History and fate are not always as fixed or as certain as they appear. History is recorded by human beings. What is preserved in the written record is not always the whole truth. At times, facts are deliberately selected, omitted, concealed, or even altered. Beyond the history that has come down to us, might there still exist another history—one that was intentionally erased, hidden, or rewritten? The Precious Consort’s Jade Ruyi, a novella by Yeshan Luming, was inspired by the exploration of just such a possibility. As the armies of the Eight-Nation Alliance were about to enter Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi, preparing to flee the capital in panic, ordered that Emperor Guangxu’s beloved Precious Consort Zhen be thrown into a well. This event has long been accepted as an established historical fact. But history sometimes plays strange tricks. Did Consort Zhen truly die that day? Or was she rescued at the final moment, spirited out of the Forbidden City, and given the chance to begin another life—one hidden forever from the official chronicles? This is where the story begins.