[Strong female lead + unconventional good and evil + playing the pig to eat the tiger, pure fun + multiple love interests] At the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, imperial authority was in decline, and power passed back and forth between the relatives of the empresses and the eunuchs. Cao Hui was a lonely soul from another world, raised in the wilderness from childhood by a wandering old man. He taught her swordsmanship, gave her a white-and-gold tiger cub and a magical bird, then left her a greatsword weighing over sixty pounds before drifting away. With her androgynous looks, sword-shaped brows, and peach-blossom eyes, she possessed astonishing strength and could lift sixty pounds with one hand. Yet she was guileless and inexperienced in matters of the heart, cold to strangers and sharp-tongued with friends. She hid her clever mind behind a careless, unserious facade. Life on the road was hard in a time of chaos, and harder still for a woman, so she bound her hair, wrapped her chest, and entered Luoyang as a man.
Dong Zhuo had yet to enter the capital, but the city was already thick with danger. A hot pastry falling to the ground drew her into Cao Cao’s game; a grand banquet at the Yuan residence made her famous among the nobles. Hunting tigers in the imperial grounds and scouting the woods with light steps, she relied on her sword, her tiger, her quick tongue, and her sharp wit to navigate the company of Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Lü Bu, and other heroes of the troubled age.
She had no ambition to rule the land. She only wanted to protect those around her in a world that devoured people, and save as many as she could. But the schemes of strategists, the recruitment efforts of warlords, and the blades of the battlefield soon came one after another. Some saw her as a rare and valuable weapon, some as a brother they’d trust with their lives, and some, on nights of flickering candlelight, fell for a “man” in a way they could never confess, while she herself remained completely oblivious.
The realm is the board, and human hearts are the pieces. A startled sparrow shakes the ninefold palace and leads heroes astray. Did she lead all the heroes of the city astray, or did this turbulent age ruin her life?
