The Golden Realm Ensnared by the Phoenix

In the fourteenth year of the Tianjia era, Cui Lingyi, a daughter of a collateral branch of the Boring Cui clan, was framed by her stepmother and left with a ruined reputation. She volunteered for the imperial selection, entered the palace with exceptional skill in chess, calligraphy, and painting, and was given the title Shen.

The harem was a chessboard. Empress Jiang Lingxian was sinister and suspicious, Consort Shu Xue Wanning played the pig to eat the tiger, and Empress Dowager Zhao held a secret edict from the late emperor, secretly manipulating everything. Cui Lingyi moved carefully, navigating among the three factions, using others to kill her enemies even as she was used as a weapon herself.

Pei Yanzhi, a middle-ranking officer of the Imperial Guards, was ordered to investigate a case and clashed with Cui Lingyi several times. He was a cold-faced general; she was a consort in the inner palace. They should never have had anything to do with each other. Yet through one deadly contest after another, suspicion turned to trust, and restraint gave way to affection.

After entering the palace, Cui Lingyi discovered that her mother hadn’t died of illness. Her stepmother and the empress dowager’s trusted aide had conspired to poison her. Even more shocking, her mother had once shared a romance with the late emperor. He had left a secret edict naming her Princess Anguo. The edict was in the empress dowager’s hands, and Cui Lingyi was merely a pawn she used to keep the emperor in check.

Xie Wugou of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau had been laying plans in secret for twenty years, stirring up turmoil with his astrological predictions. His true identity was that of a surviving member of the previous imperial family, and he intended to overthrow the dynasty by exploiting the infighting.

A coup, a great fire, and a deathbed entrustment. Before the emperor died, he struck a deal with Cui Lingyi: she would give up her freedom, serve as regent under the title of Grand Princess, and assist the young emperor. In return, he would grant the Pei family an iron certificate of immunity, guaranteeing the family peace for three generations.

Cui Lingyi chose the realm and gave up love. Pei Yanzhi chose to wait and gave up marriage.

Years later, when the young emperor came of age, Cui Lingyi returned power and left the palace. Beyond the palace walls, beneath a courtyard full of plum trees, someone had set out an unfinished chess game and was waiting for her to solve it.