Setting
The Great Sheng Dynasty has stood for a hundred years since its founding, ruled by the Xiao imperial clan. Emperor Xiao Jingheng is twenty-five and has been on the throne for eight years. His harem is full, but he has few heirs. The court is divided among three powers: the emperor’s in-laws, the great clans, and families of humble origins.
The Female Lead’s Golden Finger
The female lead, Shen Jinghong, returns reborn with three powerful advantages:
1. Memories of her past life: she knows all the major events and the fates of key figures over the next ten years.
2. Mastery of medicine and poison: she studied under the late “Ghost Physician,” Xie Wuyi. Her medical skill can bring the dead back to life, while her poisons kill without a trace.
3. A mysterious space: the “Medicine King’s Valley,” a space she can enter with her mind, containing a spirit spring, rare medicinal herbs, and martial arts manuals.
[Character Profiles]
Female lead: Shen Jinghong (Shen clan, Jinghong)
- Past life: An illegitimate daughter of the Marquis of the North. She entered the palace as a talented lady because she looked like the late empress. The empress grew wary of her, had her framed and disfigured, and sent her to the cold palace. In the end, she was made into a human swine and forced to watch her entire family be executed.
- This life: Reborn three months before the selection ceremony at age sixteen, she undergoes a complete transformation, changing from gentle and repressed to bold and vengeful, holding grudges over even the slightest offense.
- Character tags: black lotus, sharp-minded, hidden martial prowess, queen of verbal takedowns, fiercely protective
Male lead: Xiao Jingheng (Emperor Sheng)
- On the surface: A stern, inscrutable tyrant with a volatile temper, his heart closed off by the death of the late empress.
- In truth: A lovesick man afflicted by the “Heartless Gu.” There is more to the late empress’s death than meets the eye.
- Relationship with the female lead: At first, he takes an interest in her because of her looks. He is later drawn to her personality and eventually becomes her greatest ally in her revenge.
Main antagonists
Character Identity Grudge against the female lead Promised fate
Jiang Yurong Empress Mastermind in her past life, responsible for the female lead’s family being wiped out Abandoned by everyone
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