A Song of Yu Ren

[Household Intrigue + Palace Intrigue + Political Scheming] [Play the Pig to Eat the Tiger + Eventually Becomes Emperor] [Everyone Is Evil] [Not a Conventional Power Fantasy] [Female Protagonist's Growth] [First Person] [Women Supporting One Another] [Not a One-on-One Romance, the Female Lead Is a Flirt (Being One-on-One Isn't Realistic When You're Emperor)]

A humble fisher girl from Huaiyuan County grew up in a family that favored boys to an extreme. By chance, she was swept into a political conspiracy and onto the stage of history. From a pawn at the mercy of others, she grew into an unparalleled empress whose power reached across four kingdoms. As the four kingdoms clashed and the tides of history rose and fell, one power after another took center stage. Amid empires, handsome men, and shifting regimes, what choice would a humble young woman make when she reached the pinnacle of power?

My name is Liu Yu. I was born in an unremarkable fishing village by the sea.

When I was thirteen, my parents sold me to a matchmaker to feed my younger brother. A powerful man came with the broker to choose his "merchandise." When he saw me, he was so startled that he dropped the cup in his hand, then paid five hundred taels of silver to take me away.

After that, the Shangshu household had a concubine-born young lady skilled in singing and dancing. It wasn't until my adoptive parents sent me to serve my legitimate elder sister, who was much favored in the palace, that I learned why: My face looked just like the emperor's late empress, the woman he had loved most.