A Palace Maid's Rise to Power in the Qing Dynasty

Recommending my new novel, now open for preorders: "The Qing Dynasty: A Princess's Blessing." Click the author's profile to read more. Blurb: Fu Chang drowned while saving someone, then received a System. The System said it would take her to cultivate immortality. Instead, their plane crashed along the way, and the two of them fell into the Qing Dynasty. The System hastily placed her in the womb of the current Empress, the Heseri clan's daughter, making her an unofficial member of the imperial princes' ranks. Fu Chang cried so hard she wanted to die. Which descendant of the Chinese people hasn't dreamed of cultivating immortality? The System could only comfort her: Since you've come, make the best of it. Its System space contained countless golden finger abilities. Just a few of them would be enough to make her the luckiest little darling in all of Heaven and Earth. Her father would be the Emperor, her younger brother would be the Emperor, and her nephew would be the Emperor too... She could live a life of wealth and luxury in complete comfort. Wasn't that much more fun than cultivating immortality? * Kangxi noticed that ever since Empress Heseri became pregnant with twins, strange occurrences kept happening around him. First, strange arrows appeared in the air, guiding him to discover that someone in the harem was plotting against the imperial heir. Then he suddenly understood the neighing of horses and discovered that someone had tampered with a saddle. Warnings of earthquakes repeatedly appeared on memorials and on every piece of furniture and vessel he could see. As the Empress's due date approached, he even had terrifying nightmares for a whole month, in which she died of postpartum hemorrhaging after giving birth! He consulted the imperial elders and the shamans. Their reply was only eight words: "A blessed daughter shall enter the royal family." Kangxi fell into deep thought: Relying on a daughter might not be such a bad idea! * As time passed, Fu Chang increasingly felt she had been tricked. She hadn't seen a single one of the golden fingers the System had promised! The System, however, had a ready defense: Haven't you lived in the Palace of Heavenly Purity? Fu Chang: Well, I have. System: Is your Imperial Mother still alive? Fu Chang: Yes. System: The heir to the throne has become your lackey. Your younger brother, who peels grapes for you, could circle the dining table more than twice. You weren't sent away to marry a Mongolian prince, and your princess's residence is three times bigger than a prince's mansion. Everyone under Heaven praises you as the blessing of the Great Qing. Just tell me, haven't you enjoyed all this wealth and glory? Fu Chang fell silent at once. Reader's Guide: This novel is also known as "Why Have All My Golden Fingers Stopped Working?" 1. There are many kinds of golden fingers, and every one of them takes effect on the people around the heroine. 2. Golden fingers are temporary, not permanent. 3. The heroine gets a head start. Everyone from the Crown Prince on down is younger than her. 4. Empress Heseri survives, and her beloved-and-true-love buffs are maxed out. ==Novel Blurb== Li Shuyao transmigrates into a Qing Dynasty palace intrigue novel as a cannon-fodder palace maid. Jealous that Guo Luoluo has stolen her chance, she turns to Wuyashi for support. But Wuyashi uses her, and after failing to seduce the Emperor, she is beaten to death. Li Shuyao: ... Fortunately, as soon as she realizes the cannon-fodder character shares her name, she carefully reads and memorizes the original novel. She knows full well that danger lurks everywhere in palace intrigue stories. Wuyashi, who seems gentle and kind, is actually a scheming heroine who will become twisted and terrifying in the later chapters. Guo Luoluo, meanwhile, is the story's villain, locked in a fierce struggle with the heroine from beginning to end. If she can help it, she doesn't want to cling to either the villain's or the heroine's coattails. All she wants is to find a quiet place to laze around, keep her head down until the plot ends, and see if she can go home. But when she turns her head She sees Wuyashi making a show of stirring up trouble: "Qingyao doesn't really mean any harm..." Li Shuyao nods. "That's right." Wuyashi falters. "Maybe she has her reasons?" Li Shuyao wipes her tears. "Yes, she's had such a hard time." Wuyashi: "About what happened before..." Before she can finish, Li Shuyao says, "Thanks for reminding me. I'll go apologize right now!" Wuyashi's face immediately turns red with anger. * One apology is all it takes for Li Shuyao to successfully get on Guo Luoluo's good side. After that, somehow she is transferred to the Palace of Heavenly Purity to become a tea-serving palace maid. ...Somehow, she ends up in the Emperor's bed. ...Somehow, she is made a concubine in her own right. ...Somehow, she finds a little baby in her belly. One promotion after another: consort, noble consort, imperial noble consort... When she is installed as Imperial Noble Consort and stands on the high platform with her arm linked through Consort Yi's, accepting the other consorts' obeisance, she turns and whispers to Qingyao, "This is completely ridiculous." Qingyao squeezes her hand, her gaze straight ahead. "It's not ridiculous. I was the one who recommended you for a post in the Palace of Heavenly Purity back then." Li Shuyao: ? Wasn't this supposed to be a palace intrigue story? Where's the intrigue? Bonus Scene: One day after Li Shuyao's promotion, word spreads that trouble has broken out in the palace again. Apparently, Noble Consort Tong and Consort Hui have gotten into another argument. When Li Shuyao and her good sister Consort Yi hurry over, people are kneeling all over Chengqian Palace, and their sobbing fills the air. But the moment they see her, Noble Consort Tong and Consort Hui both fall silent and look over with dark expressions. Noble Consort Tong tries to soften her tone. "We've had some of your favorite pastries prepared in the Imperial Garden. Go play there." Consort Hui is even more direct. She shoves the First Prince toward them. "Take your two mothers to the Imperial Garden, in case they forget the way." Li Shuyao: . Consort Yi: . #A "tragic" story where I try to engage in palace intrigue, but the intrigue keeps running away from me# ##After transmigrating, I use my "skills" to turn a palace intrigue story into a everyone-spoils-the-heroine story## Many years later, Li Shuyao finally remembers, in a daze. The heroine... seems to have disappeared? [Cover art by illustrator: Kiwi Miao] Content Notes >>> 1. The main focus is the friendship between the heroine and Consort Yi, with a warm, everyday-life feel. 2. Alternate history with many original settings. The heroine transmigrates into a novel. [The novel within this story is entirely fictional and does not refer to any real novel or film/TV production. Any similarities in the plot are purely coincidental.] The heroine is therefore not any historical consort. Please don't nitpick the history. 3. No exclusive-favoritism plot. The heroine and Consort Yi are both clear-eyed about the world. 4. There are palace intrigue elements, but not many. In the early chapters, the heroine watches the drama; later, she raises a child. 5. The heroine will have one child. [The imperial princes' ranks will be in disarray, and there is a reborn child.] 6. In the Kangxi era, palace maids could leave the palace at thirty. The age limit was changed to twenty-five after Yongzheng took the throne. 7. The heroine transmigrates at the beginning of her second year of university, at nineteen. She is an innocent college student with little worldly experience. A bonus chapter has Consort Yi transmigrate to the modern era. Please don't buy if that's not to your taste. 8. You don't need to tell me if you drop the novel. Thanks. ##Click the author's profile to read the completed novels## "The Qing Dynasty: Imperial Noble Consort Tong" "Empress Fucha [Qing Dynasty]" "[Qing Dynasty] What Mischief Could Little Babies Possibly Get Up To?" Theme: Brewing tea and tending flowers are part of living; overcoming every obstacle is what it means to be alive.