Apricot Blossoms Behind Red Gates

The towering gates of the noble houses cannot lock away a compassionate heart from another world; the shifting tides of officialdom cannot extinguish a poor scholar's ambition to reach the highest office.

An unexpected epidemic sends two paths that should never have crossed crashing into each other. He is a cold-faced censor who uses the plague to purge political rivals and consolidate his power. She is a “witch” who defies the world by imposing quarantines and improving prescriptions, angering the powerful. He sees her devotion to saving lives and the astonishing value of her “medical arts.” She sees past his political machinations to the quiet pain he bears for the common people.

From allies who use each other, to kindred spirits who understand one another, to lovers bound together by love and resentment. He needs her “extraordinary skills” and compassion to lend his path to power prestige and public support; she needs his authority and protection to carve out a place for her dream of healing the world. Yet the infighting within the noble houses never ceases, and the bloody turmoil at court grows ever more intense. When Cheng Shuli steps over mountains of corpses and finally reaches the highest office, will Wen Yutang's ideals and his power ultimately converge, or are they destined to part ways?