Beauty at War

During the reign of Emperor JIAQING, the decline of the Qing Empire occurs after the continuation of an era of prosperity in the reigns of Emperors KANGXI, YONGZHENG and QIANLONG. Soon after Emperor JIAQING brings along his Empress RUI away to his summer resort in Rehe, an undercurrent of tension starts lurking in the imperial harem. NIOHURU YUE-YUET, who gave birth to Prince MIN-YU, has won the Emperor's favor, however, she is also targeted by the rumors. Based on the hearsay, she is a wicked woman, which is not only a hot topic during those after dinner chats but also draws attention of bigwigs in the palace. BUYAMUCI BA-CHA, who makes a living by collecting evidence against the rumors in exchange for money from others, tries to probe into it for profit.… ...

LAU-FEI refuses to attend the banquet arranged by Master KIU – the son of a businessman, instead he indulges in gambling, and even pays the gambling debt for a man called LUK PING. LAU-FEI once got into trouble during his performance in the KIU's Residence while trying to seduce a songstress, YUEN-CHING there. As a result his boss, KUK-SANG, has no choice but to bring his son-in-law WAN TSAU-YIN, who is also LAU-FEI's partner, to attend the banquet in his stead. CHUN-LAM, under the influence of the flute music echoing in the Forbidden City nightly, embroiders clothing for the imperial guard – her unrequited love-object, but she gets a strong telling-off from SEUNG-LING. TSAU-YIN does not mind to socialize or even clean up problems for LAU-FEI, however, his wife YING-KAM is entangled into a dilemma due to LAU-FEI's love affair. What's more, she has been unwillingly receiving the letters from YUEN-CHING on behalf of LAU-FEI.… ...

SEUNG-LING knows that Prince MIN-YU has made good progress in playing Go, which is a great comfort to her. CHUN-LAM reports that TUNG-SHING has caught the flautist and the palace maid. She suspects the two were meeting on the sly at the gate tower. The flautist turns out to be the demoted fortune-teller TUNG KAT-HOI, also MUK-DO-YEE was caught in that spot. TUNG-SHING dares not to do anything to MUK-DO-YEE for fear of her position, so he has to give KAT-HOI a thrashing to vent his anger. KAT-HOI is advised by the former Imperial Astronomer TUNG HUNG-NGAI that MUK-DO-YEE is his Lady Luck, so he takes every opportunity to entangle her. Lady YUEN-SAU's handmaiden YEUK-KWAI is approaching 25 and ready to leave the palace, so she is eager to find her successor. However, in view of the slow-witted little maid YAU-HEUNG, Lady YUEN-SAU is advised to find a more quick-witted replacement for serving her.… ...