Mingzhu was the eldest princess of the Great Yong dynasty.
She was noble by birth, beautiful, willful, and domineering.
She was the late king's most beloved daughter in the vast Great Yong Empire, the eternal, never-dimming pearl set atop the highest seat of royal power.
She fell in love with the most promising young minister in all of Great Yong.
But the minister loved only a lowly maid, treating Mingzhu with disdain.
For the first time, the all-powerful princess experienced the agony of wanting what she could not have. She used every means at her disposal and insisted on marrying him.
Later, the two of them became a resentful couple.
Meanwhile, the maid became the beloved of a general, a prince, and a crown prince in turn, rising ever higher until she became empress.
It shouldn't have happened this way. How could the pearl be covered in dust while rubble shone?
Confined to the inner quarters for years, Mingzhu wasted away and died.
Oh, Princess, even fate favors her.
She awoke one day to find herself back at sixteen, in the prime of her youth. The maid was still lowly as mud, and Mingzhu was still high above her.
So that day, the noble princess dressed in priceless brocade and stepped in spotless gold-threaded shoes into a filthy, muddy alley. Looking down at the tiny maid covered in grime, she bought her.
The princess would never again lose herself in love. She would remain Great Yong's pearl forever.
And the lowly rubble would forever be overshadowed by the pearl's radiance.
--
At six years old, Xie Fengxing was adopted by a noblewoman and escaped her status as a lowly slave for good.
She had been a worthless girl, sold by her own family in a muddy pit. Her adoptive mother, however, was the most exalted woman in all of Great Yong.
She called her Mother.
Her young mother was only sixteen, as dignified and splendid as a peony, radiant with brilliance.
She watched her beautiful mother move among so many men, from a powerful minister to a general and then a prince.
She drifted among those men like a butterfly among flowers, smiling as she savored each one in turn.
From then on, a wicked ambition took root in Xie Fengxing's heart:
To sully her, to keep her for herself, and then to offer her everything best in the world.
She would use every means necessary to climb to the highest place in the empire.
From then on, Great Yong's pearl would...
shine for her alone.
Theme: Only hard work and perseverance bring rewards
