She is the eldest daughter of the main branch of the Yu family, one of the prominent clans in the capital. She possesses a legendary jade ruyi and holds another illustrious title: the matriarch of the Yu household. Yet in truth, she has nothing: no husband, no children, none of the things women dream of.
Five men shape her life: the husband she has never met; her first love, born the same year but of a different generation; her brother-in-law, the household steward, who loves her devotedly; a mysterious underground Communist Party member; and a Japanese officer who nearly takes her life.
Behind her life of luxury lies the loneliness of a pinnacle riddled with hardship, or the realization that wealth and status are as fleeting as clouds?
She is an ordinary person swept along by the tides of a great era. She has never made history, nor has she ever occupied a place in it. She is us, yet not entirely us. So, who is she?!
Keeping pace with the times, she stumbles forward, facing the departure of loved ones, the deaths of friends, and the destruction of her country and family. Where can she turn? How will she face a whole new world and a society she has never known? How will she adapt and find her place in it, and where will she lead herself and her family?
