The Legitimate Daughter Huanxue: Toppling the Eastern Palace

Jiang Chaoxue, the eldest legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Changning, is outmaneuvered by her stepmother, Madam Li, and forced into a different betrothal. She falls into the water and dies with hatred in her heart. A thousand years later, an actress transmigrates into Jiang Chaoxue's body. Seeing through every plot against her, she takes the opportunity to marry into the Duke of Zhenguo's household and wed its legitimate son, who has spent years biding his time. Xue Minghao has endured fifteen years of slow-acting Cold Marrow poison at the hands of his stepmother, Madam Zhou. While silently making plans, the two recognize a kindred spirit in each other at first sight and form an alliance to live or die together.

The couple first expose Madam Li and Jiang Mingyuan's plot to switch the betrothal, then uncover secret accounts showing the Crown Prince embezzled the imperial treasury and secretly built up an elite army, with an orphan of the Zheng family serving as a witness. Following the leads, they dig into several connected schemes: a private army estate in Suzhou, corruption at Jiangnan banks, and a deficit in the Imperial Household Department. They strike a careful balance with the calculating Second Prince, Xue Jin. Along the way, they thwart repeated assassinations and malicious frame-ups, and obtain crucial evidence, including a witness to Madam Zhou's adultery, the Crown Prince's chief accountant, and the official in charge of the bank corruption.

With all the evidence laid out in the imperial court, the Crown Prince's treason is exposed and he is confined for life. The poison-hearted Madam Zhou and a host of corrupt officials are brought to justice. Jiang Chaoxue reclaims her birth mother's business, the Lanruo Cloth Shop, and establishes her own Chunxue Silk Shop, making her way through trade. Xue Minghao purges the inner household and takes sole control of the duke's estate and the vital canal transport network. The marquis's household members who once harmed them, along with the Crown Prince's faction, no longer have any chance to strike back.

With the turmoil at court over, the two leave political maneuvering behind. They tend to their shops and canal transport business, raise their twins, Xue An and Xue Ran, and keep a white cat that can deliver messages at Huaxue Courtyard. The perilous game of political intrigue has reached its end. From now on, all they have is the warmth of everyday life through the seasons, and year after year of peaceful days.