Recaps

Zhao Ruxi requested leave from the academy so she could train painters and manage her expanding workshops, while Madam Cui set strict independent-study requirements for her. She spent the day organizing workshop staff and equipment, then returned to Green Plantain Courtyard with the work still piling up.

• Zhao Ruxi told Madam Cui she would be away from regular classes for at least half a year but intended to keep studying and take the examinations; Madam Cui assigned her books to memorize and required her to attend every ten-day examination.
• Zhao Ruxi asked Qingfeng to carry the five books Madam Cui had given her and went to the Beining Workshop.
• Zhou Chun reported that the craftsmen and workers had arrived and that Blacksmith Li had finished the iron cabinet; Zhao Ruxi ordered it brought to her courtyard.
• Zhao Ruxi instructed Ma Sheng to check whether Locksmith Hu and Locksmith Jiang had finished making the parts to her measurements.
• Zhao Ruxi reviewed the six bookkeepers' accounts and sent them to their assigned workshops, then visited the painting academy before returning to Green Plantain Courtyard.

Zhao Ruxi tested the craftsmen’s tools and assembled a drawer lock, then fitted it to a heavy iron cabinet to create a secure safe. Impressed by its security and commercial potential, she ordered Zhou Chun and Ma Sheng to bring the craftsmen into the workshops and get them running within three days.

• Zhao Ruxi inspected the custom tools, screws, and nuts made by the blacksmith and locksmiths, then assembled the drawer lock successfully.
• Zhao Ruxi attached the lock and hinges to an iron cabinet and showed everyone how difficult it was to force open without a key.
• Zhou Chun praised the safe as a solution to protecting gemstones and finished jewelry across the scattered workshops.
• Zhao Ruxi asked whether wealthy families would buy safes, and Ma Sheng and the others agreed they would sell well.
• Zhao Ruxi told Zhou Chun and Ma Sheng to bring the craftsmen into the workshops and have every workshop operating in three days.

Zhao Ruxi arranged the workshop rules and began teaching the Anzhou trainees, establishing herself as their teacher despite their varied backgrounds. The first class ended with a well-dressed trainee challenging her account of the class’s rules.

• Zhao Ruxi gave Zhou Chun detailed workshop rules and told him to oversee the workshops while she taught the training class.
• Zhao Ruxi went with Zhang Changshen, Wu Zong, and others to meet the fifteen trainees from Anzhou Province at the training compound.
• After the trainees stared at her and gave an uneven salute, Zhao Ruxi told them to call her Teacher Zhao and treat the class like a private school.
• A young man in brocade challenged Zhao Ruxi, claiming officials had said the trainees need not observe teacher-student rites.
• Zhao Ruxi recognized the young man’s expensive clothes and suspected a prominent family had sent him to provoke her.

Zhao Ruxi had a student removed for disrespecting her, then laid down strict rules for her painting class. The remaining students accepted her authority as Zhang Changshen warned that anyone who disobeyed would be sent home and replaced.

• Zhang Changshen confirmed that the Court of Judicial Review had not promised students the right to challenge Zhao Ruxi and said they owed her respect as their teacher.
• Zhao Ruxi refused to teach the richly dressed young man, and Zhang Changshen ordered constables to drag him out.
• The young man protested that he had only asked a question, but Zhao Ruxi remained silent as the constables removed him.
• Zhao Ruxi told the students she could dismiss anyone who insulted her and invite someone else to take their place.
• Zhang Changshen backed Zhao Ruxi's rules and warned that the Court of Judicial Review would replace anyone who disrespected her or shirked work.

Zhao Ruxi established rules for the fourteen painters attending her class, then demonstrated her portrait technique and explained why their training would take two months. The painters came to admire her work and accepted the need for sustained practice.

• Kang Shilin refused to intervene in the yamen’s business and warned that he could call on the emperor, while Zhang Changshen praised his authority.
• Zhao Ruxi had the fourteen students introduce themselves, outlined class officer roles and assessments, and invited them to apply for positions.
• Zhao Ruxi painted Uncle Lu’s portrait, stunning the students with its lifelike quality and earning their sincere admiration.
• Zhao Ruxi posted her lesson plan and two-month schedule, then explained that students needed time to learn the fundamentals and practice independently.
• A student questioned the length of the course, but Zhao Ruxi explained her teaching constraints, and the students agreed that thorough learning required time.

Zhao Ruxi taught the officials sketching and impressed Zhang Changshen with her skill and composure. As Zhang Changshen and Wu Zong investigated who had sent the young man in fine clothes to provoke her, Xiao Lingyan ordered a thorough inquiry, while the guard began telling students about Zhao Ruxi's powerful connections.

