The Female Tutor Behind the Palace Walls

Su Wanzhao, a sharp-tongued scholar from Jiangnan, is forced into the palace after offending the powerful and becomes tutor to the Third Prince. She uses her learning to defuse palace intrigues, quoting the Analects to rebuff the empress and using arithmetic to expose the Noble Consort’s poisonous scheme. She conveys her feelings through embroidery, and the seemingly stern Emperor Xiao Jingheng and she go from testing each other to choosing one another wholeheartedly. Together, they quell the Noble Consort’s rebellion and reopen the old case of Consort Shu. In the end, Su Wanzhao becomes empress, using her wisdom as a scholar to rewrite the rules of the inner palace and deliver the satisfying sweetness of “better to study than scheme.”