Let me make this clear: the male lead is chaste, chaste, chaste. The male lead is completely chaste, both leads are chaste, and the female lead is chaste.
Alternate title: Moonlight in the Golden Cage
Everyone in the capital knew that Shen Qingci of the Drunken Moon Pavilion was a living treasure Madam Liu had spent seventeen years raising. Shen Qingci, the top courtesan of the capital's largest brothel, had just turned seventeen when the Drunken Moon Pavilion announced that her first night would be auctioned. The entire capital went wild.
In the prosperous Great Zhou, the Drunken Moon Pavilion's star courtesan was about to make her debut, and dignitaries gathered to bid.
Adopted and trained by Aunt Liu from childhood, the brothel's top courtesan was unmatched in beauty and talent, yet had no control over her own fate.
Xiao Zong, heir to the Marquis of the North, had come to the capital as a political hostage, disguising himself as a frivolous playboy.
He had only come to watch the auction. But one pipa melody and a single glance were all it took for him to fall in love with her at first sight.
He tossed down a fortune, and turmoil erupted.
Amid court intrigue and the shackles of her gilded cage, he would protect her as she fought to leave the life of a courtesan, and together they would face the storms of the imperial city.
Thus begins the story of a spirited young marquis and a cool, beautiful courtesan...
