Since the novel is only 102 chapters, I read the whole thing (though I definitely started skimming near the end because it was 2am and I was sleepy).

The childhood connection doesn't exist, and like a lot of these novels, we don't get a TON of POV from the ML. They don't even meet until around chapter 25.

Qingyuan's mom, Concubine Jin, was accused of poisoning Qingrong's mother and thrown out. She gives birth to QY and then dies (of course). QY is raised by an elderly couple, the Chens, who are AMAZING but might not be in the show. She's brought back to the Xies when she's 14.

Meanwhile, the Shen brothers lost their entire family, but over the last decade they've gotten really high up in society. Shen Run is friends with the young Emperor (SR is 26, while Shen Che's age isn't super clear, but he's the younger one). We don't get a ton of explanation about what happened, just that they've gotten rid of 11/12 people responsible for their family's downfall. Dad was executed, mom died later, same old, same old.

From the novel:

"Including Qingyuan, the Xie family had three sons and four daughters. The eldest son Zhengze and second daughter Qingru were born to Madam Hu. After the third daughter Qingrong’s mother was poisoned, she was raised by Madam Hu. Consort Lian bore the eldest daughter Qinghe, while the remaining second son Zhenglun, and third son Zhengjun were from Concubine Mei’s household."

It doesn't look like all the sons are in the show, though? The four girls are. Basically we've got:

• Grandma Xie (Old Madam)

• Xie Shu (dad), who's mostly away doing military stuff

• Madam Hu (the legitimate wife), mother to Qingru (awful!) and Qingrong (also bad, but partly because Hu raised her)

• Concubine Lian, mother to Qinghe (the only good person in the ENTIRE family)

The first 25 chapters are basically QY navigating the Xie family, which is frankly one of the worst families I've seen. Nobody is murdering anyone immediately like in some of these stories, but they're all selfish, rude, users, and generally contemptible. Qinghe and her mother are the only likable people. And some of the servants are great—QY's main servant is literally TEN. They're CHILDREN.

QY spends most of this time trying to figure out why her mother was thrown out, because for that crime she should have been executed. Of course, she eventually figures out that Madam Hu basically killed two birds with one stone.

At a big banquet, she meets Li Congxin, who's friends with Shen Run's brother Shen Che and her eldest brother Zhengze. He's a famous ladies' man but immediately falls for QY and spends most of the novel trying to get her to like him back. He's the only son, though, so his parents absolutely do not want him marrying her because of her background.

Unfortunately for the Xie family, the Emperor is investigating Xie Dad for refusing to fight a specific war, which eventually forces the family to move. LCX gives QY a list of military people who might be able to help, including Shen Che, so Old Madam decides to take QY to the Shen residence to ask for help.

She accidentally mistakes Shen Run for Shen Che, embarrasses herself a little, but impresses him. The brothers agree to help, and after the Xies give them a TON of silver taels as a bribe, SR gets Xie Dad a meeting with the Emperor and helps him out of the situation.

There's also a very important jade pendant situation where SR pretends to be drunk, gives QY a jade taotie pendant, and tells her to keep it, meaning she then has to go return it.

We love a historical "oh, I left my sweater at your place, can you bring it back?" situation.

Meanwhile, Qinghe's marriage is arranged with a scholar to be who the Xie family thought would go for Qingru (drama!). Then Qingru falls for LCX even though he likes QY (more drama!), and QY and Qinghe get closer because Qinghe realizes QY is actually a good kid despite having every reason to be vengeful.

Madam Hu, naturally, can't STAND this dead concubine's daughter, so she sends assassins after QY. Fortunately, SR knows what's happening, takes out the actual assassins, and escorts QY home while heavily implying that whoever sent them is going to have a bad time.

Later, Madam Hu tries to have QY dishonored, but QY figures it out and Qingru ends up being dishonored by two fake monks instead. This was one of those moments where I was like, "Well, that sure just happened." QR has been fully involved in her mom's schemes, though, so the usual historical drama morality stuff. Still, they're teenagers, so it's unfortunate that nobody raised these kids properly.

Then LCX and SR start heavily competing for QY, who is barely 15 and mostly just trying to survive. She doesn't really love either of them, although both are nice. SR is more roguish and pushy, but still respectful.

LCX gets permission to marry her, so she agrees because what else is she going to do? SR then pretends he's marrying someone else to make her jealous (LOL), and sets up two situations to show her that LCX will never change. QY eventually breaks the engagement.

At the same time, Xie Dad is in danger of being executed if he loses the war. And then Old Madam TAKES QY AND LEAVES HER AT SR'S mansion AS PAYMENT FOR FIXING THE ISSUE.

YIKES!!!!!

SR is actually very upfront with her about everything, but pretends he's busy preparing for their wedding. His sister-in-law eventually spills the beans, and QY is basically like "Wow, what a dumb man" and "F this, I'm out of here."

Her grandparents arrive (SR brought them to the capital!!!), and they basically tell him that if he's genuinely going to marry her, he needs to follow the proper rites. SR realizes he has massively screwed up, explains himself, apologizes, and they get engaged properly.

Xie Dad survives because SR sends military support, and when the Xies try to ruin the wedding by claiming QY isn't filial, the Emperor sends three eunuchs with a decree giving her the title Lady Chen, so they can't say anything.

They get married and have a great Time. The author is euphemistic since she's only 15, but there are definitely candles-and-curtains moments, if you know what I mean.

After that, QY starts dealing with problems involving her SIL, Shen Che, and the SIL's maternal cousin, who has been making moves on Shen Che while the SIL is depressed after losing their baby. The cousin and aunt eventually die, although I don't know if that'll make it into the show.

At the end, Madam Hu is divorced by Xie Dad and sent back to her maternal family after everything comes out. She eventually gets executed for having SIL's aunt/cousin killed in prison and making it look like they hung themselves.

Qingrong, who spends half the book trying to get selected as an important palace consort or whatever, eventually gets offered a way to leave everything behind by marrying a Tibetan prince.

Overall, it's very much your standard historical revenge novel. QY wants revenge, but she's not trying to destroy everyone—she mostly wants the truth exposed.

The other Xie branches basically disappear into obscurity, while Xie Dad has to spend the rest of his life realizing that his inaction and refusal to see what was happening ruined everything. He suspected something was wrong with Concubine Jin but didn't act against Madam Hu because removing the primary wife is incredibly difficult.

Old Madam sucks, so there is no nice grandma here (except Grandma Chen, obviously), and the brothers/cousins are mostly just...There.

The trailer does show a lot of things are different but the core elements are there so I'm excited to see how it plays out.