After lying low for eight years at Qingxu Temple, Shen Qingci entered the palace behind its vermilion walls as a substitute palace maiden, hoping to uncover the mystery of her mother's origins. Starting as the lowest-ranking palace attendant, she would rise to become empress, using her medical skills and shrewdness to navigate one perilous palace intrigue after another.
When she first entered the palace, she was a speck of dust anyone could trample on. High-ranking consorts made things difficult for her, and she was treated as a pawn in the struggle for power. But her patience and intelligence helped her escape danger time and again. She made allies, built an intelligence network, used medicine to break through deadlocks, and countered her enemies with strategy. Gradually, she went from struggling to survive to taking the initiative, eventually securing her place in the harem.
The young emperor Xiao Che initially saw her as a pawn to be used. But through their repeated clashes and shared hardships, he was moved by her resilience and devotion. He went from testing and keeping her in check to giving her his heartfelt protection. Together, they fought the Empress Dowager and her relatives, quelled palace coups and rebellions, and forged a passionate imperial romance in which each pursued the other.
Within the palace walls were schemes and power struggles, allies bound together through life and death, and love and hatred etched into the heart. Shen Qingci not only had to uncover the imperial secret behind her mother's origins, but also protect those she loved and assist the emperor amid flashing blades. From an orphaned girl at the bottom of society, she would transform into a wise empress presiding over a prosperous age, writing a legend of a phoenix rising to the ninth heaven.
Think the story will unfold like that?
No, no, no!
Follow Qingci as she searches for the truth about her origins!!!
