Shen Qingwu, the Great Physician of Her Age

During the Great Jing era, epidemics were rampant and people lived in misery. Shen Qingwu, heir to a family of physicians, had traveled the countryside with her grandfather since childhood, treating the sick. Just as her medical skills were beginning to mature, her grandfather contracted an epidemic and died, leaving behind an incomplete copy of Essential Secrets of the Green Satchel. Determined to fulfill his dying wish to heal the world, and solve the mystery of the epidemics' origins hidden in the book, Shen Qingwu strapped on her medicine chest and set out to travel far and wide.

Along the way, she saved lives and witnessed the corruption of officialdom: to conceal an outbreak, a county magistrate falsely claimed all was well, leaving people to die in the streets. She also met a like-minded companion, the forthright constable Lu Chengyu, who crossed paths with her while investigating the source of an epidemic and later became her staunchest ally. Before long, she was caught up in a conspiracy that threatened the imperial court: Qin Zhengming, a senior physician at the Imperial Medical Academy, appeared to be leading the fight against the epidemic, but was secretly researching a deadly plague toxin in a bid to control the court and the country.

From rural towns to the bustling capital, Shen Qingwu faced life-and-death trials with a physician's compassion, using her exceptional medical skills to battle both epidemics and human nature. She had to unravel the secrets of Essential Secrets of the Green Satchel and develop remedies for the epidemic, while also protecting herself and those around her amid a maelstrom of political intrigue. In the end, she not only brought an end to the epidemic that had ravaged the land for years, but also exposed Qin Zhengming's conspiracy, letting a physician's conscience and sense of duty illuminate an age beset by turmoil.