• Zhao Ruxi explained the principles of sketching to the officials, who treated her with respect, and Zhang Changshen praised her to Kang Shilin.
• Wu Zong told the gate guard to boast about Zhao Ruxi, Kang Shilin, and their connections to anyone who asked after class.
• Zhang Changshen asked Wu Zong about the young man in fine clothes, and they suspected someone had sent him to target the Court of Judicial Review.
• Xiao Lingyan heard about the incident and ordered a thorough investigation into who had disturbed the Grand Duke's household.
• Zhao Ruxi finished the lesson and returned to the Green Plantain Courtyard, while the guard told students about Kang Shilin's reputation.

After learning how powerful Zhao Ruxi’s backers were, several trainees reconsidered their behavior and sought to become class monitor. Zhao Ruxi heard the first applicants explain their plans, but the selection remained undecided.

• A yamen runner warned the trainees that Zhao Ruxi was protected by powerful officials and the emperor, leaving them shaken about having nearly offended her.
• Zhong Duo went to Zhao Ruxi’s residence and applied to be class monitor, accepting that the role would involve difficult work and grievances.
• Zhao Ruxi asked Zhong Duo and two other applicants how they would manage the class.
• One applicant boasted about his abilities and connections, while Zhong Duo yielded to the remaining applicant when Zhao Ruxi invited him to speak next.

Zhao Ruxi appointed class officers to manage the training class, then arranged gemstone purchases for her new silver shop. After learning that Liu Zongyao had visited the Jia Family following his expulsion, Xiao Lingyan suspected someone was deliberately framing them and decided to test the Jia family’s reaction.

• Zhao Ruxi appointed Zhong Duo class monitor and assigned three other students to class officer roles, explaining to Ma Sheng how they would manage the students and save the instructors trouble.
• Zhao Ruxi visited Shopkeeper Shen to inspect gemstones, accepted his price list, and entrusted future purchases to Zhou Chun.
• A man in gray reported to Xiao Lingyan that Liu Zongyao had visited the Jia Residence after being expelled from Zhao Ruxi’s training class, where Jia Junze had cursed Zhao Ruxi before dismissing him.
• Xiao Lingyan suspected Liu Zongyao was deliberately drawing suspicion toward the Jia Family and ordered someone to inform Jia Songlin of the visit so he could observe the family’s reaction.

Jia Songlin realized that Liu Zongyao’s visit had been a trap meant to frame the Jia family, but he could only swallow his anger and look for a chance to retaliate against the Liu family. Xiao Lingyan and Xiao Lingpu blamed the crown prince, agreed to keep Jia Songlin’s hatred aimed at him, and left Zhao Ruxi uninvolved; Xiao Lingyan decided not to tell her that he had sent people to watch over her.

• Jia Songlin berated Jia Junze for failing to recognize Liu Zongyao’s visit as an attempt to frame their family, then ordered him to endure the insult and wait for a chance to find fault with the Liu family.
• A man in gray reported the Jia father and son’s conversation to Xiao Lingyan, who told Xiao Lingpu the next day that the crown prince was likely behind the plot against Zhao Ruxi.
• Xiao Lingyan proposed passing the information to Jia Songlin, and Xiao Lingpu agreed that turning Jia Songlin against the crown prince could benefit them.
• Xiao Lingpu considered reaching out to Zhao Ruxi and her associates, but Xiao Lingyan advised him not to draw neutral officials into the factions’ struggle yet, and Xiao Lingpu agreed.
• Xiao Lingyan chose not to tell Zhao Ruxi what he had learned because it would expose that he had sent people to watch her, which he intended to keep doing.

Zhao Ruxi arranged a risky southbound expedition to bring back jadeite and discussed plans for housing and improving life at her manor. The chapter left her servants encouraged by her promise that their hard work would let them repay the cost of building houses.

• Xiao Lingyan wrote to Zhao Ruxi about transporting jadeite rough from mines in the south, and Zhao Ruxi organized a party of twenty-eight to retrieve it.
• Ma Sheng volunteered to lead the journey, and Zhao Ruxi chose veteran guards and manor servants for the expedition.
• Qian Duoduo asked Zhao Ruxi about building homes for new manor families and delivering livestock, and she approved the houses while postponing the delivery decision.
• Zhao Ruxi showed Qian Duoduo plans for a pond and fruit trees and offered timber on credit to build mud-and-tile houses.
• Qian Duoduo worried that the families could not repay the debt, but Zhao Ruxi assured him that her instructions and their hard work would make repayment possible.
• Zhou Chun praised Zhao Ruxi's abilities and encouraged Qian Duoduo to trust her.

