Chapter Summaries

Xu Xi agreed to return to the marquis’s residence after the old madam and Lady Zhu promised that no one would arrange her marriage without her consent. She settled into the Tea Tasting Residence and requested furnishings for her study, while the old madam decided the household should treat her well and see how things went.

• Xu Xi asked for assurance that Lady Wei could not arrange her marriage, and the old madam promised that the household would not force her to marry.
• Xu Xi agreed to live in the marquis’s residence but warned that she would respond if Lady Wei caused trouble.
• The first madam assigned Caidie to show Xu Xi the Tea Tasting Residence and provide anything it needed.
• Xu Xi chose the rooms’ purposes and told Qingfeng to bring her study supplies and ask the first madam for a bookshelf and writing desk.
• Qingfeng warned Xu Xi that her requests might make the other young people compare themselves with her, but Xu Xi insisted she carry them out.
• The old madam approved Xu Xi’s requests and told the first madam to treat her well, hoping to win her over.

Xu Xi settled into the Tea Tasting Residence with furnishings from the First Madam and prepared to begin learning about the household and the world through books. The next morning, she visited the Old Madam before going to the academy, where the Old Madam invited her to breakfast and asked about the academy’s schedule.

• The First Madam brought Xu Xi bookshelves, a desk, study accessories, paintings, and calligraphy, and told her she could visit the residence library with Qingfeng.
• Xu Xi arranged her study and earned two Wisdom Points by practicing handwriting.
• At the family banquet, Lady Wei stayed quiet, and Xu Xi asked Qingfeng when everyone paid respects to the Old Madam.
• Xu Xi decided to visit the Old Madam early before going to the academy, and Qingfeng explained that formal visits usually took place on the first and fifteenth of the month.
• The Old Madam welcomed Xu Xi’s visit, laughed at her candid explanation, invited her to breakfast, and asked when she needed to arrive at the academy.

Xu Xi left the marquis’s residence for the academy, where she reunited with Xu Xue and reassured her family that she was being treated well. She and Xu Xue went inside to register while her family waited outside to learn the academy’s arrangements.

• Xu Xi ate breakfast with the old madam, who arranged for Matron Ruan and Qingfeng to accompany her to the academy.
• Lady Wei learned Xu Xi had gone to the academy without visiting her and vowed to teach her a lesson when she returned.
• Xu Xi arrived at the academy gates and reunited with Xu Xue and the worried Xu Family.
• Xu Xi reassured Xu Yongyi and Madam Xie that she was comfortable at the marquis’s residence and introduced them to Qingfeng.
• Xu Xi and Xu Xue went inside to register, while Xu Yongyi and Madam Xie waited outside for news about the academy’s arrangements.

Xu Xi and Xu Xue registered at the Women's Academy, where Xu Xi arranged to board only when necessary and paid her fees. Xu Xi then befriended the maid Shimo, who showed the sisters to a dormitory room for her to use.

• Madam Xie received Xu Xi’s note asking the family to pick them up at the academy entrance after a meal, and she and Xu Yongyi planned to prepare their city home.
• Xu Xi stopped Xu Xue from entering through the main gate, explaining that students had to use the side gate, and the sisters presented their identity tags to Teacher Fu and Teacher Chen.
• Xu Xue chose to live at home, while Xu Xi reserved a bed for occasional overnight stays and paid her own fees; Xu Xue paid her own tuition.
• Teacher Chen explained the rules for boarders leaving the academy, and Xu Xi asked Xu Xue to help her choose a bed.
• Xu Xi chatted with Shimo as she led the sisters to the dormitory, and Shimo unlocked a room for Xu Xi.

Xu Xi settled into her academy dormitory, then left with Xu Xue and Madam Xie to sell her jewelry design at the county’s largest silver shop. On the way, Xu Yongyi and Madam Xie helped her plan how to pose as a noblewoman with servants so the shopkeeper would take her seriously.

• Xu Xi accepted Shimo’s directions and gave her a bundle of fresh pastries before settling into the dormitory with Xu Xue.
• Xu Xi revealed that she had asked Madam Xie to meet them, and Madam Xie took the girls to find Xu Yongyi and buy supplies.
• Xu Xi told Xu Xue, Madam Xie, and Xu Yongyi that she planned to sell a jewelry design at the Abundant and Prosperous Pavilion.
• Xu Xi asked Xu Yongyi and Madam Xie to call her Xiaoxi in private, and Xu Yongyi suggested that Madam Xie and Xu Xue pose as her servants.
• Madam Xie warned that claiming to be Xu Xi’s relatives could make the shopkeeper suspect she had stolen her clothes, and Xu Xi planned to enter the shop with Xu Xue while the couple waited outside.

