After being cast aside, Shen Qingci, an illegitimate daughter of the Jiangnan Shen family, found a way out of her desperate situation. Starting with nothing but an abacus and a humble market stall, she grew a small grain and oil shop into a trading empire spanning the land. She improved farming and sericulture, saving countless lives, and even became embroiled in a major case involving a shortfall in the imperial treasury. As she and Prince Jing Xiao Zhuohua went from scheming against each other to fighting side by side, she gradually uncovered the truth behind her parents’ wrongful deaths. In the end, she refused to enter the harem or rely on imperial favor. As a woman, she broke a thousand-year-old convention and became the first female Minister of Revenue in the Great Qi dynasty. Together with the man by her side, she would protect the empire’s vast lands and bring spring to all beneath heaven.
