Chapter Summaries

After abandoning the search for Qiao Shuyi, Zongzheng Heng returned to Jinzhou and organized a force to repel the northern tribes. With the frontier defense underway, he planned to return to the capital, where the Empress Dowager’s consort selection awaited him.

• Zongzheng Heng ended his search for Qiao Shuyi and returned to the city after Gu Huai'an reported that allied tribes had reached Yanmen Pass.
• Zongzheng Heng ordered the weapons returned to Qiao Nanyu’s eight thousand surrendered troops and appointed Zhao Huchen to lead them against the invaders.
• Zongzheng Heng added five thousand Jinzhou soldiers to Zhao Huchen’s force and ordered him to set out for Yanmen Pass.
• Gu Huai'an told Zongzheng Heng that the Empress Dowager had summoned him to the capital and was preparing a consort selection.
• Zongzheng Heng decided to leave for the capital the next day and handle the consort selection after his return.

Qiao Shuyi helped Song Jue escape a man searching the caravan, then recognized him as a powerful figure from the novel she had known. She decided to make use of him for the future, when she would need help under another identity.

• A man in black stopped Yan Po’s caravan and demanded to search for Song Jue, who he claimed had stolen something from his master.
• Yan Po’s escorts searched the other carriages, but the man in black insisted Song Jue was hiding in Qiao Shuyi’s carriage.
• Song Jue hid inside Qiao Shuyi’s carriage, and she feigned panic to lure Yan Po inside; Yan Po killed the man in black and ordered his corpse buried.
• Song Jue asked Qiao Shuyi why she had helped him, and she jokingly said it was because he was handsome.
• Qiao Shuyi recalled Song Jue’s future role in Su Yunyan’s rise and decided to use his help when she appeared before Zongzheng Heng under another identity.

Qiao Shuyi, who called herself Susu, befriended Song Jue and gave him a jade pendant after asking him to help find her family someday. Meanwhile, the empress dowager arranged the imperial selection, favoring daughters of important officials and approving Vice Minister Su’s concubine-born daughter after his legitimate daughter was eliminated.

• Susu told Song Jue she had lost her memories and asked whether they had known each other before.
• Susu encouraged Song Jue to believe he would become a great general, and he warned her against trusting strangers too easily.
• Susu asked Song Jue to help find her family in Jiangnan and gave him a jade pendant as a token for finding her.
• The empress dowager reviewed the emperor’s list of officials’ daughters and ordered their families’ candidates selected first in the third round.
• Nanny Liu reported that Vice Minister Su’s legitimate daughter had been eliminated after breaking out in rashes, and the empress dowager approved selecting his concubine-born daughter instead.

Zongzheng Heng wandered the imperial garden, puzzled by his detailed memories of flowers and unable to stop thinking about the dead Qiao Shuyi. At Taiye Pool, he met Su Yunyan, who revealed her plans to win his favor and secure the future she believed the novel had promised her.

• Zongzheng Heng questioned Li De about unfamiliar flowers and trees in the imperial garden, including fringe trees.
• Zongzheng Heng wandered to Taiye Pool and saw Su Yunyan standing in a pavilion.
• Zongzheng Heng thought of Qiao Shuyi and tried to convince himself that he could forget her by choosing Su Yunyan.
• Su Yunyan greeted Zongzheng Heng and recalled how she had transmigrated into the Su Family and spent three years pretending to be devoted to him.
• Su Yunyan decided she would adapt her behavior to Zongzheng Heng's preferences and claim the ending she wanted.

Qiao Shuyi settled in Wu Commandery under the identity Liu Susu and began planning affordable pharmacies and a network of medicinal suppliers. On the Double Ninth Festival, Su Jingyun saw her at a medical shelter and was struck by her beauty.

• Qiao Shuyi bought a house, registered as Liu Susu, and had Yan Po open a discreet branch of the Yishun Escort Agency in Wu Commandery.
• Qiao Shuyi planned to open pharmacies for ordinary people and to buy medicinal herbs directly from local producers, while seeking a physician skilled in both medicine and poison-making.
• Qiao Shuyi ordered Yan Po to find a discreet, well-traveled physician and keep close watch on Su Jingyun.
• Su Jingyun went to Wu Mountain for the Double Ninth Festival with friends, despite preferring to avoid the crowds.
• Young Master Kong pointed out Qiao Shuyi at a medical shelter, and Su Jingyun stared at her before reproaching himself and warning Young Master Kong to speak respectfully.

Qiao Shuyi built a life in Wu Commandery as Lady Liu while carefully drawing Su Jingyun into a position where he would help her. Two years later, with her son Liu Xuan and the fringe tree she had planted, she prepared for Zongzheng Heng’s arrival and planned to take her child to the highest seat of power.

