The story takes place in the early years of the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty. Young Wei Yingluo (Wu Jinyan) enters the palace among a group of girls her age who have been selected to serve in the imperial harem. Beautiful and quick-witted, Yingluo is unlike the other girls: she entered the palace for a reason. After her older sister is murdered, Yingluo resolves to enter the Forbidden City and investigate the killer. She mistakenly believes that the emperor’s younger brother, Fu Heng (Xu Kai), is the mastermind, so she approaches him under false pretenses. After the misunderstanding is cleared up, Yingluo discovers that she has fallen for him, too. Empress Fucha (Qin Lan) admires Yingluo’s cleverness and keeps her by her side, carefully training her. Once you enter the palace, there is no turning back. The women in the palace strive to win Qianlong’s favor
