In the hundredth year of Great Qian, noble families hold sway, and the imperial law is like paper. Aristocratic families monopolize the court, commoner scholars have no path for promotion, and corrupt officials and wicked underlings run amok. The family of the General Suppressing the North suffered an unjust death, and the orphan Chu Zhaoning endured humiliation to enter officialdom, holding a secret imperial decree to head the Department of Punishments, specializing in investigating official corruption and the lawlessness of the powerful. Holding the law in one hand and a whip in the other, she slays from the academy to the court, and from sealed old cases to terrifying conspiracies. What she does not know is that the Ninth Prince Xiao Jiuyun, who spends his days cockfighting and dog-walking and is cursed as a "good-for-nothing," is precisely the last closed-door disciple of her father before his death ten years ago. He saves his life through absurdity and hides his edge in dandyism; when the two join forces, the chessboard of the world will also be reset.