Ayue, a laundress with the rare gift of understanding animals’ thoughts, gains Emperor Xiao Jue’s favor and escapes drudgery after saving the poisoned royal cat Xuetuan. She climbs steadily up the palace ranks, leveraging her ability to resolve crises involving palace pets and gather hidden intelligence. Framed by Noble Consort Hua, she proves her innocence using ventriloquism and a stand-in hound. Overcoming court opposition, she is crowned empress. With support from the imperial menagerie, she aids frontier troops and contains capital plagues, ruling alongside Xiao Jue to safeguard the realm and fulfilling her rags-to-empress legend.
