Lose Weight, and the World Is Mine

The night she was forced into marriage, the System said one thing:

“Five years. Seventy pounds. Eighteen chances. Every ‘Ding!’ was earned through your desperate efforts. Miss one, and all your progress is lost. Your enemies won’t give you a second chance.”

She remembered.

At the consort-selection banquet, the Crown Princess set her up to humiliate her in public. “Ding! Superb musical talent.” One performance made her a legend.

In the Eastern Palace, the Crown Princess accused her of theft. “Ding! Peerless calligraphy.” One letter of appeal brought the Crown Prince to tears.

The Crown Prince died in battle, and the Second Prince seized the throne by force. The entire court waited to see how she would die. “Ding! Exceptional martial skills.” “Ding! Master strategist.” “Ding! Insight into the human heart.” “Ding! Foresight.”

Five “Ding!”s, five times she crawled out of a heap of corpses.

The Second Prince knelt in court, unable to believe he had lost to a chubby girl who sold silk.

She looked down at him and said softly,

“You have no idea what I had to trade to lose seventy pounds.”