Lin Zhiyue, a university PhD, transmigrates into the body of a lowly palace maid in the cold palace, where everyone can bully her. Faced with meager rations and an abandoned crown prince’s orphan on the verge of death, she plants out-of-season bean sprouts beneath the palace wall. Drawing on modern knowledge, she carves out a chance to survive against all odds.
Her extraordinary abilities catch the eye of Xiao Jue, the tyrant who seized the throne after killing his elder brother. From the cold palace to the emperor’s side, from convict servant to court lady, Lin Zhiyue uses her knowledge, centuries ahead of its time, to overcome crisis after crisis. She even earns great merit in a shocking treason case. Defying all opposition, Xiao Jue appoints her State Preceptor and puts her in charge of the Institute of Practical Arts, where she leads sweeping reforms.
From then on, Lin Zhiyue uses the Institute as her base to launch a transformation spanning the ages. She improves farming tools and builds irrigation systems to fill the granaries of the realm; develops gunpowder and forges fine steel to build an invincible army; establishes new schools and broadens the people’s horizons, breaking the monopoly on knowledge. At home, she overcomes resistance from conservative nobles; abroad, she fends off the grassland Tartars and threats from the eastern seas.
Along this path to a stronger empire, paved with knowledge and wisdom, she stands shoulder to shoulder with the tyrant Xiao Jue. They move from suspicion to trust, and from sovereign and subject to kindred spirits, scattering the sparks of modern civilization across this ancient land and together ushering in an unprecedented golden age of practical arts.
