Tasked with investigating a ghostly woman dancing nightly on the palace walls, Maomao finds a sleepwalking Concubine Fuyou. But with no medicinal cure for sleepwalking, she's forced to dig deeper to find the real reason behind Fuyou's affliction.

Under direct orders from the emperor himself, Maomao tries to care for an ailing Concubine Lihua, but finds her work impeded by Lihua's own ladies-in-waiting.

To Maomao's surprise, Jinshi brings her directly to his house instead of taking her back to the rear palace, and tells her she's to work in the outer court. Not only is there much to learn, it seems there's many eyes on her as the new hire.

Lakan challenges Jinshi to produce blue roses to present at the upcoming garden party, forcing Jinshi to turn once again to Maomao for her help.

The spring garden party concludes without incident. Maomao returns to her regular life as Concubine Gyokuyou’s taster. Meanwhile, novels become popular in the rear palace. Maomao wonders how this came to be, as novels were typically considered low-class. But behind the scenes lies Jinshi and his goals as manager of the rear palace.

The woman from the clinic finds out that Maomao knows a thing or two about medicine, and asks for her help.

Maomao directs her curiosity towards an old, oddly-shaped building.

Maomao's reputation for resolving conflicts reaches the empress dowager, who will ask for her help to unravel a mystery that won't leave her mind.