Snow Ashes Beneath the Setting Sun

In the winter of the fifteenth year of the Xuanyuan Dynasty, heavy snow blanketed the imperial city of Tianqi. Tea merchant Shen Mo enters the capital with a body weakened by illness and begins laying his plans at Wangji Pavilion. No one knows that this frail scholar is the sole survivor of the Shen family, executed to the last member fifteen years ago. Su Luoxue, mistress of Listening Snow Tower, infiltrates the palace as the daughter of a minister, seeking the truth behind her birth mother Consort Shu's “death in childbirth.” Meanwhile, as the young general Gu Fengxing investigates an assassination at a palace banquet, he gradually uncovers the shocking mystery surrounding his own origins. A case of embezzled salt permits draws the three of them into a whirlpool. North to Meiling, bones sunk beneath a ship, a blood-written letter in a secret chamber The mystery of switched children, the missing military funds, and evidence of treason fall away like flakes of snow, yet together they reveal an even more terrifying game. When the twin-fish pendants are joined and the blood edict comes to light, they finally realize: What they thought was revenge and truth is merely the next move already laid out by the player behind the scenes. The setting sun shines on the snow, and the embers have yet to cool. In this game of strategy with the empire at stake, who is a pawn, and who is the player? And beyond the wind and snow, is there truly a glimmer of dawn? A million-character political epic, three tangled mysteries of identity, and two generations bound by blood feuds. An evocative classical style, an ensemble cast caught in the tides of fate, and a battle of wits where every step is fraught with danger. When trust is a luxury and the truth is crueller than a lie Can they protect the last remnants of their humanity and hope amid the ashes of political intrigue?