• Su Jingyun heard that Lady Liu had been abandoned while pregnant, had opened a pharmacy, and treated poor patients for free, and he felt sympathy for her.
• Qiao Shuyi deliberately arranged to meet Su Jingyun, gradually became familiar with him, and gained his help when other pharmacies threatened her business.
• Over two years, Qiao Shuyi expanded the Hall of Saving the World, while Su Jingyun’s support deterred the city’s pharmacies from causing trouble.
• Qiao Shuyi held her one-year-old son Liu Xuan beneath the flowering fringe tree and reflected that Zongzheng Heng would soon arrive.
• Qiao Shuyi told Liu Xuan she intended to take him to the highest place so he would have power and never be made to kneel.

Su Yunyan prepared to use the emperor’s southern tour to bring her elder brother back from Wu Commandery and secure support of her own. Zongzheng Heng promised to visit Wu Commandery, while Su Yunyan remained wary that the trip might bring another woman into his life.

• Su Yunyan encountered the demoted Cui Yingshuang on the way to Taiji Hall and offered to ask for her to join the southern tour, but Cui Yingshuang declined because she had to care for the eldest princess.
• Su Yunyan reflected on her lack of family support, her difficulty bearing children, and her plan to bring her elder brother Su Jingyun back from Wu Commandery during the southern tour.
• At Taiji Hall, Zongzheng Heng told Su Yunyan he wanted the rear palace to know she had his protection and urged her to focus on recovering her health.
• Su Yunyan asked Zongzheng Heng whether the southern tour would pass through Wu Commandery so she could see Su Jingyun.
• Zongzheng Heng said he would visit Wu Commandery, and Su Yunyan thanked him.

Su Jingyun woke from a dream of Liu Susu and realized his feelings for her had become romantic, though he believed they could never be together. A letter from his sister Yanyan, now Consort Shu, gave him a chance to advance to the capital, and he devised a plan to bring Susu before the emperor as a physician.

• Su Jingyun woke from a dream in which he and Liu Susu had become lovers, then recalled the moments that had changed his feelings for her.
• Su Jingyun received a letter from Yanyan announcing her promotion to Consort Shu and the emperor’s planned visit to Wu Commandery in three days.
• Yanyan urged Su Jingyun to impress the emperor and find a physician who could treat his recurring migraines so he could earn a transfer to the capital.
• Su Jingyun considered asking Liu Susu to treat the emperor and hoped her success might earn her an official medical post and allow him to seek imperial approval for their marriage.

Su Yunyan saw a Wu silk dress being carried into Zongzheng Heng’s bedchamber and wondered who it was meant for, but he described a different outfit for her without addressing the dress. During the southern tour, Su Yunyan’s conspicuous favor provoked Zhu Rongyu, and their sharp exchange ended with Su Yunyan leaving to attend Zongzheng Heng.

• Su Yunyan followed two palace maids carrying a Wu silk dress toward Zongzheng Heng’s bedchamber, then turned back when a eunuch summoned her.
• At dinner, Su Yunyan asked Zongzheng Heng about her common attire, and he recommended a plain azure gauze dress without mentioning the Wu silk dress.
• On the southern tour, Zongzheng Heng repeatedly summoned Su Yunyan to join him, while Zhu Rongyu grew resentful of her favor.
• Zhu Rongyu taunted Su Yunyan about attending Zongzheng Heng, and Su Yunyan retorted that Zhu Rongyu could advise him herself if she could get an audience.
• Su Yunyan left to attend Zongzheng Heng, while Zhu Rongyu remained angry and Su Yunyan dismissed her attempt to travel ahead of her.

Su Jingyun welcomed Zongzheng Heng and his party to Wu Commandery, then recommended Lady Liu as a physician who might cure the emperor’s migraines. Afterward, he told Su Yunyan that he loved Lady Liu and hoped to marry her despite her having a child, and Su Yunyan agreed to support him if Lady Liu could help the emperor.

• Su Jingyun received Zongzheng Heng, the court ministers, and the imperial consorts at his residence, where he reunited briefly with his younger sister, Su Yunyan.
• At the banquet, Su Jingyun praised Lady Liu’s medical skill and charitable treatment of the poor, and Su Yunyan persuaded Zongzheng Heng to let Lady Liu examine his migraines the next day.
• Zongzheng Heng granted Su Yunyan and Su Jingyun time to speak privately, and Su Jingyun confessed that he loved a woman who had borne a child.
• Su Jingyun revealed that the woman was Lady Liu and said he hoped to secure her a medical appointment and present her child as his own.
• Su Yunyan agreed to support Su Jingyun’s marriage plans if Lady Liu cured Zongzheng Heng’s headaches.