What?! The Crown Prince's Favorite Concubine Was Stolen from the Imperial Harem

[Radiant beauty vs. reserved, secretly passionate crown prince; he falls head over heels and dotes on her alone once he steals her heart]

Cheng You Ning, the second daughter of the Marquis of Jing'an, has an exceptionally auspicious destiny. A senior monk at Xiangguo Temple predicts that she is destined for greatness and will one day become empress. When the marquis learns this, he suppresses the news. After all, the current emperor is already fifty, and he has no intention of sending his second legitimate daughter into the palace to secure the family's future. The marquise, Guo, is his second wife. Since she believes her stepdaughter has no wish to enter the palace, she decides that her own daughter, the third young lady Cheng Wanxin, should use this opportunity to marry well. Thanks to the prophecy of her phoenix destiny, Cheng Wanxin marries Prince Duan, the leading contender in the struggle for the throne.

Somehow, the emperor hears a rumor that the Cheng family has a daughter with an exceptionally auspicious birth chart, and insists on bringing her into the palace. The Marquis of Jing'an's household is thrown into turmoil. They dare not deceive the emperor, but they don't want to ruin Cheng You Ning's future, either. For the safety of her family and loved ones, Cheng You Ning resolutely enters the palace.

Before entering, she discusses a plan with her father and eldest sister. Once the old emperor dies and the imperial consorts are sent to a convent outside the capital according to tradition, her family can secretly switch her out, giving her a new identity so she can go on with her life.

Unfortunately, things never go according to plan. Cheng You Ning can't understand why the crown prince, Qin Xiao, keeps flirting with her, sometimes subtly and sometimes not. He even boldly confesses his feelings. In the end, she really does become the crown prince's favored concubine. When he ascends the throne, she becomes the empress he dotes on exclusively, fulfilling the prophecy of the “Phoenix Oracle” her grandmother once sought.

What she thought would be a fleeting affair she could never escape turns out to be a grand love, devoted and everlasting.