Lin Wantang, a modern cultural relic restorer, accidentally traveled through time while restoring a Song Dynasty tapestry scroll and became Shen Tantan, a marginalized concubine and embroiderer in Jiangnan Weaving Mansion.
The first thing she did when she woke up was not to compete for favor, but to discover that her hand embroidery skills were more professional than those of the ancients - after all, she had been studying ancient paintings and weaving and embroidering cultural relics for ten years. But she soon realized that this skill was both a golden finger and a talisman here: the Zhizao Mansion was holding a tribute ceremony every three years, and if she couldn't come up with a shocking work, the whole manor would be held accountable; if she showed up, her aunt and eldest sister would first make her into a skeleton in the embroidered screen.
She originally wanted to keep a low profile to save her life, but she was targeted by Lu Jingzhou, a commander of the Imperial Guard who was demoted to Jiangnan to investigate the case. This man was framed in the court, and went to Jiangnan to investigate secretly. He was in urgent need of a "one of our own" who knew the inside story of weaving. What he admired about Shen Tantan was not her beauty, but her poisonous eyes that could tell at a glance that the tribute tapestry was fake.
The two reached a deal: she would help him investigate the corruption case in Zhizao Mansion, and he would protect her. But outside of the transaction, this person would silently hand her a cup of tea that didn't burn her mouth when she was repairing the out-of-print embroidery book. When she was slandered for adultery, he would say with a cold face, "If she says no, then she doesn't." This kind of clumsy and firm trust is more deadly than any other words of friendship.
However, when the corruption case targets the current prince, and when Lu Jingzhou suffers from an old injury and is secretly escorted back to the capital for trial, Shen Tantan must choose between "exchanging his secret weaving skills for his life" and "preserving herself." The only letter Lu Jingzhou wrote to her in prison had only eight words:
"Don't come to save me, just live well."
——She doesn't.
