A Woman Past Her Prime Transmigrates into a Cannon-Fodder Character

When Fu Weiwei opened her eyes, the blue bricks beneath her knees were icy cold, and the acrid smell of incense ash stung her nose. Just a moment earlier, she had been looking forward to earning tomorrow’s perfect-attendance bonus. The next, she had become a hapless woman kneeling in a Buddhist hall: the cannon-fodder empress of the Great Zhou, appointed only days ago. A flood of memories nearly knocked her over. Somehow, the original owner had splashed scalding tea across the face of the imperial concubine who reigned supreme among the harem, ruining the beauty’s looks and sending herself straight into a dead end. In his fury, the emperor had issued an edict condemning her to kneel in this desolate Buddhist hall for three days and nights, reflecting beneath the lone lamp and in the presence of the Buddha. As it happened, the original owner had breathed her last late on the third night, leaving this broken body, burdened with a mountain of hatred, to Fu Weiwei, who had just transmigrated into it. The flames in the incense burner flickered, casting their light across her pale face. Outside, the favored concubine’s faction watched like hungry wolves. In the palace, the cold emperor regarded her as a thorn in his side. Even the servants attending her looked at her with pity, as if waiting to collect her body. The long-single Fu Weiwei wiped her face and looked at her own soft, delicate knees, now covered in bruises. Then she turned to the kindly-looking Buddha statue and laughed like a madwoman: To hell with the lone lamp and ancient Buddha! To hell with this hellish start from the start!