You Were Supposed to Rule from Behind the Curtain, Not Make Those Old Foxes Cry

The day Shen Ciyuan transmigrates into the empress dowager's body, her sixteen-year-old son is kneeling outside the hall, demanding that she hand over the imperial seal.

She doesn't cry or make a scene. She simply places the empire in the young man's arms. “Review the memorials yourself, feed the disaster victims yourself. Good luck ruling on your own.”

Ding! [Main Quest: Take Back Your Voice in the Harem!]

Quest One: Rescue her eight-year-old daughter from those who have led her astray, and help the little princess understand that her mother is not her enemy.

Quest Two: Uncover the spies hidden in Fengyi Palace and find out why the young emperor is even trying to buy off his mother's personal maids.

Quest Three: Investigate the Tianbao Bank, the Hidden Dragon Guards, and the token that vanished from the ledgers, all legacies of the late emperor.

She wins back a maid's loyalty with a Loyalty Pill, secures the sharpest covert guards for a hundred thousand taels, and teaches her own son how to hold on to the throne with a disaster-relief banquet.

Xiao Jingzhao asks, eyes red, “Why are you still willing to help me, Mother?”

Shen Ciyuan replies coolly, “I am saving the people, not you, you ungrateful wretch.”

Then the swordsman Chu Xingzhou, who once tried to stab her to death, climbs in through her window again. “I'll investigate the grain scandal in the north and serve you for a year.”

She thinks all she needs to do is contend with the Noble Consort, rein in the great clans, and raise the children. Instead, she discovers that the late emperor's old followers, the Prince of Virtue's death squad, and the secret Ning Jiuwei has guarded for years are all connected to the original owner's death.

And the young emperor who keeps opposing her seems at last to realize that what he has lost is far more than his mother's power and favor.