Fantasy + transmigration + historical romance + political intrigue + cross-dressing. A story spanning heaven and earth, past lives and present, about a woman who transmigrates to the end of the Western Han dynasty and becomes entangled with Wang Mang, the emperor who usurped the Han.
“Bestie, if you could go back in time, what would you do?”
“Me? Obviously, I’d become emperor. I’d have my pick of three palaces, six courtyards, and seventy-two consorts!”
“You read the Records of the Grand Historian and the Zuo Commentary every day. How come your mind is so filthy?”
“What’s filthy about that? I’d even make you take my surname.”
“No way. I don’t want to be a girl. I want to be a man.”
A torrential storm sends Han Moyu and Liu Buyan transmigrating to the end of the Western Han dynasty, where they embark on a legendary tale of an emperor and his chancellor.
She does indeed take his surname and helps him rise to the lofty position just below The Outcast, above all others, but that was never what she wanted.
He does indeed fulfill his wish, ascending an unmatched throne and founding the Xin dynasty, but by then, she is no longer by his side.
When everything is finally settled, dust returns to dust and earth to earth, and each of them reaches their own ending.
Love was always what mattered most to her. All she ever wanted was a simple, ordinary life.
There's a lot of foreshadowing, and I feel like there's a lot of story background behind it.