A Brocade-Colored Cage

In the thirty-fourth year of the Guangxu reign, Shen Qingyi, daughter of the Shen family of Wuzhou, is a bird trapped in a gilded cage. An engagement banquet arranged to secure an alliance with the Xu family binds her fate tightly to her family's interests. A hairpin of pure gold presses against her scalp, while her stepmother, Madam Tang, lectures her at every turn. To the Shen family, she is nothing more than a bargaining chip for securing the Xu family's loan.

The mystery of her birth mother's early death lies hidden among old belongings. A broken zither and half a copy of the mysterious Records of Flowing Clouds quietly tear open the placid surface. When she finds a clue to the “Dragon-Headed Jade Goblet” among her mother's effects, she learns that behind this seemingly respectable engagement lies a shocking secret involving the loss of a national treasure, and perhaps the truth about her mother's “illness and death.”

From the deep courtyards of Wuzhou to the mists of Shanghai, she breaks free of the cage of her engagement and makes a name for herself with her Cloud-Piercing Embroidery technique. She befriends allies including Chen Peixiang, a Western-trained doctor, and Su Wangzhi, a journalist. As her investigation goes deeper, she uncovers the Shen family's core interests. Her stepmother's retaliation, Xu Jiuqing's relentless pursuit, and the struggle between multiple factions push her into the eye of the storm.

Will she sink beneath the shackles of feudal propriety, or fight for the truth and the national treasure? Wielding resilience as her blade, Shen Qingyi cuts through the mists of a turbulent age. As she pursues the return of the national treasure, she not only uncovers the truth about her mother's death but also breaks free of the restraints placed on women. With the founding of the Embroidery Institute, she completes her transformation from “a bird in a cage” into “one who lights the way,” and her silent zither plays a new melody for a new era.