In the freezing depths of the twelfth lunar month, Su Wanqing is framed by her second aunt and cousin. The cold poison eats into her bones and destroys her foundation. Her childhood sweetheart, the top-ranked candidate in the palace examination, publicly breaks off their engagement, and her birth mother is secretly poisoned to death. Left all alone, she freezes to death in a woodshed at the imperial estate, with no one to claim her body.
Reborn, she returns to the marquis's residence and takes firm hold of a hidden passage: a dry well in the rear courtyard. Using it to send secret messages, she quietly sets her plans in motion, determined to make every enemy repay the full debt of blood they owe her.
Within the household, she exposes the vicious schemes one by one, protects her mother's peace, and safeguards the marquis's estate. Beyond its walls, she travels to Jiangnan to establish a trading house, masters the accounts of grain transport and salt administration, and builds a commercial network spanning north and south.
Amid the undercurrents of court politics, she meets the Seventh Prince, Xiao Yan, who conceals his edge and keeps his patience. The world believes he is aloof and withdrawn, but only Su Wanqing knows that he has hidden away his brilliance and schemes, always staying in the shadows to shield her from every danger ahead.
From a helpless legitimate daughter at the mercy of others to standing alongside Xiao Yan as they pacify the court and secure the realm. As spring orchids bloom year after year in Jiangnan, he promises her a life of peace and security. She stands by his side as he rules over ten thousand miles of territory, and together they ascend the throne as emperor and empress.
