Chapter Summaries

Xiao Lingyan arranged for Eunuch Zhang to alert him if anyone sought an imperial marriage decree, while Zhao Ruxi reviewed the newspaper project and diagnosed its printing problem. The newspaper’s organizers were left needing a cheaper way to print it.

• Xiao Lingyan sent Xiao Liuzi to bribe Eunuch Zhang to report any requests for imperial marriage decrees, and Xiao Ge learned of their plan and accepted it.
• Noble Consort Cen questioned Xiao Liuzi about Xiao Lingyan, but he refused to reveal anything.
• Madam Cui brought Zhao Ruxi a sample newspaper and asked her to identify what was wrong with it.
• Zhao Ruxi noticed the vertical layout and handwritten text, then asked whether they had encountered printing difficulties.
• Madam Cui explained that woodblock printing was too costly for the newspaper’s small circulation and that they could not produce the borders or illustrations Zhao Ruxi had suggested.

Zhao Ruxi used the problem of printing a women’s newspaper to direct Madam Cui to her inexpensive new printing press. Madam Cui found the inconspicuous Wang Printing House and negotiated a surprisingly cheap order, but she suspected the owner was trying to swindle her.

• Zhao Ruxi explained that she had developed lead type, printing ink, and a press to make large-scale newspaper printing affordable.
• Zhao Ruxi gave Madam Cui the address of an inexpensive printing house, then went to her separate lessons to study for the preliminary scholar’s examination.
• Madam Cui traveled to the south of the capital and found Wang Printing House hidden in an alley.
• The elderly owner examined Madam Cui’s newspaper and quoted three taels for three hundred copies.
• Madam Cui doubted the low price, and the owner impatiently demanded a hundred copper coins as a deposit if she wanted to proceed.

Madam Cui collected the newspapers from Wang Kun’s printing house and found they were printed quickly and at an unexpectedly low price. She and Grand Princess Shangde suspected Zhao Ruxi had secretly covered the costs, but Zhao Ruxi denied it, leaving them wondering who had paid the difference.

• Madam Cui paid Wang Kun a hundred wen deposit and received a receipt promising the newspapers in ten days.
• Madam Cui collected the matching newspapers ten days later, paid the remaining two thousand nine hundred wen, and learned Wang Kun could print three hundred more at the same price.
• Madam Cui brought the newspapers to Grand Princess Shangde, and they wondered whether Zhao Ruxi had secretly paid the difference.
• Madam Cui confronted Zhao Ruxi about covering the printing costs, but Zhao Ruxi swore she had not paid anything.

Zhao Ruxi explained the unusually cheap newspaper printing to Madam Cui, and an investigation confirmed Wang Shixing’s background and his reasons for accepting the order. Grand Princess Shangde decided to invest in Wang Shixing’s printing house while keeping the newspaper’s printing costs low.

• Zhao Ruxi told Madam Cui that she had found Wang Printing House through Broker Wang and explained why its printing costs were cheap.
• Madam Cui sent a guard to investigate Wang Shixing, whose family had been secretly helped by Xiao Lingyan’s men after losing their fortune and facing prison in Jiangnan.
• The guard confirmed Wang Shixing’s background and reported that the family had accepted the newspaper order because of Broker Wang’s connection and their reluctance to refuse him.
• Grand Princess Shangde independently investigated Wang Shixing and then proposed investing three thousand taels for a thirty percent share in his printing house.
• Grand Princess Shangde told Madam Cui to offer the investment, set printing prices slightly below other shops, and preserve the low price for the newspaper.

Grand Princess Shangde expanded Wang Printing House with imported printing presses and ink, using paper and printing methods developed through Zhao Ruxi and Xiao Lingyan’s efforts. The workshop’s cheap, high-quality books transformed the market, while the great families began copying its technology and fighting to reclaim their business.

