu Fengjiao rejected Zhou Yi after exposing his affair with Yaoniang, and the Xu family ended the engagement and left the prefecture. Zhou Yi then lost his teaching position at the academy, despite protesting that he was a juren.

• Xu Fengjiao refused to marry Zhou Yi after his family proposed that he take Yaoniang as an equal wife, and Old Master Xu rejected the arrangement.
• Zhou Yi insulted Xu Fengjiao and accused her of being unable to bear children, while she accused the Zhou Family of plotting to seize the Xu family's property.
• The Zhou Family returned the engagement token and paid five thousand taels in compensation, which Xu Fengjiao gave to Zhou Wanwan.
• Zhou Wanwan warned the Xu family that the Zhou Family might retaliate, so Old Master Xu sold his shops and estates and moved to another prefecture that night.
• Zhou Wanwan said Zhou Yi's prospects were ruined, and Zhou Yi was dismissed from his academy teaching post despite protesting that he was a juren.

After learning that Cheng Xiao and Jiang Wu were targeting the Xu Family, Zhou Wanwan prepared the family’s courtyard to repel the bandits she expected to attack. The Xu Family survived the raid and agreed to follow her, and Zhou Wanwan began considering how to improve their weaving business.

• Zhou Yi suspected that the Xu Family had trapped him and asked Cheng Xiao where they had moved, but Cheng Xiao sent him away; Jiang Wu then suggested targeting the wealthy Xu Family, and Cheng Xiao assigned him the task.
• Zhou Wanwan learned that Cheng Xiao was after the Xu Family and decided to use their courtyard to ambush the bandits expected to attack it.
• Zhou Wanwan traveled to Dachang County, set traps and hidden weapons around the Xu Family courtyard, and told Old Master Xu that thieves would come that night.
• Hundreds of bandits attacked after midnight, but Zhou Wanwan’s traps and explosives routed them, convincing Old Master Xu and his family to seek her protection.
• Zhou Wanwan agreed to take the Xu Family to Black Wind Stronghold and asked to see their looms so she could help improve their weaving business.

After moving the Xu Family to her mountain stronghold, Zhou Wanwan learned that Cheng Xiao and Jiang Wu planned to transport two boatloads of goods and seized them with her people. She made pills from the medicinal herbs, drew three loom blueprints, and went to Luban Village, where she found prefectural yamen runners.

• Zhou Wanwan brought Old Master Xu and the Xu Family to the mountain stronghold, where Old Master Xu recognized their relocated home and urged Xu Fengjiao to obey her.
• Jiang Wu told Cheng Xiao that the Xu Family had vanished and the bandits had been killed or captured; Cheng Xiao revealed that two boatloads of goods would arrive that night.
• Plants and birds relayed Cheng Xiao's plans to Zhou Wanwan, who decided to seize the shipment and help poor people when she could.
• Zhou Wanwan and her people took both boatloads of goods, and she organized more than thirty people to make pills from the medicinal herbs.
• Zhou Wanwan drew blueprints for three types of looms from memory and went with her companions to Luban Village, where they found prefectural yamen runners.

Zhou Wanwan rescued Luban Village from bailiffs who planned to enslave its skilled craftsmen, and agreed to take the villagers in after they offered to sign deeds of sale. She brought them to Black Wind Stronghold, where their excitement over the valuable trees immediately provoked the forest.

• Bailiffs gathered Luban Village's people and threatened to enslave them for their craft skills and force them to make tools and weapons.
• The village chief urged the villagers to resist, but Zhou Wanwan incapacitated the bailiffs with falling powder and rescued them.
• A villager asked Zhou Wanwan to take in Luban Village, and she agreed on the condition that everyone sign deeds of sale and stop cutting trees on her mountain.
• The village chief accepted Zhou Wanwan's terms, and Liu Xiuyuan was told to arrange the deeds and lead the villagers up the mountain.
• The trees mocked Luban Village as the villagers passed, and the Old Scholar Tree led Zhou Wanwan away from them.
• At Black Wind Stronghold, the villagers admired the precious trees and imagined what they could make from them, so the trees knocked them to the ground with their roots.

