The Former Hostage Becomes King · The Young Lady Becomes a Prisoner. Jiang Nian, the once-arrogant daughter of the Grand Tutor of Great Liang, loses her family overnight and becomes a female prisoner sentenced to exile. With nowhere left to turn, she falls into the hands of Huyan Ji, the young hostage prince she once mercilessly trampled upon, who has now become a ruthless foreign king. Their positions are reversed, and her life and death are now in his hands. Huyan Ji hates her for her heartlessness and arrogance, yet he remains consumed by an obsession with her that has rekindled from the ashes. Jiang Nian endures humiliation and clings to him to survive and find her missing loved ones, carefully maneuvering through the power struggles of the royal court. Meanwhile, amid the torment of love and hatred, she gradually uncovers the shocking secret behind her cruel abandonment of him all those years ago.