Chapter Summaries

Tang Zhuyun treated Madam Wang after she took arsenic and the imperial physicians could not save her. As Wang Fu waited anxiously outside, Tang Zhuyun prepared to use acupuncture, while suspecting Madam Wang’s despair was tied to another illness.

• Tang Zhuyun learned Madam Wang had taken arsenic and decided to try to save her.
• Song Jingyang reported that Wang Fu had brought the unconscious Madam Wang to see Tang Zhuyun after the imperial physicians gave up.
• Tang Zhuyun examined Madam Wang, prescribed medicine to induce vomiting and an antidote, and noticed she had another illness.
• Wang Fu recalled how he and Madam Wang had built a happy life together and worried that she had tried to leave him without explanation.
• Tang Zhuyun asked Wang Fu to leave so she could use acupuncture to force out the poison, and he reluctantly agreed.

Tang Zhuyun saved Madam Wang after she swallowed arsenic and questioned her about a disease that had driven her to despair. Madam Wang insisted she had never betrayed Wang Fu, but could not explain how she had contracted it.

• Tang Zhuyun treated Madam Wang with acupuncture and medicine, taking care to avoid contact with the vomit.
• Madam Wang awoke, mistook Tang Zhuyun's residence for the underworld, and begged to be allowed to die.
• Xiu'er stopped Wang Fu from entering and sent him away to wash and rest while Tang Zhuyun cared for Madam Wang.
• Tang Zhuyun asked Madam Wang why she had tried to die and how she had become ill.
• Madam Wang said a physician had diagnosed her with a disease supposedly caught from an infected man, though she swore she had never been unfaithful to Wang Fu.

Tang Zhuyun learned that Madam Wang had been infected and threatened to spy on the emperor’s health, and she urged her to tell Wang Fu and fight back. Wang Fu thanked Tang Zhuyun for saving his wife, while the Prince of Jin questioned why Wang Fu had trusted her to help.

• Madam Wang told Tang Zhuyun that an old servant had threatened to expose her illness unless she asked Wang Fu about the emperor’s health.
• Tang Zhuyun reassured Madam Wang that her illness could be cured and urged her to tell Wang Fu and identify those around her who might have infected her.
• Tang Zhuyun told Wang Fu what Madam Wang had revealed and shared her suspicions about the plot.
• Wang Fu thanked Tang Zhuyun for saving Madam Wang, then went to comfort his wife.
• Tang Zhuyun told the Prince of Jin about the scheme, and he asked why Wang Fu had believed she could save Madam Wang.

Tang Zhuyun revealed that she had recognized the emperor’s heart condition and treated Madam Wang after she was poisoned with arsenic. After Tang Zhuyun recovered her strength with fish bought at the Prince of Jin’s request, she planned to visit her family before her elder brother departed.

• Tang Zhuyun told the Prince of Jin how she had recognized the emperor’s heart condition and said she would not harm him, then received permission to investigate the person who had poisoned Madam Wang.
• The Prince of Jin told Xiu'er to buy fish and seafood for Tang Zhuyun, who was exhausted from treating Madam Wang.
• Tang Zhuyun checked Madam Wang’s condition, confirmed the arsenic had been cleared, and agreed to let Madam Wang stay at the prince’s residence while Wang Fu investigated.
• Madam Wang asked Wang Fu to bring their adopted son Zhigao to visit her, and Wang Fu agreed.
• Tang Zhuyun ate the fish Xiu'er had cooked and told the Prince of Jin she planned to visit home before her elder brother left, while refusing his offer of travel money.

Tang Zhuyun accepted golden-thread soft armor from Wang Fu but gave it to her brother, leaving the Prince of Jin disappointed and jealous. After Song Jingyang pointed out that the prince had never given Tang Zhuyun a gift, the prince began to reconsider how he had treated her.

• Wang Fu gave Tang Zhuyun golden-thread soft armor, hoping she would pass it to the Prince of Jin.
• Tang Zhuyun gave Meng Yulan the armor for Tang Mingfan to wear, and Meng Yulan accepted it.
• Tang Zhuyun returned to the prince's manor empty-handed and went to see Madam Wang, while the Prince of Jin waited in vain for the armor.
• The Prince of Jin admitted he wanted Wang Fu's gift, but Tang Zhuyun said she had given it to her brother.
• Song Jingyang told the Prince of Jin that he should give Tang Zhuyun gifts, and the prince realized he had never done so.

The Prince of Jin planned a birthday gift for Tang Zhuyun before leaving the residence, while Tang Zhuyun investigated Madam Wang’s illness and discovered that Zhigao may have infected both Madam Wang and his wet nurse. The chapter left Wang Fu and Madam Wang facing the possibility that someone had deliberately placed an infected infant in their household.