Zhao Ruxi arranged improvements for the estate and planned to turn its harvest into food for sale. When matchmakers arrived to propose marriages, she suspected the Eastern Palace was trying to manipulate her marriage and explained her concerns to Lady Zhu and the old madam.

• Qian Duoduo thanked Zhao Ruxi on behalf of the estate’s residents, and she promised better housing and a school for their children.
• Zhao Ruxi told Qian Duoduo to map the village and prepare adobe bricks before construction began.
• Zhao Ruxi asked Zhou Chun to find pastry cooks and buy two shops so she could sell processed food made from the estate’s harvest.
• Matchmaker Jiang praised Zhao Ruxi and left after Lady Zhu said she would discuss the proposed match with her daughter.
• Lady Zhu told Zhao Ruxi that two matchmakers had proposed marriages for her, and Zhao Ruxi suspected the crown prince was scheming against her through marriage arrangements.
• Zhao Ruxi told Lady Zhu and the old madam that she believed the Eastern Palace had sent Liu Zongyao to cause trouble and might now be targeting her reputation and marriage.

Zhao Ruxi warned her family about the crown prince’s marriage schemes, then arranged to help the Xu Family revive its business by teaching them to roast chestnuts. She perfected sugar-roasted chestnuts and summoned Sister-in-law Li to discuss the recipe.

• Zhao Ruxi urged the old madam and Lady Zhu to reject all the proposed marriages and keep watch on the men chosen for her.
• Zhao Ruxi asked how to handle Egret Manor’s surplus produce, and Lady Zhu and the old madam told her to sell or use it herself.
• Lady Zhu told Zhao Ruxi that competition had hurt the Xu Family’s cold mixed dishes business, so Zhao Ruxi promised to teach them a new way to sell chestnuts.
• Zhao Ruxi had Zhou Chun obtain quartz sand and instructed Sister-in-law Li to roast chestnuts with it.
• After tasting the first batch, Zhao Ruxi told Zhaoming to have Sister-in-law Li add sugar, then approved the finished chestnuts and asked for her.

Zhao Ruxi visited the Xu Family and showed them how to make sugar-roasted chestnuts using quartz sand, encouraging them to expand their snack business. She left after Xu Yongyi agreed to try the recipe and Xu Xue shared news of her success as a storybook writer.

• Zhao Ruxi brought roasted chestnuts to the Xu Family and explained how to make them with reusable quartz sand.
• Xu Yongyi, Madam Xie, Xu Chongwen, and Xu Xue tasted the chestnuts, and Xu Yongyi saw the potential to sell them at his stall.
• Zhao Ruxi gave Xu Yongyi her notes and quartz sand, suggested experimenting with other snacks, and declined a share of the new business's profits.
• Xu Xue told Zhao Ruxi that her new storybook had sold for a higher price after she negotiated with the shopkeeper.
• Zhao Ruxi praised Xu Xue's writing and encouraged her to keep going.

Zhao Ruxi told Xiao Lingyan that the crown prince was targeting her and worked with him to hide and sell the clocks they were producing. After Xiao Lingyan drove the crown prince out of the capital, Zhao Ruxi returned to her training classes and learned to ride.

• Zhao Ruxi told Xiao Lingyan about the crown prince's interference and marriage proposals, and asked him to resolve the threat to her workshop.
• Xiao Lingyan showed Zhao Ruxi tested springs and agreed to make clock parts for sale through Fu Yunlang as imported goods.
• Xiao Lingyan arranged a secret chamber and tunnel for storing and collecting the finished clock parts.
• Xiao Lingyan arranged for the crown prince to be impeached and caught drinking with a male courtesan, prompting the emperor to send him to another province.
• With the crown prince gone, Zhao Ruxi continued managing the training classes and learned to ride a horse with Gao Weiqiang's guidance.

Li Laosi complained about the Beining Workshop’s secretive methods and Feng’s strict inspections, but Blacksmith Li made him consider why the owner concealed the designs and warned him to keep quiet. After Zhao Ruxi finished teaching, Zhou Chun brought her pastries made by cooks he had arranged to prepare at the workshop.

• Li Si complained that the workshop gave the blacksmiths drawings without telling them what they were making, and Blacksmith Li warned him to stop talking.
• Blacksmith Li gathered his four sons and learned that Li Laosi had repeatedly ignored the drawings’ dimensions, resulting in rejected components and scrap.
• Blacksmith Li prompted Li Laosi to consider why the designs were concealed, and Li Laosi guessed that the owner was developing something new.
• Blacksmith Li explained that the secrecy protected the owner’s designs from being sold, and Li Laosi agreed to keep quiet.
• Zhou Chun brought Zhao Ruxi pastries prepared by cooks he had arranged to work near the workshop.

