After being tortured to death in the Marquis Manor, Xu Wanning is reborn six years earlier, vowing to retrieve her dowry, protect her maid Xiangyun and find her biological son, while noticing Pei Heng, who investigates Red Dove Incense under a disguise, holds a special interest in her.

Xu Wanning schemes to make Cui Qingping contract the corpse flower plague, forces Bai Qingqing to become the Marquis’s adopted sister and swear an oath at the temple, catches Cui Yunfeng and Bai Qingqing’s adultery in the Buddha hall, and slaps Pei Heng for humiliating her in a verbal fight.

Xu Wanning makes Bai Qingqing take care of the sick Cui Qingping, causing Bai Qingqing to catch the disfiguring plague; Bai Qingqing spends a fortune to hire a Taoist priest to frame Xu Wanning as an inauspicious evil spirit and prepares to whip her in public.

Xu Wanning has bribed the Taoist to reverse the punishment and whip Bai Qingqing instead; Pei Heng enters the manor as a divine healer to disrupt her plan, tests her with Red Dove Incense, sees through her schemes in secret and grows curious about her.

Suspecting an affair between Xu Wanning and Pei Heng, Cui Yunfeng searches her courtyard; Pei Heng secretly shelters Xu Wanning and brings the midwife who delivered her son, helping her prove via a blood test that Cui Qingping is not her biological child.

The old lady fabricates a lie that Xu Wanning gave birth to a stillborn baby to cover up the child swap; Xu Wanning flees to the bell tower and threatens to expose the manor’s scandals to force the old lady to reveal her son’s whereabouts, yet finds no trace of him at the slave arena with Cui Yunfeng.

Xu Wanning collapses in grief thinking her son died in a pile of corpses, but Pei Heng has saved the living boy Changan beforehand and helps her win a gamble to reclaim him; they form an alliance to hunt for Red Dove Incense, while Cui Yunfeng becomes a disabled slave for life.

The old lady and Cui Yunfeng plot to send her lover to defile Xu Wanning and frame her for adultery, yet Xu Wanning turns their trick against them and exposes the old lady’s tryst with her lover in the ancestral hall; the old lady kills a servant to cover up the crime and blames Xu Wanning for the murder.

Pei Heng reveals his identity as the Commander of Jinling Guard and saves Xu Wanning in court, clears her name of false charges; Cui Yunfeng and the old lady are flogged, Cui Yunfeng becomes addicted to Red Dove Incense, and Pei Heng moves into the manor to restrain them.

Xu Wanning pretends to be addicted to Red Dove Incense to lower the old lady’s guard, and cooperates with Pei Heng to catch the old lady red-handed selling the banned incense; the Marquis Manor is sealed off, Pei Heng brings an imperial edict to dissolve Xu Wanning’s marriage, and Bai Qingqing reveals someone else took Xu Wanning’s innocence back then.

Pei Heng escorts Xu Wanning and Changan back to the Xu Manor; Princess Feng Xiaoxiao feels dejected seeing them ride in the same carriage. Xu Wanning is repeatedly targeted by her stepmother at home, and her father is arrested by Pei Heng under imperial orders after Red Dove Incense is found in his goods.

Rumors ruin the Xu family’s business, and Xu Wanning stabilizes the household alone. At Princess Feng Xiaoxiao’s birthday banquet, she is mocked and framed by guests, yet she fights back by exposing their secrets; the lecherous Prefect Ma Chenggong tries to attack her until Pei Heng arrives to protect her.

Xu Wanning detects Red Dove Incense in Ma Chenggong’s sachet and tries to seize it, only to be interrupted by jealous Pei Heng; Pei Heng visits Changan voluntarily, Xu Wanning confirms the banned incense inside the sachet, then disguises as a singing girl to spy on Ma Chenggong.

Xu Wanning meets Pei Heng at a brothel where he hides to search for clues; they cooperate to find out Prince Feng Zhengxin is Ma Chenggong’s mastermind, who then kills Ma Chenggong and hangs his corpse outside the Xu Manor to frame Xu Wanning.

Pei Heng proves Xu Wanning’s innocence of murder, and they plan to get close to the Prince to collect evidence. After beating the Princess, the Prince invites Xu Wanning on an outing; the four people create an awkward tense scene, and the Prince publicly announces he wants to marry Xu Wanning.

The Prince proposes marriage to Xu Wanning, who pretends to accept to gather evidence. As they bow to heaven at the wedding, Pei Heng interrupts with an imperial marriage edict, confessing he begged the Emperor for it to protect her; they reach a gentleman’s agreement allowing her to leave freely later.