What would happen if Ruyi rescued Yanwan from Qixiang Palace?
Ruyi used the opportunity to bring the matter to the emperor's attention. But through a twist of fate, Wei Yanwan ended up serving in the empress's Changchun Palace. Yanwan was careful and circumspect in all things, always following the rules. In the tenth year of Qianlong's reign, the empress became pregnant again. To secure her position, she presented Yanwan to the emperor. Because Yanwan's face bore a slight resemblance to Ruyi's, and she was a palace maid in the empress's service, the emperor decreed that she be made a Noble Lady.
Which will Noble Lady Wei Yanwan choose: Consort Xian Ruyi, who saved her life, or Empress Langhua, who gave her a helping hand?
Not long afterward, the empress died of grief after losing her child. By then, Yanwan had become Consort Ling, but she was constantly targeted and framed by Jin Yuyan, who had been promoted to Noble Consort. Yanwan endured the humiliation, and eventually teamed up with Imperial Noble Consort Ruyi to expose Jin Yuyan's true nature.
Ruyi took her place as empress, and new women continued to enter the harem. Consort Ling Yanwan knew that the emperor's favor was unreliable, so she tried every means to win his attention. By then, Jin Yuyan's luck had run out. Ruyi and Yanwan schemed together to have all of her sons adopted into other branches of the family, and she died in despair.
And in an unguarded moment, the rivals lurking in the shadows began to emerge one after another...
See how Yanwan, spared five years of humiliation this time, joins forces with Ula-Nara Ruyi to secure her place in the harem.
(The characterizations follow the original novel, not the TV drama's versions of Ruyi and Yanwan. These are the original novel's Ula-Nara Ruyi and Wei Yanwan. Wei Yanwan in the novel is more intelligent and capable than her TV counterpart, and this is a more inspiring story!)
Theme: Even women in feudal times can carve out a place of their own
