The Noble Consort Is Truly a Salted Fish

[Tentative synopsis. I'll revise it when I start writing, but the basic idea won't change.]

Delicate, soft-bodied, lazy consort x cruel, bloodthirsty, possessive, sinister tyrant

[Synopsis]

One moment, Zhou Yunqu successfully quit her 996 job. The next, she had transmigrated.

This was a completely unfamiliar dynasty, and it wasn't from any web novel she'd ever read.

Zhou Yunqu didn't dare act rashly. She pretended to be ill for two days, until she'd fully absorbed the original owner's memories.

The original owner had taken her own life by jumping into a lake because she couldn't bear being forced into marriage.

*

But what the original owner saw as hell seemed like heaven to Zhou Yunqu.

When people from the palace came again, she pretended to be obedient and agreed. From then on, she was carried into the palace in a small sedan chair, becoming a newly minted Talented Lady.

The original owner's father, a great general, frowned as he watched her being taken away. When the edict conferring her title arrived, he grabbed his sword and charged into the palace, securing for her... the title of Beauty, a promotion of just one rank.

*

The ruler of Qin wasn't a wise monarch.

He didn't attend court, read memorials, or seek the company of his consorts. His only hobby was killing people.

The Hongyuan Hall saw more bodies coming and going each day than anything else.

But Zhou Yunqu wasn't afraid at all.

The Empress Dowager had ordered her into the palace, and the emperor didn't even see her as a person. Actually, he didn't see women as people, or the living, for that matter.

Besides, the emperor was her father's senior fellow disciple. Even if she made a spectacle of herself right in front of him, she could probably walk away unscathed. That was what her title as a Beauty had taught her.

So all she had to do was laze around in the palace, becoming the laziest fish in the pond. Just look at this wonderful retirement life! She'd been looking forward to it for years!

*

On her first day in the palace, Zhou Yunqu was promoted from Talented Lady to Beauty.

On her ninth day, one remark from the emperor sent her straight from Beauty to Noble Consort.

Zhou Yunqu was frightened for a moment. But she soon realized that becoming a Noble Consort seemed to make it even easier to laze about...

*

The noblewomen of Qin tended to marry young because they were all afraid the emperor might take a fancy to them and summon them to the palace as consorts.

Later, the palace gained a Noble Consort who was deeply favored by the emperor, and he even started killing fewer people.

At first, everyone wondered how long the Noble Consort could last under the emperor's hand.

After witnessing the emperor's exclusive devotion, they grew deeply envious of her, wishing they could take her place.

But when someone really did step forward and brought a disaster that wiped out her entire family, everyone began hoping the Noble Consort would live a long and healthy life. That way, she could keep the emperor's violence in check for a long, long time.

Also known as: "A Love Story Between a Lazy Fish and a Mad Dog" and "The Years I Spent as a Leash"

[Cover artwork used with permission from the artist: Fanqie]

[Cover design: Jiujiu]

Consort ranks: Empress - Noble Consort - Four Consorts - Nine Concubines - Beauty - Talented Lady - Court Lady [Fictional ranking system, please don't nitpick. Thanks!]

Theme: Learn to enjoy life and live in the moment