Shen Nanqiao, the owner of a modern escape room and murder-mystery game business, transmigrates into the palace as an obscure concubine. Watching the imperial consorts fight tooth and nail over a man every day, she finds it all terribly dull.
So she asks the emperor for an abandoned Cold Palace and transforms it into the Great Qing's first “Royal Murder Mystery Experience Hall.”
Her first major immersive game, Nine Princes Vie for the Throne, immediately gets the Fourth Prince hooked.
Once her name spreads, the Empress Dowager becomes obsessed with The Legend of Xiaozhuang, an emotional story game that leaves her sobbing every day. Consort Hua and Zhen Huan clash in rival factions in The Tale of the Ming Dynasty's Inner Palace, finally able to pull each other's hair in a game instead of real life.
Gradually, the consorts realize that playing murder-mystery games is much more fun than fighting for power in the palace.
Shen Nanqiao counts her banknotes as she watches the consorts outside vie to pay her every day, just to play a couple of rounds.
Now this is the life!
