Chapter Summaries

Su Jin finalized a Tencent Video partnership with Ma Huateng, then traveled to Jingdezhen to meet the Cheng Family, whose generations-old kiln had been preserved for peachbloom porcelain. After seeing their heirloom brush washer and dormant kiln, she agreed to fire peachbloom pieces and accepted their centuries-kneaded clay.

• Su Jin negotiated Tencent Video's movie, series, and variety-show deals with Ma Huateng, who accepted her terms.
• Su Heng told Su Jin that the Cheng Family wanted to meet her, and she changed her itinerary to Jingdezhen.
• Su Jin arrived at Cheng Kiln and met the elderly Cheng Family master, who showed her a peachbloom brush washer fired by his ancestor.
• The old master explained that the kiln had been idle since 1937 and showed Su Jin the old mantou kiln.
• Su Jin declared that she would fire peachbloom porcelain, and the old master gave her clay passed down and kneaded across generations.

Su Jin persuaded Elder Cheng to let her bring skilled artisans into the Cheng Family kiln and hired four top-tier porcelain specialists through the System Store. After arranging a new Poly Auction sale for her peachbloom porcelain, she returned to Beijing for the Nüwa film fitting and offered to fire a real five-colored brick for the movie.

• Su Jin asked Elder Cheng to let her bring workers into the Cheng Family kiln, and she promised to light the kiln fires.
• Su Jin spent all her system points hiring a clay kneader, a greenware trimmer, a glaze mixer and a kiln firer.
• Su Jin arranged with Zhao Mingyuan for Poly Auction to hold one annual contemporary porcelain sale called “Rekindling.”
• Su Jin returned to Beijing and chose the black ceremonial dress for the Nüwa film costume fitting.
• The director explained that the film’s Nüwa made stars from a five-colored brick rather than mending the heavens.
• Su Jin told the director she would fire a real brick for the film, and he repeatedly nodded in astonishment.

Su Jin gave nine beta codes for Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio to Jiang Che, whose livestream drew millions of viewers as he played its three levels in unexpected ways. The game’s preorders surged, and Su Jin decided to build an IP empire of her own.

• Su Jin received the SJ Esports Club, including its LPL slot and Shanghai base, as her daily check-in reward, then gave nine game beta codes to captain Jiang Che.
• Jiang Che livestreamed the game and waited quietly with Nie Xiaoqian until Ning Caichen arrived, choosing silence between them.
• In The Painted Skin, Jiang Che showed the ghost its true face in a mirror, and the ghost thanked him before leaving its empty skin behind.
• Jiang Che passed through the wall in The Taoist Priest of Mount Lao, and the stream’s audience grew to twelve million before he announced the game’s May 1 release.
• Su Jin learned that preorders had reached five million copies in eight hours as publishers and platforms arranged to support the game, then resolved to build her own IP empire.

Su Jin attended Wimbledon and spoke at the launch of a Chinese-story game in Berlin before Su Heng took her to a luxury ship named Jin in Hamburg. She asked Su Heng to teach her how to steer the ship the next day.

• Su Jin attended Wimbledon in London, where Getty Images published eighteen unretouched photographs of her.
• At a game launch event in Berlin, Su Jin said she had waited three years for the game and had opened the door for Chinese stories to reach the world on their own terms.
• Su Heng met Su Jin after her speech and drove her from Berlin to the Hamburg dock.
• Su Jin boarded the ship Jin, and Su Heng described its facilities and experienced Norwegian captain.
• Su Jin asked Su Heng to teach her how to steer the ship the next day, and he agreed.

Su Jin learned to steer the Jin from Su Heng, rode the white horse at the estate, and asked Zhao Mingyuan to build a riding stable in Beijing. After delivering a striking performance as Nüwa in Xinjiang, she accepted an invitation to appear on Zhejiang Television’s “Poetry Across China” in Dunhuang.

• Su Heng taught Su Jin about steering the Jin, and she took the helm as the ship sailed from Hamburg toward the North Sea.
• Su Jin rode the white horse at the estate and told Zhao Mingyuan to arrange a riding stable outside Beijing with five horses.
• Su Jin arrived at the Xinjiang filming location and performed the scene of Nüwa repairing the heavens, leaving the director convinced no retake was needed.
• Zhao Mingyuan told Su Jin that “Poetry Across China” had invited her to read Wang Wei’s “On a Diplomatic Mission to the Frontier” in Dunhuang.
• Su Jin accepted the invitation and went to sleep as rain fell outside her hotel window.

