Transmigrating to the Qing Dynasty: A Delicate Die Holds Yinzhen

Tong Jia Linglong was an overworked modern-day office worker. No one could have imagined that she would transmigrate to the Qing Dynasty and become the niece of Noble Consort Tong Jia, the third daughter of the Kangxi Emperor’s noble consort’s family, born to a concubine. Fortunately, the Tong family matriarch paid little attention to Linglong. She was only a daughter born to a concubine, and could be sent off with a dowry when the time came. She would never compete with the matriarch’s legitimate sons and daughters for anything in the Tong family. So Linglong had a fairly good childhood, growing up in fine clothes and comfort. The matriarch did not teach her the rules as meticulously as she did her legitimate daughters, but Linglong still learned them well enough. The Tong family matriarch understood that the family’s fortunes were shared: if one prospered, all prospered, and if one suffered, all suffered. Linglong knew she would eventually have to marry. But when she thought about the society she lived in, she knew that even as the daughter of a Manchu noble family, her lot wouldn’t be much better. Even if she married into a family of equal standing, she would have to put up with her husband taking multiple wives and concubines. Rather than accept that, she decided she might as well take her chances in the palace. Even if she would have to share a husband with other women, she wanted the most powerful man in the realm. That way, she wouldn’t be losing out. At the very least, she could become a consort in the palace, which was well within reach given her status and family background. What’s more, the man she had the best chance of marrying was her nominal cousin, the Fourth Prince Yinzhen. But she was only four years old, still a tiny little thing, so it was far too soon to think about that. The one consolation was that the Fourth Prince was not much older, and her aunt was still alive and still a noble consort. She had yet to become an imperial noble consort.