From the top of a skyscraper to the heights of the Forbidden City, her life story is torn to shreds and rewritten from scratch.
Ling Jiayi, a modern heiress from a wealthy family, sees her family go bankrupt overnight and learns the cruelty of the world. She leaps from a tall building, determined to end it all, but death never comes. When she opens her eyes again, she discovers that her soul has transmigrated to the Ming dynasty during the Yongle era, into the body of Su Jiayi, a condemned slave in the Laundry Bureau who is barely clinging to life.
The imperial palace is a sea of dangers, with deadly traps at every turn. Though she has nothing, she discovers that her greatest weapons are her modern perspective and knowledge, along with a heart that has already seen through the coldness of human nature. She conceals her astonishing intelligence beneath an innocent, carefree facade, playing the pig to eat the tiger as she struggles to survive in this ruthless palace.
A small invention gives her a chance to change her dreary life;
A few words spoken in a “dream” let her narrowly escape a vicious scheme;
One “accidental” act quietly draws the attention of the supreme, unfathomable emperor...
But the longer she wears the mask of a sweet, naive girl, the more restless her true self becomes. As the emperor’s favor grows and power falls into her hands, the disguise she once wore gradually becomes a heavy shackle. Sincerity and scheming, true affection and self-interest, become hopelessly entangled within this gilded cage.
Can she use her wits and lies to carve out a bloody path to the pinnacle of power in the turbulent Ming imperial harem? When her mask is finally torn away, will she face utter ruin, or... become the mother of the empire?
A desperate comeback across time and space, and a palace saga torn between lies and sincerity, is about to unfold...
Not much to say, engaging and enjoyable to read. Character witty