Zhao Ruxi proposed making dried rice noodles after her search for a suitable food product came up short, while her workshops continued producing goods for a future shop. She showed Wu Zong one of their iron safes and challenged him to open its unfamiliar lock.

• Zhao Ruxi told the cooks to try making dried rice noodles by grinding rice into slurry, steaming it, cutting it into strips, and drying them.
• Zhou Chun arranged the cooks' experiments and asked when the shop would open; Zhao Ruxi said it could open once she approved and ordered the staff to be ready.
• Zhao Ruxi packed up the pastries and took them to the painting academy, where she invited the students to eat and asked Wu Zong to inspect something from her workshops.
• Zhao Ruxi led Wu Zong to the Green Plantain Courtyard and challenged him to open an iron safe.
• Wu Zong examined the safe's unfamiliar lock, and Zhao Ruxi smugly assured him that he could not open it.

Zhao Ruxi showed Wu Zong that her iron cabinet lock was too difficult to pick and proposed using the Court of Judicial Review to publicize the cabinets. Wu Zong agreed to help, and Zhao Ruxi offered shares to her master and senior brothers in exchange for their support when the resulting attention brought trouble.

• Wu Zong tried and failed to pick Zhao Ruxi’s concealed lock, then praised the cabinet’s sturdiness.
• Zhao Ruxi explained that the iron cabinet could sell for eight hundred taels and Wu Zong agreed the price was reasonable.
• Zhao Ruxi proposed placing cabinets at the Court of Judicial Review and offering five hundred taels to anyone who could open one.
• Wu Zong recognized that the Court’s endorsement could make the cabinets famous and drive demand among wealthy families.
• Zhao Ruxi offered shares to Wu Zong, her master, and her other senior brothers, explaining that she expected powerful people to trouble her over the cabinet’s profits.

Zhao Ruxi arranged for Wu Zong to seek powerful allies for her iron-cabinet business while she developed recipes and production plans for her rice-noodle shops. After approving dried noodles and several dishes, she ordered preparations to open six shops in the city.

• Wu Zong agreed to approach Lord Zhang and their senior brothers about helping Zhao Ruxi, and Zhao Ruxi offered Lord Zhang or the Court of Judicial Review a free ten-percent share.
• Zhao Ruxi and her companions tasted the cooks' rice noodles and chose a recipe to test after drying.
• Zhao Ruxi directed the cooks to make braised rice noodles with inexpensive toppings and a soup noodle dish based on freshwater snails and pork bones.
• After finding that the dried noodles had a good texture, Zhao Ruxi ordered the cooks to train estate workers to make them and offered a reward for the best production group.
• Zhao Ruxi told Zhou Chun to buy four more shops, bringing the total to six, and assign cooks, managers, and estate workers to operate them.

Zhao Ruxi arranged to expand her workforce and sought advice about preparing Shi Chao and Jiang Zhenjiang to manage her shops. Shopkeeper Wang recommended two retired shopkeepers to guide them, and Zhao Ruxi left with their names.

• Zhao Ruxi told Zhou Chun to buy forty more people, train them, and promote two deputies to assist him.
• Zhao Ruxi visited Gathered Treasures Studio and asked Shopkeeper Wang how Shi Chao and Jiang Zhenjiang were progressing.
• Shopkeeper Wang praised both men’s diligence and said they were capable, though Shi Chao was more flexible and Jiang Zhenjiang was steadier.
• Zhao Ruxi explained that she needed experienced guidance before entrusting her important shops to the two novices.
• Shopkeeper Wang recommended retired shopkeepers Hu Mingda and Song Zhuo as advisers who could guide Shi Chao and Jiang Zhenjiang.
• Zhao Ruxi thanked Shopkeeper Wang with a bow, and he accepted her gratitude after reminding her not to put him in an awkward position.

Zhao Ruxi secured two experienced shopkeepers for her new businesses and arranged for the emperor to invest in her safe venture through Lord Zhang. The emperor’s backing seemed assured, and Wu Zong praised Zhao Ruxi’s cleverness.

• Zhao Ruxi persuaded Shopkeeper Wang to recommend her to two retired shopkeepers, and he sent them letters on her behalf.
• After the shopkeepers agreed to work for her, Zhao Ruxi offered each an annual salary of one hundred and eighty taels of silver.
• Wu Zong told Zhao Ruxi that Lord Zhang had agreed to place the safe at the Court of Judicial Review.
• Zhao Ruxi guessed that Lord Zhang had brought the emperor into the venture and explained why that approach benefited both Lord Zhang and her master.
• Wu Zong praised Zhao Ruxi’s intelligence, then patted her head as he called her a cheeky child.

