Scheming Palace-Intrigue Stories With a Reborn Heroine Who Starts Plotting Before the Selection 宫斗文，女主重生，选秀前就开始谋划的，有心机

1. 251 重 Reborn: I Became Crown Princess by Stepping on His Moonlight 重生后，踩着白月光成了太子妃 Tian Nanxing Nan天南星南Ancient Romance239k WordsCompleted In her previous life, the empress harmed the entire Xie family for her own selfish desires, sentencing them all to execution. Only Xie Shuhua managed to escape by sheer luck. To get revenge, Xie Shuhua entered the palace as a maid. She spent fifteen years navigating its treacherous waters before finally killing the empress herself and avenging her family. She, too, was pierced by a thousand arrows. When she opened her eyes again, Xie Shuhua discovered that she had returned to the age of sixteen, 2.8kReads8.6Score27914d adds

   Reader note

   This is highly recommended!!! The female lead is very clear about her goals. Reborn, she only wants to reach the highest position and seek revenge. She won't fall in love with the emperor; she'll only cater to him and avenge her enemies. In her previous life, her family was destroyed, and she spent many years in the palace as a lowly maid, ultimately seeking revenge. Reborn, she only wants to seize the position she values ​​most.

2. 252 蛇 The Viperous Favorite Consort: Scheming Her Way to Rule as Empress Dowager 蛇蝎宠妃心机深，垂帘听政做太后 It's Xinxin是欣欣呦Ancient Romance497k WordsCompleted [Content warning! The female lead is a wholly evil villain, cruel and scheming, and will stop at nothing to climb to the top.] “[Don't randomly bring up women competing against women. This is a palace-intrigue story!! The harem is a workplace, and the imperial consorts are all rivals!]” Bu Xingruo was the most favored consort in the palace. In her previous life, she let the Emperor's favor go to her head, throwing her weight around and acting arrogantly in the harem. Lost in the Emperor's fleeti 658Reads8.6Score10014d adds

   Reader note

   She was extremely cunning, vengeful, and ruthless to herself; she took sterilization medication herself and raised another man's child while serving as regent empress dowager.

3. 253 听 Rumor Has It the Noble Consort Alone Enjoys the Emperor's Favor in the Deep Palace 听说贵妃在深宫独得圣上恩宠 Que Ling Yan Zi雀翎宴子Ancient Romance568k WordsCompleted When they were young and love stirred in his heart, he took her in. Once he held power, he had no choice but to hide her away. In the lonely inner palace, she waited quietly, day after day and year after year. For power and status, he feared nothing. He overcame every obstacle and held her close. Behind layer upon layer of palace gates and red walls, a dream within a dream awakened the lovers from their reverie. 8.5kReads9.0Score55514d adds

   Reader note

   Both the male and female leads are very reserved. To protect the female lead from being discovered by the other concubines, the male lead keeps their meetings and displays of affection hidden, only revealing them publicly when the time is right, thus bestowing glory upon the female lead.

4. 254 摘 Plucking the Crabapple Blossom 摘棠 Sleeping in a Boat at Night, Listening to Rain晚舟听雨眠Ancient Romance482k WordsOngoing A composed, chaste common-born war god x a free-spirited, wanton heiress from a military family. After the Shen family is wiped out, Shen Tangsheng is reborn, returning to the age of fifteen. To stand against the rival who will one day wield power over everything, she thinks of Wei Zhuo, whose future will be boundlessly bright. The borderlands are swept by endless sandstorms; beneath their feet lies the desert, and with a raised hand they can almost touch the dusk. She reaches out to Wei Zhuo, s 40Reads9.1Score—14d adds

   Reader note

   Highly recommended! For discerning readers, this is a great read—deep, not simplistic, not overly sentimental, and logically sound.

