Courtesans of Heaven and Earth: Every Bloom and Fall Is Fate

In 2003, on the East Third Ring Road in the imperial capital, “Cloud Palace” was the country's most exclusive entertainment club. Entry cost tens of thousands of yuan, and its clients were all rich or influential. Four women from vastly different backgrounds meet here: Lin Hailing, the top hostess; Si Ling, a language prodigy; Bai Zhi, an artistic soul; and Shen Feiyan, the youngest of them all. They use their intelligence, talents, and social skills to make a place for themselves amid the glamour, each carrying a past and a future no one knows about. A sudden murder investigation and the truth behind a cold case spanning twenty years bind the fates of all four women to detective Gu Jintao. Was Lin Hailing's father a victim or an accomplice? Who is the real mastermind behind it all? As she is pushed to the brink time and again, a piano melody becomes a code, an account book becomes a weapon, and a cleaner completes the most dangerous mission of all. Once the glitz fades, the truth is only just beginning to emerge. This is a fast-paced urban power fantasy about women supporting one another, packed with twists. With intelligence, courage, and unwavering loyalty to one another, four women forge lives far broader than those of caged songbirds. And through their own experiences, they etch an age of bright lights and nightlife into history. “Lost in dreams, unaware I'm but a guest, I savor a fleeting pleasure. The flowing waters and falling blossoms mark the passing of spring, leaving only heaven and earth.” Yet they chose to wake.