Lin Ran, a botany PhD, transmigrates into the body of a bankrupt dyehouse owner saddled with 38,000 taels in debt. Her stepmother wants to sell her to settle the debt, her fiancé breaks off their engagement to marry someone else, and all of Jinzhou is waiting to laugh at her. Too bad they don't know she has a database of plant dyes spanning 5,000 years in her head!
From recreating the long-lost “Imperial Purple” to getting the regent to tie her apron and mix dyes, she outclasses her competitors at every turn, takes down every scoundrel, and turns her failing dyehouse into the empire's leading business.
At her coronation as empress, the emperor asks what reward she wants. Lin Ran bends down to help the civil and military officials kneeling before her get back up, then says with a bright smile, “I would like to change the rules of the Imperial Weaving Bureau.”
