19世紀後半葉，湖南鄉下一個小姑娘，因出色的刺繡手藝進了皇宮，得以耳聞目睹了晚清宮廷的種種陰謀詭計、貪婪慾望、翻雲覆雨，並捲入了一段複雜的三角關係——懦弱的帝王、野心勃勃的王爺，她該如何選擇。陪伴在慈禧身邊走過晚清政局最爲動盪的幾十年，她親身經歷了三代帝王的隕落，並親眼見證了大清帝國從衰亡走向倒塌的全過程。
When I was a child, I thought my destiny was to live and die on the banks of the Xiangjiang River as my family had done for generations. I never imagined that my life would lead me to the Forbidden City and the court of China’s last Empress. Born in the middle of nowhere, Yaqian, a little embroidery girl from Hunan Province, finds her way to the imperial court, a place of intrigue, desire, and treachery. From the bed of an Emperor, the heart of a Prince, and the right side of an Empress, Yaqian weaves her way through the most turbulent decades of China’s history and witnesses the fall of the Qing Dynasty.

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