Glass Shatters, Rainbow Clouds Disperse

(I'm terrible at writing blurbs.) Liuli should have been the daughter of the prime minister. But when her father married Xu Zhaoyue, the daughter of a great general and the eldest princess, in the capital, Liuli went from a legitimate daughter to an illegitimate daughter whom anyone could bully. Her father settled her and her mother on an estate bestowed by the emperor, and never visited them again. Liuli had thought she'd spend her whole life on the estate, serving her mother dutifully, marrying, raising children, and enjoying a house full of descendants. Then her mother died, dealing her a devastating blow. Along with the terrible news of her mother's death came word that the father she had never met, and the woman who was her mother in name only, were coming to the capital. Liuli had never set foot in the capital, but now she and the maid sent by the old madam, her grandmother, stepped into its murky waters together. Would going to the capital be for the best or the worst? The events unfolding there were too unsettling to dwell on. There were no absolute good people, nor absolute bad people. Caught between opposing forces, Liuli had no idea what to choose. She no longer dared to trust the faces people showed her. She didn't know what to choose when it came to love, either. Her marriage was no longer hers to decide, and it seemed her life was no longer hers to choose. Liuli had seen her father force her younger sister to marry someone she didn't love, and from then on, a rift grew between them. Yet though Liuli didn't want to marry someone she didn't love, she didn't know how to tell her father and mother. Behind each and every one of these events lay a struggle for the lofty throne. Who would ultimately claim the imperial throne? And what would become of Liuli's life? In her darkest hour, she discovered an unexpected side to the woman who was her mother in name only. She began to stand up for this nominal mother of hers... [A loving mother and filial daughter, a wonderful heroine]

Theme: A true portrait of women in ancient times