Shen Wei, the daughter of a merchant, wants nothing more than to spend her life with her husband and be his one and only.
On their wedding anniversary, her husband brings another woman home.
The two-faced Liu Xixi accuses her of wrongdoing the moment she steps through the door.
Through tears, Shen Wei explains, “It wasn’t me. I didn’t do it.”
Her mother-in-law makes her kneel in the snow.
But Gu Yanzhi says, “I believe what I saw. If you did wrong, then you did wrong.”
Shut out and disappointed at every turn, driven to anger and despair, she asks for a divorce, only to be framed.
Only after losing his gentle, virtuous wife does Gu Yanzhi come to his senses and realize she had never been a substitute.
Shen Wei uses the scheme against her to her advantage, faking her death and investigating in secret.
She doesn’t know that the accusations will lead to a political struggle at court, and reveal her own identity as well.
Step by step, she makes her way to the very peak of power.
