To repay her older brother’s enormous gambling debts, the heroine, Su Wanci, is forced to become the hero Gu Cishen’s “contract lover.” Gu Cishen treats her as a pawn for humiliating his family, but as he humiliates and controls her, he is drawn to her gentle yet resilient soul, like tea. When the truth comes out, Su Wanci discovers that she is a stand-in for Gu Cishen’s beloved first love from his youth, and that her own family was secretly connected to the accident that left his first love’s family in ruins. Torn between love and hatred, she chooses to leave with her secret, while Gu Cishen only realizes after losing her that he had long since pawned his heart to an encounter that began with a conspiracy.
