In the Liu Song dynasty, Chancellor Liu Yikang seeks to reform a corrupt government by marrying Shen Lige, a woman from a powerful military family. As they fight to implement change, political rivals strike back, leading to the downfall of the Shen family. Driven by grief and vengeance, Shen Lige rises to challenge the forces that destroyed her world.
During the Yuanjia period of the Liu Song Dynasty, the righteous and kindhearted chivalrous woman Lige, seeking to avenge the murder of her parents, disguises herself as a dancer to get close to the powerful and treacherous minister Lu Yuan. She intends to assassinate Prince Pengcheng. Lu Yuan agrees to her plan, and they decide to take action at Grand Consort Sun's birthday banquet.
Senior Brother helps Lige to escape from Prince Pengcheng's Mansion, while the Prince Pengcheng is trapped in the fire and cannot break open the door to escape.
As Lige returns home, her mother offers the Jia Ning Pavilion to her, much to the chagrin of Leqing.
The Prince Pengcheng has Pei Ruhai interrogated overnight, and Pei Ruhai truthfully confesses to helping Lu Yuan manufacture weapons illegally.
Knowing that Mrs. Shen is ill, the Emperor not only asks Prince Pengcheng to give medicine to General Shen, but also bestows marriage on the daughter of Shen family and Prince Pengcheng.
Prince Pengcheng and Lige survive the assassination attempt and get out of the water. Prince Pengcheng jokingly complains that Lige brings nothing but trouble every time he sees her. Lige ignores him and treats his injuries.
Lige comes to the dungeon to find Lu Yuan and wants to negotiate with him. She proposes that if the eldest daughter of the Shen family assassinates King Pengcheng at the wedding, the Shen family can be overthrown.
The strong man locks Prince Pengcheng and Lige in a small room. Prince Pengcheng takes out Lige's hairpin and asks her to open the lock on his hand.
Lige visits the Lu family at night and learns that Lu Yuan has decided to kill all the craftsmen after casting the last batch of weapons. Lige tells Prince Pengcheng the news.
General Shen and his son are taken away by Lu Yuan, while Lige is poisoned and rescued by Shaoxun and Kong Cheng.
Prince Jingling goes to Lu Yuan angrily and asks him why he wants to harm the Shen father and son, and Lige. However, Lu Yuan reminds him not to forget that he and the Lu family are relatives.
Prince Pencheng suggests to Lige that they can rescue her family and get rid of Lu Yuan by having him command his troops to besiege Jiankang.
Prince Pengcheng tricks Lu Yuan and keeps him trapped in the prison. Next, he has his men spread the news that Lu Yuan has been captured and imprisoned by the Ministry of Justice.
Prince Pengcheng asks Prince Jingling why he issued the order as it comes at a great cost. However, Prince Jingling believes that making sacrifices for success is inevitable.
Prince Pengcheng tells his ministers that Prince Jingling trains his own soldiers on his orders and publicly points out that Lu Yuan intends to rebel.
Lige and Prince Pengcheng hang out together and grow closer to each other. However, Lige's master has a new mission for her to kill Prince Pengcheng on the wedding day.
Prince Pengcheng and Lige go on a boat ride together. He is curious to know her true identity, yet she remains reluctant.
Shen Leqing deliberately discusses the scar on Lige's body with Lingxi. After hearing this, the Grand Consort asks Lige to come and see her.
Prince Pengcheng takes in some poor students to study in his palace, hoping to change the bad habit of judging official rank based on bloodline and allowing the children of high-ranking families to enter the officialdom without taking an exam. However, Prince Jingling is worried that the aristocratic families will not give up.
General Shen advises Shen Zhi not to get too close to Zijin. The more he cares, the more hurt he'll feel. However, Shen Zhi insists on marrying no one but Zijin.
Seeing that Shen Leqing is still quibbling, Shen Lige comes up with another way to identify the real murderer. If someone who has touched Blood Wither comes into contact with water, their hands will turn black.
Despite knowing Consort Li has moved into Han Ling Pavilion, Prince Pengcheng can't stop thinking about Lige. On the wedding day, Lige hides her face behind a red fan as she prepares to assassinate Prince Pengcheng.
Lu Yuan senses the pain on Prince Pengcheng and suspects that he's injured. He decides to stall and wait for Prince Pengcheng to give the game away.
Shen Lige learns that the Grand Consort has agarwood and decides to steal it while paying respects to her. She goes to the Grand Consort's medicine room and sees Shen Leqing.
Seeing Prince Pengcheng's condition deteriorate, Lige grows anxious. When Shaoxun asks the master for tiger gall, the master suddenly changes his temperament. Not only does he refuse to give the antidote, but he also attacks Shaoxun.
