The Real Heiress Won't Take Any Abuse! She Rises Step by Step, Taking Charge of the Household and the Palace

[Strong female lead + real and fake heiresses + from household intrigue to palace intrigue + a coming-of-age story, but with a heroine who always sees things clearly] Li Daya struggles through childhood in a remote mountain village and is eight years old before learning she is the eldest daughter of the Minister’s household. Seeing her ragged clothes and bare walls, she bursts into tears of joy: at last, she’ll be able to eat her fill. But when she returns home, her birth mother greets her with a stony face, disgusted by her uncouth manners. The servants say she can’t compare to the girl who was mistakenly brought up as their daughter. Her birth father and brothers want to keep the family peaceful and tell her to be obedient and accept her fake sister. Not one of them truly welcomes her; they treat her as though she were something filthy. Li Daya grew up trading barbs with a gaggle of sharp-tongued women in the countryside, and she has no patience for this. She slams her chopsticks down in front of her birth mother. So what if her manners are crude? No one taught her, so why blame her? If someone had taught her, she would be even better than that fake darling. If you can’t stand me, I can’t stand you either. You lost me and let me suffer, and now you think you’re in the right?! Having endured hardship and witnessed the fickleness of human nature in the countryside, Li Daya knows better than anyone that having a father and mother is no substitute for standing on your own. No one gets to make her suffer. If she goes hungry and gets mistreated, then the whole family can suffer along with her! Empress Shengde’s life: take responsibility for your gains and losses, and never regret a move once made. But when people wrong you, you have to give as good as you get! Not reborn, not transmigrated, and no golden finger.