The palace matrons all knew that the Empress Dowager had a model maid named Qi Ruoran: gentle and charming, well-read and sensible. She was not only favored by the Empress Dowager, even the most exacting head matron praised her as reliable and considerate.
But no one knew that this young maid had a wildly audacious secret in her heart:
She wanted to become the Crown Princess.
She wanted to rise to the top in one leap.
Qi Ruoran had never thought of herself as greedy.
Her mother was a concubine who had spent her whole life keeping her head bowed, yet was still bullied by others.
So Qi Ruoran would fight. She would bring glory to the Qi family name. She would make sure no one in the world ever dared look down on her and her mother again.
And so she diligently maintained her image as a gentle, virtuous young woman. With a charming face and a quick mind, she finally found an opportunity to make an impression on the Crown Prince.
But in the palace, standing out always draws trouble.
She had barely received a word of praise from the Crown Prince when someone reported that she was hiding silver. If convicted, she would not even live to see another day.
There were always people hoping to see her fall from a great height, land in the mud, and never rise again.
Qi Ruoran rubbed her forehead helplessly.
Come on, did you really think I was a pushover?
When she learned that the maid who shared her room, her sworn enemy, planned to frame her, she turned the tables and lured her into a trap, leaving the woman disgraced and thrown out of the palace.
Unfortunately, all of it was witnessed by the Sixth Prince, Cheng Zhao.
Prince Chun, Cheng Zhao, was a notorious playboy in the capital.
He spent his days chasing cats and teasing dogs, stirring up trouble wherever he went. Any reputable family in the capital would rather take a detour than cross paths with him.
Recently, however, this little demon had found a new source of amusement:
Qi Ruoran, the usually meek maid in his imperial grandmother's palace, was a real little firecracker behind closed doors.
When she pretended to be kind and acted all gentle, he watched with a smile and a cool gaze.
When she played innocent and feigned weakness, he leisurely exposed her act.
In front of others, Qi Ruoran spoke softly and sweetly. The moment she turned away, she wanted to stomp on his shoe, then grit her teeth and say, “Safe travels, Your Highness.”
Watching the young maid rack her brains to spar with him on equal footing, Cheng Zhao found it endlessly entertaining.
He never expected that, the longer he watched this little performance, the more things started to feel wrong.
Qi Ruoran presented the Crown Prince with a family heirloom medicine and earned his praise. Cheng Zhao thought the medicine's origins were suspicious and that the Crown Prince was far too trusting.
Qi Ruoran calmly and secretly detoxified the Crown Prince. Cheng Zhao thought she had ulterior motives and might bring disaster upon herself.
At last, he realized that the young maid had grand plans to become the Crown Princess. With a laugh, he “accidentally” let her fiery, decidedly unvirtuous true nature show.
He never expected the Crown Prince to have made no decision yet, while she had already backed away on her own. But before he could enjoy that for more than a couple of days, he made another discovery. The girl also had a handsome childhood friend, Xiao Jinghe, and whenever she was off duty and allowed out of the palace, she went straight to see him. Hmph. She had no modesty at all. He would have to help his imperial grandmother keep her in line.
The more he saw that Xiao “Pretty Boy,” the less he liked him. Before he knew it, he had muddied the waters of their “secret meetings,” naturally earning Qi Ruoran's icy glare. Their feud only grew deeper.
Until the Empress Dowager issued an edict granting her to Cheng Zhao.
Qi Ruoran stared at the imperial decree and felt as if the sky had fallen.
She could accept not becoming the Crown Princess, but what was she supposed to do spending her whole life with the capital's biggest bully?
She absolutely could not sit around and wait for her fate. All she wanted was to escape the tiger's den.
Watching her look as if she were heading to her doom, Cheng Zhao laughed in exasperation.
How exactly had the honorable Prince Chun wronged her?
As the court weathered one upheaval after another, she gradually realized that the supposedly useless playboy prince in the eyes of the world was never the real Cheng Zhao.
And Cheng Zhao had long since seen through the ambition and schemes she hid from everyone else, but he had never minded.
“There's nothing wrong with wanting wealth and status, or wanting to protect your mother.”
“Ruoran, just keep moving forward.”
“I'll be right here behind you.”
[A scheming maid determined to climb to the top × the Sixth Prince, a devil who plays the pig to eat the tiger]
Theme: Love is like a tornado. Turn around, and the skies are clear.
🤩 The character of the heroine is so exciting! Hahaha, when you see people talking about people and talking about ghosts, you fall off your horse in front of the male protagonist. Hahaha, but you pretend to be flawless in front of the prince. I just like to watch the double-standard female protagonist kill everyone 🧋 🧋