The Iron Tree Blooms: The Emperor Falls for a Chatty Little Troublemaker

Under Emperor Murong Tieshu's scrutiny and the palace factions' hidden attacks, all she wants is to escape back to ordinary life with her "bargain-bin son."

A master of sugar painting, she melts locks with syrup and blinds pursuers with clouds of sugar smoke, staging a thrilling escape with a child in tow. But Murong Tieshu casts aside his imperial dignity and embarks on a thousand-mile chase to win her back: she teases a little one at a sugar-painting stall in a small town, while he has his guards seal off every street; she boards a boat to cross the river and flee far away, while he rides to the bank and declares, "How can My son be left out in the world?"

On the run, poisoned pastries and false accusations keep coming. When circumstances force them to face danger together, Ruan Jiji discovers the clumsy tenderness of the cold-faced emperor: he wraps the crying child in his dragon robe and catches an arrow with his bare hand when she is in danger. Murong Tieshu, too, gradually falls for her spirited nature and the lively warmth of ordinary life in her sugar paintings, changing his goal from "bringing back the prince" to "winning back Ruan Jiji."