Cold Silk Curtains: The Embroiderer's Plot

Lin Wan, an embroidery girl from Jiangnan, was chosen for the palace embroidery workshop because of her unparalleled double-sided embroidery, becoming its lowliest embroiderer. She only wanted to live a quiet life, but when one of her works accidentally offended a favored consort, she was falsely accused of "cursing the imperial family" and froze to death in an abandoned courtyard in the depths of winter.

As she lay dying, the embroidery needle she had carried for years suddenly glimmered, sending her back to the day she entered the palace. This time, she cast aside all naivete. Armed with the hidden edge of her double-sided embroidery and the memories of her past life, she secretly embroidered auspicious patterns into a dragon robe to catch the emperor's attention; made a nostalgic handkerchief for Consort Jing, who had fallen from favor, to stir the emperor's old affection; and exposed the workshop supervisor's embezzlement while repairing tribute goods.

She carefully maneuvered among threads and needles, avoiding the favored consort's relentless attacks while investigating the truth behind her wrongful death in her previous life. She unexpectedly met Fifth Prince Xiao Yu, who was also being pushed aside. They went from using each other to trusting one another, but as they drew closer to the heart of power, they discovered that every inch of brocade in the inner palace was steeped in the blood and tears of the lowly. When her needle finally pierced the layers of conspiracy, the embroiderer who once struggled in a corner of the workshop would use thread as a blade and stitch herself a way forward through the cold nights beneath the brocade curtains.