Shen Lingke, the capital's foremost talented lady, is ordered by imperial decree to travel to Jiangnan to gather inspiration. There, she falls deeply in love with her guard, Pei Shiyan. Unexpectedly, upon returning to the capital, he sheds his disguise and schemes to avenge his elder sister by ruining Shen Lingke's reputation. As a result, her mother dies after coughing up blood, and her father is driven into madness. Pregnant before marriage, she falls from the heights of glory into a life of misery. Eight years later, they meet again in the northern frontier. She has become a salt merchant's kept woman, struggling to survive with her young son and her mentally incapacitated father. Upon learning the truth, Pei Shiyan is consumed by regret and desperately seeks to make amends, while she pretends to welcome him, secretly harboring a death wish.