The Third Miss's Choices in a Chaotic Age

**Twilight of the Forbidden City: The Third Young Lady's Choice in Troubled Times**

**Synopsis:**

In 1924, Beiping is a city in turmoil. Jian Ying, a gifted student at Yenching University and the most cherished third daughter of the Jian family, meets Guobulo Qilin, a descendant of the Manchu nobility, in the library. He is a down-and-out royal painter; she is a woman of the new age. Their shared cultural ideals draw their young hearts together. But the times are unstable. Puyi, expelled from the Forbidden City, secretly plots to restore the monarchy. Japanese forces are infiltrating North China, and Jian Ying's father, Jian Shixun, has a secret connection to the restorationists.

When Puyi develops a dangerous infatuation with Jian Ying, Qilin is swept into the conspiracy, and Jian Ying discovers her father's secret dealings with the Japanese, the third young lady must make a heart-wrenching choice between family, love, and country. In this contest of power and passion, who is truly on her side? Can the promise sealed with a first kiss beneath the moon withstand the tide of history?

**Tags:**

Republican-era romance | Duty to family and country | Cultural conflict | Tormented love triangle | Historical legend

**Highlights:**

- Love between double agents: She gathers intelligence in Puyi's court while he risks his life to pass on secrets. When they meet beneath the moon, who is the hunter and who is the prey?

- A battle to protect culture: When the Palace Museum's treasures are threatened with plunder, how will two young people use their wits to safeguard a civilization thousands of years old?

- Father and daughter in conflict: When her beloved father turns out to be a traitor, whose face will the third young lady slap?

- A blood-red wedding: Why does the secret lakeside wedding, with no guests present, become the most painfully sweet memory of their lives?

"The one I love, from