* After transmigrating, Chu Fuyu keeps a low profile for years, finally outliving the old emperor and defeating the powerful minister. She ascends the throne and looks down upon all under heaven.
After that, she pacifies the northern frontier, suppresses the rebel faction, reclaims lost territory, restores the realm, and brings the surrounding tribes to heel. All nations come to pay tribute, and none across the nine provinces dares disobey.
The hard-working empress, who has spent over twenty years striving for this, sits in Linhua Hall and reflects for a moment. Given all she has accomplished, surely the historians can't paint her as a tyrant.
It's time to find herself a little fun.
So when a graceful, jade-like figure appears at the Qionglin Banquet, dashing as a god and warm in a way that stirs up memories of someone she has hated with all her heart, she shamefully finds herself falling for him.
When she was young, she was in love with her Grand Tutor, but circumstances forced her to let him go.
But now, she is an emperor with power in her hands. How could there be anything she can't have?
Only later does she finally realize: no wonder he resembles an old acquaintance. He's that old acquaintance's son!
*
Xie Lancui passes the imperial examinations at a young age, taking the top place. He is repeatedly promoted and rises through the ranks, becoming prime minister before he turns twenty. His rise becomes a celebrated story of the age.
There are those who slander and impeach him, calling him a sycophant and denouncing him as a traitor.
But he believes he has done nothing wrong, and never pays any attention to the rumors.
Until he discovers that... His Majesty Zhaowu really does have those feelings for him, and he himself has been in love without realizing it.
After wrestling with himself and thinking it over again and again, he finally decides to follow his heart, give up his career, and enter the empress's harem as her consort.
But before long, he realizes that he is only a substitute.
The person His Majesty Zhaowu truly loves... is the Grand Tutor who taught him, raised him, loved him, and protected him: his father, who has retired to the mountains.
Theme: Sincerity is what makes love possible.
