Season 1

YANG YUK WAN was born stunningly beautiful. After her parents died in a tragic death, she traveled to find her uncle KWAI’s for help. On the way, she met XUAN who had covered his Emperor status and gave WAN a hot soup to beat the cold. WAN had a good impression on XUAN. KWAI had a wife, LEE and three daughters, SAU, LING and YIU. WAN was tortured by LEE. Luckily, the adopted brother, CHIU and YIU treated her well. XUAN and WAN saw each other again and both had a deep impression on each other. The city of LOK YANG had a big celebration to welcome the Emperor. YANG’s three sisters were responsible for the dance performance but just before the performance, YIU twisted her leg and WAN replaced her. WAN looked stunning after dressing and making up. The City Chief, WAI was deeply attracted to her. On the night of the performance, the scaffolding suddenly collapsed. WAN was saved by a General, WONG PO WAI MING……

WAN did not want to marry WAI and would rather die. Luckily, XUAN named WAN the to-be-concubine in the palace. Though MING was attracted to WAN, WAN was in love with XUAN. YANG’s family was very pleased with WAN going into the palace. Since WAN was new in the palace and did not know the customs, the eunuch, KO helped her out. XUAN beloved concubine MUI. This made all the to-be-concubines very envious. WAN and another to-be-concubine, TUNG YI, lost their way and entered the garden of MUI and destroyed some flowers which made MUI very angry. On the day of the concubine contest, TUNG YI made use of honey to attract butterflies to her in order to be noticed. This caused WAN to be demoted as servant to serve MUI and MUI tortured WAN much. WAN made use of the bracelet left to her by her mother to bribe KO. On the other hand, XUAN still could not forget WAN.

The Queen did not like WAN and made life hard for her and prohibited her from seeing XUAN. This made XUAN feel rather unfulfilled. TUNG peeked at the Emperor’s papers and was beaten with thirty spanks. XUAN was busy with the ceremony to worship the ancestors so he made arrangements so WAN would not be tortured. WAN accidentally saved Prince YING in the garden and was very much appreciated by concubine LAI. LAI even sent an imperial doctor NG to cure her wound. WAN begged NG to TUNG so TUNG could escape death. Most concubines were jealous of WAN who was beloved by XUAN, and they criticized her and treated her coldly. WAN bore everything in silence. One day, a jade stone was found in the palace on which it wrote, “YANG flowers blossom, LEE flowers wilt”. The news spread and everyone was worried.

Due the stone inscription incident, WAN was sent to the temple outside the palace by the Queen. YANG family was not aware of WAN’s misfortune and was joyous about WAN. CHIU planed to visit WAN. In the temple, WAN was being treated badly but she also bore in silence. YIU heard about WAN’s demotion and decided to marry WAI. WAN witnessed the temple chief killing someone. The temple chief decided to tell the Emperor that WAN had run away and killed WAN so she could not tell on her. Luckily, CHIU came in time and saved WAN. CHIU wanted to help WAN to clear her name so he was busy finding the origin of the stone inscription. On the other hand, XUAN also ordered someone to investigate about the inscription. Eventually, the truth was revealed and WAN returned to the palace as to-be-concubine. The Queen did not meddle further.

XUAN treated WAN very well and they always stayed together. WAN was nice to TUNG and asked her to serve herself but this made TUNG very unhappy. The talented LI PAK taught Prince YING to make poems which made WAN feel very impressed. CHIU was given a good position due to WAN as well as his voluntary act to take care of the plague in LOK YEUNG. However, CHIU found that plague had been widespread. CHIU urgently rushed back to the capital to report but he himself caught the plague and was in critical condition. Luckily, MUI had a family secret medicine which saved CHIU and a lot of people in LOK YEUNG. In consideration of MUI’s good deed, XUAN made the flower blossomed on the MUI’s birthday. MUI was very pleased but just at this time, news about WAN’s bad health came.

WAN, after becoming the concubine, was well respected by all. Eunuch KO deliberately tried to please WAN by giving her back her bracelet. XUAN became more attentive upon knowing WAN carried a child. WAI died because of the plague. YIU also caught the disease and was dying. CHIU went to LOK YEUNG to clear the plague and made use of the opportunity to show his love to YIU. Owing to YANG family’s relation to WAN, they were well treated by XUAN. XUAN neglected MUI because of WAN which made MUI very hurt. TUNG was jealous of WAN and put poison in the Chinese medicine which was prescribed to improve WAN’s health. WAN had a miscarriage. Due to the sadness of losing the baby, WAN believed the rumor that LAI had caused her harm. After drinking heavily, WAN accidentally told about the secret affairs of concubine LAI and the imperial doctor, NG.