5. 255 吃 Unable to Take the Hardship of Rural Life, I Go Home to Find a Match and Marry an Army Officer 吃不了下乡的苦，回家相亲嫁军官 Feathers of the Swan鸿渐之羽Modern Romance466k WordsCompleted Shu Yun spent more than twenty years pinching every penny. She finally got a huge payout when her hometown was demolished, but before she could spend a cent, she drowned and died. Even her rotten luck seems to come with a touch of good fortune. She died, but not completely. Her soul returned in another body, and she transmigrated! Now she's a pitiful, unlucky girl with parents who died in an accident and wolves circling, eager to prey on her! When her aunt suggests an arranged marriage, Shu Yun 882Reads7.4Score10814d adds

   Reader note

   These books are all incredibly imaginative; don't miss them, you're guaranteed to love them at first sight.

6. 256 大 Gossiping in the Compound Is So Much Fun 大院吃瓜真香了 Ling Ling Zi苓菱子Modern Romance1.3M WordsCompleted Lin Qing had a terrifying dream. In it, she was a frail young aunt whose niece, born the same year, had stolen her engagement. Afraid Lin Qing would try to reclaim the match, the niece flaunted the man she'd stolen in front of her every day, until Lin Qing was finally angered to death. Lin Qing jolted awake in fright. What kind of vicious dream was that? If the niece wanted the man, she could have him. Why did she have to anger Lin Qing to death, too? Just when Lin Qing thought it had all been a 13.9kReads8.1Score1k14d adds
7. 257 六 Busy Solving Cases in the 1960s: Please Advise, Commander 六零探案忙，长官请多指教 A Fu阿芙Modern Romance558k WordsCompleted [Period setting + doesn’t go to the countryside + spirit spring + pocket dimension] Her mother had been dead for only a month when her father remarried, leaving her in the countryside for over a decade without a word. Luckily, her grandmother doted on her, so she lived a pretty happy life. One day, her bargain-bin father called her to the capital. There, she unexpectedly learned that she had transmigrated into a book. She became the heroine’s bargain-bin older sister, and the heroine was about t 649Reads6.9Score10714d adds
8. 258 七 The 1970s Stepmom: Raising Kids and Keeping Her Husband in Line 七零后妈，养娃御夫有一手 Moonlit Journey月途Modern Romance1.0M WordsCompleted After dying of an illness, Yu Hui woke up to find herself in 1978, in the body of a young stepmother who shared her name! She had just been branded the most evil stepmother in the compound. In an era of relative scarcity, before the economy had fully opened up, she had no steady job, but decided to keep playing the stepmother for now. Her stepson was too unruly? She would set him straight. Her husband was too easily swayed, handing over belongings and money whenever his former in-laws came aroun 6.8kReads8.4Score95614d adds
9. 259 娇 The Lovely Graduate Student and Her Powerful Man 娇美研究生和她的大佬 San Ji Ji三鸡叽Modern Romance244k WordsCompleted [Older man and younger woman, seven-year age gap] [Fair-skinned, beautiful graduate student x handsome venture-capital CEO] Jiang Wanning is a cherished only child who moves alone to a neighboring province to pursue her graduate studies. Beautiful and sweet-tempered, she can seem as innocent as a little rabbit, but she is smart and firmly stands by her principles. Ji Mingyi is approaching thirty. Though born into a powerful family, he founded a venture-capital firm on Wall Street through his own 618Reads8.7Score10014d adds
10. 260 帝 The Emperor's Favorite: Reborn, I Fight My Way Through the Palace to Become Empress 帝心宠，重生娘娘一路宫斗夺后位 Must-Read必看Ancient Romance891k WordsCompleted [Palace intrigue only + Not mutually chaste + Clear-headed heroine who pretends to be weak + Devoted hero] In her previous life, after her flesh had been carved away and her eyes gouged out, one man came for her through a river of blood and overthrew the dynasty to avenge her. Reborn, she did everything she could to get by his side. By then, he had become the supreme emperor, while she was just a low-ranking consort. She pretended to be a little white rabbit to avoid the palace’s bloody intrigue 243Reads—Score—14d adds

