During the Jinghe period of the Dayong Dynasty, the court and the harem were closely connected. One prospered and the other suffered. Shen Weiwan, the concubine of Shen Yi, a household doctor, was forced to participate in the draft due to family interests, and entered the palace as a low-ranking candidate. She came from a humble background, her mother died young, and she was bullied by her aunt Liu Shi and her eldest sister Shen Lingwei in the Shen Mansion. She developed a cautious, intelligent and tolerant character.
After entering the palace, Shen Weiwan not only had to deal with the domineering concubine Su, the overt and covert fights between the concubines, but also worried about the safety of the family outside the palace - her aunt tried to use her to cling to the powerful, her aunt was jealous of her opportunity to enter the palace, and her father was wavering between family interests and the relationship between father and daughter. In the harem, she had no one to rely on. She could only rely on her extraordinary wisdom and resilience to survive in the turbulent battles step by step: from strictly abiding by palace rules and quietly accumulating strength, to skillfully resolving crises and winning some favor from the emperor, to secretly supporting her family and balancing the power of the court.
From Shen Weiwan's perspective, the story details the daily life of the harem: the cumbersome etiquette at dawn and dusk, the disputes over meals in the imperial kitchen, the popular support of the maids and eunuchs, and the festivals in each palace. It is also intertwined with the daily entanglements of the family: the quarrel between the concubines and concubines of Shen's house, the calculation of interests among relatives, and the close connection between the rise and fall of the family and the honor and favor in the harem. In this double whirlpool between the palace and the family, Shen Weiwan not only has to find a place for survival for herself, but also protects the meager thoughts left by her mother. In the end, she grows from a humble concubine to an important being who can influence the rise and fall of the family and balance the power of the harem, and writes a journey of prosperity for the concubine.
