Shen Mingzhu is the daughter of Grand Princess Xiao Lingyi and Great General Shen Zheng, possessing a calm disposition. Betrothed to the top scholar Pei Jinzhi, she discovers that he is dallying with Bai Heng of Qingwu Academy and has forged seals to misappropriate the Shen family's private property. Shen Mingzhu publicly breaks off the engagement and demands the return of her properties. Pei Jinzhi counters by falsely accusing the Shen family of seizing farmland, submitting a memorial to impeach the Grand Princess, making the Shen family appear to have lost power. Pei and Bai seize the opportunity to force her to admit fault, even proposing to take her as a concubine. Shen Mingzhu secretly gathers evidence, and General Shen and his wife appear in time to expose the pair's crimes. It turns out that the sealing of the farmland was a setup orchestrated jointly by the emperor and empress to root out pests. In the end, Pei Jinzhi and Bai Heng are stripped of their scholarly honors and exiled to Lingnan, while Shen Mingzhu returns to peace under the protection of her family.