In her previous life, Shen Wangzhi possessed breathtaking beauty, but her father's clan schemed against her and her stepmother tormented her, until she became a caged bird in the Eastern Palace.
She secured her uncle's family wealth and glory, only to be repaid with a bowl of poison in the Cold Palace.
When she opened her eyes again, it was the day before the flower-viewing banquet in late spring.
In this life, she would no longer believe in a father's love, hope for her husband's affection, or be anyone's pawn.
When her stepmother tried to ruin her reputation, she turned the tables and exposed the incense plot. When her father tried to trade her for a brighter future, she personally cut off her clan's source of wealth. When the Eastern Palace sought to marry her as a pliable Crown Princess, she was determined to topple the heir from his pedestal.
Everyone in the capital said that the eldest legitimate daughter of the Pingning Earl's household was too alluring, and would sooner or later fall into the hands of the powerful.
It was only later, when the ancestral hall's ledgers were uncovered and an old case from the Eastern Palace was reopened, that the capital's nobles finally learned the truth
And the man who even the imperial throne had reason to fear finally held out his hand to her on a snowy night:
“Wangzhi, will you join me and play this game of chess to the very end?”
She was neither a delicate flower clinging to the spring breeze nor a spring branch for others to pluck.
She was Wen Wangzhi, still reaching toward spring after the snowstorm had passed. (The heroine later takes her mother's family name, so don't get confused as you read!)
