Ruyi dreams that she is the heroine of a book.
She arrives late for the selection and lets one rip, enraging the emperor. The angrier he gets, the more he loves her, and sure enough, she is made a Talented Lady of Serenity.
She is as aloof as a chrysanthemum, never competing or fighting for anything, and loves nothing more than bringing warmth to her sisters in the harem.
One bowl of contraceptive medicine leaves Consort Shu heartbroken and sending her to take the tonsure at Ganlu Temple. One bowl of sterilizing soup leaves Consort Rong hemorrhaging and with an incurable disease.
The concubines: Do you have a KPI for sending us off to our deaths?
Shen Meizhuang: What's the point of staying clearheaded and restrained all day?
An Lingrong: So I was the one who wasn't allowed to go crazy.
Zhen Huan: If the wind can understand my feelings, let it go torment Ruyi!
Faced with Ruyi Syndrome, the women of Empresses in the Palace become more united than ever.
Consort Shu comes down with sticky weed syndrome and spends every day drowning in sorrow.
Consort Hua: A bitch is always so damn dramatic!
Hailan cries at the sight of everyone, and wails even louder when she sees the emperor.
Consort Jing: Without you, the harem can finally laugh and be merry!
Ruyi causes Noble Lady Fuca to miscarry and is punished with ten slaps a day.
Consort Qi: Cuiguo, slap her mouth until it's smashed!
Even after all that, Ruyi is still determined to be the snow that freezes the emperor awake. She talks back to him at banquets, barges into his chambers when he is with another woman, and holds meetings when he favors someone else.
The emperor gets so fed up with her: Do you think I'm some live-in son-in-law from Luo Family Village?
In the Cold Palace, Ruyi sews shoe insoles and happily thinks that better days are still ahead.
Who could have guessed that A'Ruo would marry into a powerful family, Suxin would climb the social ladder, and Rong Pei would be sent to marry into Junggar and be named the top Baturu by Moge?
Women really can't be trusted. Better to love men.
"You still don't know? Li Yu was executed for deceiving the emperor, and Ling Yunche was castrated and ground into horse feed," Ye Lanyi says.
Wait, this isn't right. The plot is wrong!
I am the empress personally appointed by the emperor! That's exactly what the book says.
"Did you read a bootleg? This is Empresses in the Palace!" Zhen Huan says with a haughty laugh, looking down on everyone.
