Chapter Summaries

Lady Wen and Lady Ma explained Great Jin’s laws protecting women, and Yuan Meiniang chose to divorce Sun Baogen, establish a female-headed household, and take her daughters. At the yamen, Sun Baogen was found guilty, and Mother Sun agreed to Yuan Meiniang’s terms in exchange for a lighter sentence.

• Lady Wen announced that women could establish female-headed households and inherit property under Great Jin law.
• Lady Ma told Yuan Meiniang she could leave Sun Baogen without relying on her birth family, and Yuan Meiniang chose divorce and custody of her two daughters.
• Yamen runners arrested Sun Baogen, while Yuan Meiniang rejected Mother Sun’s pleas to let him go.
• Lady Ma and Lady Wen brought Yuan Meiniang, her daughters, and Sun Baogen to the North City Military Command, where Commander Chen found Sun Baogen guilty.
• Yuan Meiniang demanded a divorce, custody of her daughters, and fifteen taels of silver for medical expenses; Mother Sun agreed to the terms to spare Sun Baogen prison and a harsher beating.

After escaping the Sun family, Yuan Meiniang chose to study sewing at the Women's Technical College and began planning a self-sufficient life with her daughters. The Women's Federation helped her keep her whereabouts from her relatives, and she settled into a routine that gave her hope for their future.

• Sun Baogen signed the divorce agreement and received ten strokes of the paddle, while the Women's Federation took Yuan Meiniang and her daughters to temporary housing.
• Lady Ma explained Yuan Meiniang's choices, and Yuan Meiniang chose a short-term course at the Women's Technical College.
• After recovering for ten days, Yuan Meiniang visited the college with Lady Wen and chose to learn machine sewing.
• Yuan Meiniang asked the Women's Federation to hide her from the Yuan family, explaining that they wanted her compensation and planned to marry her off again; Lady Wen agreed to mislead them.
• Yuan Meiniang enrolled, rented a room near the college, and took her daughters to its nursery while she attended classes.
• As she began studying and living independently, Yuan Meiniang felt hopeful and determined to build a better life for herself and her daughters.

Yuan Meiniang built an independent life by joining the college workshop, then helped her younger sister Yuan Lanniang train for work and escape their parents’ control. After meeting Lady Dong, Yuan Meiniang told her about work at the textile mill, and Lady Dong decided to seek a mutual divorce and follow her example.

• Yuan Meiniang placed first in the training examination and took a stable job in the college workshop, where she earned enough to support herself and her daughters.
• Yuan Meiniang asked Madam Ma and Madam Wen to help Yuan Lanniang avoid being married off, and offered to pay for her technical training.
• Madam Wen persuaded the Yuan parents to let Yuan Lanniang study, while Yuan Lanniang avoided giving them information about Yuan Meiniang.
• Yuan Lanniang learned to operate a loom, joined a textile mill, and moved into its dormitory to escape her parents’ demands and control.
• Yuan Lanniang found her own marriage match, and Yuan Meiniang later met Lady Dong while shopping and told her about textile-mill work.
• Lady Dong watched Yuan Meiniang leave with her daughters and resolved to seek a mutual divorce and work at the textile mill.

System 200121 returned to the System Bureau as the female-oriented bureau’s top points earner after guiding Zhao Ruxi, whose diligence had far surpassed that of a typical sweet-romance host. Convinced that high-IQ, hardworking hosts suited it better than romance-focused missions, 200121 transferred to the Farming Story Office, and 200001 followed.

• System 200121 reunited with System 200553, who congratulated it for earning the most points on its mission.
• System 200121 recalled how Zhao Ruxi spent all her points on pills for her family before she died, earning enough points to top the bureau leaderboard.
• System 200121 told 200553 that a host should have high intelligence and not be love-brained, and explained how Zhao Ruxi’s diligence had led to their success.
• System 200121 revealed that Zhao Ruyu’s system, 200001, had ranked seventy-second after being outperformed by Zhao Ruxi and her influence on Zhao Ruyu.
• System 200121 announced its transfer to the Farming Story Office, and 200001 followed it while 200553 wondered whether to transfer too.