After falling to her death from a cliff, just when her plans were about to bear fruit, Gu Qiniang was reborn in the body of Meng Shuyao, the legitimate daughter of the Salt Commissioner.
In the Meng household, Gu Qiniang disciplines wicked servants and takes on a vicious concubine and stepsister, as well as a biased grandmother. Everything that belonged to the original owner, she will take back.
An imperial decree betroths her to the frail Crown Prince. On their wedding day, the gates of the Crown Prince's residence are shut tight. Gu Qiniang hefts a sledgehammer and smashes them open with swagger. She ruins the haughty side consort's looks, snaps the neck of the rooster standing in for the Crown Prince at the wedding with her bare hands, and beats the female official sent by the Imperial Noble Consort to oversee the ceremony.
As Crown Princess, Gu Qiniang uses an iron fist to wrest control of the household accounts from a host of ill-intentioned side consorts and concubines. The deadly assassin who accepted a mission to kill the Crown Prince becomes his guardian, keeping him alive and well for a hundred years.
What Gu Qiniang least expected was that the sickly Crown Prince, who looked as though he had only days to live and spent all day dragging around his ailing body, panting after just a few words, was in fact the most masterful player at hiding his true strength in all of the State of Chen.
Perhaps you have read too many Shuang novels and are a little bored of this type of palace fighting, but the characters are well portrayed, including Bailihan's decisiveness and perversion, Bailitu's ruthlessness and methods, Duanmu's infatuation, Qi Bulai's stability, Tan Yang's grievance and perseverance, Qiniang's methods and the viciousness of the supporting characters. It has nothing to do with wit, but it is also exciting.