Zhen Huan won love, Mei Zhuang won loyalty, and Hua Fei won through sheer force of will.
Shen Jingshu only wanted to win.
The year she entered the palace, she had neither beauty nor favor. She was merely a mute maid sweeping leaves in a corner of Suiyu Pavilion.
Everyone said she was dust in the mire, not even worthy of touching Hua Fei's shoe soles.
But they didn't know:
When the Empress Dowager suffered a stroke, she alone tasted the medicine at her bedside.
When the Empress tested blood to prove a child's parentage, she alone saw through the entire game.
When the Emperor lay gravely ill, she alone held the secret edict declaring that no heir would be appointed.
This was a war without smoke or gunfire.
She fought for neither favor, children, nor love.
She fought for the power of life and death in the Forbidden City, and for a line in the history books: "The Empress Dowager ruled from behind the curtain, and the realm flourished."
"Favor fades. Blood ties betray."
"Only the power atop the imperial throne remains forever loyal."
