Snow on the Jade Hairpin

Xie Yunsheng x Ye Li

[Unhinged, Viperous Beauty Chancellor x Brilliant, Cunning, Aloof Princess]

Ye Li was a princess who had grown up in the Forbidden Palace. As a child, she met Xie Yunsheng, the orphan of General Xie, who had accidentally wandered into the palace. From then on, Xie Yunsheng secretly slipped into the Forbidden Palace every day. The two relied on each other and spent ten years together.

When a coup plot Ye Li had arranged for her hairpin ceremony was exposed, they were forced apart. Xie Yunsheng was consumed with guilt for failing to help Ye Li escape the palace, while Ye Li, filled with resentment, was locked back inside the Forbidden Palace alone by the Empress Dowager...

Three years later, Ye Li pretended to take her own life and burned down the Forbidden Palace. But once she emerged, she discovered that everything had changed beyond recognition: the Empress Dowager was dead, a new emperor had ascended the throne, the chancellor held absolute power, and her siblings had died one after another... Of the entire imperial family, only her second elder brother remained, barely holding on after becoming emperor. Simple-minded and repeatedly outmaneuvered, he presided over a dynasty in decline. Setting aside her old grudges, Ye Li began winning over court officials and building her power to stand against the chancellor.

When she saw the boy from her memories again, he was handsome, ruthless, and aiding the wicked... In front of everyone, he even claimed they had never met. No one knew of their past anymore. Ye Li and Xie Yunsheng stood on opposing sides and schemed against each other, their old affection gone.

Gradually, however, Ye Li realized that Xie Yunsheng had been protecting her in secret all along. She also learned that he had been acting under duress. Even so, Xie Yunsheng had indirectly caused the death of Ye Li’s only blood relative, and their relationship was completely shattered. Ye Li was the sole surviving member of the imperial family, with every faction watching her like a hawk. Unwilling to let the throne pass into other hands, she eventually became an empress of her age.

With everything settled, all Ye Li wished for was to have the people from her past still by her side...