Due to the slip of a tongue, WAN caused LAI, NG and YING being executed by XUAN. WAN felt so guilty that she paid tribute to their tombs. However, the Queen punished WAN for keeping LAI and NG’s affair a secret and penalized WAN by grounding her inside her room. ON LUK SHAN eliminated civil chaos and maintained peace and was granted merits by XUAN. Due to ON’s sweet talk, WAN recognized SHAN as her filial son. MUI was dancing in the palace garden and woke WAN. This made WAN unhappy which worsened the relationship between the two. SHAN and CHIU became good friends and they both had a big plan for the future. WAN intended to learn the flute and asked the emperor’s brother, LING to teach her. XUAN misunderstood their relationship which WAN very angry and she left the palace.

XUAN was interrogated by the queen due to WAN’s imprudent behavior of leaving the palace. Besides, the Governor of the State, LEE LAM PO pointed that such behavior highly affected the country’s policies and forced XUAN to punish WAN. XUAN was so angry he demoted PO. WAN knew about XUAN had rather upset the officials than to punish her. With CHIU’s suggested excuse, WAN went back to the palace. PO’s previous position was resumed. MING succeeded in maintaining peace in some of the distant states, came back in victory and was highly honored by XUAN. On the wedding day of SAU and LING, someone tried to set trap to accuse WAN of having an affair with MING. Just when XUAN ordered them a death sentence, MING revealed an evidence that he could not possibly have an affair with WAN. WAN accidentally found that the Empress had sedated XUAN……

WAN was seriously beaten by the Empress and XUAN felt for her deeply. XUAN soon found out the Empress had made use of a special wood to mystify XUAN as well as putting poison into WAN’s medicine which caused the death of her baby. XUAN ordered the Empress back to be a civilian. WAN eventually found the rule of the game in the palace was that the ones with strength would swallow up the weak. The YANG sisters were all three named as Honorable Lady and CHIU was given his official name, YEUNG KWOK CHUNG. XUAN wanted to take back some of PO’s power and decided to make a web of plans to make PO succumb. In wishing the country’s peace and all civilians’ comfort, WAN stayed up nights to wait for the meteor to make a wish. XUAN was touched. While WAN was asleep waiting for the meteor, TUNG set the fire to kill WAN. Luckily, WAN was saved by a servant girl, LO……

WAN knew everything was set up by concubine WAI. MUI persuaded WAN not to alert her. On the one hand, MUI pretended to be an enemy of WAN in front of WAI and on the other hand, she made use of the fact that WAI’s servant girl, YING was afraid of ghosts to cause WAI to be suspicious of YING. CHUNG was given higher responsibility by XUAN. In addition to granting CHUNG to marry the princess, XUAN also sent CHUNG to be fight in outer states. This made PO very unsatisfied. WAI carefully assigned YING to send her jewels to YUE PO CHAI but YING did not come back. Eventually, YING’s body was found near the river. Everybody suspected was being robbed and killed. YIU tried hard to find YING. When found, YING had become dim-witted so YIU brought her back for cure. One day WAN and WAI were strolling in the garden and WAN suddenly pushed WAI into the pond.

WAI did not die but she was cautious about WAN. YIU found that YING had no improvement and she used every means to try to force YING to tell on WAI. However, WAI was smart to evade the accusation and in turn accuse MUI had seriously tortured YING physically. CHUNG was not successful and almost got himself killed. Luckily, LUK SAN and WAI MING came to his rescue. The three had become sworn brothers after the rescue. WAI pretended to be weak and appeared as though MUI and WAN had ill-treated her. Her pretense made XUAN think the two were being unfair to WAI. WAI and PO decided to eliminate WAN. WAI hurt herself by taking poison and impute the guilt to WAN. WAN could not defend herself so the queen ordered her death sentence.

MUI pledged her life for WAN’s innocence. Though WAN did not have to die, she was isolated. WAI set up a trap to help WAN escape. On the way, WAN was hurt and without medical cure, she left a scar on her face. In addition, WAI talked badly of WAN, XUAN soon kept a distant from WAN. CHUNG lost his fight in the south so PO made use of the time to talk badly of CHUNG. As a result, XUAN interrogated CHUNG which made CHUNG, SAN and MING feel bad. WAI was in high profile in the palace. YIU was unnoticed. CHUNG and others wanted to bribe the eunuch KO and gave KO a precious jade jewel as KO was a jade lover. However, PO happened to be there and his subordinates broke the jade jewel. PO even made use of the time to insult KO.

KO was very dissatisfied about the insult. XUAN knew about the case and named KO as Main General. WAN’s beauty was no longer the same as before. XUAN became more and more distant from her. Luckily, MUI consoled WAN. MING found out about WAN’s accident and decided to save her from the palace. PO had set everything up to raise hell. Luckily, KO was able to settle things. WAI was made the Empress but YING eventually told XUAN everything. WAI knew she had lost everything finally so she took the queen as a hostage and wanted to die together with WAN. At the nick of time, the queen servant girl, HEUNG used her own body to block the way and saved the queen.