• Song Jingyang asked the Prince of Jin whether he had planned a birthday gift for Tang Zhuyun, prompting the Prince to consider what to give her.
• Song Jingyang advised the Prince of Jin not to copy the seventeen pieces of jewelry he had given Xiu'er, and the Prince designed a large gift to be made in advance.
• Tang Zhuyun and Madam Wang searched the household for a traitor but found no culprit, until Tang Zhuyun noticed that Zhigao's wet nurse seemed nervous.
• Tang Zhuyun examined the wet nurse and realized she had likely become ill around the same time as Madam Wang, despite the disease being difficult to transmit early on.
• Tang Zhuyun examined Zhigao and concluded that his infected birth mother had probably passed the disease to him, meaning someone may have deliberately placed him in Madam Wang's care.

Tang Zhuyun discussed treating the Wang household’s innocent child, but the Prince of Jin forbade it and ordered Nanxing to watch over her while he was away. She agreed with Meng Yulan to establish a porridge tent for refugees, then learned the effort could expose the prince’s residence to sabotage and political attacks.

• The Prince of Jin offered Tang Zhuyun a birthday gift, but she barely reacted and told him about the Wang household’s troubles.
• Tang Zhuyun said she intended to treat the Wang child, and the Prince of Jin forbade her and told Nanxing to keep her from treating people while he was away.
• Meng Yulan worried that her baby might be born on the Dragon Boat Festival, and Tang Zhuyun reassured her that the Tang family would cherish a daughter.
• Meng Yulan proposed that the prince’s residence distribute porridge to refugees, and Tang Zhuyun agreed to set up a porridge tent.
• Meng Yulan warned that porridge relief could be sabotaged and that censors might attack Tang Zhuyun if the residence failed to help the refugees.

Tang Zhuyun asked the Prince of Jin about his fake death and his reputation, then sought permission to offer free medical care to disaster victims and bring Linlin and Yanran. The Prince of Jin revealed that he had personally executed more than forty people who destroyed his family, and Tang Zhuyun affirmed that she stood by him.

• Tang Zhuyun learned that the emperor had intended to make her a secondary consort but impulsively promised her the principal consort position after hearing that the Prince of Jin's mother liked her.
• Tang Zhuyun asked to treat disaster victims for free and bring Linlin and Yanran, with Yanran learning medicine, and the Prince of Jin considered her request.
• Tang Zhuyun asked why people feared the Prince of Jin, and he said he had killed more than forty people himself at an execution ground.
• The Prince of Jin explained that those people had destroyed his family and killed his loved ones, and Tang Zhuyun told him she was on his side.

Tang Zhuyun planned to disguise herself as a maid for the free medical consultations, while the Prince of Jin grew jealous and flustered around her. After his nosebleed stopped, Tang Zhuyun and Xiu'er settled on a name for her disguise.

• Tang Zhuyun explained that she wanted to hide her identity during the free consultations because her family’s and the Prince of Jin’s enemies could cause trouble.
• The Prince of Jin told Tang Zhuyun she could use whatever she wanted from his residence, but she said she would save his wealth for Linlin.
• Tang Zhuyun changed into Xiu'er's clothes and asked her to have another outfit made, while the Prince of Jin developed a nosebleed.
• Tang Zhuyun treated the Prince of Jin’s nosebleed, and he started bleeding again after her buttons came undone.
• Tang Zhuyun decided she and Xiu'er would pose as maids, and Xiu'er suggested the names Daxiu and Erxiu.

Tang Zhuyun prepared to leave with two children to help treat patients, while the Prince of Jin worried over her safety and arranged a veiled hat. Nanxing insisted on accompanying her, and the Prince of Jin agreed.

• Tang Zhuyun rejected the name Jianxian, failed to learn the Prince of Jin's given name, and left to prepare supplies for a porridge shelter and medicine distribution.
• Song Jingyang told Tang Zhuyun that Eunuch Wang had visited the Prince of Jin, who learned that Wang Fu's wife wanted to keep the child Tang Zhuyun had treated.
• Tang Zhuyun told the Prince of Jin she would take the two children with her the next day, and he advised her to wear a veiled hat to avoid being recognized.
• The Prince of Jin had a veiled hat prepared, and Tang Zhuyun cut its long black veil shorter before setting out.
• Nanxing insisted on accompanying Tang Zhuyun despite her injuries, and the Prince of Jin allowed her to go.

Tang Zhuyun and Yanran changed the Prince of Jin's Residence porridge stall to serve women, drawing more women and children to Tang Zhuyun's clinic. Zong Heng arrived in the city but did not approach them, while Linlin was sent ahead to see a present the Prince of Jin had prepared.

