The Courtesan Empress’s Mentor

Su Ci, a chemistry PhD, transmigrates into the body of a courtesan who has been drugged. That very night, she saves herself by inducing vomiting with soapberry water, then slips the drug back into the madam’s cup. While fleeing for her life, she hides in a storeroom and runs into Xiao Zhi, the Seventh Prince, who is badly wounded and on the run. The most unhinged prince in the empire is being hunted by assassins.

“Save me, and I’ll take you out of this hell.” His bloodied fingers close around her wrist.

Su Ci uses a red-hot hairpin to stitch his wound. “I can work with you, but escaping isn’t all I want.”

She makes ice from saltpeter to rake in summer profits, uses acid-base color changes to solve palace intrigues, and treats a plague with allicin, saving tens of thousands. From “demon woman” of the pleasure house to Director of the Bureau of Astronomy, she builds a “special zone” where women can study, hold office, and take part in government, with annual revenues matching those of an entire Jiangnan province.

The powerful accuse her of letting a hen crow at dawn. She fires back in court: “If a woman’s strength can only be locked away in the inner chambers, can you really protect this realm?”

Later, with a hundred thousand enemy troops at the city gates, she climbs the city tower and launches a hot-air balloon. The officials look up as flames blaze across the night sky.

When three men find her amid the ruins, she is drawing plans for a steam engine.

“Xiao Zhi, I’m going to change your empire.”

“Lu Zhao, I’m going to inspect your border defenses.”

“Xie Guanzhi, I’m going to reform your laws.”

“As for which of you I’ll choose?” She looks up with a smile. “I’ll tell you when every woman in this realm can choose for herself.”