In the forty-eighth year of the Wanli reign, Li Yiting transmigrates into the body of Song Jieru, the daughter of a county magistrate, and opens her eyes to find her entire family being slaughtered. Her father dies after being framed, and she flees in panic with her little brother. The prefect and local gentry are hunting them down, and their only hope lies with Yuan Chonghuan.
On the run, she sells herself to a brothel, where her qin playing and lyrics spark a fight among the madams to recruit her. She escapes amid bandit unrest, reunites with her little brother in a northbound escort caravan, and meets Sun Shizhao, a man who stirs a strange sense of familiarity in her. From the bloody battle at Huaiyu to outsmarting her foes in Tongzhou and suppressing bandits in Yongping, she uses the memories of two lifetimes to plan every step. The tragedy of Shui Kou Village's massacre also binds her to the wealthy Liu family in a blood feud that can end only with one side's death.
After Wanli's death, the Donglin Party rises to power. Yuan Chonghuan, who has just taken her as his sworn daughter, is falsely accused and imprisoned. Lin Zhaoding, a general in Fujian, rescues him by storming the execution ground, but the three families are implicated and their homes confiscated. Song Jieru and her companions are forced to flee once more. This time, the ones determined to hunt them down are none other than the Donglin Party, whose members claim to speak for the people. Even more alarming, Gao Jingren, who is rapidly rising through the party's ranks, is the very companion who transmigrated alongside her.
In their darkest hour, they unexpectedly rescue Crown Prince Zhu Youxiao, who is being hunted by the White Lotus Sect, and are drawn into the power struggles of the Ming court. The Red Pill Case, the Palace Transfer Case, and the fire at Huiluan Palace unfold one after another. Zhu Youxiao ascends the throne amid the storm and finally sees the Donglin Party's true face and how it manipulates the court.
In the first year of the Tianqi reign, a young emperor and a fugitive disguised as a man meet in their darkest hour.
This novel has no golden finger. It is a carefully researched ensemble political intrigue story, following the protagonists from fleeing for their lives to growing together as allies. They use their wits to break through the collusion between officials and gentry and the factional struggles at court, eventually supporting the new emperor and avenging their wrongs. But this game of chess has only just begun.
Theme: Crafted with care, with the sole aim of satisfying readers
