After successfully saving Lifa, Mao Mao is invited to the winter reception, a grand banquet that gathers the most important figures of the inner court. The young apothecary does not attend merely as a companion, but also as a taster of Gyokuyo...
So, before a stunned assembly, Mao Mao tastes a poisoned soup... that was not intended for her mistress! Indeed, it appeared that Lishu, the youngest of the four concubines, was the target. What truth is hidden behind this strange machination?