Pei Meiniang

An ancient-style novel blending palace intrigue, mystical Daoist and Buddhist elements, and tangled emotional relationships. The story begins when Empress Pei Wende, unable to bear children and disheartened by the conflicts between the former court and the inner palace, cuts off her hair and retreats to Hanshan Temple to cultivate herself. Emperor Zhu Houzhao cannot bear to part with her, but is trapped by blocked communications and pressure from his ministers. The mysterious outsider Gongzi Jing and his companion Zhenshui Wuxiang quietly step in, hoping to turn the crisis around. Meanwhile, Pei Wende’s eldest brother, Lei Wenze, who commands the secretive Thunder Rites Bureau, returns to the capital with their mother’s coffin, igniting conflict within the family. Their youngest brother, Fahai, who left home as a child and possesses both Buddhist and Daoist powers, gets caught up with the politically embroiled Censor Qi Heng after exorcising a demon on his way home for their mother’s funeral. His arrival at the mourning hall sets off a shocking upheaval. Centered on the Pei household, the story weaves an intricate web: the emperor’s unspoken devotion and the empress’s despair within the palace; irreconcilable love, resentment, and scheming between fathers, sons, and brothers; sinister conspiracies and treacherous hearts amid the jianghu and the court; and forbidden passions struggling in the narrow space between propriety and fate... Wounded and burdened with secrets, they each seek a way to survive and find release amid the struggle between filial duty, responsibility, love, desire, and power.

Theme: Shipping couples