Ye Xiaohua, a highly skilled physician from a modern background, awakens in the body of a ten-year-old foolish girl in the Great Zhou Dynasty. The original owner was abused by her cruel grandmother, Old Madam Ye, and her cowardly mother, Madam Li. Upon regaining consciousness, Ye Xiaohua immediately defends her younger brother, Xiaodou, from being sold to a wealthy family to serve as a catamite. She violently repels her aggressors, including her cousin Ye Teng, and drives her grandmother and mother away from their home. With her mother having fled and taken all valuables, Ye Xiaohua is left to care for her young brother in a dilapidated cottage with almost no resources.
Recognizing the immediate threat to their survival, Ye Xiaohua decides to venture into the back mountain to gather food and medicinal herbs. There, she discovers Siberian crabapples and praying mantis egg cases, which she identifies as valuable medicinal ingredients. When her grandmother and eldest aunt, Qin Xiulian, attempt to seize the children and their house under the guise of compassion, Ye Xiaohua exposes their hypocrisy in front of the villagers. She cleverly reveals that Xiaodou was being sold to be a catamite, a scandalous secret that forces the relatives to retreat in shame. During this confrontation, she also subtly hints at a past incident involving her eldest aunt, causing Qin Xiulian significant fear and anxiety.
Determined to secure a future for herself and her brother, Ye Xiaohua takes her gathered mantis egg cases to Qingshan Town to sell. At a local medicine shop, she is bullied by a snobbish assistant, Zhou Er, who attempts to buy the herbs for a pittance. Her situation changes when a servant from the wealthy Qin family bursts in, desperately seeking a physician for his young master who is suffering from severe dysentery. Ye Xiaohua, relying on her medical expertise, correctly diagnoses the condition as damp-heat dysentery, contradicting the previous treatment which was for deficiency-cold dysentery. She offers to treat the child in exchange for payment and a way to support her brother.
The Qin family, desperate due to their son's worsening condition, agrees to let Ye Xiaohua attempt the treatment. She arrives at the Qin residence and, despite the skepticism of the young master's mother, Madam Qin, she successfully administers acupuncture and prescribes the correct herbal medicine. An elderly physician, summoned by the family, arrives and vehemently opposes her treatment, accusing her of malpractice. However, Ye Xiaohua stands her ground, confident in her diagnosis and skills. The chapter ends with the tension between the traditional physician and the young girl, as the fate of the young master hangs in the balance. Throughout these events, Ye Xiaohua maintains a facade of foolishness when it suits her, but reveals her true intelligence and capability when necessary to protect her brother and improve their dire circumstances.
