Lin Zhao, the ten-year-old youngest daughter of the Lin family, escapes the execution of her entire household after getting into trouble. Her second uncle is wrongly accused, and her father and brothers die horribly. Disguised as a boy under the name Lin Zhaoyuan, she rises from a farmer’s son to the top of the imperial examinations, step by step making her way into the Zichen Hall. The court officials all consider her a pillar of talent, never realizing she is the orphaned survivor of the treason case from years ago. She navigates between princes vying for the throne, using her brush as a blade and her smile as an edge, determined to dissect the old case inch by inch. What she does not know is that her unmarried sister-in-law, Gu Moran, has also been investigating it in secret for six whole years. The two women, one in the open and one in the shadows, are working toward something that will change the world.