Zhao Ruxi secured the emperor’s backing for her rice noodle business and shared a private promise of future profits with Wu Zong. Back in the capital, she introduced her family to the new dish and persuaded the old madam and Lady Zhu to make and sell dried rice noodles from their farms.

• Wu Zong told Zhao Ruxi that the emperor had invested six thousand taels and collected the other shareholders’ payments.
• Zhao Ruxi offered Wu Zong ten percent of her future profits in gratitude, and he agreed while saying he would tell their master.
• Zhao Ruxi returned to the capital and served her family rice noodles with braised meat and toppings.
• Zhao Ruxi explained her plan to open rice noodle shops and gave the old madam and Lady Zhu recipes for making dried rice noodles.
• Zhao Ruxi suggested that her family sell surplus dried rice noodles through grain shops, and Lady Zhu agreed to follow her advice.

Lü Yi went to the Court of Judicial Review to try opening an iron cabinet after hearing that the challenge offered five hundred taels of silver. As another man worked on the lock, Lü Yi examined the cabinet and concluded that the keyhole was the only possible way in.

• Zhou Guizi told Lü Yi that the Court of Judicial Review was offering five hundred taels to anyone who could open one of its iron cabinets.
• Lü Yi heard that many people had tried and failed, then agreed to go test his lock-picking skills.
• Lü Yi and his hoodlums pushed through the crowd and reached the front as a court runner selected the next person to try.
• Lü Yi watched the man work at the keyhole and inspected the cabinet's sturdy construction, ruling out its seams and hinges.

After the iron cabinet failed to yield to anyone, Guo Jitong questioned Zhang Changshen about buying one and learned it belonged to the emperor. Xiao Lingyan grew suspicious that Guo’s greedy reputation concealed a deeper purpose and ordered an investigation, connecting him to a possible plot involving delayed military provisions.

• Lü Yi spent his turn trying to pick the iron cabinet’s lock but failed and left with Zhou Guizi.
• Zhang Changshen told Guo Jitong that Baoning Pavilion sold safes, then warned him the iron cabinet was the emperor’s business and he should avoid crooked ideas.
• Xiao Lingyan overheard the exchange and, after boarding his carriage, ordered Xiao Liuzi to investigate Guo Jitong’s movements.
• Xiao Lingyan told Xiao Lingpu that Guo’s greed might be a disguise for investigating powerful families and their ties to successful shops.
• Xiao Lingyan recalled Zhao Ruxi’s account of provisions delayed by ten days and then burned near the border, suspecting the third prince had an accomplice in the Ministry of Revenue.

Zhao Ruxi used the emperor’s stake in the safe business to keep others from probing it, while sales quickly outpaced production. When Wu Zong told her the emperor had found twenty blacksmiths, she accepted the help and learned he had also rented a courtyard for them.

• Xiao Lingyan and Xiao Lingpu agreed to each buy one iron cabinet to support the emperor without drawing suspicion.
• Zhao Ruxi told Shi Chao and Song Zhuo to present the safe business as the emperor’s, and they moved the shop to the building he had given her.
• Customers bought the first few dozen safes in less than two days, leaving Shi Chao urging Zhao Ruxi to replenish the stock.
• Zhou Chun suggested assigning more blacksmiths to forge cabinets, but Zhao Ruxi refused because she feared the workers might expose the business’s secrets.
• Wu Zong told Zhao Ruxi that the emperor had found twenty blacksmiths for her, and revealed that he had already rented them a courtyard.

Zhao Ruxi expanded safe production after Xiao Ge sent blacksmiths to her workshop, and sales brought in a large profit. She calculated the first payout, increasing Xiao Ge’s share to account for his support and the extra workers.

• Xiao Ge heard officials complain that they could not buy safes and sent imperial-mausoleum blacksmiths to Zhao Ruxi.
• Zhao Ruxi organized the new blacksmiths into teams, increasing production to seventeen or eighteen safes a day while keeping supply limited.
• Zhao Ruxi’s shop sold safes for silver notes, and Wu Zong arranged for the proceeds to reach her discreetly.
• Zhao Ruxi kept the business secret from her family and planned to use her wealth to buy property in Jiangnan and move them there.
• After ten days, Zhao Ruxi counted 152 safes sold and set aside ninety thousand taels for the first profit distribution.
• Zhao Ruxi raised Xiao Ge’s share from twenty to thirty percent, giving him twenty-seven thousand taels for his investment and support.