Leisure in the Brocade Pavilion: A Concubine-Born Daughter's Schemes

Shen Qingci, a modern university student specializing in traditional Chinese medicine, wakes up to find she has become a concubine-born daughter in the household of a Ministry of Rites vice minister in the Great Yong dynasty. Her predecessor was timid, and her birth mother was bullied. Shen Qingci has no choice but to hide her sharp edges, pretend she is easy to push around, and secretly use her medical knowledge to protect her mother while planning a way to escape the marquis’s estate.

By chance, she eases the old injury of Lu Zhaoyan, the Marquis of Jing'an, with medicinal cuisine. This cold, taciturn marquis, who commands the army, begins to take a greater interest in her. At the Empress Dowager’s birthday banquet, a folk song she sings also catches the eye of Fifth Prince Xiao Jingyuan, whose gentle pursuit briefly wins her heart. But as the struggle for imperial power intensifies, Xiao Jingyuan’s ambition and willingness to compromise gradually come to light, while Lu Zhaoyan continues to protect her through his actions. Even when she flees to escape their marriage, he doggedly pursues her.

When the Northern Di invade and refugees fill the land, Shen Qingci sets aside her personal grievances and uses her medical skills to save lives. Lu Zhaoyan leads the army into battle, fighting with all his might for the peace of their homeland. The two rely on each other through troubled times and break through political schemes together, moving from suspicion and testing one another to sharing life and death. In the end, when the dust settles, Lu Zhaoyan gives up his position and Shen Qingci leaves the past behind. They take her birth mother far from the turmoil of the capital and find happiness in a small Jiangnan town, living together in peace for the rest of their lives.