    Reader note

    Rebirth in a Palace Intrigue

11. 261 后 The Virtuous Consort's Tale: A Palace Lady's Growth Plan 后宫贤妃传之娘娘成长计划 Spring Mountain Knows Nothing of Spring春山不知春Ancient Romance87k WordsCompleted [Female Lead's Growth] + [The Emperor's Heartlessness] The imperial harem was a place that devoured people. Fucha Huixin had always known that. An orphaned girl entered the palace in her elder sister's place, facing a hypocritical and fickle emperor, a domineering empress who tolerated no rivals, the Noble Consort, and the covetous stares of the other consorts... Unexpected events came one after another. Could she hold on to who she was? Read on as this young woman grows step by step into the Vi 4Reads—Score—14d adds

    Reader note

    The female lead will grow.

12. 262 红 Dream of the Red Chamber: Wang Xifeng Reborn 红楼梦：王熙凤重生 Cat Writes Fiction猫猫写文Female-Channel Fanfiction410k WordsCompleted [Family Intrigue + Feel-Good Power Fantasy + Reborn + Fanfiction] Waking from a deep sleep, Wang Xifeng discovered that she had been reborn. A flood of jumbled, rambling memories surged into her mind. She painfully recalled how she had fallen gravely ill and died after her husband divorced her. As her spirit drifted away, she saw that her only daughter, Qiaojie, had also been sold off by her heartless brother, Wang Ren. At the thought, a terrifying, murderous glint flashed in Wang Xifeng’s 1.8kReads8.9Score18114d adds

    Reader note

    It's really good. The first book is finished, and the fourth one is even better. The female lead pretends to be weak while actually being strong, and she's incredibly clear-headed.