Su Jin filmed “Poetry Across China” in Dunhuang, where her unscripted recitation at the Mogao Caves moved the crew and drew the attention of fellow guest Lu Shihan. After the shoot, Lu Shihan watched her leave without speaking.

• Su Jin traveled to Dunhuang with Fang Ying and Zhou Ye and was styled in a cinnabar-red robe for filming.
• Su Jin met Lu Shihan on the bus, and he watched her as the guests traveled to the Mogao Caves.
• At the Nine-Story Building, Su Jin recited ancient verses without a script, moving Lu Shihan and bringing the cameraman to tears.
• Su Jin refused to enter the Library Cave, explaining that people had taken its sutras, paintings, and wrapping cloth, and the director accepted her decision.
• Su Jin and Lu Shihan stood together in silence on Mingsha Mountain as the sun set, then shared tea beside the campfire.
• On the bus back to the hotel, Su Jin fell asleep and left without speaking to Lu Shihan, who watched her go before getting off.

Su Jin arrived in Dali for the poetry show, where Lu Shihan grew more openly drawn to her and newcomer Shen Rang revealed his admiration. After Su Jin performed a poem in Erhai Lake, the two men vied for her attention, and she left them together beneath the osmanthus tree.

• Su Jin changed the production team's hotel to her own Aman property and arrived in Dali, where Lu Shihan watched her shyly.
• At Erhai Lake, Su Jin proposed reciting the poem while standing in the water and performed as the moonlight reflected around her.
• Shen Rang arrived late to dinner, introduced himself to Su Jin, and told her he had watched her film three times.
• Lu Shihan toasted Su Jin and later asked what color she would wear, then decided to wear black when she said white.
• At the courtyard tea gathering, Shen Rang teased Lu Shihan about winning Su Jin's attention, and Su Jin said good night and left.

At the Poetry Across China press conference, Su Jin drew attention with her reflections on being remembered while Lu Shihan and Shen Rang revealed their feelings for her. Later, she reunited with Chen Shen at Ruisi Racing Circuit, drove several fast laps, and proposed starting a Chinese racing team, which Chen Shen agreed to join.

• Su Jin told reporters that she had asked the Great Maitreya Buddha to remember her, and explained that she wanted to know whether he would remember the way she had stood, dressed, and spoken.
• Lu Shihan said the moon he had wanted to scoop from Erhai Lake was not the one in the sky, while Shen Rang said he wanted to stop acting and be himself.
• Lu Shihan asked Su Jin to add him on WeChat, and she scanned his code and told him to call her Su Jin; Shen Rang said he would wait for her to add him and then come find her if she did not.
• Su Jin went to Ruisi Racing Circuit, where Chen Shen had prepared a green GT3 RS and a new white helmet for her, and she drove several increasingly fast laps with him beside her.
• Su Jin told Chen Shen she wanted to start a Chinese racing team with Chinese cars, engines, and drivers, and Chen Shen said he would race with her.

Su Jin received a hereditary Italian countess title and attended her private investiture ceremony in Rome with Su Heng and Grandpa. At the evening banquet, she noticed a portrait resembling her and then left the hall alone, walking down the illuminated corridor.

• Su Jin learned that her daily check-in reward included a Tuscan estate and a hereditary countess title, and she reflected on Grandpa’s words about dreams.
• Su Jin attended her investiture ceremony, accepted the title scroll, and shared the moment with Su Heng and Grandpa.
• Su Jin went to a banquet in Rome, where she paused before a portrait of an amber-eyed woman who resembled her.
• The owner of the palace welcomed Su Jin, and she later crossed the silent crowd and left the hall through a corridor.

Su Jin completed her first successful porcelain firing with Elder Cheng and planned the Cheng Kiln brand, then recruited Gu Xiu to create Chinese haute couture under a second brand, Chinese Embroidery. The chapter ended with Su Jin setting its prices above Chanel haute couture and insisting Chinese craftsmanship could command more.

• Su Jin received a Bell 429 helicopter as her daily check-in reward and admired the peachbloom brush washer she had fired at the Cheng Family kiln.
• Su Jin and Elder Cheng agreed to sell their porcelain as Cheng Kiln, with twelve pieces released once a year through a dedicated Poly auction called Rekindling.
• Su Jin and Elder Cheng chose a Ming-dynasty brush washer design and used clay prepared by Elder Cheng's ancestor for the first firing.
• Elder Cheng introduced Su Jin to Gu Xiu, who agreed to make Chinese haute couture under Su Jin's conditions of three months per garment and no alterations after the third fitting.
• Su Jin named the clothing brand Chinese Embroidery and quoted Zhao Mingyuan a price higher than Chanel haute couture, arguing that Chinese work could cost more than French work.