In the spring of the first year of Yonghe, the two most beautiful figures in Bianjing crossed paths because of a phoenix hairpin. Tang Wan, the daughter of an imperial physician, possessed the rare art of medicinal embroidery, using needle and thread to carry medicine and send secret messages. Lu Huaijin, an illegitimate son of a military family, was accomplished in both letters and arms, yet held back by his birth. During the Shangsi Festival, he made a pledge with a blood-amber phoenix hairpin. Each of them kept half, and they vowed to remain together until their hair turned white. But the military weapons case erupted, drawing them both into a conspiracy. Before one crisis could settle, another arose, and Lu Huaijin went off to the battlefield. Three years later, he returned victorious, but she had already married. Investigating the matter, they were shocked to discover that none of their misfortunes had been accidents. A mysterious organization called Shen Yuan loomed over everything like a dark web. From then on, he maneuvered in the open at court, while she wove a web in the shadows of the inner residence. From the sweetness of "Red Crisp Hands," to the ruin of "The East Wind Is Cruel," and then the despair of "Letters Are Hard to Send," the lines of poetry seemed to foretell their fate. When buried secrets of their past were revealed and a monstrous conspiracy came to light, they had to choose: yield to fate and repeat the lament of "Wrong, wrong, wrong," or become pieces on the board themselves and fight for new life after "No, no, no," even in the desperate straits of "Though Our Vows Still Stand"? A deep love foretold by The Phoenix Hairpin, a covert battle fought with medicinal embroidery as a blade. The wind begins at the tip of a duckweed leaf, but this storm would sweep across their lives and an entire age.