13. 263 综 Film and TV Crossover: Starting Over 综影视：重新来过 I Just Won't Eat Garland Chrysanthemum就不爱吃茼蒿Female-Channel Fanfiction351k WordsCompleted If the supporting actresses who met tragic ends were given a chance to start over, what kind of lives would they lead? Volume One: An Lingrong from the Original Story An Lingrong returns to the year she was five and decides to kick An Bihuai to the curb and find herself a new father. (The story will incorporate elements from the TV drama. Zhen Huan won't be vilified, and the heroine isn't a saint.) This story combines Empresses in the Palace and Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace. 1.1kReads7.2Score10114d adds
14. 264 假 The Fake Young Master Was Sent Back to the Countryside, Where He Turned His Life Around with His Wife and Children 假少爷被赶回农村带妻儿逆袭人生 Beautiful Spring Day春光明媚Urban1.8M WordsCompleted When Xie Zhao opened his eyes, he was back in 1983. That year, the richest family in Huxian County, the Chen family, found their real son and sent the impostor, Xie Zhao, back to Shishui Village. He couldn’t believe that the parents who had once treasured him like their own flesh and blood no longer wanted him. Had all the love they’d shown him over eighteen years been a lie? He went to ask them, but they wept and cursed him as a curse upon the family. They said he had made their biological son 19.9kReads9.0Score1.9k14d adds
15. 265 快 Quick Transmigration: The Tragic Endings of a Cannon Fodder Side Character 快穿：炮灰女配be之旅 Black Hair, White Snow青丝白雪Ancient Romance1.1M WordsOngoing [Fake death + angst + bad ending + conquest + regretful pursuit + heroine never falls in love + different character settings for the heroine in each world + male leads die in every world] Jialuo, a cannon-fodder villainess, awakens to her own consciousness, binds herself to a System, and travels through fictional worlds to turn the tables on her fate. At first, the villainess is just a test of the protagonists’ love, hated by everyone around her. After Jialuo arrives, she becomes the heroine the 3.1kReads8.6Score21114d adds
16. 266 演 I Played the Emperor My Whole Life, and After Being Reborn, He Still Wants the Crown Prince 演了皇上一辈子，重生他还要太子 One Little Sweet Fish一口小甜鱼Ancient Romance1.2M WordsCompleted Original title: Only After His Death Did He Learn That the Empress Did Not Want to Be Buried With Him [The heroine transmigrates, the hero is reborn] As he lay dying, Emperor Tianhe looked back on his eventful life. He had risen from humble beginnings to become the founding emperor, and the world praised his achievements. In his fading consciousness, he saw his virtuous empress, his beautiful consorts, and his weeping children. He felt that his life had been complete. But after he died, his soul 31.6kReads8.9Score2.3k14d adds
17. 267 为 The Professional Ethics of a Concubine 为妾的职业操守 Lin Wanzi林丸子Ancient Romance1.4M WordsCompleted [Main Story Complete] Ye Qingzhi, an overworked office drone, transmigrates into the body of a concubine in the Jiangyang Marquis’s household. Since she’s here, she might as well go crazy. Being a concubine is just changing workplaces. She doesn’t need to get emotionally involved. She can simply treat herself like a tool. Ye Qingzhi’s career goal: convince both the marquis and the principal wife to take responsibility for her and protect her. Ye Qingzhi’s workplace motto: Life is short. We’re al 31.5kReads9.4Score3.7k14d adds
18. 268 综 Film and TV Crossover: I Dwell in Spring Mountain 综影视：我栖春山 Chunzhi Mu春枝暮Female-Channel Fanfiction1.6M WordsCompleted [Stunning heroine + protagonist's halo + Mary Sue + sweet romance + exclusive devotion + love at first sight + lovesick male lead + one-on-one] 1. Empresses in the Palace (original novel), pairing: Xuan Ling (completed) [The person before my eyes is the one in my heart] 2. Palace Lock Heart Jade, pairing: Kangxi (completed) [Question the Emperor, understand the Emperor, surpass the Emperor. At last, the First Prince of the Great Qing has arrived, though late.] 3. Custom commission: Liu Che (in 43.2kReads9.3Score1.7k14d adds
19. 269 宜 Yi Xiu Reborn: I Became the One He Could Never Forget 宜修重生：当我成了白月光 An Tangtang007安棠棠007Female-Channel Fanfiction1.1M WordsCompleted [Qing dynasty + palace intrigue + reborn + revenge + brainless wish fulfillment + a touch of sweet romance] Also known as: Reborn Yixiu: My Love, You Were Born to Be Loved; Yixiu Reborn: You Were Born to Be Loved; Yixiu Reborn: When I Became the White Moonlight Yixiu is reborn, back to the days before she entered the prince’s household. In this life, she will become Yin Zhen’s rightful primary wife, trample Ruoze underfoot, and beat Zhen Huan to a pulp! She will protect Honghui and become the ri 7.1kReads9.0Score69514d adds
20. 270 重 Reborn as the Dog Emperor’s Beloved Harem Favorite 重生成为狗皇帝的后宫团宠 The Fathead Carp Doesn't Eat Spicy Food胖头鱼不吃辣Ancient Romance1.3M WordsCompleted In her previous life, Cheng Muxian spent her days fighting in the imperial harem for the sake of her family. At last, in the fourth year after she became Empress Dowager, she passed away. As she lay dying, Cheng Muxian suddenly understood. “All worldly splendor is nothing but a fleeting cloud.” So, after she was reborn When the awful man, no, the awful emperor, Lu Youbai, proposed to her, she decisively, no, timidly, accepted. Lu Youbai: Refuse, and you’ll be beheaded! Cheng Muxian: I accept! I 177Reads8.0Score—14d adds

    Reader note

    It's a really good show, and it's already finished, so you can watch it all at once.

