Forced to marry the Northern Warlord — a man in love with someone else — Xu Rushi is abandoned at the altar on her wedding day. She doesn't cry. She doesn't fight for him. Instead, she calmly takes control of the household, exposes his mistress's schemes with nothing but an account book, and retires to her courtyard to live in peace with her cats and dogs.
Seven years later, dispatched to the northern frontier, she looks out at the endless horizon and realizes: she outgrew this cage long ago. She's done living for anyone but herself.
