The Great Jing dynasty is teetering on the brink, the throne lies vacant, and the princes are locked in a struggle for power. Shen Qingci (played by Li Qin), daughter of the Grand General Who Guards the Nation, sees her father killed in battle and her family wrongly accused. Once the jewel of a military household, she becomes the daughter of a disgraced official. To clear her family’s name and uncover the truth, she conceals her identity and enters the palace as a servant, only to be swept into the raging whirlpool of the princes’ succession struggle.
Caught in this game of political intrigue, she must navigate the forces on every side:
- Seventh Prince Xiao Jingyi (played by Zeng Shunxi), gentle on the surface but deeply calculating
- Zhao Chengyuan (played by Chen Zheyuan), heir to the Northern Frontier, rebellious by nature but gradually falling for her
- Marquis of Jing’an Gu Nanzhou (played by Gong Jun), commanding a powerful army and impossible to read
- Fourth Prince Xiao Jingchen (played by Zhang Wanyi), born to humble station but fiercely ambitious
- Xiao Yanqing (played by Ren Jialun), a frail but exceptionally brilliant orphan of the Eastern Palace
- Yan Xun (played by Xiao Zhan), a hostage prince from the enemy kingdom of Northern Yan, harboring secrets
- Xie Wugou (played by Wang Yibo), the cold-faced commander of the Inspectorate
- Ninth Prince Xiao Jing (played by Xu Zhengxi), seemingly dissolute but secretly loyal and righteous
- Lu Yunzhou (played by Zhang Linghe), a young powerbroker who has just topped the imperial examinations, with a mysterious past
As the truth gradually comes to light, she discovers that her father’s death is closely connected to the dynasty’s deepest secrets. Will she remain a pawn, or become the one moving the pieces? In this game of political intrigue, with the empire itself at stake, how will she, as a woman, shake the foundations of a dynasty that has stood for a century and write an epic tale of a phoenix claiming power?