Xu Xi went to a jewelry shop with Xu Yongyi, Madam Xie, and Xu Xue to present her bracelet design and seek a long-term partnership. Shopkeeper Huang recognized the drawing’s professional quality and became eager to see her other designs.

• Xu Xi agreed to visit the jewelry shop with Madam Xie and Xu Xue posing as her servants, while Xu Yongyi waited outside.
• Madam Xie and Xu Xue followed Xu Xi’s instructions and acted as her attendants when they entered the shop.
• Xu Xi asked to meet Shopkeeper Huang and proposed a long-term partnership to sell her jewelry designs.
• Xu Xi gave Shopkeeper Huang a detailed bracelet design, and he recognized its originality and professional presentation.
• Shopkeeper Huang asked Xu Xi whether she had more designs.

Xu Xi negotiated with Shopkeeper Huang over selling her jewelry designs and rejected his low offers, forcing him to raise his price. As Shopkeeper Huang offered thirty taels per drawing and asked to consult the owner, Madam Xie urged Xu Xi to wait and hear the next offer.

• Shopkeeper Huang offered Xu Xi one tael per design, but she folded away her drawing and prepared to leave.
• Shopkeeper Huang had his assistant block the doorway, and Xu Xi warned that she would accuse him of molesting her if he stopped her again.
• Xu Xi explained how much the designs could increase the value of jewelry and demanded at least a hundred taels per drawing.
• Shopkeeper Huang raised his offer to thirty taels per drawing and asked Xu Xi to wait while he consulted the owner.
• Madam Xie and Xu Xue were stunned by the amount, and Madam Xie urged Xu Xi to hear the owner's offer.

Xu Xi negotiated to sell a jewelry design to the silver shop owner, Old Xu, while a wealthy Madam Xie offered to buy designs for more. Suspecting Old Xu might copy any designs he saw without buying them, Xu Xi insisted that Madam Xie be invited to consider the remaining designs, leaving Old Xu to decide whether to proceed.

• Xu Xi waited at the silver shop and followed an assistant upstairs, where she met a wealthy woman willing to pay a hundred taels of silver per design.
• Xu Xi honored the shop’s first chance to negotiate, then invited Madam Xie and Xu Xue to sit and sent pastries and tea to her hungry coachman, Xu.
• Old Xu returned with Shopkeeper Huang, examined Xu Xi’s first design, and agreed to buy it for a hundred taels of silver.
• Xu Xi suspected Old Xu had learned about Madam Xie’s offer and might copy her other designs, so she asked Madam Xie to come see them.
• Old Xu objected that Xu Xi was breaking the rules, but Xu Xi replied that their deal was settled and offered to take her remaining designs elsewhere if he refused to negotiate.

Xu Xi refused to show Old Xu her remaining jewelry designs unless he and the other interested buyer signed a contract against copying them. Old Xu abandoned his plan to cheat her after recognizing the madam’s high status, but he still tried to discredit Xu Xi’s demand, leaving the madam to respond.

• Xu Xi accepted Old Xu’s apology but insisted that the madam be present before she discussed the rest of her designs.
• Old Xu planned to buy one design cheaply and copy the others, but he reconsidered when the madam arrived in tribute silk and fine jewelry.
• Xu Xi told the madam and Old Xu what had happened and presented a contract forbidding either from copying designs they did not buy.
• Old Xu objected to signing the contract and implied that he would leave rather than inspect the designs under Xu Xi’s terms.

Xu Xi refused to show her jewelry designs without a signed contract and left Old Xu’s shop with the interested woman. Fu Yunlang arrived to choose a birthday gift for his mother and learned that the shop had recently mishandled Xu Xi’s designs.

• Xu Xi told the woman she would discuss her designs at a teahouse if they signed a contract, then left the shop with her.
• Old Xu decided not to send anyone after the woman and learned that Fu Yunlang had arrived.
• Fu Yunlang asked Shopkeeper Huang to show him the shop’s jewelry and reprimanded him for withholding information.
• Shopkeeper Huang explained that Xu Xi had shown the woman her designs, and Fu Yunlang ordered his attendant to fetch Old Xu.

Fu Yunlang reprimanded Xu Xinda and Shopkeeper Huang for mishandling the purchase of Xu Xi’s jewelry designs, then arranged to watch for a chance to buy more. Meanwhile, Xu Xi met Madam Xiao in a teahouse to show her the designs, leaving their deal unresolved.

