Zhu Xingyao transmigrates into Zhu Xingyao, a cannon-fodder supporting character in an ongoing historical romance novel.
In the novel, Zhu Xingyao comes from a bandit family. Her stronghold is seized, her father is killed, and on her way to seek out her fiancé, she is ambushed. Her fiancé falls off a cliff while saving her.
Meanwhile, she finds Pei Yangui gravely wounded. After nursing him back to health, she uses her kindness as leverage, forcing him to have a child with her so she can protect her fiancé's estate and avenge her father's death.
When Pei Yangui refuses, she imprisons and cripples him, then drugs him and forces herself on him until she gets pregnant. Zhu Xingyao then keeps the child and abandons the father, leaving Pei Yangui on the mountain to fend for himself.
Later, Pei Yangui returns to the capital, but his disability costs him both his position as heir to the throne and the affections of the novel's heroine. He turns cruel, orders his men to find the culprit, destroys the bandit stronghold, and buries the heavily pregnant Zhu Xingyao alive beneath the hut where she once imprisoned him.
After transmigrating, Zhu Xingyao spends the night coming up with a plan: Pei Yangui doesn't want a child with her, so she won't sleep with him; his leg is disabled, so she'll treat it. As for the original Zhu Xingyao's revenge, she has read the novel, and the fiancé didn't die. All she has to do is find him and bring him back.
So Zhu Xingyao tries to win Pei Yangui's favor while desperately searching for the original Zhu Xingyao's fiancé. But after she successfully marries him, Pei Yangui goes mad.
The gentle, dignified crown prince reveals the cruel, sinister side he only showed after turning evil in the original novel. He imprisons Zhu Xingyao on the mountain, demanding more from her night after night. In a low voice, he calls her by her childhood nickname: “Yangyang, didn't you want to have a child with me?”
The royal elders are heartbroken: “That woman is married. Doesn't the crown prince's conduct make her his mistress?”
After pondering for a long time, Pei Yangui replies slowly, “The one who isn't loved is the mistress.”