Zhou Wanwan brought the carpenters from Luban Village to Black Wind Stronghold, where the trees had beaten them for threatening to chop them down. Tie Niu and his people asked to become her subordinates, and she accepted while planning to requisition their land for greenhouses.

• The trees in the woods beat the carpenters from Luban Village after they threatened to chop them down, and Zhou Wanwan found them and warned them not to provoke the trees.
• Zhou Wanwan met Tie Niu at Black Wind Stronghold, where he knelt and asked her to take in him and his people because they could no longer feed themselves.
• Tie Niu agreed that the stronghold would belong to Zhou Wanwan, and she told him she would requisition its farmland and require the people to listen to her.
• Zhou Wanwan took Tie Niu and the others to see her greenhouses, where they were astonished to find vegetables growing inside.
• Zhou Wanwan offered them a basket of vegetables and several chickens, while noting that she would need to feed nearly three thousand people as conditions outside worsened.

Zhou Wanwan found a deep water source for the mountain stronghold and went to Zhou Family Village, where she uncovered Old Madam Zhou’s hidden wealth and searched for the family’s grain. The village’s elm tree revealed the grain’s location and then pulled up its roots to leave, while Zhou Wanwan kept the clothes her father had worn as a child.

• Zhou Wanwan ordered wells dug after finding a deep water source and decided to visit Zhou Family Village.
• Old Madam Zhou and her family discussed their new wealth and decided Fourth Son could not be allowed to live if his background proved powerful.
• Zhou Wanwan took the childhood clothes her father had worn and used a narcissus to find silver and jewelry hidden in the Zhou house.
• The narcissus and the village trees gave Zhou Wanwan clues to the Zhou family’s hidden grain.
• Zhou Wanwan gave energy to the elm tree, which pulled its roots from the ground and left the village.

Zhou Wanwan recovered grain and houses from Zhou Family Village, then used her energy to grow a remarkable sweet potato harvest at Black Wind Stronghold. Old Madam Zhou and Cheng Xiao investigated the thefts and began to suspect Zhou Wanwan, learning that she was at Black Wind Stronghold.

• The elm tree spirit led Zhou Wanwan to cellars in Zhou Family Village and on a nearby mountain, where she collected the stored grain.
• The trees brought more than ten houses from Zhou Family Village to Black Wind Stronghold, and Tie Niu praised Zhou Wanwan for providing shelter.
• Zhou Wanwan helped crops sprout in the greenhouses and had Liu Xiuyuan dig up sweet potatoes, finding a large harvest and planting four greenhouses with them.
• Old Madam Zhou discovered that her houses, silver, and the village grain had disappeared, but the constables could not identify the thief.
• At the county yamen, Cheng Xiao and Old Madam Zhou suspected they shared an enemy, Jiang Wu named Zhou Wanwan, and Cheng Xiao said he had heard she was at Black Wind Stronghold.

Zhou Wanwan defended Black Wind Stronghold from Cheng Xiao’s iron-armored troops by cutting the suspension bridge, forcing them to retreat. She then learned from Feng Jiao that Eunuch Hai’s growing influence had brought trouble upon Feng Jiao’s brothers and that the emperor had turned away from governing.

• Cheng Xiao and Old Madam Zhou sent more than five hundred prefectural troops to attack Black Wind Stronghold, and the birds warned Lingbao of their approach.
• Zhou Wanwan gathered her people, ordered the suspension bridge cut, and enlisted Old Scholar Tree to help defend the stronghold.
• The bridge collapsed beneath the advancing soldiers, sending half of them into the Black Wind River and driving the rest to flee.
• Zhou Wanwan told Liu Xiuyuan, Zheng Yuanbao, and Tie Niu that Cheng Xiao and the prefect had forced them to fight back.
• Feng Jiao told Zhou Wanwan that all three of her brothers had been implicated in a treason case and blamed Eunuch Hai’s influence.
• Feng Jiao explained that the emperor had become absorbed in alchemy while taxes rose and officials fought among themselves.

