Spring Deep Within the Brocade Curtains

In the thirteenth year of the Tianqi era, Shen Weiwan travels from Jinling to the capital and marries into the Yongkang Marquis household as the daughter of a eunuch, becoming the wife of Gu Jingchen, the marquis’s second son. This seemingly mismatched marriage is part of the far-reaching plan of Shen Yu, the powerful eunuch who heads the Directorate of Ceremonial. She is not only meant to be Gu Jingchen’s wife, but also the foundation of his career and the pillar that holds the marquis’s household together.

When she first enters the household, she faces the Marchioness’s probing, the eldest daughter’s hostility, the jealousy of the first branch of the family, and a tangled web of household relationships. But Shen Weiwan was carefully raised by Shen Yu from childhood, and managing a household and reading people are second nature to her. She uncovers a mole through the storeroom accounts, gently turns aside the Marchioness’s provocations, and establishes her authority with a flawless family banquet. In just a few months, she takes charge of the household and runs the sprawling estate with admirable efficiency, earning even the Old Madam’s praise.

To her husband, Gu Jingchen, she is also a rare confidante and advisor. When he is ostracized at the Hanlin Academy, she helps him build connections and brings him into the orbit of the Crown Prince’s trusted aide. When he is ordered to travel to a disaster-stricken region to oversee relief efforts, she prepares supplies and strategies in advance, deftly thwarting even the princes who try to sabotage him from the shadows. Behind every promotion Gu Jingchen earns, from Hanlin Academy compiler to Minister of Rites, Shen Weiwan is there, carefully plotting behind the scenes.

At court, rival princes vie for the throne beneath a surface of calm; within the marquis’s household, the various factions gain and lose ground. As a woman, Shen Weiwan navigates the intertwining worlds of domestic power struggles and official careers, keeping the household peaceful while paving her husband’s road to success. She has no use for witchcraft or other sinister schemes; she relies only on her wisdom and her...