Dream of the Phoenix Palace

Shen Zhinian has a fleeting memory of being killed in her previous life by her half-sister Shen Nanqiao. Now married to the chancellor Lu Jianglin, Nanqiao charms the Emperor with her music at a court banquet, then publicly mocks Zhinian, confined to the cold palace, vowing she will not let her live.

After being killed at court, Shen Zhinian is reborn to the day the Lu family's marriage proposal arrives. Her father pressures her to marry Lu Jianglin in her sister Nanqiao's place, but before she can agree, Nanqiao unexpectedly insists on marrying him herself. Zhinian realizes her sister has also been reborn with memories of their past life.

As the palace selection draws near, Nanqiao surprises everyone by giving up her chance and urging Zhinian to go instead. Zhinian recalls their late mother's warning that power outweighs love. Meanwhile Nanqiao secretly vows to attach herself to the most powerful man in the realm and become the most exalted woman.

To qualify for the palace selection, Shen Maoxue has Zhinian recorded under his wife's name as a legitimate daughter and hands her valuable jewelry to smooth her path at court. Nanqiao objects, citing family honor, but is really furious at losing her dowry, and vows she will still become the future chancellor's wife.

Nanqiao mocks Zhinian over the palace selection and hints that she alone remembers their past life, then slips her a suspicious tip about the Emperor's favorite green dress. The scene shifts to the Shen family's wedding, where a thin dowry and a missing bridal sedan spark a heated public argument.

At home, Nanqiao gloats that Lu Jianglin will surely pass his exams while Zhinian heads to the palace selection. There, Zhinian is publicly beaten by Baoyue for wearing the same green dress as Duke Zhengguo's daughter, recalling how Jiang Wanning once tormented her in a past life. Learning of this, Nanqiao resolves to make Zhinian wear the same dress again on selection day.

Nanqiao's new groom arrives by ox cart, embarrassing her, while servants gossip about Lu Jianglin's talent. Nanqiao sends Zhinian the green dress to wear for the selection; Zhinian declines, but her other garments are secretly swapped out until only the green dress remains, and she resolves to wear it anyway.

Zhinian arrives at the selection wearing the green dress Nanqiao forced on her, and Jiang Wanning, backed by her sister the Empress, publicly mocks and threatens her. Wanning orders her maid Baoyue to drag Zhinian out for all to see, escalating the standoff.

Zhinian has her maid Zheliu wear the green dress instead, sensing a scheme by Shen Nanqiao's family. At the selection, Baoyue publicly humiliates Zheliu, and Zhinian steps in to clarify the mix-up, only to draw new suspicion over her plain appearance and hidden potential.

Jiang Wanning's maid Baoyue taunts Zhinian with a cup of tea, hinting she is hiding poison. Zhinian senses something suspicious in the drink but drinks it anyway, turning the confrontation back on Duke Zhengguo's household in front of everyone.

At the imperial selection, Shen Zhinian stands among the candidates as Shen Maoxue's daughter while the Empress pushes her sister Jiang Wanning forward. The Emperor's attention lands on Zhinian instead, and he chooses her to stay in the palace, leaving the Empress visibly shaken.

During the imperial selection, a candidate collapses screaming and accuses Shen Zhinian of poisoning her tea. Zhinian denies it, insisting the cup was actually delivered by a maid acting on someone else's order, and pleads her innocence before the Emperor. As the scene descends into confusion, another person suddenly feels overheated and a physician is called.

A physician confirms both candidates were drugged with the same aphrodisiac, and Zhinian's unusual composure draws suspicion even as she suffers through it. The Empress challenges the Emperor over elevating an untested candidate, but he turns the accusation back on her. Zhinian pleads her innocence, suspecting her maid was manipulated, with suspicion drifting toward Jiang Wanning.

The Emperor orders Jiang Wanning's maid executed and demotes Wanning, while praising Zhinian for her gentleness and granting her the title Consort Rou, even sending an attendant to look after her. Meanwhile Nanqiao returns to the Shen household with Lu Jianglin, gloating when she hears a rumor that Zhinian failed the selection.

