Palace Skies Sometimes Clear

Shen Shiqing, daughter of the late Grand Secretary, is the second young madam of the Xie Family at Ning’an Lord Manor. Everyone knows her as reticent and indifferent, soft and easily bullied. In the seventh year of her marriage, she was confined to a Buddhist hall outside the city, with the entire Xie Family pressuring her to voluntarily request divorce.

Zhao Su Rui, the current emperor reigning under the era name Zhaode, ascended the throne at sixteen. Every year he wages wars – northern expeditions, western campaigns – never losing a battle. Known for his harsh rule, he is recognized throughout the land as a tyrant. One day, while Emperor Zhaode was raging in the imperial court, ordering the arrest of outspoken officials who had submitted memorials, he suddenly found himself standing before a Buddha statue, while “he” was kneeling before it, being forced to recite the “Three Obediences and Four Virtues.”

The confined Shen Shiqing discovered she had suddenly appeared in the main hall wearing imperial robes, with her father-in-law kneeling before her.

From then on, the second young madam of Ning’an Lord Manor became a troublemaker who fought her way through Yanjing. The battle-hardened current emperor, however, became even more inscrutable than before.

In their private moments, unknown to others, Shen Shiqing would smile gently and say: “Your Majesty kneels in the Buddhist hall for me, while I stabilize the empire for you.”