• Grand Princess Shangde bought Wang Printing House from Wang Shixing and sent people to Jiangnan, where they acquired three more presses, metal type, and ink.
• Grand Princess Shangde moved the workshop to her courtyard in Beining, installed four presses, and opened it with paper supplied by Xiao Lingyan’s paper mill.
• Wang Printing House’s Four Books and Five Classics became popular for their low prices, durable paper, and clear printing, prompting Grand Princess Shangde to expand.
• The great families obstructed Grand Princess Shangde’s business and infiltrated the workshop, then sent people to Jiangnan to buy presses and ink and lowered their prices.
• Zhao Ruxi and Xiao Lingyan’s presses and paper sold widely, and book prices across Great Jin fell.

Zhao Ruxi improved the estate’s livestock, farming, and food production before preparing for the county examination. Madam Cui feared rivals might interfere, so Grand Princess Shangde asked Xiao Ge to appoint an upright examiner; Zhao Ruxi entered the exam room and met the other female candidates.

• Zhao Ruxi arranged for estate households to raise livestock, tested earthworm farming, planted fruit trees, stocked the pond with fish, and shared fertilizer methods.
• Madam Cui worried that Consort Jin or Princess Pingyang would sabotage Zhao Ruxi during the county examination, and Grand Princess Shangde agreed to seek the emperor’s help.
• Grand Princess Shangde asked Xiao Ge to appoint a fair official to oversee the female candidates, and he agreed.
• Zhao Ruxi arrived at the examination grounds and met three candidates from the Capital Women's Academy and another woman sitting alone.
• The candidates stopped talking as Zhao Ruxi prepared her writing materials, while the assistant examiners watched over the quiet room.

Zhao Ruxi took the county examination in the capital and finished her paper early. The results were posted the next day, and she was named first on the list, surprising even herself.

• Zhao Ruxi learned that Qin Zhe, the renowned calligraphy master, was the chief examiner, while Xie Yu served as deputy chief examiner.
• Zhao Ruxi confidently answered the examination questions, checked her work, and submitted her paper while a third of the incense remained.
• Zhao Ruxi returned home early, and her family worried about how she had performed as they waited for news.
• The next day, a servant checked the posted results and reported that Zhao Ruxi had topped the list.
• Zhao Ruxi acknowledged that she had expected to answer correctly but was still surprised to come first.

After Zhao Ruxi took first place in the county examination’s first session, she warned her family not to assume she would top the overall results and explained that her fame might have influenced the prefect. The family learned Zhao Jing'an had ranked eighty-eighth, while public complaints about Zhao Ruxi ended after candidates inspected her flawless paper.

• Zhao Ruxi told her grandmother and parents that her first-place result might reflect deference to the emperor and did not mean she would win the overall examination.
• A servant reported that Zhao Jing'an ranked eighty-eighth and the Xu family's young master ranked forty-fifth in the first session.
• Zhao Yuanxun and Lady Zhu reassured themselves that Zhao Jing'an still had two sessions to improve and could try again next year if needed.
• Lady Zhu sent a servant to learn how people were reacting to Zhao Ruxi's result.
• The servant reported that candidates had protested and demanded to see the papers, but the prefect displayed the top ten papers under guard.
• After examining Zhao Ruxi's error-free paper and beautiful handwriting, the candidates accepted her result and praised her scholarship and painting.

Zhao Ruxi advanced through the county examination, placing second in the comprehension test and seventh in the final test. Her family suspected the officials had suppressed her ranking, while Zhao Ruxi remained determined to prove herself.

• Kang Shilin, Madam Cui, and Grand Princess Shangde celebrated Zhao Ruxi's first-place result, and Grand Princess Shangde prepared a calligraphy copybook as a reward.
• Zhao Ruxi finished the second examination early, and the next day the results placed her second.
• The Old Madam, Lady Zhu, and Zhao Yuanxun suspected Zhao Ruxi had been unfairly ranked, while Zhao Ruxi said she would give her best in the final examination.
• Zhao Ruxi sat the final examination, which included essays, a poem, and arithmetic problems, but expected the capital prefect to suppress her ranking.
• When the final results came out, Zhao Ruxi placed seventh, and the elders grew indignant on her behalf.

