When Jiangnan beauty Nie Huizhu discovers a love poem to another woman in her husband’s study, the first crack appears in the perfect marriage she has worked so hard to build. And that is only the beginning. Her younger sister, Nie Luozhu, flees in the middle of the night to resist an arranged marriage. Zhao Xiaolian, a famous courtesan of Qinhuai, spends all her savings supporting a poor scholar, only for him to pass the imperial examinations and marry someone else. A dignified prefect’s wife secretly worships the Goddess of Fertility in a hidden chamber... These women, confined to inner courtyards, brothels, and the constraints of ritual, seem to live in entirely separate worlds.
A salt administration scandal that shakes the court binds their fates together. Huizhu holds a secret ledger that could destroy her husband. Luozhu’s flight brings scandal upon her family. Zhao Xiaolian is swept into a dangerous game of power. As the storm approaches, they must choose: keep playing the roles written for them by their time, or risk everything to break free?
This is no romantic tale of gifted scholars and beautiful women, but a portrait of women searching for a way to survive in desperate circumstances. They form secret alliances, scheme, and make sacrifices, each finding her own way to rewrite the fate laid out for her. Jealousy and loyalty, cowardice and courage, selfishness and redemption: the struggles of human nature from centuries ago still burn bright today.
Open this book and see how they fight to live for themselves in an age that allows women no desires of their own.