21. 271 神 The Divine Doctor's Daughter 神医嫡女 Yang Shiliu杨十六Ancient Romance4.0M WordsCompleted Feng Yuheng, a renowned physician skilled in both Chinese and Western medicine in the 21st century and a senior military doctor in the ground forces, transmigrates with a bang into the body of the Feng family's legitimate daughter in the Great Shun Dynasty. Unfortunately, her father doesn't care for her, her grandmother doesn't love her, her mother is timid, her younger brother is still a child, and her sisters are each more vicious than the last. Reborn in a new life, she absolutely refuses to 27.2kReads9.3Score4.4k14d adds
22. 272 奉 After I Was Ordered to Protect His Beloved, She Rose to the Top 奉命保护白月光后，她一路高升 Watch the South, Ask the Boat观南问舟Ancient Romance408k WordsCompleted (Nobody’s reading this, so the rating is low) [Beautiful, Clever Young Concubine VS Emperor Who Falls for Her at First Sight] [Palace Intrigue + Starts at the Bottom and Climbs Up + Emperor Slowly Falls for Her] The first time Shu Juexia sees the emperor after entering the palace, she makes a deal with him. Yu Zhaoheng gives her power and status, and she protects his beloved from the rest of the harem. It’s a perfectly fair bargain. She knows exactly what she wants and is happy to fight her way 1.1kReads8.2Score15214d adds

    Reader note

    It's good, but it's still being serialized.

23. 273 逼 You Forced Me to Disfigure Myself? Then Watch Me Become Empress! 逼我毁容？母仪天下给你看！ Jiang Wu姜邬Ancient Romance244k WordsCompleted [Reborn for Revenge + Household and Palace Intrigue + The Men Aren’t Chaste, the Women Are + Instantly the Sole Favorite + Black-Hearted Heroine + Brain-Off Power Fantasy] In her previous life, Jiang Rou was the most beautiful courtesan at Yichun House. With her delicate, soft features and naturally seductive body, she drove every man wild. Yet she devoted herself entirely to helping Shangguan Duanru win favor. In the end, Shangguan Duanru slashed her face and threw her in with the beggars. Less 401Reads6.0Score—14d adds

    Reader note

    In this book, the female protagonist, after being reborn, meticulously plots to get close to the male protagonist, win his love, and then uses his power and status to deal with the vicious female supporting character.

24. 274 两 Two Lives of Joy: The Duke's Legitimate Daughter Is Truly Unrestrained 两世欢：公府嫡女她是真的狂 Dancing Sunflower跳舞的向日葵Ancient Romance667k WordsCompleted (Rebirth power fantasy + married across two lifetimes + palace and household intrigue + political machinations) Ye Liujin once thought she was the happiest young lady in Shengjing. Her aunt was just one step away from becoming empress. Her elder brother was the illustrious Duke of Shanguo, commanding an army of two hundred thousand, while her elder sister was a brave and battle-hardened warrior admired by all, both in court and beyond. She herself had been betrothed in infancy to the Third Princ 17.7kReads9.0Score4.6k14d adds

    Reader note

    The female protagonist is reborn and possesses both courage and wisdom.

25. 275 穿 Reborn as a Horrible Old Woman: You Want to Split Up the Family? Fine! 穿成极品老太婆，想分家？分呗！ Anji Little Monster安吉小怪物Modern Romance344k WordsCompleted Transmigration + period setting + Taobao + personal space + transmigrate into a book After Li Qiuyan learned she had brain cancer, she lost hope and ran into the road to get herself hit by a car. After dying, she somehow got her hands on a black-clad underworld messenger’s phone. She tapped around on it and entered the cycle of reincarnation, then transmigrated into a period novel set in 1983. When she woke up, she discovered she had become an old woman. She had been in her late twenties, and no 8.3kReads9.0Score72714d adds

    Reader note

    Transmigrating into a book and becoming a mother without pain, and a truly exceptional one at that! She already has three sons, and countless grandchildren—not even a daughter left! This... This... Thankfully, I have a spatial ability and Taobao, otherwise I'd die on the spot. Wait, the third child's family is the female lead, and she even has her own spatial ability, and everyone's from her hometown. Why is she seventeen or eighteen when she transmigrated, while I'm only fifty? That's so unfair...

Other lists with Reborn: I Became Crown Princess by Stepping on His Moonlight