A Lone Girl in Southern Liang: The Archaeology PhD Who Passed Herself Off as a Xie Daughter

Transmigration, historical period drama, household intrigue and political machinations, strong female lead, noblewoman, satisfying face-slapping, clever characters, archaeologist heroine, court politics, identity reversal, powerful allies

When she wakes in a pile of straw inside a ruined temple, she is clutching a jade hairpin engraved with the words “Xie family.”

It belongs to the Chenjun Xie clan, the foremost aristocratic family in Jiangzuo. Five years ago, the family was nearly wiped out, and rumor has it that only one young daughter, lost from her family, survived.

“I am Xie Yun,” she says.

From that moment on, the impoverished orphan Su Minzhi is dead. The survivor is the last descendant of the Xie family's Seventh Branch.

Some want her dead. The wives of four Xie family branches join forces to ostracize her, claiming she is an impostor.

Some want her married off. The Prince of Badong confesses his feelings three times, and she rejects him all three.

Some want her convicted. The head of the Langya Wang clan personally conducts a paternity test, determined to expose her as a fraud.

She isn't afraid.

At a classics debate, she stuns everyone with her knowledge of correcting textual errors and Han bamboo slips.

At a gathering of scholars, she takes on ten opponents at once and refutes the most renowned intellectuals of her age.

At a flower-viewing banquet, she composes poetry on the spot and appraises an ancient qin, leaving the noblewomen speechless.

She gives herself three years to return the Xie family to the pinnacle of the aristocracy.

Some call her a monster; others, a sage.

Only she knows the truth:

She is no last surviving daughter of the Xie family.

She is merely a transmigrated PhD in archaeology.

But who says an impostor can't become a legend?

An archaeologist posing as a noblewoman × aristocratic face-slapping × political machinations × romantic showdown

“Give me three years, and I will make the Xie family the foremost clan of the age.”