[I Like You, My Dear Imperial Guard]

The Hongxi Emperor, Zhu Gaochi, suddenly died. Faced with forces watching hungrily from the sidelines, Empress Zhang made a decisive move. She kept his death secret and did not announce the mourning period, waiting until her son, Crown Prince Zhu Zhanji, returned from Nanjing and ascended the throne, taking the reign title Xuande. Only then did she announce the Hongxi Emperor’s death to the outside world. After Zhu Zhanji became emperor, Empress Zhang had him summon her elder brother Zhang Quan back to the capital and keep him there.

To secure the Zhang family’s influence, she hoped that Zhang Quan’s daughter, Zhang Mingzhu, would marry her son as a consort. Zhang Mingzhu and Zhu Zhanji had grown up together and were childhood sweethearts, so with their families’ help, the match should have gone smoothly.

But an unexpected turn of events changed everything, making her plans extraordinarily difficult…