At the Ministry of Rites Vice Minister's residence in the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the talented young lady Su Zhi is celebrating her coming-of-age ceremony. Guests praise her talent and beauty, and Su Zhi improvises a tune on the guqin to show off her extraordinary gifts.
- Suddenly, the palace's chief eunuch barges in with soldiers and reads out an imperial edict accusing the Su family of conspiring with the deposed crown prince to rebel. Su Zhi's father is arrested on the spot, and the residence is searched and sealed.
- Amid the chaos, a loyal old servant helps Su Zhi escape. But she witnesses her mother die beneath the pursuers' arrows while protecting her. Carrying the mysterious jade pendant her mother left behind, Su Zhi flees the capital in panic.
- Three months later, Su Zhi, using the alias "Bai Zhi," is an apprentice at an apothecary in Yunzhou City, Jiangnan. She hides her talents and keeps a low profile to survive, while secretly investigating clues about her family's wrongful case.
- A badly wounded young merchant, "Young Master Lu" (actually Lu Heng, the Marquis of Jingbei), arrives at the apothecary. Su Zhi uses her medical knowledge to help the old physician treat him.
- Su Zhi notices something unusual about Lu Heng's wound and concludes that it was caused by a weapon used by the authorities. Suspecting that his identity is not simple, she decides to keep quiet, enticed by his generous payment for treatment.
- After Lu Heng wakes, he becomes curious about Su Zhi's medical skills and manner of speaking. He privately notices her occasional capital accent and her skill at the guqin.
- Zhao Mingde, son of the Yunzhou Prefect, comes to the apothecary to extort "protection money." Su Zhi handles him cleverly but is still threatened, setting up a conflict for the future.
- Lu Heng's attendant secretly investigates Su Zhi's background and discovers that she is no ordinary apothecary apprentice. Meanwhile, Lu Heng receives a confidential report ordering him to investigate the deposed crown prince's remaining followers in Yunzhou.
- Using his recovery as an excuse, Lu Heng takes up temporary residence near the apothecary and visits frequently to talk with Su Zhi.