Zhinian returns home alone and is accused by Nanqiao and their father of falsely claiming a palace title, forced to kneel in humiliation. Just as the family turns against her, an imperial decree arrives confirming she truly has been named Consort Rou, silencing Nanqiao's mockery.

After the decree proves Zhinian truly holds the title of a consort, Shen Maoxue turns his anger on Nanqiao for the humiliation attempt. Undeterred, Nanqiao insists marrying scholar Lu Jianglin is nobler than Zhinian's path into the Emperor's favor, sneering at her sister's rise.

Nanqiao rages at her parents for favoring her half-sister Zhinian, mocking her rise into the palace as a foolish dream. Shen Maoxue tries to calm her, urging more restraint when they meet, but Nanqiao insists Zhinian will never take what she wants.

Under pressure from the Empress Dowager to honor Duke Zhengguo's family, the Emperor elevates Jiang Wanning to a higher consort rank. She mocks Shen Zhinian publicly, confident her powerful background secures favor. Zhinian stays calm, resolving to win the Emperor's attention through her own effort rather than rely on chance.

Shen Zhinian lures the Emperor into a nighttime garden scene with fireflies, hoping a small gesture will win his favor. He sees through her ploy and teases her for it, prompting her to admit she overstepped. He hints there is a simpler way to please him, subtly shifting the dynamic between them.

The Emperor teases Shen Zhinian about her intentions, then issues a decree praising her grace and service, elevating her from a lesser title to Consort Rou. The news draws sharp jealousy from a rival, while others speculate that the Lu family's marriage to Shen Nanqiao may bring little real favor.

Lu Jianglin's mother humiliates him in front of Shen Nanqiao, forbidding intimacy until he passes his exams and demanding more dowry for his upkeep. Meanwhile Consort Rou Shen Zhinian pays respects to the Empress and Consort Liu, who singles her out as the newly risen consort, drawing notice in the palace.

While paying respects to Consort Liu and Jiang Wanning, Shen Zhinian is accused of cursing the ailing Empress over the white flower she wears. Jiang Wanning presses for harsh punishment and others pile on, but Zhinian insists the flower symbolizes good fortune, not disrespect.

Word arrives that Duke Zhengguo defied orders to retreat and pressed on with a reckless pursuit, worrying the Emperor over his soldiers' safety. Meanwhile Jiang Wanning escalates her accusation that Shen Zhinian cursed the Empress, and Zhinian is dragged before Kunning Palace to be sentenced to fifty strokes of the rod.

The Emperor arrives just in time to halt Shen Zhinian's punishment. Jiang Wanning claims Zhinian insulted an imperial gift, a flower, to provoke the Empress, but the Emperor reveals he himself gave that flower. He orders Jiang Wanning punished and confronts the Empress for shielding her sister.

The Emperor showers the injured Shen Zhinian with favor, even granting her a phoenix hairpin above her rank. Jiang Wanning, humiliated, begs her sister the Empress for help. The Empress coldly warns her not to disappoint their family and hints a method to remove Zhinian already exists, leaving the choice to act in Wanning's hands.

Jiang Wanning is poisoned with a toxic herb that may scar her face, and accuses Shen Zhinian before the Empress. A maid testifies that Zhinian's servant Fuqu was seen near the kitchen, and Fuqu is tortured despite denying it. Zhinian offers to investigate the poison's true source herself.

Shen Zhinian proposes a test using a toxic herb to expose the true poisoner, proving her own innocence first. When Jiang Wanning is forced to undergo the same test despite her protests, her skin changes color, revealing her guilt. The Empress confronts her on the spot.

The Emperor rules Jiang Wanning guilty of framing Zhinian and moves to banish her, but news of Duke Zhengguo's battlefield victory and the Empress's plea soften the punishment to half a year of confinement. At night, sensing continued danger from Wanning and the Duke, Zhinian seeks an audience with the Empress to offer an alliance.

