Chapter Summaries

Zhao Ruxi prepared to investigate corruption in Nanyang and considered several people who wanted to join her. She rejected Yu Gang after revealing that he secretly served Cai Yaozong, leaving Zhou Chun shaken by how close he had come to recommending a spy.

• Zhao Ruxi refused to buy anything from the system and assigned two of Xiao Lingyan's guards to investigate Chen Kang's connections within ten days.
• Zhang Wenhuan approached Zhao Ruxi to join her, and she asked Zhou Chun to have him recommend a yamen runner as well.
• Zhou Chun told Zhao Ruxi that Yu Gang had also volunteered to join her, but she questioned whether he had come on Zhang Wenhuan's recommendation.
• Zhao Ruxi explained that Yu Gang had secretly reconciled with Cai Yaozong and acted as his hidden tool for framing others, so she rejected him.
• Zhou Chun realized his careless recommendation could have harmed Zhao Ruxi and wondered how she had uncovered Yu Gang's secret.

Zhao Ruxi exposed Guan Jian'an’s attempt to claim credit for obtaining the revenue office files and accounts, bringing the matter before Liu Hongyu. Liu ordered Guan dismissed for excessive sick leave, and Chen Kang was called in to decide whether to defend him.

• Zhao Ruxi calmly told Guan Jian'an to accompany her to Liu Hongyu’s office after he claimed he had obtained the files and accounts.
• Zhou Chun and Xiang Ming escorted the reluctant Guan Jian'an to see Liu Hongyu.
• Zhao Ruxi explained that Guan Jian'an was no longer her subordinate and asked Liu Hongyu about his claim.
• Liu Hongyu learned that Guan Jian'an had taken more than two hundred days of sick leave each year and ordered him to go home.
• Guan Jian'an begged Liu Hongyu to spare him, while Zhao Ruxi remained silent.
• Liu Hongyu summoned Chen Kang and said that Guan Jian'an could not remain in service under court rules.

Zhao Ruxi used Feng Aimin’s years of sick leave to persuade Liu Hongyu to order him back to work, challenging Chen Kang’s hold over the yamen. She then went to the revenue office for administrative records, where Wang Yongshou agreed to provide them in batches.

• Zhao Ruxi pointed out that Feng Aimin had also been on sick leave for years, and Liu Hongyu ordered Feng Xuemin to return to work or seek retirement.
• Chen Kang realized Zhao Ruxi had won Liu Hongyu’s support and considered how he could use local village heads, gentry, merchants, and salt traders to obstruct her.
• Liu Hongyu said Feng Aimin and Guan Jian'an would be treated equally, while Zhao Ruxi praised his decision.
• Chen Kang and Guan Jian'an left, and Zhao Ruxi went to the revenue office to collect the files and accounts.
• Wang Yongshou offered Zhao Ruxi only old records at first, but agreed to provide the remaining files after she finished the first batch.

Zhao Ruxi reviewed Nanyang’s salt administration records while Cai Yaozong and Chen Kang stalled, hoping to amend the accounts. Kang Shilin, Gan Lun, Zhou Wenbai, and Xiao Ruotong arrived unexpectedly, leaving Cai and Chen worried that Gan Lun would expose their falsified records.

• Zhao Ruxi began rapidly reading the case files and account books while Lady Luo brought her tea and pastries.
• Kang Shilin, Gan Lun, Zhou Wenbai, and Xiao Ruotong entered Nanyang without warning and headed to the yamen to find Zhao Ruxi.
• Zhao Ruxi greeted the visitors and introduced them to Liu Hongyu and Li Li, who came out to welcome them.
• Cai Yaozong learned Gan Lun had arrived and feared his experience with financial records would uncover flaws in the falsified accounts.
• Chen Kang asked Cai Yaozong whether Zhao Ruxi had summoned Gan Lun to examine the accounts, and Cai regretted delaying her work.

Cai Yaozong and Chen Kang debated how to appease Zhao Zhiwei without surrendering their profitable salt trade, settling on offering her the grain business. After seeing Zhao Ruxi’s safes and learning she sold them in partnership with the emperor, Cai Yaozong regretted provoking her while Chen Kang considered switching sides.

• Chen Kang advised Cai Yaozong to offer Zhao Zhiwei the grain business rather than give up the lucrative salt trade.
• Cai Yaozong and Chen Kang went to ask Liu Hongyu to mediate, then saw workers carrying two safes into Zhao Ruxi’s room.
• Liu Hongyu explained that Zhao Ruxi had brought the safes to secure the yamen’s case files and accounts.
• Li Li told Cai Yaozong and Chen Kang that Zhao Ruxi had developed the safes with craftsmen and sold them in partnership with the emperor, offering to sell more at cost.
• Cai Yaozong regretted antagonizing Zhao Zhiwei, while Chen Kang considered cooperating with Zhao Ruxi to gain the emperor’s favor.

