[Palace intrigue + political schemes] [Power versus true love]
The Grand Tutor's daughter + an unfeeling emperor + a gentle imperial physician
Shen Qingyan, daughter of the Grand Tutor, enters the palace selection to clear her father's name.
Beneath a parasol tree in the imperial garden, she encounters Emperor Xiao Chengji paying respects to his late mother.
“Who dares trespass in the forbidden grounds? What punishment do you deserve?” His gaze is fathomless.
The harem is a treacherous place. Her close friend Lin Wanqiao allies with her to stand against Consort Qin.
Gu Huaian of the Imperial Medical Bureau silently watches over her, handing her an antidote. “This can break the illusion.”
When clues to her father's wrongful conviction point to Chief Minister Qin Xiuyuan, she approaches the emperor to win his trust.
On a night in his bedchamber, he traces the scars across her back. “Does it hurt?”
She pretends to welcome his advances, but at the old parasol tree she receives an apricot blossom note from Gu Huaian: “Take care.”
An epidemic sweeps through the palace. Consort Qin frames Wanqiao for witchcraft, and Wanqiao takes the blame before falling from a tower.
As blood stains her skirts, Qingyan grips the medicine bottle and secret letter hidden in her sleeve.
The emperor points his sword at the Qin family. “Do you know who lies buried beneath the parasol tree?”
On the day the phoenix crown is placed upon her head, she watches Gu Huaian's solitary figure disappear into the distance.
Within the vermilion walls and beyond them, in the end, love leaves them both lost.
