The story follows Ji Yu, a modern-day overworked office worker who transmigrates into a novel as a cannon-fodder character in a rural village. To avoid the original plot's ending in which the entire village is massacred, Ji Yu saves Pei He'an, the Crown Prince who has been ambushed and left in dire straits. The two begin as bickering adversaries before gradually developing feelings for each other. After accompanying Pei He'an to the capital, Ji Yu finds the palace power struggles and the constraints of a polygamous marriage unbearable. Ji Yu stages a fake death to escape and travels to Yangzhou to open Osmanthus House. After uncovering the truth, Pei He'an abandons his position as Crown Prince and stages his own death during the autumn hunt to leave the palace and head south in search of his beloved. In the end, the two resolve their misunderstandings, cast aside the shackles of their identities, and retreat into seclusion together.