• Yanran discovered that some disaster victims took porridge from their daughters to feed their sons, so she proposed serving only women at the residence's stall.
• Tang Zhuyun approved Yanran's plan, and the next day their women-only stall attracted more female patients to Tang Zhuyun.
• Nanxing told Tang Zhuyun that Zong Heng, the crown princess's younger brother and her predecessor's old enemy, was coming, so Tang Zhuyun ordered their people to stay away from his stall.
• Zong Heng and the noble young ladies stayed at the other stalls until nightfall without confronting Tang Zhuyun, who joked with Yanran about selling cold medicine and ginger soup.
• A guard summoned Linlin back to the residence to see a present from the Prince of Jin, while Yanran asked Xiu'er to make her clothes and accessories like Tang Zhuyun's.

Tang Zhuyun discovered that the Prince of Jin had brought home a tiger cub for Linlin and Yanran, and reluctantly agreed to let the children raise it. After they named the cub Jiaojiao, she confronted the Prince of Jin for deciding without consulting her.

• Tang Zhuyun entered the main room and found Linlin and Yanran admiring a cub the Prince of Jin had brought home.
• Linlin explained that the animal was a tiger cub, and the Prince of Jin said Linlin could raise it as a pet.
• Yanran named the cub Jiaojiao and explained that she had hoped for a little sister or a dog before settling for the tiger.
• Tang Zhuyun discovered Jiaojiao was male, joked about his name, and told both children they would be responsible for raising him.
• After the children took Jiaojiao to play, Tang Zhuyun challenged the Prince of Jin for bringing the cub home without discussing it with her, then left after teasing him.

The Prince of Jin grew jealous at the thought that Tang Zhuyun might be interested in Zong Heng, while Tang Zhuyun remained focused on treating disaster victims. As Zong Heng stayed away and the noble young ladies kept visiting, a suspiciously unusual woman approached Tang Zhuyun at the clinic.

• Song Jingyang warned the Prince of Jin that Zong Heng, one of the Four Young Masters of the Capital, might visit the porridge shed and attract Tang Zhuyun’s attention.
• The Prince of Jin questioned Tang Zhuyun in his sleep about Zong Heng, and she replied that she remembered him because he had set a vicious dog on her.
• At breakfast, Yanran asked whether Zong Heng would come, and the Prince of Jin grew jealous when Tang Zhuyun said she hoped he would arrive soon.
• The Prince of Jin told Song Jingyang to protect Tang Zhuyun, but Zong Heng never appeared as Tang Zhuyun treated women and children over the following days.
• As Tang Zhuyun rested near the porridge line, a ragged woman approached her, and Song Jingyang stepped in to block the woman’s path.

Tang Zhuyun treated Qin Sang, a former courtesan, whose gratitude brought donations and patients to the disaster-relief clinic. The crown princess invited Tang Zhuyun to a fundraising gathering, but Tang Zhuyun suspected the money would support the crown prince and refused to attend.

• Qin Sang paid Tang Zhuyun for treatment, and Tang Zhuyun diagnosed her illness and gave her prescriptions.
• After recovering, Qin Sang brought other women to the clinic and donated money to support its relief work.
• The Prince of Jin warned Song Jingyang to keep investigating Qin Sang, though her background appeared clean.
• Tang Zhuyun reviewed the clinic’s expenses and found an invitation from the crown princess to gather donations for disaster victims.
• Tang Zhuyun suspected the fundraising would benefit the crown prince and rejected the invitation, while Xiu'er admitted she wanted to see Zong Heng.

Tang Zhuyun dismissed the crown princess’s invitation and planned to irritate her by asking to borrow silver, while warning Xiu'er to avoid Zong Heng. When Zong Heng appeared at the disaster-relief site, Tang Zhuyun and her companions saw that he had recovered his looks, and Qin Sang revealed that she had bought her freedom.

• Tang Zhuyun told Xiu'er not to provoke Zong Heng, and the Prince of Jin warned her to stay away from him.
• Tang Zhuyun said she would answer the crown princess’s invitation by claiming she was ill from worrying about silver and asking to borrow some.
• Tang Zhuyun and the Prince of Jin reviewed their accounts, and she joked that she would squeeze money from anyone who provoked her while she remained a widow.
• Zong Heng appeared at the relief site looking even more handsome, and the Zong family’s flower rolls drew the disaster victims away from Tang Zhuyun’s group.
• Qin Sang told Tang Zhuyun that she had bought her freedom for three hundred taels, then teased Xiu'er about learning her flirtatious ways.

Tang Zhuyun stopped an attempted attack at the clinic and confronted Zong Heng after learning that he had helped arrange the scheme to expose her. She drove him away, while Qin Sang decided she could no longer visit her.

