I'll Lie Low, and the Great Scholars Can Fight for My Favor

[Advance Preview Available in the Column] After being framed and sent to the Cold Palace, Yu Miaohua unexpectedly awakens the memories of someone who transmigrated and gets bound to a Palace Intrigue System. Palace Intrigue System: Host, don't lose heart! As long as you diligently complete the tasks I assign, you'll soon be punching the Noble Consort and kicking the Empress, on your way to becoming a wise empress! Yu Miaohua: Why bother fighting? Palace intrigue is terrifying. The Cold Palace is wonderful: peaceful surroundings, a villa all to myself, and I can use the System to read novels and comics. It's the homebody life of my dreams. But... [You have completed the task "Make the Emperor fly into a rage for your sake, punish your maternal uncle on your behalf, and confiscate his family fortune and title." Reward: cotton seeds.] [Congratulations on completing the task "Frame the Noble Consort and have her confined for three months." Reward: a cement formula.] [Congratulations on completing the task of going on a date with the Top Scholar. Reward: corn seeds.] Watching the tasks complete one by one on their own, Yu Miaohua turned pale. Something's wrong. How are these palace intrigue tasks completing themselves? Is the Palace Intrigue System bugged? One day, the Emperor suddenly discovered that his consort Yu Miaohua, who had been sent to the Cold Palace, was bound to a Palace Intrigue System. He sneered. A Palace Intrigue System? What kind of evil spirit was this? It had to be sent to a temple to undergo purification. Then he saw the rewards for the Palace Intrigue System's tasks. [Complete the task "Have a chance encounter with the Emperor and clear your name." Reward: Champa rice seeds that yield three harvests a year.] What? Three harvests a year? And drought-resistant? He absolutely had to complete this task! How could this be an evil spirit? It was clearly an auspicious blessing bestowed by his ancestors! With nothing but the welfare of the realm in mind, he diligently helped Yu Miaohua with palace intrigue, only to see a new task. [How can a palace intrigue novel's heroine have no admirers besides the Emperor? Host, look at that Top Scholar! A slim waist and narrow hips, looks slender in clothes and muscular without them. He's clearly your type!] Emperor: ??? Was this asking him to actively give his own consort a chance to cheat on him? Such humiliation, he... Could accept it, actually. That crop could be grown in mountainous regions and yielded four dan per mu! Before long, the Emperor discovered that he wasn't the only one who could see Yu Miaohua's Palace Intrigue System. Even the ministers at court could see it. The Noble Consort's father, a Grand Tutor; the Empress's uncle, a general; the Virtuous Consort's younger brother, a marquis... The entire court was diligently helping Yu Miaohua with palace intrigue. To avoid any suspicion of copying, the premise was generated on March 4, 2024, and the blurb on November 26. I have chat records with several friends to prove it. Thanks to my good friend Zhan Kong for making the cover! This woman has made all my novel covers! Here's a preview of my next novel, just putting it out there. If you're interested, check it out in my column. "Giving My Imperial Exam Cannon Fodder Dad a Virtuous Empress System" (original title: "My Dad Is the Foil in an Imperial Exam Novel") When Tang Li was six, she awakened memories of her past life and realized her family were cannon fodder in a novel. Her second uncle next door, Tang Zheng, was the male lead of an imperial exam novel. Diligent and brilliant, he would become the youngest man in the Great Jin to achieve top honors in all three imperial examinations four years from now, marry a princess, and rise to unmatched prominence. The family would even give him a separate page in the genealogy. Her father, Tang Xun, was his foil: lazy and greedy, using all his wits to swindle spending money from his parents. In the end, he would squander the family fortune, and his whole family would be thrown out and forced to beg, watching as his second uncle returned home in glory with his princess wife. A Virtuous Empress Training System that fell from the sky told her that to change her family's fate, she had to improve herself and become the most accomplished girl for miles around, win the royal family's favor and become Empress, then lead her branch of the family to prosperity. A perfect virtuous empress had to possess talent no less than a top scholar's, and know everything from astronomy to geography. She also had to be an exceptional cook who could win anyone's heart through her cooking. She had to master medicine and be able to bring the dead back to life and restore flesh to bare bones. Tang Li looked at the System's daily schedule of eight hours of study and shivered. Instead of making herself work hard, she might as well make her parents work hard. Tang Li turned around and bound the System to her father. To avoid being struck by lightning, Tang Xun, who had once been lazy and greedy, was forced to get up before dawn to study, learn cooking and medicine, and work himself to the bone. So when her second uncle next door became the provincial graduate, Tang Li's father had already become a county magistrate, leading the people under his rule in fish and mulberry farming and helping them grow wealthy. When her second uncle became the top scholar, Tang Li's father used his cooking to win over the grassland envoys and resolve a century-old feud between the two countries, earning himself the title of Earl. When her second uncle married a princess, Tang Li's father had cured the princess's father of a chronic illness, and the two men had become sworn brothers. When her second uncle was diligently compiling books, Tang Li's father had already become famous throughout the land for improving the spinning wheel and inventing bamboo paper. Living in a grand four-courtyard mansion and wearing the beautiful dresses her father made for her, Tang Li sighed, "As long as my parents work hard enough, their child can get a head start in life." Plan successful.jpg No matter how hard life gets, don't let the children suffer! PS: The original male lead won't be vilified. Theme: No matter what your circumstances, always stay true to yourself.