In the twenty-first year of Chengguang in Daqi, the Ministry of Rites' estate was destroyed overnight. The orphan Su Ying crawled through a dog hole with Pei Xiu (Pei Ziwang), the blind third young master of the Ministry of Rites, amidst the raiding chaos, escaping a life-or-death catastrophe. Evading pursuit and wandering in destitution for half a year, the two finally kept a low profile in the remote Beiliang County. Su Ying, sober and pragmatic, splits wood at a noodle stall and gathers herbs on the mountain solely to repay the kindness from back in the famine snowy night when Pei Xiu saved her and provided her with two years of food and clothing security; meanwhile, under the torment of a heart ailment and slow poison, Pei Xiu falls from a noble and distinguished young man into the mud, sensitive, self-loathing, and hell-bent on seeking death, yet he is reignited with an obsessive desire to survive under Su Ying's hardline command that 'you are not allowed to die'.