A powerful minister in a chaotic age vs. an unlucky princess.
Meng Yaoshu is the youngest daughter of the leader of the Nanzhao alliance. Her favorite thing to do is ride her third brother's horse into the mountains to hunt. By chance, she saves a hunter named Xiao Jiu who is on the verge of death from miasma. As they spend day after day together, their relationship grows closer. But when a foreign tribe invades and the two nations go to war, he suddenly disappears, never to be heard from again. Three years later, sixteen-year-old Yaoshu is ordered to the capital to study. There, she discovers that the Crown Prince's tutor, who often smacks her palm and makes her copy books as punishment, looks exactly like Xiao Jiu, the boy who used to beg her to go out and play.
The first year of Longren. Autumn. Torrential rain. By imperial decree, the Princess of Nanzhao is to marry the Prince of Beian in two years.
"The imperial decree is indeed hard to defy. You can't stake everything on this and turn your back on Nanzhao, but I don't want to be at anyone's mercy again, pushing you step by step into the abyss. As your teacher, I taught you poetry and books, and protected you from wind and snow. If you don't want to marry, two years is enough time for me to install a new emperor."