Monopolizing the Orchid Palace

This is a dark palace story about "beauty" and "power" devouring each other. Dai Fei uses two time cross-sections—fourteen and twenty-four—to sketch the arc of Xiao Jiayu's fate from being crazed over by all sides to no one daring to covet her. The narrative重心 is not on the wins and losses of palace intrigue but on how being "possessed" consumes a person bit by bit. The prose is cold, gorgeous, and delicate, with a high density of descriptions of palace atmosphere and character psychology, suitable for readers who enjoy immersive reading and are willing to descend with the characters' emotions. Its value lies in writing "peerless beauty" as a curse rather than a privilege, letting readers see the silence and transformation of the plundered when the plunderers grow crazier one after another. When reading, there is no need to rush to ask where the plot is going; it is better suited to slow reading late at night, to experience that suffocating feeling of being trapped in a gorgeous cage. If you prefer bright, healing stories or tightly reasoned intrigue, this may not suit you; but if you want a palace tragedy that writes beauty and imprisonment to the end, it deserves a quiet afternoon.