Grand Princess Shangde rewarded Zhao Ruxi with a treasured copybook by Master Mingcang. Lady Zhu then asked Matron Yin to urge the Grand Princess to have the second- and third-session examination papers posted, and the Grand Princess called for Madam Cui to discuss whether Zhao Ruxi had been unfairly ranked.

• Grand Princess Shangde sent Matron Yin to deliver a copybook by Master Mingcang to Zhao Ruxi as a reward for her examination result.
• Zhao Ruxi gratefully accepted the copybook and promised to thank Grand Princess Shangde in person after the county examination results were posted.
• Lady Zhu asked Matron Yin to request that the examination papers from the second and third sessions be posted, questioning whether Zhao Ruxi's work had been deliberately ranked lower.
• Matron Yin agreed to convey Lady Zhu's request to Grand Princess Shangde and accepted a modest jade gift from Matron Zhou.
• After Matron Yin reported Lady Zhu's words, Grand Princess Shangde summoned Madam Cui and asked whether Zhao Ruxi might have been suppressed and what the academy's masters thought of her work.

Grand Princess Shangde weighed whether to challenge Zhao Ruxi’s ranking in the imperial examinations, but recognized that intervening would invite political attacks and might change nothing. Zhao Ruxi hurried to Beining to apologize for her mother’s words and urged Grand Princess Shangde not to risk her position over the results.

• Madam Cui praised Zhao Ruxi’s essays, and Grand Princess Shangde considered going to the palace to complain about the capital prefect’s handling of the examination.
• Grand Princess Shangde reasoned that demanding the examination papers be posted would expose her to accusations of meddling in government, while the prefect had already ranked Zhao Ruxi among the top five.
• Zhao Ruxi arrived at Beining after Matron Ruan told her what Lady Zhu had said to Matron Yin.
• Zhao Ruxi apologized for her mother’s remarks and asked Grand Princess Shangde to forgive her.
• Zhao Ruxi explained that intervening in the examination would put Grand Princess Shangde in the wrong and that the rankings could not be changed merely by posting the papers.

Zhao Ruxi persuaded Grand Princess Shangde not to challenge the capital prefect over her examination ranking, explaining that doing so could let him portray the princess as interfering with the exams. She reassured Madam Cui that later examinations used anonymous papers and stricter procedures, though Grand Princess Shangde still resented Zhang Li for lowering Zhao Ruxi’s ranking.

• Zhao Ruxi apologized on her mother's behalf, and Grand Princess Shangde warmly assured her that Madam Cui had done nothing wrong by seeking justice for her.
• Zhao Ruxi argued that the capital prefect might have passed her over to uphold the authority of the examinations, and Grand Princess Shangde realized Zhang Li could be using her as an example to deter powerful people from interfering.
• Madam Cui asked whether women would always be suppressed, and Zhao Ruxi explained that later examinations concealed candidates' names and had multiple examiners review copied papers.
• Madam Cui and Grand Princess Shangde were reassured that anonymous examination procedures could prevent candidates from being ranked by sex, but Grand Princess Shangde remained angry at Zhang Li.

After the county examination, Grand Princess Shangde planned to show Zhao Ruxi’s essay to the emperor, while Zhao Ruxi explained that she did not intend to remain in officialdom and wanted to devote herself to painting. She then proposed that women needed independent income to improve their standing, leaving Madam Cui eager to hear how more women could earn money.

