The Tale of Floating and Sinking

Fu Chen, the fifth legitimate daughter of the Chu Duke’s household, was raised by her stepmother to be spoiled rotten and never learned to read or write. At twelve, she made a fool of herself at a poetry gathering and became the “illiterate oddity” of Liangjing’s gossiping ladies. Framed and disfigured, she brought shame upon the duke’s household and was sent to the old residence to reflect on her mistakes. She returned pretending to be quiet and unassuming, only to stir up a storm in the Chu household and repeatedly foil her stepmother’s plans. Yet with every step, she drew closer to a deeper truth... This is the story of a sheltered young lady raised to be useless who grows into the matriarch of a noble house, as well as the story of a group of women trapped in the inner quarters who stand together and fight against their fate.