Set during the Xuande era of the Ming dynasty (1425–1435), a time of social stability but severe land consolidation, when the commodity economy was beginning to take shape. In Willow Tree Village, under Qinghe Town in a northern county, the heroine transmigrates as Lin Qiuhe, a fifteen-year-old orphan whose parents have both died. She lives with her sickly ten-year-old brother, Lin Dongsheng, in the home of their greedy uncle.