• Zhao Ruxi advised Grand Princess Shangde to wait until the county examination results and essays circulated before raising doubts about Zhang Li with the emperor.
• Zhao Ruxi told Grand Princess Shangde and Madam Cui that even if she earned the jinshi degree, she would eventually leave official service to pursue painting and study.
• Madam Cui accepted Zhao Ruxi’s choice and said her painting and the newspaper idea could help improve women’s circumstances.
• Zhao Ruxi argued that women needed their own income to gain a stronger voice at home, prompting Madam Cui to ask how they could help more women earn money.

Zhao Ruxi showed Grand Princess Shangde and Madam Cui her improved spinning mule and proposed opening textile factories throughout Great Jin with the emperor’s investment. The chapter left Grand Princess Shangde and Madam Cui eager to help establish both the factories and Zhao Ruxi’s planned technical academy for women.

• Zhao Ruxi proposed a textile workshop that would hire women and produce affordable fine cloth.
• Zhao Ruxi brought Grand Princess Shangde and Madam Cui to Green Plantain Courtyard to see her textile machine.
• Zhao Ruxi demonstrated a spinning mule that could spin yarn quickly using animal power, and explained that it could run on water power.
• Zhao Ruxi said she had developed the machine and described how its low costs could make fine cloth affordable to commoners.
• Zhao Ruxi asked Grand Princess Shangde to invite the emperor to invest in textile factories and proposed using her profits to establish a free technical academy for women.
• Grand Princess Shangde agreed to help establish the academy, and Madam Cui agreed to join her.

Grand Princess Shangde brought Zhao Ruxi’s labor-saving spinning machine to the palace so Xiao Ge could see its potential. The carpenters assembled it and taught the eunuchs to operate it, and the emperor was invited to watch.

• Grand Princess Shangde asked Zhao Ruxi to bring the spinning machine to the palace, but Zhao Ruxi sent the two carpenters who had built it instead.
• Zhao Ruxi reassured the nervous carpenters and instructed them to assemble the machine and teach the eunuchs, without demonstrating it before the emperor.
• Grand Princess Shangde brought the carpenters and machine to the palace gates, then went inside to tell Xiao Ge about it.
• Xiao Ge summoned Grand Princess Shangde and ordered the chief steward to bring the machine and carpenters into the palace.
• The guards inspected the carpenters and machine, and the carpenters assembled it and taught the eunuchs to operate it.
• The eunuchs invited Xiao Ge to see the spinning machine.

Xiao Ge watched Zhao Ruxi’s spinning machine operate and questioned whether she had truly invented it. Grand Princess Shangde reminded him that Zhao Ruxi had also devised the celebrated safe, leaving him mostly convinced but still astonished by how much she had accomplished.

• Xiao Ge ordered the eunuchs to start the spinning machine, which two sedan-chair bearers powered by pulling a lever.
• Xiao Ge admired how quickly and evenly the machine spun thread compared with ordinary spinning wheels.
• Xiao Ge joked that the machine required people despite Grand Princess Shangde’s earlier claim that it did not.
• Grand Princess Shangde explained that Zhao Ruxi had studied the machine for six months and said waterpower could run it without human or animal labor.
• Xiao Ge doubted Zhao Ruxi had invented it, but Grand Princess Shangde reminded him that she had also devised the safe that earned him dividends.
• Xiao Ge recalled Zhao Ruxi’s many achievements and became overwhelmed by the idea that she had built the machine too, while Grand Princess Shangde looked smug.

Grand Princess Shangde persuaded Xiao Ge to back Zhao Zhiwei’s water-powered spinning machine and their plan to open textile workshops across Great Jin. Pleased by their supposed public-minded goals, Xiao Ge also decided to appoint the Earl of Suiping to a civil post.

• Xiao Ge examined Zhao Zhiwei’s spinning machine and accepted that she had invented it herself.
• Grand Princess Shangde proposed opening textile workshops with Xiao Ge taking a ten-percent share, arguing that the machine would benefit the people and prevent great clans from monopolizing its gains.
• Grand Princess Shangde told Xiao Ge that she and Zhiwei planned to use their profits to improve conditions for women and children.
• Xiao Ge praised Shangde and Zhiwei, then offered the Earl of Suiping a Subordinate Sixth Rank post at the Court of Judicial Review.

