When Shen Qingwu woke up from a ten-year nightmare, the dew on the leaves of the sycamore tree outside the window had not yet dried. In the dream, she witnessed herself falling from the position of queen, watching the Shen family, which had been a prominent family for centuries, being exiled to the wilderness, and watching her only son die tragically from being an arrogant prince to a commoner. The most painful thing was that the emperor who had played harmoniously with her turned around and left indifferently.
When she touched the wet pillow cover with trembling fingers, the eunuch's high-pitched voice penetrated the palace door - the imperial edict for the imperial concubine to be crowned imperial concubine was on her way, exactly as the first prophecy in her dream.
At this moment, the most virtuous queen of Zhou Dynasty died. The one who survived was Shen Qingwu, who had to fight for his destiny.
She began to weave a web of intrigue that spanned ten years: laying fatal flaws in the chain of evidence of corruption in the imperial concubine's family. She no longer expected the emperor's love, but wanted the entire dynasty to rely on the Shen family.
When the wheel of history finally rolled over the track in the dream - when the imperial concubine united with the family to launch a palace coup, Shen Qingwu had already prepared three killer moves. After a thunderous operation, the imperial concubine's family was wiped out, and the emperor was forced to make her son the heir apparent.
Many years later, when the new emperor respectfully consulted his mother behind the curtain on state affairs, Shen Qingwu looked at the flying phoenix fluttering outside the palace, and finally understood: the dignity of the phoenix is not in perching in the sycamore tree, but in being reborn from the ashes.
