Fantasy romance + space + special abilities + angst
On her wedding day, Cui Lingyi discovers a portrait of a poor scholar in her fiancé Pei Yan’s study and smashes the gold hairpin that was their token of love. As she investigates the woman in the portrait, she stumbles upon secret letters in a hidden compartment in Pei Yan’s study, revealing his dealings with officials from humble backgrounds. Drunk, Cui Lingyi falls into the water beside a cold pool and is rescued by Shen Zhan, a military commander of humble birth. She notices a crescent-shaped birthmark on his left shoulder. When Cui Lingyi visits her older sister, a consort in the palace, she overhears the emperor and Pei Yan plotting to suppress the Qinghe Cui clan. Pei Yan leads soldiers to surround the Cui residence, but Shen Zhan arrives with the late emperor’s edict to save the day. The black pieces shattered across the chessboard mark the end of the aristocratic clans’ era.
