Heartbreak in the Struggle for Power

Meng Xun wakes up one morning as the daughter of a general, chosen as a candidate for the imperial selection. She has no intention of entering the palace. There are no rights or equality there, and she can’t stand the idea of a man taking three wives and four concubines, especially when that man is the emperor. But fate has other plans: the man she loves is the emperor. She resolves to leave several times, yet finds she can’t bear to let him go.

Within the palace walls, life and death, passion and separation, love and hate: none can escape the two words “power and influence.”

The night is still, the breeze cold, the stars few and the moon dim. She plucks a few notes, and the strings snap.

The past is like smoke, the years flow like water. She never forgets: pear blossoms reflect in the water, mirroring her face. Her beauty remains unchanged in the mirror, but Heaven envies her loveliness.

She sighs at her reflection, waiting in sorrow all her life. For you, her dark hair turns white with grief; she takes up the shears and cuts away her youth! She pursues your soul through snow-covered mountains at dusk, and rules the world with folded hands, all for her.