She died horribly in the Cold Palace, then was reborn with a heaven-defying pocket dimension. This time, she would claim both the phoenix throne and the empire!
Shen Qingci was a virtuous empress in her previous life, yet the man she loved ordered her death, and she died full of resentment in the Cold Palace. When she opened her eyes again, she had returned to age sixteen, on the night before she was to enter the palace for the selection.
In this life, kindness would no longer be all she had. The “Light-Reversing Mirror” she carried with her quietly awakened: a spirit spring to nourish her body, sacred soil to grow medicine, and a secret cabinet filled with treasures. It could even reveal fragments of the past, exposing the palace’s hidden secrets!
On the night of the selection, she precisely saved a future powerful eunuch. While avoiding the Emperor’s favor, she deftly foiled a string of deadly schemes. When everyone looked down on her low rank, she used an extraordinary orchid from her pocket dimension to catch the Emperor’s eye, going from a mere “flower admirer” to the one and only “kindred spirit” in his heart.
The Noble Consort is arrogant? The Mirror Lake reflects the truth and makes you confess your crimes! The Virtuous Consort is a hypocrite? A veil of mist drifts in, and you destroy the evidence with your own hands! Her family is framed? The mirror shows it all in real time, and she has already laid a net from which there is no escape!
She calmly navigates the schemes of the consorts and the storms of court, rising from the lowest-ranking palace attendant to mistress of the inner court. She offers a prescription to save the people from a plague and earns merit that steadies the court. At last, her enemies are vanquished and all is settled.
Beside the imperial bed, the Emperor’s fingertips brush her eyelashes. His voice low and husky, he says, “Qingci, sometimes your eyes seem to have seen a hundred years pass.”
Shen Qingci nestles into his arms, the ancient mirror in her sleeve warm to the touch. She knows how suspicious he is, and she knows how lonely he feels.
“Your Majesty,” she says with a soft laugh, the vast empire reflected in her eyes, “in this life, I wish to be your mirror: exposing demons and monsters, and reflecting the galaxy above.”
[Reading Guide]
1. A powerful couple and a battle of wits: The heroine is no naive innocent reborn, and the Emperor is no lovesick fool. Their clash of formidable minds is packed with tension.
2. Clever uses of the pocket dimension: This is not simply about farming, but focuses on gathering intelligence and scheming
