Sharp-witted, unhinged maid x upright, dignified prince
Born into a time of chaos, Yaoyao's greatest wish in life is simply to survive. She is no saint. She schemes for all she's worth to stay alive and make money.
Later, when she learns she was born the daughter of a marquis, her wish is to live a good life.
So she puts her wicked younger sister in her place, manipulates her scumbag father, and dreams of seeing the very pinnacle of power.
*
What lies at the pinnacle? Yaoyao thinks it is boundless wealth and glory.
By a twist of fate, she becomes a maid to Chen Jingheng, the emperor's second son, and is drawn into the court's struggle over succession.
Everyone says Chen Jingheng is a violent, cruel tyrant, unworthy of becoming a pillar of the state.
She spies on him, schemes against him, and makes an enemy of him, intent on killing him.
But later, she realizes that the world has spun a fine tale of doom around him.
He thirsts for talent, yet is falsely accused of building a faction for personal gain.
He knows how to put people to good use, yet is framed as secretly building up his own power.
Under the emperor's suspicion and his brothers' infighting, he nearly loses his life amid the snow and storms of the capital.
*
What lies at the pinnacle? Cold. A cold that strips the flesh and chills the bones.
For the first time in her life, Yaoyao feels pity.
The sword she once turned against him becomes a cloak draped over his shoulders, shielding him from the frost and snow of the long, cold night.
Chen Jingheng tells Yaoyao that if a person spends their whole life bending their back and breaking their bones for profit and desire, how are they any different from a caged beast?
And so Yaoyao never imagined that someone as despicable and shallow as herself would one day wish for a barren wilderness to become a springtime mountain, for the sake of all the people under heaven.
*
If asked what she did during her first sixteen years,
Yaoyao would answer: "I survived. I chased profit."
If asked what she did after meeting Chen Jingheng,
she would answer: "For one person, I held a candle and waited for spring."
Theme: Don't make life harder for those already struggling
