The story of Changsun Qingjing, daughter of an ace diplomat with endless schemes, and Li Shimin, a young general who combines ambition with strength, joining forces to seize the realm.
By a twist of fate, the young couple, hastily married and little more than husband and wife in name, are thrown into the battlefield of the late Sui dynasty by the will of Heaven.
As they draw closer and test one another again and again, they form an alliance and fall for each other.
At a firefly-lit banquet at Fenyang Palace, an overbearing imperial princess plots to kill Li Shimin and frame Changsun Qingjing for conspiring to assassinate the emperor. Changsun Qingjing sees through the plot, and Li Shimin fights his way out of danger. Together, they manage to return to Jinyang.
They had planned to aid disaster victims, redistribute land, and promote education in Jinyang. But the Turks invade, and the Son of Heaven is in peril. For the sake of the nation and its people, Li Shimin leads troops to Yanmen Pass to rescue the emperor. Yet after fighting through bloodshed, all he gets in return is more suspicion and an order to disband his troops on the spot.
Disguised as a man, Changsun Qingjing ventures deep into Yanmen Commandery and witnesses everything. She no longer encourages her husband to save a dying dynasty that neglects its people.
The ambitious female strategist and the duke's second son, ready to turn the tables at any moment, lie low on the outskirts of Jinyang. Changsun Qingjing uses the image of a luxury-loving, pleasure-seeking noblewoman to lull Wang Wei and others among Jinyang's elite who are keeping the Li family under surveillance. At the same time, in her role as mistress of the Li household, she reaches out to every faction she can win over and put to use...
Changsun Qingjing's quick wit and intelligence earn Li Shimin's admiration and respect. Their feelings quietly grow as they spend every day together, winding around each other like vines and sinking into each other's flesh like thorns.
Just as preparations for the uprising near completion, the Turks raid and pillage, the Jiangdu court is thrown into turmoil, Li Yuan is imprisoned, and Changsun Qingjing is abducted while praying at Xuanzhong Temple...
Should Li Shimin submit to Yang Guang while secretly training his troops, rescue his father at once and raise an army against Yang Guang, heed his subordinates' advice and declare Changsun Qingjing dead before forming an alliance through marriage with Jinyang's great clans, or abandon everything and rush to the Turkish camp to save the wife who is both familiar and a stranger to him...
Visit my profile and check out my completed companion novel, Strategies from a Lady's Boudoir.
Theme: The will of Heaven ultimately triumphs over fate
