The Idle Concubine Has Her Ways, and the Cold-Hearted Prince Is Easy to Tempt

[Transmigration + palace intrigue and household battles + daily life + later becomes the sole favorite + carefree + calm as a chrysanthemum + drama queen + casual bluffing + play the pig to eat the tiger + true powerhouse in the later stages + male lead is an earnest, clueless straight man]

After transmigrating, Xu Youyan resolves to be a well-behaved concubine, neither seeking the limelight nor falling behind. While everyone else wants to slim down, she wants to put on weight. After spending a night with the prince, she becomes his favored concubine: among all the skinny women in the rear courtyard, he has finally found a human cushion that doesn’t jab him.

The rear household of Prince Duan’s residence is packed with formidable women, making it a prime battleground for palace and household intrigue. There’s a noblewoman from a powerful family above her, an orphan girl who can hear the prince’s thoughts, and a transmigrated woman with grand ambitions who thinks she’s the heroine. Xu Youyan trembles with fear.

Xu Youyan wisely chooses to grow quietly. She can flatter anyone she meets and acts like everyone is her dearest sister, becoming a flourishing opportunist in the prince’s household. But after years of living like a carefree fish, Xu Youyan finds herself held in the arms of the cold-hearted Prince Duan. “Yanyan, do you like me?”

Xu Youyan: “I do, I do. By the way, Your Highness, what are we eating today?”

Many years later, the elderly Prince Duan lies ill in bed, gazing at Xu Youyan with longing. “Yanyan, in our next life, may I marry you again?”

This time, the usually obedient Xu Youyan replies, “But Your Majesty, in my next life, I’d like to work for someone else.”

Early Prince Duan: “Desire must not be indulged.”

Later Prince Duan: “Except when it comes to Yanyan.”