In the Imperial Academy of the Ming Dynasty, the youngest scheming assistant Lu Qian (19 years old) met Xiao Xiao (16 years old), a beautiful and cunning regular prison student, setting off a battle of wits and love. Lu Qian is handsome and rich, but he is pretentious and vengeful, with a deep affection hidden under the surface; Xiao Xiao is both talented and beautiful, and he walks the line between power and intrigue with the wisdom of a top student and the control of his appearance. Since there have been no female students in the Imperial College for several years, there is an undercurrent of affection among the men. Lu Qian gradually falls in love with Xiao Xiao. The two test each other while studying and investigating the case, and their love and hatred are intertwined.
The imperial examination fraud case became a link of destiny. The two teamed up to expose corruption in the examination room, using acrostic poems and strategies to outsmart the powerful, and the eight-part essay was used as an edge to solve the mystery. Xiao Xiao has a photographic memory and Lu Qian is clever and sinister. They solve puzzles in the secret room of Gongyuan, break traps in the provincial examination room, and fight side by side in life and death crises. Love secretly arises in the music of the piano and flute, from mutual use to life and death, and there is a hidden heartbeat between the literary fights.
As the case deepens, the old grievances between the Lu family and the Xiao family surface, and a royal conspiracy is actually involved behind the fraud in the imperial examination. They used "literary advice" to protect morality and justice, finally broke the "blood feud" and helped the imperial examination to be upright. After returning to seclusion, the two built Xiuxiang Academy in the south of the Yangtze River, spreading the flames of literature and teaching, and their friendship lasted forever.
The book is embellished with poems and songs about the battle of wits, and the details of the imperial examination are intertwined with the conspiracy. The two male protagonists refine their true feelings in love and hate, and eventually become "two gems in the literary world". Under the light and joyful tone, power and intrigue are intertwined, and the ending is happy.