Zhou Wanwan sold vegetables, charcoal, and cloth to Feng Jiao, then went to the market with her companions. There, Jiang Wu’s men confiscated merchants’ goods, and Zhou Wanwan followed a woman home to find her feverish son Huzi neglected by his father.

• Zhou Wanwan advised Feng Jiao to stockpile grain and medicinal herbs, while Feng Jiao said the Feng Clan could not safely withdraw from court.
• Zhou Wanwan sold her vegetables, charcoal, and cloth to Feng Jiao’s steward for silver.
• Zhou Wanwan went to the market with Gu Sinian, Zhou Qingyan, Zhou Qinghe, and Zhou Qingchen, reassuring them that they would not be arrested.
• Jiang Wu announced that officials would confiscate merchants’ grain, cloth, and charcoal, and his men seized goods from the stalls.
• Zhou Wanwan followed a woman whose chicken had been taken and saw her husband beat her while refusing to help their feverish son, Huzi.
• Huzi’s father counted his remaining silver and decided to spend it at the gambling house.

Zhou Wanwan rescued a poor mother and child, saved a village chief in exchange for medicinal herbs, and agreed to lead a group of martial artists to Black Wind Stronghold. The group struggled to climb the mountain while Zhou Wanwan and her companions were pulled upward by the trees.

• Zhou Wanwan took the silver pouch from a gambling husband and invited his sick child and the child's mother to live and work on her mountain.
• Zhou Wanwan treated the village chief with gathered herbs and acupuncture, then promised the villagers a cartload of grain in exchange for their medicinal herbs.
• Zhou Wanwan told Gu Sinian that she could not right every injustice but still wanted to help the villagers, whose livelihood had been suppressed by the county magistrate.
• More than a hundred martial artists stopped Zhou Wanwan's group and demanded directions to Black Wind Stronghold; she offered to guide them by a back path for silver.
• Zhou Wanwan and her companions climbed with help from the trees, while the martial artists struggled and the leader questioned how they were making it look easy.

Zhou Wanwan captured a group of escort guards sent by the prefect to kill everyone in Black Wind Stronghold and made them join the stronghold by clearing wasteland. She put them to work turning the soil on the back of the mountain.

• Zhou Wanwan questioned the climbing guards and learned that the prefect had paid them a thousand taels of silver to attack Black Wind Stronghold.
• Zhou Wanwan revealed that she was the stronghold’s boss, and Little Pine Tree disarmed the leader and captured the guards.
• The guards confessed they belonged to the Heaven and Earth Escort Agency and the Four Seas Escort Agency, and Zhou Wanwan ordered them to stay and work instead of killing them.
• Zhou Wanwan promised the guards a share of the grain they grew and said they could bring their families to the stronghold.
• Zhou Wanwan led the guards to the back of the mountain to clear wasteland, where one guard complained that they were used to holding weapons, not turning soil.

Wang Quan joined Zhou Wanwan’s mountain stronghold after revealing that the prefect was secretly selling iron to Khotan. When the prefect forced Wang Quan and his men to transport another iron shipment there and held their families as leverage, Zhou Wanwan decided to bring the families into the stronghold and travel to Khotan herself.

• Wang Quan swore loyalty to Zhou Wanwan and told her about the prefect’s iron mine and illicit trade.
• Wang Quan and the escorts formally joined Zhou Wanwan’s mountain stronghold, and she allowed them to leave the mountain.
• The prefect ordered Wang Quan to take iron goods to Khotan and exchange them for jade and silk, then kept the men’s families at his residence as leverage.
• Wang Quan and the escorts returned to the mountain stronghold and asked Zhou Wanwan what to do.
• Zhou Wanwan said she would bring their families to the stronghold and accompany them to Khotan, despite Wang Quan warning her of the danger.