Shen Qingyan transmigrates into the body of a disgraced consort confined to the Cold Palace. In her previous life, she worked herself to death as an art teacher. This time, her only goal is to “stay in the Cold Palace painting and take it easy.” The emperor’s favor and the harem’s intrigues? To her, they’re not worth as much as a charcoal pencil that feels right in her hand.
One day, a man in plain clothes, covered in blood, crashes through the roof of the Cold Palace and lands right on the crabapple painting she has just finished.
“What the heck was that? You scared me!”
“Hey! Wait! I didn’t use that much force!”
“Don’t pass out! You just woke up, so why are you fainting again?!”
Frowning, Shen Qingyan tends to him, mistaking the Emperor of Great Liang for a “down-on-his-luck secret guard.”
When he recovers, she briskly waves him off. “Off you go. Don’t look back, okay? I just want to paint in peace. I don’t want to get mixed up in any trouble.”
What she doesn’t know is that Xiao Jingyuan was born with the ability to read minds. He’s grown tired of hearing the concubines’ schemes, but Shen Qingyan’s wish to “take it easy and enjoy life” catches his attention. This disgraced consort doesn’t want to compete for favor or seek riches. She just wants to stay in the Cold Palace and paint?
He goes along with the “secret guard” identity and sticks by her side. He watches her crouch by the wall to paint koi, and listens to her mutter, “Life is only worth living when you’ve got osmanthus cakes from the imperial kitchen to go with your painting.” Even her thoughts complaining that “sleeping in beats harem intrigue” become the only breath of fresh air in his harem.
One day, the “secret guard” vanishes without a trace. Shen Qingyan doesn’t care in the slightest. She simply returns to the wall to touch up the crabapple painting he ruined.
But just a few days later, a food box appears at the Cold Palace gate, filled with warm osmanthus cakes and milk custard, along with a small pouch of silver. The only thing left behind is an unsigned note: “Thank you for saving my life.”
Shen Qingyan: “That secret guard has some manners. He knows how to repay a favor with food...”
