

Alexander makes a deal with the commander to protect Jessica's family, trading a severe injury that leaves him with an amputation,shrapnel in his brain, and little time to live for their safety. Six years later, he runs into his daughter Alice, who doesn't know he's her father, and shares his past with her. When he saves Jessica at a lion dance event, his identity is exposed. Jessica presses him for the truth about the past, but Alexander, aware his days are numbered, resolves to hide it, breaking her heart. To end their bond, Jessica forces him to perform the lion dance again. Alexander pushes through to take the stage, but his prosthetic limb malfunctions, shrapnel shifts, and he is on the brink of death.

The modern special agent Serena Brook awakens in the Great Cian, now a village woman named Serena Yale, stepmother to three children whose father vanished after leaving for the imperial exams.With her ""Emotional Resonance System"" activated, Serena turns scarcity into plenty: daily meat feasts, hotpot dinners that tempt the whole village, and a thriving candied hawthorn business.But peace is fragile. As hidden threats gather, can she protect her newfound family from the dangers closing in?