HEUNG was named the queen’s filial daughter. PO was demoted as ordinary civilian as he tried to overturn XUAN. WAN regained her beauty with the help of MUI and became more attractive. XUAN paid extra attention at her. Since WAN liked to eat LAI CHI fruit, XUAN ordered people to go very far to get LAI CHI and rushed back to the palace. One of the two brothers, KWOK CHI YI and CHI HEI went on the long trip and HEI died. His brother, YI was so dissatisfied that he made XUAN angry. WAN knew it was caused by her and begged forgiveness on behalf of YI. In consideration of his losing his brother, YI’s death sentence was withdrawn and YI even got a promotion. On the wedding night of CHUNG and the princess, CHUNG upset the peace of the palace which caused the queen very dissatisfied. SAN, CHUNG and SI were besieged by enemies. Luckily, YI came to the rescue. YIU tried to seduce XUAN so MUI warned WAN. YIU was unhappy about it.

WAN admired the poet, LI PAK, however, PAK was a free-will individual and his deeds upset KO. PAK was impressed by WAN’s beauty and praised her with a poem, CHING PING MELODY. This caused MUI unhappy. XUAN dreamt about the heaven and he wrote a story about two beautiful girls. He asked MUI and WAN to perform the ballet. During the performance, MUI accidentally ridiculed WAN which severed their relations. XUAN thought highly of CHUNG and wanted to promote him to be Governor of the State but the queen opposed. On the memorial day of WAN’s dad, WAN was in deep thoughts. To please her, XUAN decided to give WAN’s dad a proper title and moved his tomb to the capital. CHUNG and LING both wanted to find a place with good fung shui. They both found MA village. In order to get the MA village, LING even set fire to it. CHUNG wanted to raise his reputation so he sent an accusation against LING to XUAN.

In order to save LING, the queen threatened to kill herself to stop XUAN from sentencing LING to death. CHUNG presented a plan to WAN which was later adopted by the queen. In the end, LING did not have to die and CHUNG was made Governor of the State. After knowing MUI was pregnant, YIU wanted to induce harm to MUI by using the simple-mindedness of WAN’s servant girl. MUI mistook it as WAN’s deed so the misunderstanding between them worsened. WAN reprimanded YIU harshly which made XUAN care more about YIU and one thing led to another, XUAN and YIU spent a night together. However, both WAN and CHUNG were not aware of it. XUAN felt guilt towards WAN and treated WAN even better. CHUNG wanted to use his power to force PAK to write up the official reports to XUAN. However, PAK was not threatened by his power which made CHUNG mad……

WAN and MUI’s relationship severed. XUAN wanted to get them together but in vain. When moving the tomb of WAN’s father to the capital, there was a lot of people gathered at work and they caused YIU injury. This incident caused WAN and YIU became close again. However, after finding out about the relationship between XUAN and YIU, WAN left the palace again in anger. XUAN apologized to WAN several times but in vain. MUI gave birth to an abnormal dead baby. WAN did not want MUI to know about it so she buried the baby. This made MUI thought WAN killed her child. MUI wanted to kill WAN.

MUI became insane due to the death of the baby. All the doctors could not cure her. The queen put the blame on WAN but XUAN did not care and wanted WAN to be the concubine. The YANG family was very high profile and arrogant due to their relation with WAN. They even insulted the queen’s filial daughter, HEUNG. WAN felt she could do nothing about it to help the situation. XUAN was too much involved with WAN and passed his authority to CHUNG. This made MING very upset. XUAN wanted to promote SHAN but CHUNG was afraid that SHAN might be a threat to himself so CHUNG opposed. After finding out, SHAN was mad with rage and he indecently assaulted YIU, and became an enemy of CHUNG. CHUNG discovered evidence of SHAN’s guilt and threatened SHAN to apologize and leave the central state forever.

On the one hand, SHAN won over the outer states and on the other hand, began to recruit military troops. SHAN became very powerful. CHUNG told XUAN on SHAN so XUAN ordered SHAN to come see him in the capital. However, SHAN smartly evaded XUAN’s suspicion and even made XUAN send him more troops. This made CHUNG mad. MUI became better and she just wanted a simple life away from the glamor of the palace. XUAN tried to persuade her not to. CHUNG set up a trap for SHAN which left SHAN with no choice but to turn against the capital. XUAN had to worship the ancestors at the hill and WAN accompanied him. SHAN made use of this chance to try to kill the emperor.

WAN was caught by SHAN. SHAN could not resist WAN’s beauty and he physically assaulted WAN. MING came late and found WAN already ruined by SHAN so they had a fight. MING had a chance to kill SHAN but SHAN made a dirty trick and killed MING instead. SHAN wanted to overthrow the capital. The civilians all felt unsettled. XUAN had to run away from being killed but MUI and the queen would rather die in the palace and decided not to run away with XUAN. When the princess found out about the affair between CHUNG and YIU, CHUNG brought along YIU and ran away. The military troop was in chaos. Everyone thought that the YANG family was to blame so the troops decided to kill them all. YI thought that in order to appease the military troops, WAN had to die. XUAN would not agree and the situation was very tense. So what would be the outcome of YANG YUK WAN?