With her entire family condemned to death, Shen Qingci cuts her hair and changes her appearance, disguising herself as the “sickly” young eunuch Su Xiaochen. Carrying a severed head, she makes her way into the Eastern Palace. She has only one goal: kill her enemy with her own hands and clear her family’s name!
But the master she serves is the biggest joke in the capital: Xiao Jingyuan, the useless Crown Prince, afflicted with muteness, whose mother was humiliated and who has been abandoned by his father, the emperor.
Everyone says the Crown Prince is weak and easy to bully, but Shen Qingci notices something amiss the first time she takes his pulse.
His pulse is steady, his inner power profound. How could he possibly be useless?
Before she can put him to the test, the “mute” Crown Prince, who can barely manage to gesture in front of others, corners her in the dead of night. His fingers brush her Adam’s apple. There is not a trace of weakness in his eyes, only the unfathomable depths of a cold pool.
“Su Xiaochen, your poison skills are impressive. Want to… make a wager?”
From then on, she becomes the blade in his hand, and he the shield at her back.
She poisons, exposes secrets, and fights powerful ministers at court; behind the scenes, he plays dumb, bides his time, and sets deadly traps.
Shen Qingci thinks her disguise is flawless and that she can leave once her revenge is complete.
Little does she know that one day, during a palace coup, she will appear in red bridal attire and try to flee, only to be swept into the arms of the man who has been “paralyzed” for years. His low, hoarse voice explodes beside her ear:
“Imperial Physician Su, you’ve cured my poison. Where do you think you’re running?”
It turns out that hunters often appear in the guise of prey.
He was never mute, just as she was never a eunuch.