Zhao Ruxi’s allies clashed with Cai Yaozong over her plans to inspect the yamen’s case files and accounts, and Liu Hongyu ordered the records moved to her office. Cai Yaozong and Chen Kang went to visit Zhao Ruxi, who prepared to hear them out while asking Gan Lun to help audit the salt and grain accounts if needed.

• Liu Hongyu told Cai Yaozong that Zhao Ruxi planned to return to the yamen with Gan Lun and inspect its files and accounts.
• Cai Yaozong objected to Gan Lun reviewing Nanyang’s records, but Li Li mocked him for letting his own unqualified friend audit the accounts.
• Liu Hongyu silenced the argument and ordered the files and accounts moved to Zhao Ruxi’s office the next day.
• Cai Yaozong found Chen Kang waiting at the Zhao Residence and concealed his suspicions as they waited to see Zhao Ruxi.
• Zhao Ruxi explained the yamen’s conflicts to Kang Shilin and the others, then asked Gan Lun to help inspect the salt and grain accounts if necessary.

Zhao Ruxi received Cai Yaozong and Chen Kang, who brought local gifts to ease their strained relationship with her. Chen Kang’s thoughtful offerings gave Zhao Ruxi clues about Nanyang’s local specialties and sparked ideas for developing the region, though she knew she needed to investigate further.

• Zhao Ruxi left her guests with Lady Zhu and went to meet Cai Yaozong and Chen Kang in the side hall.
• Cai Yaozong claimed credit for the local gifts Chen Kang had arranged, while Chen Kang described the wine, rice, and river crabs.
• Zhao Ruxi recognized the tension between Cai Yaozong and Chen Kang and realized the gifts had been Chen Kang’s initiative.
• Chen Kang’s list of Nanyang specialties strengthened Zhao Ruxi’s suspicion that Nanyang resembled modern-day Danyang and gave her ideas for improving the local economy.
• Zhao Ruxi said she would have her guests try the wine and asked Chen Kang where to buy more, signaling that she welcomed future dealings with him.

Zhao Ruxi accepted Chen Kang’s offer of wine while countering Cai Yaozong’s attempt to control which responsibilities she took on. She pressed to inspect local salt and grain accounts, warning Cai that she might soon return to the Ministry of Revenue, and left him facing the risk of future scrutiny.

• Chen Kang offered to send Zhao Ruxi aged wine from a local winery, and Zhao accepted his goodwill while Cai Yaozong disparaged the wine.
• Cai Yaozong offered Zhao Ruxi responsibility for grain supervision and water conservancy, and she agreed while asking to inspect the salt and grain files and accounts.
• Cai Yaozong refused to let Zhao inspect accounts outside her jurisdiction, so Zhao said she would postpone taking over responsibilities until she understood local affairs.
• Zhao Ruxi explained that she had worked on Ministry of Revenue accounts and might soon return to the capital, prompting Cai Yaozong to fear that she could investigate his future accounts.

Zhao Ruxi secured Cai Yaozong’s agreement to let her review Nanyang’s files and accounts, then discussed the compromises of official life with her companions. After receiving Xiao Lingyan’s notes on tribute-wine brewing, she began investigating Nanyang’s wine workshops and learned about the Dong family’s closely guarded methods.

• Cai Yaozong agreed that Zhao Ruxi could review the files and accounts while taking up her duties, and Chen Kang offered to answer her questions.
• Zhao Ruxi told her companions what had happened, and Kang Shilin and Gan Lun reassured her that compromise did not mean abandoning her principles.
• At dinner, Zhao Ruxi tasted the local yellow wine and found it disappointing compared with the wine she remembered from her previous life.
• Zhao Ruxi sent a letter to Fifth Master, and Xiao Lingyan replied with a standard method for brewing tribute yellow wine.
• Zhao Ruxi asked Lu Yun about local wine workshops, and Lu Yun reported that the Dong family guarded its century-old brewing skills and passed its secret recipe to the main line’s eldest grandson.

Zhao Ruxi investigated the Dong family's Dragon Pool Spring and took charge of grain, water conservancy, and land reclamation matters at the yamen. After reading five years of records in just over twenty days, she left the yamen staff impressed by her formidable methods and memory.

• Zhao Ruxi told Lu Yun to investigate whether the Dong family's Dragon Pool Spring was the Jade Milk Spring and to bring her water to taste.
• Liu Hongyu assigned Zhao Ruxi the grain and water conservancy matters Cai Yaozong had handled, and she took land reclamation from Li Li.
• Zhao Ruxi selected Zhang Wenhuan as her clerk and Chen Tao as her yamen runner, then received the files and accounts for her new responsibilities.
• Cai Yaozong and Li Li instructed their staff to cooperate with Zhao Ruxi and provide the records she requested.
• Zhao Ruxi questioned registrars from the revenue and works offices, then spent over twenty days reading the yamen's files and accounts from the past five years.
• Zhao Ruxi returned the records she had borrowed, and the yamen staff praised her remarkable memory and ability.

