Female Lead: Niu Gulu Mingyue, the second daughter of Heshen. In her transmigrated identity, she is Lin Wei, a modern graduate student in history. She is the unnamed young woman recorded in history as having married Fucha Guiqing. Gentle on the outside but strong-willed within, she uses modern ideas about charity to seek a path to redemption amid the dark world of officialdom in the final years of the Qianlong reign.
Historical Setting: From the fifty-sixth year of the Qianlong reign (1791) to the fourth year of the Jiaqing reign (1799), the crucial eight years from the peak of Heshen's power to his downfall and suicide. Corruption in government had reached its height. Officials had "cast aside all shame and chased after profit," while among the people, "the wealthy owned fields stretching to the horizon, while the poor had not even a foothold." The White Lotus Rebellion was brewing, on the eve of the decline that would set in during the Jiaqing and Daoguang reigns.
- The conflict between a father's crimes and the pursuit of justice and conscience: knowing her father is a notorious corrupt official, yet having to maintain a harmonious facade
- The clash between modern charitable ideals and the feudal class system: attempting to establish a sustainable relief system, only to be constrained by the times
- The struggle between personal fate and the tides of history: knowing how her family will fall, yet unable to change its fate completely
Very good, very good