Set against the world of pharmaceutical studies, with laboratories, Chinese medicinal herbs, and professional certification exams, this story follows Gu Wanxing, heir to a traditional Chinese medicine family, and Shen Yanzhi, a PhD in pharmacy who studied in the United States, as they go from misunderstanding to falling in love. After her mother died in childbirth, Gu Wanxing was raised by her grandfather as a boy in a Chinese medicine shop. From childhood, she was forced to avoid feminine things, leaving her conflicted about beauty and emotions. As a child, Shen Yanzhi witnessed his father cause a patient's death through a medication error. Since then, he has developed mild germophobia and an obsessive need to keep track of time, measuring the world's temperature with precision instruments. Through a laboratory accident, the restoration of ancient texts, and the development of medicinal cuisine, they heal each other. Gu Wanxing teaches him to warm a purple clay teapot with the heat of his hands, while he helps her let go of her belief that Chinese medicine must follow ancient prescriptions, and develop wearable sachets filled with Chinese medicinal herbs.
