Elegance of Northern Wei: She Came from the World of Archaeology

Thirty years. She rose from palace maid to master artisan.

He called her “Teacher” for his entire life.

The year Shen Zhao transmigrated into the Northern Wei palace as a maid, all she wanted was to survive.

Under Empress Dowager Feng’s watchful eye, beneath the shadow of “a son’s rise means his mother’s death,” and amid assassinations by conservative Xianbei factions

She carved out a path for herself with her archaeological expertise.

Six-year-old Tuoba Hong sneaked into the archives and looked up at her. “Sister, what does this book say?”

She casually pointed out a misplaced bamboo slip. From then on, the boy called her “Teacher.”

Later, he became Emperor Xiaowen, a brilliant ruler who reformed the empire and moved its capital.

Later, he stood outside Luoyang in the rain, hesitating, while she spread out a map and said:

“Thirty years from now, people will be grateful for this rain today.”

Later, he confessed his feelings twice. Both times, she turned him down.

On his deathbed, he held her hand. “Teacher... In our next life, let me meet you sooner.”

She did not cry.

The palace maid who had once hidden in a wall thirty years ago had long since forgotten how to cry.

But she passed an archaeological trowel down to another girl a thousand years in the future.

On the title page, she wrote: If a woman reads this, let her know that a thousand years ago, there was a woman just like you.