Nangong Li, the legitimate daughter of a Great Yao military family, has her life all planned out: act obedient, slack off, and coast through life without ever having to work.
Unfortunately, fate has other ideas. Her father and brothers, guarding the border, accidentally uncover a dirty deal at court. A group of conspirators frames them, and they die in battle under a cloud of false accusations. The Nangong family falls apart overnight.
To clear her father and brothers’ names, she is forced into action. Disguised as a man under the alias Gong Yan, she makes her way to the capital and joins the Ministry of War, posing as an official who takes it easy while quietly getting things done.
In public, she is hardworking and obedient, an unobtrusive and harmless presence at court. In private, she digs through old records, investigates secret networks, opens businesses, gathers intelligence, and reconnects with her family’s former border troops, pursuing both revenge and the salvation of her country.
Court politics are treacherous, but she meets each move with one of her own: she builds connections by treating the crown prince like a brother, trades probes and push-and-pull with Seventh Prince Xiao Jinyu, fends off harassment by powerful ministers, and dodges assassination attempts, all while exposing one carefully disguised conspiracy after another.
As her investigation deepens, she discovers that her father and brothers’ deaths were only the tip of the iceberg. The Great Yao dynasty has long been hollowed out by the ruling faction’s grip on power, separatist princes, collusion with foreign enemies, and corruption in the army.
She only meant to clear her family’s name. Somehow, she ends up shouldering the mission of saving the country...
