In her previous life, she was an overworked office worker who died suddenly from working overtime. In this life, she is an orphan whose parents are dead and whose relatives covet her inheritance.
To survive, she flees with her maid in the middle of the night. She stops a passing carriage at random and holds a knife to its owner's neck, threatening, “Play along, or I'll kill you!”
The carriage owner is Qin Ce, heir to the Duke of Qin, traveling incognito.
He glances at the knife at his throat and kindly reminds her, “Miss, you're holding the knife the wrong way.”
She thinks she has escaped certain doom, but little does she know this is only the beginning of a nightmare.
Half through coercion and half through sweet talk, Qin Ce makes her pose as his favored concubine to draw fire from his political rivals.
It is only on that rainy night, when she is used as sacrificial bait and trapped in a deadly situation, that she finally comes to her senses.
She rushes up to Qin Ce and slaps him hard across the face, then demands in a hoarse, furious voice, “Are our lives really worth so little to you?”
That slap leaves the high-and-mighty young duke stunned, and awakens Su Wan from her single-minded pursuit of survival.
From then on, she will be no one's pawn. In this merciless world, she will carve out a path for herself with her own hands.
Later, Qin Ce pins her in a corner, his eyes bloodshot and his voice hoarse. “Su Wan, what do you want from me? I can give you my life. Will that do?”
Su Wan smiles and lightly taps his face with the back of her knife. “Young Duke Qin, your life is mine to decide now.”
