Shen Linyuan, a small-town exam ace with a master's degree from a top-tier 985 university, spent three years serving a senior leader at work. He honed the ability to read three meanings into a single look and two different instructions into a cough.
When a mudslide struck, he threw himself over his leader to protect him. When he opened his eyes again, he had become a palace selection candidate in the Great Sheng Dynasty.
Even more absurdly, he soon realized that the imperial harem was exactly like his former workplace. The emperor was the top boss, the empress dowager was a senior leader who had retired to the sidelines, the empress was the executive deputy, and the consorts in each palace were department heads. Palace intrigue? Just another form of bureaucratic operation.
While the others fought for favor, he kept the records. While they framed one another, he followed due process. While they formed factions, he managed upward. Before long, everyone in the harem realized that this new selection candidate had an unbelievably unconventional approach. But no one knew that he had only one KPI: he had to become empress to go home.
Yet the higher he climbed, the more he realized something was off. The empress dowager's words and actions were so ahead of their time, she seemed like someone from "the other side." A diary written in simplified Chinese was hidden in the Cold Palace. Prince Jing could decipher the coded phrases from the college entrance exam, and even the emperor's habits when reviewing memorials seemed eerily familiar. He wasn't the only "outsider" in this harem. And the "empress's throne" was not the end at all.
