In her previous life, Shen Qingci was poisoned to death by her stepmother and half-sister, dying with hatred in her heart.
Reborn on the day of her fifteenth birthday, she looks at the “gift” her stepmother hands her and smiles.
“Good. We’ll settle the old and new scores one by one.”
She plans her every move, reclaims her dowry, crushes schemes, enters the palace as an official, and takes control of power.
But just when she is riding high, that man personally pushes her into the abyss.
He is an idle prince in frail health, and a calculating strategist who has been plotting in secret for ten years.
He thought he would spend his life seeking revenge, until he rescued a cold-eyed young woman in a shadowy alley.
“Let’s work together,” she says. “I can help you get what you want.”
“Very well,” he replies.
From then on, he stands by her, protects her, kneels for her, and wins the realm for her.
On the night of the palace coup, he kneels before her, covered in blood.
“I will never use you or deceive you. I kept my promise. Will you still have me?”
From discarded daughter of a marquis’s household to ruler of the realm, she takes ten years to reach the top.
From a man with no one to call his own to one who needs only her, it takes him ten years to learn how to love.
The emperor and empress rule together, ushering in ten years of prosperity. Then they retire to Jiangnan, where they play chess beneath the plum blossoms.
“If there is another life, I want to meet you again.”
