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Empress Wu Zetian issues a royal decree ordering every garden flower in the capital to bloom simultaneously in the dead of winter. High above in the celestial realms, the Fairy of a Hundred Flowers is absent during a heavenly gathering, leaving the flower spirits without leadership when the mortal tyrant's command arrives. The floral maidens yield to earthly fear and bloom out of season, setting off a catastrophe that disrupts divine hierarchy.
The Celestial Emperor punishes the flower maidens for indulging a human ruler's vanity and breaking seasonal order. Banished from their heavenly palace, the Fairy of a Hundred Flowers and her hundred floral attendants are condemned to reincarnate on Earth as mortal women. In the mortal world below, Tang Ao grieves over political corruption while awaiting the birth of his daughter, the reborn chief flower spirit.
Tang Ao achieves the highest score in the imperial civil service examination, earning the prestigious rank of Optimus. However, court rivals inform Empress Wu Zetian of his secret past friendship with political rebels, prompting her to revoke his title and downgrade him to a common scholar. Disillusioned with official ambition, Tang Ao packs his bags and joins his brother-in-law Lin Zhiyang on a trading vessel headed for distant seas.
Sailing into the Country of Gentlemen, Tang Ao and Old Duo witness marketplace transactions where buyers and sellers argue fiercely to disfavor themselves. A customer demands to pay a higher price for inferior vegetables, while the merchant insists on accepting less money for his best harvest. Li Ruzhen uses this ideal realm to show that true morality requires placing another person's interest above personal profit.
Arriving in the Country of Women, the travelers discover a society where traditional gender roles are completely reversed. Lin Zhiyang is detained by palace guards, forcibly subjected to painful foot-binding, and dressed in silk skirts to serve as an imperial concubine. The ordeal exposes how physical agony and domestic confinement are imposed entirely through enforced conventions rather than natural law.
A satirical Qing dynasty journey across fantastical realms that examines power, morality, and gender roles.