The Fragrance of Hairpins and Branches

Lu Jiaojiao is a paralyzed orphan who can only eat, drink, and relieve herself in bed. Her only passion is reading palace-intrigue novels and watching palace-intrigue dramas. To her surprise, after dying of illness, she is reborn into the body of a cannon-fodder supporting character in a palace-intrigue novel nearing its conclusion. Everyone in the book is wicked. The heroine has already risen to the rank of Noble Consort, and her next step is to become empress. Lu Jiaojiao is the heroine’s younger cousin, born to a concubine, and a disposable pawn her family uses to warn the heroine. The moment she enters the palace, the heroine kills her. Now that she has a healthy body, Lu Jiaojiao has only one goal: she must not die again! That means she cannot accept a lowly position, let others bully her, or live like an insignificant insect. If she is going to do it, she will become the most powerful woman in the imperial harem! She is willing to endure any hardship and use any scheming tricks to reach that lofty position. To the young emperor who has united the realm, the imperial harem is merely a chessboard for keeping his ministers under his thumb. No woman is worth falling for. But one day, when she wants to leave the palace, he pulls her into his arms. “If you won’t be empress, there’s no point in being emperor.”