Xiao Ge reconsidered Zhao Yuanxun’s appointment after Zhao Zhiwei’s achievements and ultimately granted him a Subordinate Sixth Rank post at the Court of Judicial Review. Grand Princess Shangde hinted that Zhao Zhiwei had faced unfair treatment in the county examination, prompting Xiao Ge to investigate.

• Xiao Ge decided Zhao Yuanxun deserved a better post because Zhao Zhiwei had produced the textile machine, but he struggled to find a suitable position that would not expose Zhao Yuanxun to hostile factions.
• Xiao Ge settled on a Subordinate Sixth Rank post at the Court of Judicial Review for Zhao Yuanxun after Zhao Zhiwei’s accomplishment made the appointment defensible.
• Grand Princess Shangde argued that the post would be wasted on Zhao Yuanxun and suggested giving it to Zhao Zhiwei instead, then hinted that someone had mistreated her in the county examination.
• Xiao Ge ordered Eunuch Xie to investigate the examination, and imperial guards reported that Zhao Zhiwei ranked first, second, and seventh in its three sessions, while male candidates had challenged her first-session result.
• Xiao Ge asked what final rank Zhang Li intended to give Zhao Zhiwei.

Xiao Ge discovered that Zhang Li had withheld Zhao Zhiwei’s county examination ranking and ordered an investigation while promising to uphold fairness. At the Earl of Suiping’s Residence, Zhao Yuanxun explained why Zhao Ruxi had rushed to apologize to Grand Princess Shangde and reported that Xu Chongwen was likely to pass the examination.

• An imperial guard told Xiao Ge that Zhang Li had withheld the county examination rankings, where Zhao Zhiwei had been listed third, and Xiao Ge ordered him to wait for the list and obtain the top ten candidates’ papers.
• Xiao Ge recalled promising Grand Princess Shangde a fair examination and ordered an edict for the Earl of Suiping’s post to be drafted and delivered.
• Xiao Ge ordered an investigation into Zhang Li’s associations, deciding to punish both Zhang Li and whoever had directed him to tamper with the examination.
• Lady Zhu told the old madam that Zhao Ruxi had hurried to Beining, and the old madam asked Zhao Yuanxun to explain what had happened.
• Zhao Yuanxun said Lady Zhu’s actions had put Grand Princess Shangde in a difficult position, while Zhao Ruxi’s apology had given her a way out; he advised Lady Zhu to consult Zhao Ruxi in the future.
• Zhao Yuanxun reported that Brother An was unlikely to pass, while Xu Chongwen’s results in the second and third rounds made him likely to succeed.

Zhao Ruxi explained how she had prevented Lady Zhu from falling into a trap, then the Earl of Suiping's Residence received an imperial decree appointing Zhao Yuanxun deputy director of the left division of the Court of Judicial Review. Zhao Ruxi revealed that the post was a reward for the improved weaving machine she had made, and Zhao Yuanxun accepted her advice about beginning his new work.

• Zhao Ruxi told the family that the capital prefect had tried to provoke Grand Princess Shangde, and that she had persuaded the grand princess not to make a scene before she went to the palace.
• A maid announced that a palace eunuch had arrived with an imperial decree, and Zhao Ruxi reassured the family that it was good news.
• Eunuch Xie read the decree appointing Zhao Yuanxun deputy director of the left division of the Court of Judicial Review, effective immediately.
• Eunuch Xie hinted that Zhao Yuanxun owed the appointment to his daughter, and Zhao Ruxi explained that Grand Princess Shangde had taken her improved weaving machine to the palace.
• Zhao Ruxi offered to ask her third senior brother and his colleagues to guide Zhao Yuanxun at the court, easing his worries about the new post.