Shen Wei was the daughter of a disgraced official, enslaved in the palace for ten years and barely surviving.
When she got the chance to copy a secret letter for the empress, she accidentally uncovered a hidden affair from the previous dynasty and used it to become the empress's covert agent.
Using her exquisite calligraphy as bait, she wove an enormous web of intelligence throughout the inner palace.
The Noble Consort coveted the position of Crown Prince and plotted to frame the empress for poisoning the imperial heir.
Shen Wei intercepted a secret letter and presented an auspicious omen at the empress dowager's birthday banquet. Hidden between the lines was irrefutable proof that the Noble Consort had colluded with the enemy.
On the night the Noble Consort fell, Shen Wei won over her trusted female attendant in the Cold Palace. "If you want to live, tell me everything you know."
After ten years lying low, she climbed step by step from the mire to the pinnacle of power.
The court officials cried out in outrage: "When a hen crows at dawn, the kingdom is doomed!"
Standing atop the vermilion steps, Shen Wei smiled and swept her sleeve. "I have neither husband nor son. Why can't this realm bear the surname Shen?"
