A Magic Steeped in Poison

Zhang Ning’s mother was a gifted shennong-shi who used a combination of tea, herbs, and magic to heal, evoke emotions, and imbue people with strength and other magical effects. Although Ning is apprenticed to her father, a physician, she has also learned the basics arts of Shennong from her mother. Her younger sister, Shu, was intended to be the apprentice, or shennong-tu, when she was older, but now, their mother is dead from a poisoned tea that Ning unknowingly brewed herself, and Shi is dying as well. Ning prepares to sneak out of the house while her father sleeps, intending to enter a contest against his wishes in a desperate attempt to save her sister’s life.

The Princess Regent of Daxi, Li Ying-Zhen, has invited every shennong-tu in the country to participate in a competition that will determine the next royal shennong-shi to serve in the court. The winner “will be granted a favor from the princess herself” (6). Ning is determined to win the competition and request that the emperor’s personal physicians heal Shu.

She hears her sister cough in the next room and visits her. Shu wakes and gives Ning a jeweled hairpin from their mother.