Empresses in the Palace: Empress Yixiu's Rebirth and Revenge

In Empresses in the Palace, after the late emperor confined Empress Ulanara Yixiu to Jingren Palace, she devoted herself to seeking revenge on Zhen Huan. On the day the new emperor ascended the throne, she died with a heart full of resentment and unwillingness. She used up every bit of luck from her previous life in exchange for one chance to start over.

Reborn after her death, Yixiu learned from the failures of her past life. She won over Hua Fei, Cao Guiren, An Lingrong, and others, even helping Hua Fei regain the emperor's favor time and again. She relentlessly fought Zhen Huan on every front. Yixiu exposed Zhen Huan's scheme to feign illness and avoid the emperor's favor, then used the incident of Chun Yuan's old robes to drive a wedge between the emperor and Zhen Huan. She also foiled Zhen Huan's plan to leave the palace and practice Buddhism, and joined forces with the head of the Imperial Medical Academy to stage the dramatic blood test to determine kinship. Empress Yixiu countered Zhen Huan at every turn, vowing to defend the hard-won seat of empress with her life.

In the end, Yixiu safeguarded the honor of the Ulanara clan and made peace with Hua Fei. One was an empress, skilled in both strategy and scheming; the other was elevated to Imperial Noble Consort and used her iron-fisted methods to support the empress. Together, Yixiu and Hua Fei secured their hold over the imperial harem. In the end, the scheming Zhen Huan was left with no choice but to live out her days in lonely exile within the palace, accompanied by her princes and princesses. Zhen Huan gradually began to regret her choices, yearning more and more to return to the year she was seventeen, at Shangshan Temple. If time could turn back, she would rather marry Wen Shichu, live freely outside the palace, and grow old in peace.