Lin Suiniang saves an injured golden eagle, Tieling, who remembers her kindness nine times over. Her husband, Cheng Mosheng, lacks traveling expenses for the autumn imperial examination, so his sister-in-law, He Xiulian, takes out her private savings to help. The couple copies books and gathers herbs to save money. Tieling points out medicinal roots and collects herb drying racks to repay the kindness. She Si falsely claims to have saved Tieling to trick it into repaying a debt, using the spiritual bird's name to find Niu Laowa and collect introduction fees, stripping the southern slope of its medicinal roots. At a threshing floor confrontation, Tieling publicly states it first owes Suiniang, Shigen confesses to the setup, and She Si returns the money, compensates for the herbs, and is taken into custody. Cheng Mosheng passes the examination, and Tieling, having repaid its gratitude nine times, wishes to leave. Suiniang keeps it, crosses out the IOU, and the family is reunited.