• Qin Sang told Tang Zhuyun and Xiu'er about Hongfu’s ambitions and her suspected affair with a scholar, then offered to help deal with her.
• A middle-aged woman lunged at Tang Zhuyun, but Nanxing struck her down and Xiu'er kicked her until Song Jingyang intervened.
• The woman admitted she had been paid twenty taels to lift Tang Zhuyun’s veil, drawing Zong Heng and his entourage over.
• Tang Zhuyun revealed her face, challenged Zong Heng to bow to her as the princess consort, and mocked him as though he admired her.
• Zong Heng left in anger, and Qin Sang thanked Tang Zhuyun but said she could no longer come to see her.

Tang Zhuyun stopped visiting the porridge shed and finally accepted the crown princess’s summons to the Eastern Palace. There, she defied the crown princess in front of the assembled ladies and privately claimed to be having an affair with Zong Heng to keep her from causing trouble.

• Tang Zhuyun told Qin Sang she could no longer visit the porridge shed and offered to help if Qin Sang faced difficulties.
• The Prince of Jin praised Tang Zhuyun’s recent performance, and he urged her not to seek out the crown princess.
• After ignoring the crown princess’s daily summons for four days, Tang Zhuyun agreed to go to the Eastern Palace with Nanxing, while Xiu'er and Yanran stayed behind.
• At the Eastern Palace, Tang Zhuyun challenged the crown princess’s attempt to humiliate her and warned that she had something private to discuss about Zong Heng.
• Tang Zhuyun dismissed the assembled ladies by threatening to expose her alleged relationship with Zong Heng, then told the crown princess they had rekindled their romance.

Tang Zhuyun’s bold trick against the crown princess left the Prince of Jin curious and jealous, while Nanxing and Song Jingyang revealed how she had turned a scandalous rumor to her advantage. After Tang Zhuyun confronted the Prince of Jin over being dragged into the Yuwen family’s affairs, he apologized and prepared to leave the capital.

• Tang Zhuyun returned from besting the crown princess, but gave the Prince of Jin a vague explanation when he asked how she had won.
• The Prince of Jin questioned Nanxing, who refused to reveal what Tang Zhuyun and the crown princess had discussed.
• Song Jingyang overheard Tang Zhuyun explain that she had used a rumor involving Zong Heng to frighten the crown princess, and he relayed the story to the Prince of Jin.
• The Prince of Jin ordered Song Jingyang to keep watch on Zong Heng and the Eastern Palace, though he remained jealous of Tang Zhuyun’s supposed closeness to Zong Heng.
• Tang Zhuyun snapped at the Prince of Jin for involving her in the Yuwen family’s troubles, and he apologized for putting her through so much.
• The Prince of Jin told Tang Zhuyun that he would leave the capital in three days and urged her to stay indoors until he returned.

The Prince of Jin told Tang Zhuyun that Yanran was not his biological daughter and revealed the Xiao Family tragedy behind her origins. Before leaving for the northwest, he tried to confess his feelings and demanded that Tang Zhuyun wait for him, but she misunderstood his intentions.

• The Prince of Jin said he would leave the capital in three days to search for someone in the northwest, and Tang Zhuyun told him to return safely and raise the children with her.
• The Prince of Jin revealed that Yanran was not his biological daughter and asked Tang Zhuyun to arrange a marriage for her to Linlin if he did not return.
• He told Tang Zhuyun that he had once been called Xiao Jianqi and that Yanran's father was his cousin, making her the last blood descendant of the Xiao Family, whose more than eight hundred members had been wiped out.
• The Prince of Jin explained that he had failed to save the Xiao Family and needed to travel northwest to find someone and settle old family matters.
• The Prince of Jin told Tang Zhuyun that his mother had wanted him to take only one wife and never make her sad, then demanded that Tang Zhuyun wait for him to return.
• Tang Zhuyun agreed to wait only if the emperor granted them a divorce, and she wondered whether the person the Prince of Jin sought was the one he loved.

Zong Heng confronted the Crown Princess after Tang Zhuyun’s claim that she was having an affair with him caused trouble. He warned his sister to stop provoking the Prince of Jin’s widow, arranged for Thirteenth Sister to join her at the Eastern Palace, and set out to confront Tang Zhuyun.

• The Crown Princess summoned Zong Heng and told him Tang Zhuyun had claimed to be having an affair with him, while complaining that the Crown Prince neglected her.
• Zong Heng rebuked the Crown Princess for her jealousy and warned her that her actions could endanger Prince Duan of the Second Rank and the Zong Family.
• The Crown Princess said she had provoked Tang Zhuyun to help the Crown Prince, and Zong Heng ordered her not to antagonize the Prince of Jin’s widow again.
• Zong Heng told the Crown Princess that Thirteenth Sister would be sent to the Eastern Palace to help her manage her position.
• Zong Heng left to see the Crown Prince, then ordered his carriage to take him to the Prince of Jin’s Residence so he could confront Tang Zhuyun.