The late Tang collapsed, and flames of war consumed the blossoms of Chang'an.
The orphan Song Fujin struggled to survive amid the chaos of battle, where she met another orphan of the Li clan, also wandering the streets.
Two wretched souls, whose lives seemed worth less than grass, depended on each other through hardship. But a clash between armies swept them apart, leaving them stranded worlds away from each other.
She was cast adrift among the common folk, barely surviving amid the dust of a chaotic age, until the strategist Wang Rong took her in and adopted her as his daughter.
She concealed her sharp edge, devising plans and stratagems in her adoptive father's military tent as she gradually established herself in the turbulent Jianghuai region.
He was adopted by a powerful minister, hid his imperial blood, and took refuge in the Xu family, enduring humiliation as he waited for his moment.
Gentle in public, bloodthirsty in private, he bided his time and borrowed the strength of others to nurture his own imperial destiny, waiting for the day he could overthrow his master and reclaim the realm.
The court was rife with infighting, families plotted against one another, warlords carved up the land, and flames of war spread everywhere.
She carved out a place for herself as a woman; he lived under another's roof while plotting to claim an empire.
In the shifting tides of a chaotic age, they crossed paths again and again, until they finally reunited at the peak of power.
He transformed from a lonely orphan into an emperor, founding Southern Tang and carrying on the remnants of the Li Tang dynasty.
She grew from a drifting weed into a woman of strength and character, using her wisdom to make her way in the world and helping him unite Jiangnan.
The hardest bones in this world are found neither in the imperial palace nor beneath armor,
but in two people who refuse to bow their heads in a chaotic age.
One held Jiangnan together; the other secured the realm.
