A palace servant trained in herbal medicine finds herself in the heart of imperial intrigue in this enthralling period mystery!Dismissed from the rear palace, Maomao returns to service in the outer courtas the personal serving woman to none other than Jinshi! That doesnt necessarily make her popular with the other ladies, but a bit of jealousy might be the least of her problems. A mysterious warehouse fire, an official with a very bad case of food poisoning, and the mysterious last will and testament of a deceased craftsman all demand her attentionbut are these cases really separate, or do they share a troubling connection? Then theres the mysterious military man who continually visits Jinshi. Hes strange, maybe even a little twisted…and he seems very interested in Maomao.