Wen Rushi was chosen to serve the great-grandmother at the Earl of Wenyuan's residence. With both parents gone and no one to rely on, she struggled to make a living there.
Clever and composed, she used her own abilities to rise from a collateral branch of the Wen family, have her name entered into the family register, and become a legitimate daughter.
The Wen family has only one legitimate daughter and three collateral daughters. Each has a distinct personality and a different attitude toward marriage. Drawn into the power struggles of Bianjing, Rushi uses her intelligence to outwit one scheme after another.
Among the princes, Zheng Yi is the most dissolute. He has no taste for competition and an unruly temperament, but after meeting Wen Rushi, he becomes her loyal follower. When she says she wants military power, he earns military merit. When she says she wants the crown prince's position, he deposes the other princes. When she says she wants to be empress, he has no choice but to become emperor. The two go from disliking each other and being unable to stay apart, to gradually understanding, admiring, and respecting each other, and finally falling deeply in love. In the end, the dissolute prince becomes a devoted husband.
Wen Rushi, originally a girl from a collateral branch of the Wen clan, uses her schemes to become the second legitimate daughter of the Earl of Wenyuan's household, then Zheng Yi's princess consort and crown princess, until she ascends to the highest position and carves out a life of her own.
