Beginning: The second year of the Yuanfu era, Bianjing. Lin Hong, a graduate student in Chinese literature, pulls an all-nighter to finish her thesis, A Study of the Evolution of Li Qingzhao’s Poetic Style, then suddenly transmigrates into the body of sixteen-year-old Li Qingzhao. The old and new factions are locked in a fierce struggle, and her father, Li Gefei, a leading figure of the old faction, has already caught the eye of the powerful Zhang Dun. At a poetry gathering, Li Qingzhao crushes Qin Zi’s challenge with a poem, “Partridge Sky,” then silences him with the words “the late emperor.” She becomes the talk of Bianjing and earns the Qin family’s undying enmity.
Development: Zhao Mingcheng, son of Zhao Tingzhi, climbs over the wall to deliver her an invitation, replaces the rope on her swing, and gives her rubbings of stone inscriptions. Their relationship grows from mutual testing to genuine affection. But a secret emerges: Zhao’s father has hidden a complete rubbing belonging to the Li family, and old grievances between the Zhao and Li families remain unresolved. Qin Zi secretly pushes for Li Gefei’s impeachment. Li Qingzhao spends the night searching for evidence to save her father, but Li Gefei is still demoted and exiled. As they part at the roadside pavilion, her father hands her an inkstone and tells her, “Your words may bend, but your backbone must not.”
Turn: After their marriage, Zhao Mingcheng is wrongfully imprisoned, and Li Qingzhao races to secure his release. At her father’s funeral, Xiaocui takes a blade meant for her mistress. Qin Hui’s followers frame Zhao Mingcheng for “colluding with the Jin,” but Li Qingzhao turns the tables on them in public. When the Jingkang catastrophe brings the dynasty to ruin, the couple flees south. Their memorial urging a northern campaign sends shockwaves through Jiangnan, but Qin Hui hunts them down. Xiaocui draws away their pursuers and dies.
Conclusion: Zhao Mingcheng resigns from office, and he and Li Qingzhao join forces to save Yue Fei. Their attempt fails, and they flee into the jianghu. After Zhao Mingcheng dies of illness, Li Qingzhao sets out two cups of wine and says to the empty room, “I’ll live on for both of you.” She lays out paper and picks up her brush. The ink on the page is still wet.
Theme: Even when you know how things will end, you should still defy fate and change them. But rewriting the ending comes at a bloody, tearful cost. The strength of the written word endures through the ages.