• Fu Yunlang examined the design Xu Xinda had bought and criticized him for thinking too conservatively.
• Xu Xinda proposed buying more designs from Xu Xi, and Fu Yunlang told him to watch the teahouse and approach her if needed.
• Fu Yunlang scolded Shopkeeper Huang for failing to manage Xu Xinda, then ordered him to have the design carved in fine jade.
• Fu Yunlang’s attendant suggested Madam Xiao might be the County Princess of Qingyang, and Fu Yunlang told him not to let Xu Xinda offend her.
• Xu Xi followed Madam Xiao into a teahouse and showed her the designs, while Madam Xiao asked to sign a contract first.

Xu Xi sold nine jewelry designs to Madam Xiao, who invited her to open a jewelry shop together. Their discovery that Madam Xiao would teach at the Women's Academy led Xu Xi and Xu Xue to reveal their identities and explain why Madam Xie and Xu Xue had posed as servants.

• Madam Xiao admired Xu Xi's nine designs and paid her nine hundred taels.
• Madam Xiao proposed that she and Xu Xi open a jewelry shop, but Xu Xi suggested being paid per design instead of becoming a partner.
• Xu Xi learned that Madam Xiao was a teacher at the Women's Academy, where Xu Xi and Xu Xue were students.
• Xu Xi introduced Xu Xue and Madam Xie, revealing that she was the Marquis of Suiping's Residence daughter who had been switched at birth.
• Madam Xie explained that Xu Xi had sold designs to earn money to help her adoptive family start a small business.

After selling her remaining nine jewelry designs to Madam Xiao, Xu Xi refused the Abundant and Prosperous Pavilion’s attempts to buy more and left with her family. She realized the shop had sent an attendant to follow her, and confronted him in an alley.

• Madam Xiao accepted Xu Xi’s account of her family and left, saying she would contact her again about finding a shop and shopkeeper.
• Xu Xinda and Shopkeeper Huang tried to negotiate for more designs, but Xu Xi said she had already sold the remaining nine to Madam Xiao and could not produce new ones on demand.
• Xu Xinda instructed an attendant to follow Xu Xi and find out where she lived.
• Xu Xi led her family into an alley and waited behind a locust tree until the attendant rushed in looking for her.
• Xu Xi called out to the attendant, and Xu Yongyi realized the man had been following them from the Abundant and Prosperous Pavilion.

After evading the Abundant and Prosperous Pavilion’s attempt to follow her, Xu Xi returned to the Xu family home and discussed their plans for a street business. She revealed the banknotes she had earned, leaving Xu Yongyi stunned as the chapter ended.

• Xu Xi sent Xu Yongyi to stop the shop assistant from following them and warned him to take a circuitous route home.
• Madam Xie took Xu Xi and Xu Xue back to the Xu family home after checking that no one was tailing them.
• Xu Yongyi reported that the assistant had turned back and would have followed them if he had not intervened.
• Xu Xi reassured the family that her status as a Women's Academy student and a young lady of the marquis's household would deter the merchants.
• Xu Yongyi explained that a street stall would cost about one tael of silver a month in fees and protection money, and Xu Xi asked him to guess how much she had earned.
• Xu Xi laid out her banknotes, and Xu Yongyi was shocked to see how much money she had made.

Xu Xi used the money from Old Xu and Madam Xiao to help Xu Yongyi expand the family’s cold-dish business into a wholesale operation. The family agreed on Xu Xi’s investment and profit share, and Madam Xie reaffirmed that Xu Xi would always have a place in their home.

• Xu Xi urged Xu Yongyi and Madam Xie to hide most of the banknotes and offered the remaining two as business capital.
• Xu Xi proposed hiring workers to prepare ingredients and selling cold dishes wholesale to merchants across divided territories.
• Xu Yongyi accepted Xu Xi’s money as an investment and insisted she receive fifty percent of the profits.
• Xu Xi said she could not visit the business every day because of school and the marquis’s carriage, but offered to communicate through Xu Xue.
• Madam Xie prepared to steam taro cake and told Xu Xi she had restored her old room for her.

Xu Xi helped Xu Xue start writing a story by giving her an outline and a two-day deadline. After visiting the academy, Xu Xi learned that Zhao Ruyu had been accepted into the prestigious Capital Women's Academy, but she told the system she could live happily without surpassing Zhao Ruyu.

