On a rainy night in early spring, the Crown Prince hangs himself in the Eastern Palace, and the capital is thrown into turmoil.
Shen Yanzhi, heir to the Jing'an Marquis Household, is known for his frail health. But six months after his mother's sudden death from an "illness," he senses a conspiracy behind a death that appears to be an accident. The words "storehouse," left by his mother before she died, lead to a shocking secret about the salt trade in Jiangnan: disaster-relief funds were diverted, and private salt flooded the market. Behind it all lies Second Prince Zhao Heng's carefully plotted bid for the throne.
The Crown Prince is dead, the Minister of Revenue has been framed, and the court is on the verge of a major reshuffle. With command of the capital region's military forces, the Jing'an Marquis Household becomes a target for every faction seeking its support or wary of its power. Concealing the damning evidence his mother left behind, Shen Yanzhi sets his pieces in motion, caught between his father's hesitation and the maelstrom at court.
He navigates a suspicious emperor, a ruthless Second Prince, and a court riddled with tangled alliances. He must avenge his mother and uncover the truth buried beneath layers of lies, while protecting the Marquis Household amid a treacherous struggle for power. Every concession is a disguise, and every move conceals a deeper purpose. As the clashes in the shadows gradually come to light, he realizes that no one in this contest for the capital is truly a bystander, and the final outcome has never been just about who inherits the throne...
