Shen Zhixia, daughter of a disgraced official, becomes a palace maid after her family is framed. She asks only to live in peace, but one day beneath the Qionghua Corridor, she accidentally bumps into Crown Prince Xiao Jue and splashes cinnabar ink onto his dragon robe, setting their bond in motion.
Xiao Jue, Crown Prince of Dayin, lost his mother at an early age and grew up enduring his father’s suspicion and the court officials’ infighting. Beneath his cold, stern exterior lies a lonely heart. He sees that Shen Zhixia is gentle yet strong, skilled in medicine and the restoration of ancient texts, and remarkably clever in the face of repeated crises. He transfers her to the Eastern Palace, silently shielding her from the palace’s hidden attacks as his interest in her turns to love.
The imperial palace is a chessboard. The Third Prince’s designs, Noble Consort Liu’s frame-ups, and the chancellor’s lust for power draw them into the struggle for the crown and the whirlpool of their families’ wrongful cases. Shen Zhixia is no longer a maid concerned only with protecting herself. She uses her medical skills to save the Empress Dowager and stop an epidemic, and her intelligence to investigate wrongful convictions and help Xiao Jue. Xiao Jue, in turn, is willing to break through the barriers of rank for her, protect her publicly, and risk his life for her. From Crown Prince to emperor, he always regards her as both his only weakness and his armor.
From their first meeting beneath the Qionghua Corridor to their life together in the Eastern Palace, from maid to Crown Princess and then empress ruling alongside the emperor, they cross the divide of social rank and survive trials that bring them close to death. Beneath the palace willows, they finally write an enduring love story of holding hands and growing old together.
