The Shen family of the capital has been a distinguished scholarly clan for a century, yet somehow they raised a “good-for-nothing” young master, Shen Moyan.
He spends his days cockfighting and racing dogs, and his nights carousing in the pleasure quarters. He's the capital's most notorious wastrel. His maid, Qiutang, cleans up his messes every day, taking scoldings and beatings, while secretly keeping the essays he writes in the middle of the night. No one knows that beneath the reckless young master's pillow lies a copy of Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government, filled with his annotations. Nor does anyone know that Qiutang, once the orphaned daughter of a disgraced official, has staked all her hopes of avenging her murdered family on him.
When the imperial examination is held, Shen Moyan takes first place in all three stages. His policy response at the palace examination astonishes the court, and the emperor personally names him top scholar.
The whole court is in an uproar, and those who once mocked him crowd to the Shen family's door. But what Qiutang receives is not the glory of becoming mistress of the household. It's a deed of sale and a heavy pouch of silver.
“You're free. Go.”
He drives her out of the Shen residence, yet risks his life to break into a prison in the dead of night and rescue the enemy she has been hiding for ten years. She heads for the frontier and joins the army as its lowliest clerk, unaware that the brilliant strategy that turns the tide of battle came from a memorial secretly sent by the top scholar.
One pretends to be a wastrel. The other pretends to be obedient. After ten years of hidden turmoil, who will see through the other's disguise first?
“The young master calls me his maid, but he doesn't know that I have stayed by his side for reasons that have nothing to do with that deed of sale.”
This is a story of disguises, protection, and two people finding their way to each other. When the top scholar's red robes finally shine across Chang'an, he at last dares to admit that the greatest honor of his life isn't placing first in the imperial examinations. It's bringing that girl home as his bride, openly and with honor.
