Su Wanqing, the orphan of the Su family, assumed the alias Shen Yan and entered the palace as a collateral concubine-born daughter. Clearing the grievances of her maternal clan, who were executed en masse, is her sole obsession. With a photographic memory, mastery of pharmacology, chess, and calculation, and holding two hidden pawns—the loyal servant Nurse Lu and Xiao Luzi from the imperial kitchen—this memory and scheming are her foundation for plotting step by step in this man-eating deep palace. Ten years ago, the Su family was convicted of colluding with a hostile country and executed en masse, which was actually framed by the Shen clan to eliminate a rival of renown in Jiangnan. After entering the palace, Shen Yan started from the lowest-ranking agreeing attendant, was assigned to the ruins of the Cold Palace, and endured poisoned charcoal, withholding of provisions, and the suppression of Xianfei, all of which she resolved with feigned weakness and clever strategies. Finally, she grew from an abandoned consort into an empress.