After the Prince Was Wrongly Bound to a Dress-Up System

Deng Zhuo transmigrates and becomes a cannon-fodder prince in a novel about vying for supremacy.

The male lead leads his troops into the imperial capital. The original owner uses himself as bait to draw away the pursuers, only to be betrayed by the female lead and left exposed in the wilderness.

The female lead offers up the original owner's life to win the male lead's allegiance, and the two reach a happy ending.

[Ding! Do you want luxurious clothes, a dazzling range of makeup, and your own signature style? Become a favored consort and climb to the top of the world! The Makeover System 101 is at your service... Wait! Why is Chu Jing a man?!]

Known fact: Chu Jing is the female lead.

By rounding up, the female lead has lost her golden finger.

Deng Zhuo: Suddenly excited.jpg

*

The original owner is frail and sickly, and the imperial physicians have declared that he won't live past twenty.

Born in the Cold Palace, he is framed by the consorts, targeted by his brothers, and left without enough food or clothing. He's on the verge of kicking the bucket.

Deng Zhuo gulps down some medicine and opens the Makeover System.

If you won't let me live in peace, don't blame me for being ruthless.

The eldest prince is rewarded for presenting a longevity pill, then humiliates Deng Zhuo in court. The emperor, instead, accuses Deng Zhuo of making a fuss over nothing.

At the sacrificial ceremony, a celestial sovereign from the Nine Heavens descends amid a thousand rays of light, clad in nine-colored robes with a pair of holy horns atop his head, and bestows a thousand catties of superior seeds.

Asked about longevity, the celestial sovereign replies, "Cinnabar is highly toxic."

That very day, the eldest prince is stripped of his title and reduced to commoner status.

The female lead enters the palace through the selection and monopolizes the emperor's favor. Two months later, news spreads that she is pregnant.

A divine physician from Mount Wu appears among the people with a miraculous spring. Difficult illnesses are cured with a single dose, while cowpox and penicillin save countless lives.

The emperor invites him to take the female lead's pulse. The physician says, "Three months along, and the pregnancy is stable."

The affair between the female lead and the third prince is exposed, and they become a pair of doomed lovers on the run.

The male lead, a prince of Great Chu, visits Great Yan as an envoy and offers improved bows and crossbows to show his sincerity.

An inventor with a fully mechanized body claims to come from the future. He develops gunpowder and firearms capable of facing an army of hundreds of thousands.

Asked about the future, the inventor replies, "The superior crossbow is the proudest creation of Great Yan's second prince."

The second prince conspires with Great Chu and plots to seize the throne. When his plan fails, he is executed on the spot.

*

Many years later, the emperor is old and frail, and his sons are either dead or crippled. Fewer than one in ten remain.

With the imperial family facing extinction, the ministers take a closer look and discover that there is still one survivor in the Cold Palace.

Deng Zhuo is pushed into the role and ascends the throne.

On the day of his coronation, the ministers look at their ailing, unambitious new emperor and are overcome with grief: Great Yan is doomed!

Years later, Great Yan has conquered three kingdoms and set its sights overseas. The people live in peace and prosperity, and hybrid rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn fill the granaries. New inventions such as gunpowder, cement, telescopes, penicillin, and steam engines emerge one after another.

And the people who created this golden age, the celestial sovereign from the Nine Heavens, the divine physician from Mount Wu, the inventor... all seem to be connected to the emperor, who is supposedly near death.

But look at the emperor himself: he can lift a bronze cauldron and bend a bow to shoot a great eagle. He hardly looks frail at all.

The ministers, realizing the truth belatedly: ?!

★2023.03★

Theme: When ruler and subjects work as one, their combined strength can cut through gold.