Within the family, Zhang Miao's legal mother and elder half-sister, driven by jealousy and self-interest, scheme to exile her to the bitterly cold fief of the Northern Wasteland, hoping she will perish on her own. Beyond it, greedy neighboring lords and conservative court officials regard her modern infrastructure projects as heresy. They join forces to suppress her and seize the fruits of her development.
* **Impossible Mission**: Zhang Miao is a modern urban planner who transmigrates into the body of an ancient-era concubine-born daughter, abandoned by her family and with no connections. She must turn this barren place of exile, home to fewer than a hundred people, into a viable fief capable of defending itself and generating tax revenue within a year. Otherwise, the court will strip her of her status and protection for good.
* **Difficult Choices**: To develop quickly, she must take in refugees, but doing so could jeopardize the fief's fragile food supply. Redeeming cutting-edge technology through the System could invite outside covetousness, while developing step by step could mean missing her chance. Zhang Miao must constantly make difficult, precise trade-offs.
* The Northern Wasteland has barren soil and a harsh climate, and is overrun by bandits and wild beasts. As a female lord, she is naturally looked down on by her subordinates and mocked by outsiders as a woman usurping men's roles. Every decree she issues meets twice the resistance.
