Spring in the Sheng Palace

Her name is Dong Jiale, the most beautiful woman in the harem of the Great Sheng Dynasty, and also its most “useless” concubine.

While everyone else competes for favor and power, plotting at every turn, she has just three ambitions in life: eat well, sleep well, and stay out of trouble. The year the Crown Prince and Prince Kang’s rebellion failed and the Six Palaces were thrown into chaos, she was urgently summoned back to the capital from her fief. Somehow, she ended up living in Changle Palace, and somehow, she was made a Noble Consort. With Noble Consort Zhou toppled and the Empress stripped of power, the low-ranking concubine who had once fled the capital to escape disaster became the hottest figure in the harem overnight. But such staggering wealth also brought staggering danger: Prince Zhuang was secretly building alliances, a deposed consort was watching like a hawk, old rumors still haunted her, and her twelve-year-old son, Li Qiyue, had just been publicly praised by the emperor at the royal hunting grounds: “This child takes after me.”

A tree that rises above the forest is sure to be battered by the wind. The court is full of intrigue, and undercurrents churn through the harem. Everyone is choosing sides. Yet Dong Jiale has the greatest trump card of all: the deep, taciturn emperor is cold and heartless toward everyone, but he has saved up four years’ worth of rewards and favor just for her. From the fief to the capital, from low-ranking concubine to empress, she spends her life proving that “not competing is the greatest way to compete.”

Through decades of ups and downs in the palace, some people rise to the top while others come crashing down. And through it all, she remains the same Dong Jiale who loves to laugh and tattle.