Zhao Ruxi secretly copied suspicious accounts from the yamen’s salt, grain, and river-defense records and worked with Gan Lun to find evidence of Cai Yaozong and Chen Kang’s corruption. After confirming the river dikes were sound, she planned to consult her eldest senior brother about how to handle the evidence.

• Zhao Ruxi arranged her office to conceal a private workspace where five helpers could copy suspicious accounts without being seen.
• She reviewed five years of salt, grain, and river-defense records while Cai Yaozong and Chen Kang mistakenly believed she had only skimmed them.
• The guards delivered copied accounts to Gan Lun, who checked them and taught Zhao Ruxi how to identify irregularities.
• Zhao Ruxi and Gan Lun uncovered evidence of Cai Yaozong and Chen Kang’s embezzlement and bribery, but found that river-defense funds had been spent on solidly built dikes.
• Zhao Ruxi told Gan Lun she would consult her eldest senior brother about how to handle the evidence.

Zhao Ruxi learned that Kang Shilin and his companions had found the Jade Milk Spring near a nunnery outside Danyang’s north gate. She ordered Zhou Chun to investigate and buy the land so she could eventually build a wine workshop there.

• Zhao Ruxi refused the system’s offer to locate the spring for a thousand points and tasted the water Kang Shilin’s group had brought back.
• Kang Shilin explained that they had found a spring-fed well near a nunnery after leaving through Danyang’s north gate.
• Zhao Ruxi recognized the white, misty water as the Jade Milk Spring she had been seeking and thanked Kang Shilin.
• Zhou Wenbai asked about the wine project, and Zhao Ruxi said it would take at least half a year to buy land, build a workshop, and hire a brewer.
• Zhao Ruxi told Zhou Chun to investigate ownership of the land and well, buy the land if possible, and offer to relocate the nuns if the workshop disturbed them.

Zhao Ruxi warned her servants to avoid trouble while she investigated land, as Cai Yaozong and Chen Kang searched for leverage against her. After failing to find anything they could use, Chen Kang urged Cai to stop provoking her, while Zhao began taking charge of grain, water conservancy, and military farming in Nanyang.

• Zhao Ruxi told Zhou Chun to keep the servants cautious and have Qian Buque arrange an intermediary for land negotiations.
• Cai Yaozong told Chen Kang that Zhao's business partners included the emperor, prominent officials, and Grand Princess Shangde, leaving them no useful scandal to exploit.
• Cai Yaozong described how powerful women protected Zhao and how people who had opposed her had suffered, prompting Chen Kang to wonder if she was an immortal.
• Chen Kang urged Cai Yaozong to stop plotting against Zhao, but Cai became angry and stormed out.
• Liu Hongyu's notices informed Nanyang's four counties and twenty-three neighborhood heads that Zhao had taken charge of grain, water conservancy, and military farming.

Zhao Ruxi set out to inspect Nanyang’s villages and learn about farming and irrigation firsthand. After Kang Shilin and the others departed, she heard from villagers that disputes over irrigation schedules sometimes turned violent.

• Zhao Ruxi told Lady Zhu and Kang Shilin she planned to visit the countryside, and Kang Shilin warned her to take enough people for safety.
• Kang Shilin said he and the others would visit Wu Zong in Linjiang Prefecture before returning to the capital, and Zhao Ruxi prepared gifts and arranged to send their shares to the capital.
• Lady Zhu suggested involving Kang Shilin in a possible match between Xiao Ruotong and Zhao Ruxi’s third senior brother, but Zhao Ruxi said the two should decide for themselves.
• After seeing Kang Shilin and the others off, Zhao Ruxi rode to nearby villages with her companions and Gan Lun to inspect local conditions.
• Zhao Ruxi asked an old farmer about irrigation, and he explained that villages fought over whose fields received water first, sometimes causing serious injuries and even deaths.

Zhao Ruxi inspected Wang Family Village and questioned Village Head Wang Houde after learning that local officials had allowed a feud between two villages to persist. When a couple knelt outside Wang Houde’s gate pleading for justice, he secretly arranged to bribe Chen Kang.

• An old villager told Zhao Ruxi that the village heads had let Wang Family Village and Scholar Tree Village fight over water, and Chen Kang claimed their conflict stemmed from an old deadly feud.
• Zhao Ruxi asked to tour Wang Family Village and noticed the imposing home of Village Head Wang Houde.
• Wang Houde welcomed Zhao Ruxi and answered her questions at his home until a commotion arose outside.
• Zhao Ruxi went to the gate and found a middle-aged couple kneeling and pleading for justice, while Wang Houde reacted angrily at their appearance.
• Wang Houde told his steward to get two hundred taels of silver from his wife and give the money to Chen Kang.

