Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty to Compete for Ma Huanghou’s Favor

[Absurd palace intrigue × a reimagining of history × a laugh-out-loud tale of courting disaster] Su Tangyin, a twenty-first-century college student and self-proclaimed expert on palace dramas, wrote her graduation thesis on “Palace Intrigue Strategies in Empresses in the Palace.” She failed every history class. One day, she transmigrates into the past and becomes a newly appointed concubine of Zhu Yuanzhang. Her father once took a blade for the old Zhu and died a hero, so Zhu Yuanzhang pinches his nose and accepts the marriage, giving her the title Consort Chun. Su Tangyin is over the moon. Transmigrating as a concubine? This is the palace-intrigue story I’ve always dreamed of! So she Sends Zhu Yuanzhang “thoughtful little gifts,” just like in Empresses in the Palace. Plays at “sisterly affection” in the harem, just like in Beauty’s Rival in Palace. Uses “playing hard to get,” just like in Story of Yanxi Palace. She even tries to recreate the “Ganlu Temple storyline.” What she doesn’t know is that in the real history of the Ming Dynasty, palace intrigue wasn’t a thing. Empress Ma, a virtuous empress and spiritual leader of the Huai River military faction, is Zhu Yuanzhang’s wife from his days of poverty and is as unshakable as a mountain. And in everyone’s eyes, Su Tangyin is just an idiot. Zhu Yuanzhang plays along with her act. Empress Ma indulges her. The Huai River military officials watch her like a monkey show, while the entire court treats her as a joke to enjoy over tea. Yet she thinks she’s doing great, convinced she already “rules the harem.” Until one day, her ego swells so much that she shouts in court, “Your Majesty! You must depose Empress Ma and make me empress! My father died for you! If you don’t make me empress, you’re an ungrateful traitor!” Zhu Yuanzhang sets down his memorial and looks at the assembled officials. The Huai River military officials silently rise to their feet. Only then does Su Tangyin realize that her father’s old comrades, Feng Sheng, Fu Youde, and Lan Yu, are all there, drawing their swords.