Zhinian reveals the Empress's hidden miscarriage affliction and Jiang Wanning's ruined face, offering a poison-based cure and a fertility remedy from the physician's valley. She proves herself a disciple of the reclusive Physician Xue, and the Empress, still wary, accepts her alliance.

Zhinian explains she only used poison to counter poison on Jiang Wanning, safe for now since the Empress still needs her to bear an heir. Word arrives that the Emperor was once saved at Cuiping Mountain by a skilled woman, now elevated to Consort, stirring suspicion about Zhinian's true identity. As the Emperor promotes Shen Maoxue to check Duke Zhengguo, Jiang Wanning suddenly dies.

Jiang Wanning is found dead, and the physician reports she died from being poisoned, even though the rash on her face had nearly healed. The Emperor demands answers, and Zhinian admits she gave the Empress two medicines the day before — a fertility remedy and one meant to treat Jiang Wanning's skin condition. The truth behind the death remains unclear, leaving the palace on edge.

The Empress and Zhinian accuse each other of poisoning Jiang Wanning, each denying guilt before the Emperor. Guards then find poison matching the one that killed Jiang Wanning hidden in Zhinian's quarters. Furious, the Emperor condemns her for murdering a consort and orders her death.

Jiang Wanning's maid suddenly confesses to swapping the medicine and poisoning her, insisting Zhinian had no part in it, but the Emperor still orders the maid beaten to death. Zhinian is spared execution yet stripped of her title and banished to the cold palace, where a mysterious figure approaches her in her isolation.

Consort Liu offers Zhinian a fertility drug in exchange for help seeking revenge against the Empress. Zhinian takes it and is soon found pregnant, prompting celebration among her attendants. But word arrives that Consort Liu herself has also become pregnant, throwing the court into new tension.

The Emperor celebrates after learning both Liu Ruyan and Shen Zhinian are pregnant, planning a three-day feast. The Empress argues against pardoning the cold-palace prisoner and mocks her fallen status. News that the Empress Dowager has fallen gravely ill abruptly halts the celebration.

The Empress Dowager is found to have a contagious illness, and the Emperor insists on seeing her himself. The Empress and Jiang Wanning both offer to go in his place, but he refuses and instead summons Shen Zhinian to examine her, personally fitting her with protection before she enters.

Shen Zhinian tends to the Empress Dowager day and night, and her medicine finally breaks the fever, easing fears for her life. But Consort Liu publicly questions how she knew the cure so quickly, prompting the Emperor to order an investigation, with a three-day deadline before punishment.

The Empress Dowager's fever finally breaks, and the Emperor confirms the medicine worked as intended. Consort Liu still hints that Shen Zhinian secretly fed her a separate antidote, but a body search before she entered proves she carried nothing. The Emperor then orders Zhinian's confinement lifted, easing her danger.

With her confinement lifted, Shen Zhinian gains a new maid, Zheliu, and faces veiled accusations from the Empress over a supposed fertility drug tied to the Dowager's illness. The Empress Dowager publicly credits Zhinian with saving her life, urging the Emperor to cherish her, leaving the Empress unable to respond.

The Empress Dowager publicly scolds the Empress for mistreating Zhinian and neglecting her during illness. Zhinian reveals she used her own blood to make medicine that saved the Dowager, moving both her and the Emperor deeply. The Emperor grows even fonder of Zhinian and orders the Empress to retreat and reflect.

The Emperor orders a search for the person who saved his life three years ago and summons Liu Ruyan to question her account. He discovers that the prescription she describes matches one written by Zhinian, deepening his suspicion about who truly saved him.

The Emperor confronts Consort Zhinian about learning medicine at Cuiping Mountain years ago, but she claims she no longer remembers anything. His suspicion deepens while someone in the palace quietly warns her to act carefully, hinting at danger ahead.

