Jade Lock and Rouge

Volume One: Born into a respected Suzhou family, Sheng Wanxiang falls into a life of prostitution after her clan is convicted of a crime, becoming the leading courtesan at Yihong House in the capital. She moves among the powerful, but deep down she remains devoted to her broken engagement with her former lover, Yang Mingyuan. Xiao Daoyu, heir to the Prince Zhongshun's title, brings her under his wing, drawing her into the undercurrents of the Northern Garrison Office and the power struggles of the Eastern Palace. An imperial decree orders her to marry into the Yang family as a secondary wife, but she faces exclusion from the principal wife, Zhou Jingwan, her mother-in-law's cold stares, and the painful distance between herself and her husband, Yang Mingyuan, though he is always within reach. Behind the high walls of the family compound, Sheng Wanxiang tastes the bitterness of life's twists and turns. Adrift like a floating weed, with a heart like a withered lotus, she quietly dies in the autumn rain, leaving behind a mournful elegy to love, status, and her times.

Volume Two: To survive, Gu Xianyue carefully stages The Dream of the Southern Bough, using a performance of “Tear-Stained Makeup” to stir Yifan's emotions, only to become more deeply entangled in a whirlpool of power and old love. Through the perfumer Madam Qin, he catches a glimpse of Yifan's deep obsession with the regent, Xiao Daoyu, and the palace secrets tied to the incense known as Zhantang.