Yan Lin discovers that Duke Xue has a large army encampment, so he and his father investigate him. Knowing the Yan family is being targeted by Duke Xue, he begins to distance himself from Xue Ning to protect her. Xue Shu is becoming increasingly jealous after seeing Xue Ning and Shen Jie constantly interacting. She instigates Wang Jiu, the senior teacher at Hanlin Academy, to teach Xue Ning a lesson.