The Imperial Consort Plays Dumb to Outsmart Everyone

Synopsis

Lin Xiaoxing, a modern pediatric nurse, is electrocuted while trying to save a child with a high fever. When she opens her eyes, she has become Su Wanxing, the Star Consort of the Great Jing Dynasty. Branded a “stand-in for Consort Chen, the emperor’s beloved,” she has only just awakened on the imperial bed in the Hall of Mental Cultivation when Emperor Xiao Jingyuan envelops her in tender affection. But his favor is a honey-coated blade, with countless pairs of eyes lurking in the harem, watching her like predators.

Noble Consort Hua is domineering and ruthless, targeting her at every turn because she looks so much like Consort Chen. Consort Li is timid and jealous, willingly acting as an accomplice and fanning the flames. Even the dignified Empress is laying her own plans in the shadows. By the koi pond in the imperial garden, a carefully plotted scheme to “push a pregnant consort into the water” sends Lin Xiaoxing from the clouds straight into the Cold Palace.

In dire straits, Lin Xiaoxing refuses to give in. Drawing on her modern knowledge of medicine, she cooks medicinal dishes in discarded clay pots and makes scented sachets. Not only does she improve the miserable conditions in the Cold Palace, but she also earns the trust of the mysterious old eunuch Eunuch Qin. After an unexpected encounter with the upright Imperial Physician Wen, she gains an ally skilled at identifying poisons and medicines.

Outside the Cold Palace, the emperor catches the scent of her specially made calming sachet. He had stopped to remember Consort Chen, but then he catches sight of the burn scar on the back of Lin Xiaoxing’s hand, left behind while she was saving the child. It is a mark Consort Chen never had. The thought “she isn’t a stand-in” explodes in his heart.

When the old eunuch coughs up blood and reveals the shocking secret that “the Empress was involved in Consort Chen’s death,” Lin Xiaoxing finally understands that there is no retreat from survival in the imperial palace. She puts away her naivety, using a nurse’s attention to detail and intelligence to unravel the harem’s schemes while, in her push and pull with the emperor, tearing the “stand-in” label to shreds. In the end, she not only makes a comeback and wins the emperor’s favor again, but also exposes the mastermind and lives as someone who can control her own destiny