Modern office worker Lin Yue wakes up to find she has become Xia Dongchun, a cannon-fodder character in Empresses in the Palace who doesn't survive past three episodes. She is also bound to a "useless System" whose very first mission is to "survive three episodes." Knowing how the story unfolds, she carefully avoids the threat of "A Tangle of Red," using her wits to overcome the maids' torment and Consort Hua's intimidation, and snatches her life back from the jaws of death.
New to the palace, she tries to attach herself to Zhen Huan but only makes things worse. Consort Hua sees her as a thorn in her side, forcing her to endure humiliation while copying scriptures. During the Princess Wenyi incident, she risks her life to save the princess and forms a brief, complicated bond with Cao Qinmo. When Consort Hua frames her in a deadly plot, she narrowly escapes death and secretly lays plans for a counterattack. Zhen Huan grows suspicious of her because of Consort Hua's harassment. The two go from testing each other to joining forces, each showing her skills in their clashes with Consort Hua, though they still struggle to shake her power.
As Shen Meizhuang's false pregnancy crisis, An Lingrong's corruption, Chun'er's death, and other events unfold one after another, Lin Yue gradually finds her footing in the palace's treacherous currents. She helps Zhen Huan fake her death and escape, personally raises the Fourth Prince to secure her future, and uncovers the shocking secret behind Pure Yuan's death while navigating the machinations of the Empress and Consort Hua. But just as she thinks she can steadily make her way forward as Xia Dongchun, the System suddenly issues a new command: switch identities at random.
