The Willow Behind the Palace Walls: The Stone-Faced General’s Cinderella

Su Wei was the daughter of a disgraced minister. Her wicked stepmother sold her into servitude at Chongwen Academy in the capital, but after an accident, she took her stepsister's place as a student. Though she endured endless bullying at the academy, she made a name for herself in the arena thanks to her tenacity, unexpectedly catching the attention of Xiao Che, a cold-faced general. He seemed indifferent, yet always cleared obstacles from her path behind the scenes: thwarting her stepmother's vicious schemes, exposing the plots of a cunning antagonist, and even using his military power to shield her when warlord forces closed in. Su Wei thought their encounters were mere coincidence, never knowing that his quiet devotion had been etched into Xiao Che's heart years ago, on a street in the capital. Behind the palace walls, danger lurks in every heart. She rises from the bottom at the academy and struggles to survive the palace intrigues, while that stone-faced general remains her only light, and the inescapable source of her painful romance.