The Empress suffers a miscarriage after being poisoned, and the physician declares the child cannot be saved. In the aftermath, her confidant plots to use the tragedy to implicate Consort Zhinian, setting a dangerous trap in motion.

Consort Zhinian falls and nearly loses her pregnancy, with the Empress's maid Xuezhu accused of pushing her, though both sides deny wrongdoing. Consort Liu publicly questions whether the Empress could truly be pregnant given her weakened body, hinting she may be faking it to win favor.

A physician reveals the Empress's pulse shows no sign of pregnancy, collapsing her claim as Jiang Wanning accuses her of faking it for favor. The missing physician's body is then pulled from a well, evidence is found on the Empress's maid, and the Empress is sent to the cold palace.

The Emperor's decree strips the Empress of her title and casts her out as a commoner. Zhinian confronts her, revealing the so-called fertility medicine was actually a treatment for her own ailment, proving the pregnancy was never real. The disgraced Empress realizes her downfall was of her own making.

After the Empress's fall, Zhinian is named Consort Rou and her late mother is posthumously honored by the Empress Dowager. Nanqiao, now gravely ill, rages at the news and sends a so-called miracle medicine while secretly writing to Consort Liu for help.

With the Huns invading, the grieving Duke Zhengguo is stripped of command and sent home, while Shen Maoxue is promoted to lead the six armies. Zhinian learns that Nanqiao, now divorced and gravely ill, has been sent to a rural estate. The Emperor visits Zhinian and asks her to bear his child, and she agrees.

As Consort Rou grows ever more favored, she schemes with an ally to fake a rescue of the Emperor and topple the Empress. Once the plan succeeds, Rou coldly notes that her accomplice must die for her to truly claim the Phoenix throne, revealing her ruthless ambition.

Consort Liu cries out in pain and accuses Shen Zhinian of pushing her, prompting the Emperor to rush over without summoning a physician. Amid the chaos, Zhinian coolly reminds everyone that Liu has no family backing her, while the Shen family serves the Emperor as leverage against Duke Zhengguo, making her position far more secure.

A physician confirms Consort Rou is a month and a half pregnant, stunning the Emperor. Before he can react, Consort Liu is reported to be bleeding from a sudden early labor, but the Emperor has no time for her. Onlookers note her belly looked full-term, raising doubts about the child's true father.

Consort Liu endures a difficult labor and delivers the Emperor's first son, but he stays away, distracted by news of Consort Rou's pregnancy. Left bitter, Liu is visited by the State Preceptor under the guise of hanging a golden banner for blessings, their real purpose a covert signal for secret meetings.

While walking with the Emperor at night, Consort Zhinian encounters an intruder who is captured by guards. The interrogation yields nothing, so Zhinian offers to help expose who is truly behind the secret affair, stirring new intrigue at court.

Zhinian uses scented powder and a trained dog to expose Consort Liu Ruyan's secret contact with the State Preceptor. Liu claims innocent contact, but Zhinian reveals a matching plum-blossom birthmark shared by the Preceptor and someone in the palace, raising doubts about the imperial bloodline. The Emperor orders the young prince brought in for examination.

The birthmark on the young prince enrages the Emperor, who confronts Liu Ruyan over her secret ties to State Preceptor Xianchen. Pleading for mercy, Liu admits the person who once saved the Emperor at Cuiping Mountain was not her but the Preceptor in disguise, and that she has been blackmailed ever since. The Emperor demands to know who truly saved his life.

The truth comes out: Shen Zhinian, not Liu Ruyan, once saved the Emperor's life, while the State Preceptor manipulated events for his own gain. Furious, the Emperor orders the Preceptor executed and has the implicated consorts imprisoned for life. He then declares he will make Zhinian the most honored woman in the realm.

Duke Zhengguo returns from his campaign to find the Emperor too occupied with the new Empress's coronation to greet him in person, and heads straight to see the Empress Dowager. Inside the palace, a grand ceremony unfolds that marks a turning point for Zhinian's standing.