Power struggles, plot-driven, marriage first and love later, double strong leads, HE, fictionalized Song-dynasty setting, careful costumes and props, written with care. Please support the正版 version. An illegitimate prince who only wanted to avoid disaster is suddenly thrown out of his quiet life by an imperial marriage decree and dragged into open and hidden power struggles. In court, clouds shift and suspicion spreads between ruler and ministers, fathers and sons turn against each other, and brothers become enemies. Facing the daughter of a powerful minister and the wife beside him, is this helplessness, or the beginning of real feelings? An unloved illegitimate prince, who by birth order and legitimacy has no chance at the throne in this life, is forced by a marriage decree into the struggle for succession. How will he deal with the emperor's suspicion, his elder brother's schemes, and the pressure from the woman sleeping beside him? Power struggles are a chessboard, a contest. Who is the piece, and who is the player? Is it innocence or conspiracy, ignorance or cunning? The web woven by desire swallows the world. Beneath appearances, the human heart is unfathomable. One mask, two faces, falsehood and sincerity, the net that cannot be escaped, and the feelings trapped within it push her toward the pinnacle of power, step by step, carefully and strategically. ""The world is fading, the world is fading, why do you not return?"" ""If it were not for your body, why would you be in the mud?"" Historical note says Emperor Xian once joked with his ministers in the Chongzheng Hall, ""I owe my present day to the Saint. Now I dare speak with you and fear no gossip from the world."" —From Tokyo Miscellany During Emperor Xian's reign, the six palaces were not established, old customs were abolished, and the emperor and empress shared the same bed. For more than thirty years, the imperial harem never admitted a new consort. —From the Annals of Emperor Xian Warm reminder, please read carefully: 1. Marriage first, love later. The female lead is cross-dressing as a man, not a naive pushover. Both leads are schemers and both are entertainers. 2. This story has two volumes: the first focuses on the struggle for succession, the second on governing the country, and it tells the whole lives of the two heroines. It includes reforms, improved status for women, and is written from a female perspective, strongly opposing the unequal patriarchy of feudal society. 3. Fictional history with a Song-dynasty backdrop. The Song in this book has nothing to do with real history. This is a serious drama. Available completed works in the column: ""Wind Rising in Chang'an,"" ""The Female Prince,"" and ""Wind Under the Waves.