Introduction: In the dead of winter, Zhuang Hanyan, the long-abandoned third daughter of the Zhuang family, is found unconscious and covered in wounds at the gates of the Zhuang residence. Her sudden return throws the household into turmoil and draws the attention of Fu Yunxi, Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, who is determined to uncover the truth. What secrets does she hide? As a powerful eunuch in the Capital falls overnight and a shadowy adopted son vanishes, the line between truth and deception, good and evil, grows ever more blurred beneath the masks they wear.