Lin Shu meets Shen Yanqing for the first time while working as a tutor for his younger brother. A twist of fate brings her into Shen Yanqing's world, but when she realizes that in everyone else's eyes she is nothing more than a caged bird he keeps, she chooses to leave. In pursuit of a love and marriage between equals, she ultimately spends seven years—until he is the one sitting in the audience, applauding her.