Grand Consort Sun tells Lige not to think she doesn't know her background. She is the one who attempted to assassinate Prince Pengcheng at the birthday banquet.
Lige visits the Princess. She confesses that she attempted the assassination of Prince Pengcheng when the Princess questions her.
Lu Yuan brings the coroner and stops the people from the Court of Justice. Prince Jingling asks him why he is so anxious to perform the autopsy. The two are in a stalemate.
Prince Pengcheng gives Prince Jingling the outline of the new policy he has carefully compiled and tells Prince Jingling that if anything happens to him, he must stick to the new policy for the sake of the Song Dynasty.
Chen Shaoxun reads through medicine books to find the remedy for Lige. He then finds out that snow lotus can treat Lige's ailment.
Prince Pengcheng, at the northern border, sees the pear blossoms and thinks of Shen Lige. At the same time, Shen Lige is also missing him.
Grand Consort Sun asks Prince Jingling to stop doing those thankless things, but Prince Jingling insists that everything he does is for the country and the people.
The general of the Wei army leads his men to attack General Shen, who is alone outside the city, to see if Prince Pengcheng will come to his rescue. Zijin asks Prince Pengcheng to rush over with reinforcements to save him.
In order to boost morale, Prince Pengcheng decides to have Shen Zhi and Zijin hold their wedding that night.
Lu Yuan mistakenly thinks that Prince Pengcheng is dead and feels relieved. But Prince Pengcheng learns of Lu Yuan's conspiracy and attacks Lu Yuan's men together with Lige.
Secretariat Xie pleads with Prince Jingling, saying that since Lu Yuan has returned from the frontier, even if he has done nothing wrong, he has done nothing wrong. Other clan officials also echo his opinion, and Prince Jingling has no choice but to let Lu Yuan go temporarily.
Lu Yuan asks Prince Jingling to hand over the Danyang soldiers' military token. Seeing that Prine Jingling refuses, he has someone put a sword to the Grand Consort's neck, and Prince Jingling has no choice but to hand over the military token to him.
The soldiers want to arrest the remnants of the Lu family. Wan'Er has nowhere to go, so she comes to the place where she used to play the zither with Prince Jingling, but she does not dare to come out to meet him.
At court, Prince Pengcheng rewards the Shen family and appoints Shen Feng as a general. When Prince Pengcheng returns home, he finds Lige cooking for him. Although the food she cooks is salty and unpalatable, Prince Pengcheng still pretends to enjoy it.
To implement the new policy, Prince Pengcheng asks Fang Qing, an official from a poor family background, to conduct an inventory of the land owned by the clans.
Shen Leqing copies Shen's mother's handwriting and writes a letter asking General Shen to meet at Weiyang Lake. General Shen has no doubts at all.
Shen Feng brings the bodies of his father and brother home, and Lige and Zijin are heartbroken.
After burying her father and brother, Lige begins to plan to capture the murderer Xue Qiu, and Shen Feng insists on going with her.
Xue Qiu confesses to murdering General Shen and his son in front of Lige, but when he comes to court, he claims that his accomplice is Prince Pengcheng.
Lige accidentally hears Zijin say that Weiyang Lake was where her parents got engaged. Since Shen Leqing also knows about this, she suspects that this matter is related to Shen Leqing.
Prince Pengcheng receives urgent news that civil uprisings have occurred in Chenjun, Jingzhou, and Jiankang. He guesses that Secretariat Xie and others are behind this.
In Secretariat Xie's study, Old Master Xie finds the covenant. He asks Secretariat Xie to follow him to confess his crime to Prince Pengcheng, but Secretariat Xie, thinking he is old and confused, pushes him down.
Xue Qiu confesses that he colluded with Secretariat Xie to kill General Shen and his son, leading to Secretariat Xie being thrown into prison.
Prince Pengcheng is very happy when he learns that Lige is taking medicine for childbirth. He has the swords and daggers put away so that Lige can stay at home and be a devoted wife and mother.
Grand Consort gives Prince Pengcheng a drug that makes him lose his mind, puts a dagger in his hand, and then smiles, saying that today is both her birthday and her memorial day.
Old Master Wang brings all the ministers to Sanjiu Hall, and Prince Pengcheng surprisingly takes the initiative to admit it. Lige wants to step forward to stop him, but Prince Pengcheng winks at her, and she guesses that there must be another meaning behind it.
Prince Pengcheng explains to Old Master Wang how he joined forces with Prince Jingling. Seeing the situation as hopeless, Old Master Wang suddenly sets fire to the room, then takes Zijin and goes into the secret passage.
Prince Pengcheng rushes to see the emperor, asking him to withdraw his order to execute Lige, but the emperor is unwilling to see him.
