Su Wan was simply letting her imagination run wild when a novel-dimension System crashed into her life. The plot of the old-fashioned historical romance world she’s assigned to has drawn complaints from readers, so she must transmigrate into the doomed empress who dies after three episodes and rewrite the terrible script: an emperor who is forever frustrated and a heroine reduced to a mere plot device.
Meet the plot satisfaction target, and a million-yuan bonus is hers for the taking. Even if she fails, she’s guaranteed a tidy hundred thousand. Better yet, once the mission is complete, she can stay or leave, and time in the real world will remain frozen.
Su Wan promptly packs a Guide to Surviving Transmigration and seeds for potatoes and sweet potatoes. When she opens her eyes, she is sitting in a bridal sedan on her way to the imperial palace. The red candle lifts her veil, and she meets the tender gaze of the handsome Emperor Xiao Jingyuan. Her heart skips a beat.
When she learns that he has grand ambitions but is merely a puppet in the Empress Dowager’s hands, Su Wan resolves to help him change his fate. Together, they secretly develop soap, liquor, and colored glass, open hot pot restaurants and hold auctions, amassing a fortune. They sneak out of the palace to buy land and grow grain, ensuring the people have enough to eat. They build academies to recruit talent and train death warriors to strengthen their power.
From joining hands in the palace to seizing power side by side, their love burns hot, and she thinks she is the only light in his life. But when Xiao Jingyuan finally ascends the throne and the people enjoy peace and prosperity, what awaits her is a cup of poisoned wine delivered by his own hand.
The Noble Consort sneers as she frames her, and the emperor watches her with suspicion. Looking at the man who once stood by her through every hardship, she coughs up blood and laughs bitterly. “If only life could remain as it was at our first meeting, why must the autumn wind lament the painted fan?”
When she opens her eyes again, the million-yuan bonus has been deposited. Ten years in the imperial palace were no more than a dream she rewrote, as fleeting as flowers reflected in water and the moon mirrored in a lake.
