[Simple, low-stakes political maneuvering + infrastructure; the heroine starts out acting larger than life, then becomes adored by everyone]
[There is a male lead, but he's just a supporting player. The romance develops slowly.]
The System wanted Pei Yue to choose a member of the Great Zhou imperial clan and help him become a wise ruler.
Pei Yue glanced at the list of candidates and felt her vision go dark.
The useless King of Qi, like a version of Liu Shan who couldn't be helped (her biological father).
Her sixth uncle, the King of Chu, had the best martial prowess but the worst brains: Xiang Yu's strength, Lü Bu's character.
Her ninth uncle, the King of Wei, was hopelessly lovesick, switching between a dog and a meddlesome troublemaker in his virtual form.
Her only ambitious uncle, the seventh, King of Wu, had rebelled in two lifetimes and never succeeded once.
The younger generation were all even bigger oddballs. Pei Yue covered her face in despair.
They were impossible to manage. Really, impossible to manage. π_π
With Great Zhou on the verge of collapse, the entire court was still busy swapping out crown princes.
They treated the imperial clan like cabbages at a market, picking and choosing as they pleased.
Once they'd finished with your family, they'd move on to mine.
Only Pei Yue was ignored because she was a woman.
So she decided to go all in, devoting herself to grassroots development on her own: building irrigation works, improving farm tools, promoting agriculture, and more.
Then the emperor's life hung by a thread, the borderlands were in turmoil, and the entire court knelt in supplication.
“Princess, please ascend the throne!”
Pei Yue gazed at the Imperial Jade Seal they had shoved into her hands :)
Oh dear, how did this imperial robe end up on me?
(Fictional setting with many original liberties, so please don't take it too seriously.)
