Meng Lijun

Meng Lijun was a gifted young woman born into a family of scholars. But when her father was falsely accused, her entire family was implicated. Faced with the destruction of her home and the deaths of her loved ones, she had no choice but to endure the humiliation, disguise herself as a man, assume the name Li Junyu, and flee her hometown in the dead of night. Before leaving, she tearfully painted a self-portrait and entrusted it to her fiancé, Huangfu Shaohua, to show that her heart remained true and that she vowed to stay with him through life and death. After they parted, three years passed like flowing water.

Three years later, Li Junyu used her extraordinary talent to take first place in the imperial examinations. She rose to the rank of chancellor and held power over the entire court, yet continued to conceal that she was a woman. Meanwhile, Huangfu Shaohua led troops against the enemy and returned to the capital covered in glory. The emperor wanted to reward him with a marriage to honor his military achievements, but Shaohua remained steadfast and declared, “I will marry no one but Meng.” He swore he would never change his mind.

Trouble erupted in court. Chancellor Li Junyu could only maneuver behind the scenes, finding a way to delay the wedding for a hundred days. This would temporarily ease the emperor’s suspicions and give her own family a chance to survive. Shaohua remained resolute and investigated in secret several times, until he finally discovered that Chancellor Li was the Meng Lijun he had yearned for all these years.

But Lijun was beset by doubts. She knew that by disguising herself as a man and holding the office of chancellor, she had committed the crime of deceiving the emperor. If she revealed herself rashly, she would bring disaster not only upon herself but also upon Shaohua’s family. Their love was deep, yet layers of status and convention stood between them. In his desperation, Shaohua presented the portrait she had painted years ago, only to trigger an uproar over “the ruler stealing his minister’s wife,” nearly driving them both into a dead end.

In this perilous situation, Lijun relied on her extraordinary wit and courage to stand her ground against the emperor in the imperial gardens. At times she answered with tactful words; at others, she devised clever schemes. First she used a “cicada shedding its shell” to escape, then found a moment to breathe by turning “emptiness into substance.” In several rounds of verbal sparring, she advanced cautiously and skillfully thwarted the emperor’s desire. At last, through