• Xu Xi asked Madam Xie to move her to a less favored room, but Madam Xie explained that the west wing had been arranged for Xu Chongwen's bedroom and study.
• Xu Xue asked Xu Xi to help her earn money by writing a story, so Xu Xi created an outline and gave her two days to finish the manuscript.
• Xu Yongyi, Madam Xie, and Xu Xue accompanied Xu Xi to the academy, where she chatted with the gatekeepers while waiting for Qingfeng.
• Qingfeng told Xu Xi that Zhao Ruyu had been accepted into the Capital Women's Academy, leaving the system worried that Xu Xi would fall further behind.
• Xu Xi reassured the system that she could live her own life happily without surpassing Zhao Ruyu.

Xu Xi rejected the system’s demand to outperform Zhao Ruyu and chose to live as she pleased, including eating alone rather than enduring meals with Lady Wei. At the marquis’s residence, she learned Zhao Ruyu had been admitted to the Capital Women’s Academy and explained that she had requested a bed at her own academy.

• Xu Xi refused to compete with Zhao Ruyu unless the system offered her a reward for completing the task perfectly.
• Xu Xi told Qingfeng she was content with her own life and instructed Dianjiang to bring her meals to the Tea Tasting Residence.
• Xu Xi arrived at the marquis’s residence, saw decorations celebrating Zhao Ruyu, and went to pay her respects to the old madam.
• Xu Xi congratulated Zhao Ruyu on her admission to the Capital Women’s Academy and told the old madam and the first madam that she had requested a bed at her academy.
• The first madam supported Xu Xi’s decision, and Zhao Ruyu explained that students from the capital usually lived at home.

At the marquis’s household, Xu Xi rebuffed Zhao Ruyu’s pointed remarks, prompting Zhao Ruyu to suspect that Xu Xi was not the Zhao Ruxi she remembered from her previous life. Xu Xi then refused to return to supper at the second branch, while Matron Yuan criticized her for risking a reputation for being unfilial.

• Zhao Ruyu described the strict admissions process for the Capital Women's Academy and implied that Xu Xi had taken an easier route, but Xu Xi answered by pointing out how poor her upbringing had been.
• First Madam ended the visit and canceled the family banquet after Zhao Ruyu’s slight, and the Old Madam agreed to let Xu Xi and Zhao Ruyu leave.
• Outside the main courtyard, Zhao Ruyu confronted Xu Xi, who said she was Xu Xi and invited Zhao Ruyu to take the Zhao surname if she wanted it.
• Zhao Ruyu concluded that Xu Xi was not the Zhao Ruxi from her previous life, then reassured herself that her own advantages still made her superior.
• Xu Xi chose to eat at the Tea Tasting Residence instead of returning to the second branch, and Matron Yuan urged her to obey her birth mother and uphold filial piety.

Xu Xi dismissed Matron Yuan and chose to keep her distance from the second branch after Lady Wei planned to make amends. When Xu Xi stayed away from dinner, Lady Wei sent Zhao Rurui to fetch her, while Xu Xi discovered the kitchen had downgraded her meal and accepted Dianjiang's help.

• Xu Xi told Matron Yuan to leave her courtyard affairs to Qingfeng and the others, then dismissed her.
• Matron Li persuaded Lady Wei to treat Xu Xi more gently, and Lady Wei decided to be kinder when Xu Xi came to pay her respects.
• At dinner, Lady Wei learned Xu Xi had chosen to eat in her own courtyard and ordered Zhao Rurui to bring her there.
• Dianjiang admitted she had brought her own allowance after the kitchen sent Xu Xi's meal to the second branch, and Xu Xi thanked her for keeping her from going hungry.

Xu Xi refused to dine with the second household and prepared for Lady Wei to confront her, but Lady Wei never arrived at the Tea Tasting Residence. Daimao called to Xu Xi from outside, leaving the reason for Lady Wei’s absence unclear.

• Xu Xi shared her meal with Dianjiang and told Qingfeng to stay with her.
• Zhao Rurui invited Xu Xi to eat with the second household, but Xu Xi refused and sent her back with a message for Lady Wei.
• Zhao Rurui told Lady Wei that Xu Xi had already eaten, and Lady Wei set out with Matron Li toward the Tea Tasting Residence.
• Dianjiang spotted Lady Wei approaching and warned Xu Xi, who told Qingfeng to seek the old madam if Lady Wei came in.
• Lady Wei and Matron Li never arrived, and Daimao called to Xu Xi from outside the door.