Zhao Ruxi heard a couple accuse Wang Houde’s son of driving their daughter to suicide, while Wang Houde and Chen Kang tried to discredit them. She refused to decide from either family’s claims alone and called on the villagers to speak freely, leaving Wang Houde and Chen Kang stunned by her challenge to his position as village head.

• The grieving couple accused Wang Houde’s son of forcing their daughter toward marriage, attempting to violate her, and driving her to drown herself.
• Wang Houde denied the accusations, suggested the couple wanted to extort him, and asked Zhao Ruxi to investigate an alleged instigator.
• Chen Kang took silver from Wang Houde’s steward and vouched for Wang Houde and his mentally impaired son.
• Zhao Ruxi said she would hear both sides and have her guards privately ask village elders what had happened.
• Zhao Ruxi urged villagers to report dissatisfaction with Wang Houde and said she would replace him if most villagers wanted a new village head.

Zhao Ruxi questioned Village Head Wang Houde about Wang Xian’s death after he and his wife accused her family of driving the girl to suicide. Wang Houde blamed two rivals, but Zhao Ruxi withheld judgment while she waited for her guards to report what they had learned from the villagers.

• Zhao Ruxi insisted that she investigate the dispute rather than accept either side’s account, and Chen Kang reassured Wang Houde that she was only following procedure.
• Wang Houde described how his son, who had the intelligence of a young child, wanted to marry Wang Xian, whose parents had rejected the match.
• Wang Houde’s wife claimed Wang Xian’s parents were hiding the truth about her death and seeking money from their family.
• Wang Houde accused Wang Fuyun and Sun Zhengbao of stirring up the dispute because they had grievances against him.
• Zhao Ruxi said she would wait for her guards to return with the villagers’ accounts before deciding the matter.

Zhao Ruxi refused Wang Houde’s offer of a meal to avoid appearing biased while investigating his conduct in Wang Family Village. After gathering information, she summoned the villagers, leaving Chen Kang anxious about what she would uncover.

• Wang Houde and his wife invited Zhao Ruxi and Chen Kang to lunch, and Chen Kang praised Madam Wang’s cooking and family connections.
• Zhao Ruxi refused the meal, returned to her carriage, and ate food brought by Lady Luo while Chen Kang decided not to plead Wang Houde’s case.
• Zhao Ruxi’s guards returned with information about the village, and she ordered one of them to sound a gong and summon the villagers.
• Chen Kang asked how Zhao Ruxi intended to deal with Wang Houde, and she asked whether he knew about Wang Houde’s actions in the village.
• Chen Kang recalled that Wang Houde had forced villagers to sell land and bullied rival factions, while local officials had ignored their complaints.

Zhao Ruxi removed Wang Houde as village head and ordered him to compensate Wang Dazhu with fifty mu of first-rate farmland after Wang Xian’s death. Wang Houde accepted the ruling, but later sought help to reverse it and learned that Zhao Ruxi’s powerful connections made that unlikely.

• Zhao Ruxi dismissed Wang Houde as village head, appointed Wang Fuyun in his place, and ordered Wang Houde to transfer fifty mu of farmland to Wang Dazhu and his wife.
• Chen Kang returned Wang Houde’s banknote and warned him that Zhao Ruxi’s backing made resistance dangerous.
• Wang Houde agreed to the compensation, fetched the land deeds, and transferred the farmland to Wang Dazhu.
• Zhou Chun urged Wang Dazhu to register the deeds at the yamen, while Zhao Ruxi gave Wang Fuyun instructions before leaving.
• Madam Wang wanted to appeal to her cousin, but Wang Houde stopped her and explained Zhao Ruxi’s connections.
• Wang Houde visited Chen Kang for help, and Chen Kang said neither he nor Lord Cai could reverse the ruling.

Zhao Ruxi consolidated her authority over Nanyang’s village headmen, surveyed land and water resources, and chose a plot to buy near a nunnery. She then urged the system to try connecting to the modern internet for information, but it had not yet agreed.

• Wang Houde sought help from Cai Yaozong and his brother-in-law, but both refused, so he returned home and stopped resisting his removal.
• The other village headmen and the county magistrates saw how Zhao Ruxi dealt with Wang Houde and instructed their subordinates to obey her.
• Zhao Ruxi asked Zhou Chun about buying land, inspected a hill near a nunnery, and decided to purchase only the land at its foot.
• Zhao Ruxi asked the system for a recipe for Danyang sealed-jar wine, then encouraged it to try connecting to the modern internet for information.