The Heng Scheme

Xiao Jue marries a daughter of the Shen family to conceal his ambition and build strength for the succession struggle. He coldly watches his bride, sent to marry in someone else’s place, struggle in the inner household. Then she jolts his mother, who is pretending to be ill, awake by splashing a bowl of medicine over her, and turns around to send the poison-wielding secondary consort to the lunatic tower.

Late one night, he knocks on her door. “Let’s work together. I’ll protect you, and you’ll clear the obstacles in my path.” She smiles faintly. “Add one more condition: Your Highness must help me... kill the emperor.”

He thought he was marrying a delicate flower with thorns. He never expected to bring home a living Yama. Her miraculous hands heal the sick, making her the lifesaving goddess of the capital’s nobility; her ruthlessness makes her a death-dealing demon in the eyes of her political enemies.

On the night of the palace coup, she stands before him in blood-soaked clothes and holds up the late emperor’s genuine edict of succession against an army of thousands. Only then does Xiao Yan understand: what he has gained was never merely a princess consort, but a match worthy of him, one who looks down upon the whole world.