(2025/8/20: Finally got my phone while taking the cat for its vaccinations...)
After transmigrating eight months ago, Yan Qi, the prime minister's only daughter and a newly arrived imperial consort, spent every day biting her handkerchief and worrying that the old emperor would summon her to his bed.
What was the appeal? That he was old and never bathed? He stank.
Besides, she had a dangerous and powerful Rebellion System that had yet to activate. She was afraid she might charm the old emperor to death.
Tonight was New Year's Eve. She had hoped and prayed, and at last the old emperor gave up the ghost with a sudden thump.
Before he died, the old emperor took a long look at the beauties in his harem.
Everyone wore a sorrowful expression. Only Yan Qi couldn't hide her delight. Her happiness showed on her face; she was overjoyed, beside herself with joy.
The old emperor ran out of breath. Pointing at Yan Qi, he said, "Her. Her..."
The young crown prince, his expression cold, knelt on the spot. "Understood. This son will honor her as Empress Dowager."
He literally made the old emperor die of anger.
And at that very moment, the Rebellion System made a grand entrance. "Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, your System has arrived. Let's start a rebellion!"
Yan Qi came up with eight hundred ways to rebel.
Her daughter-in-law, who was three years older than her, came to cry that the emperor never favored her. Yan Qi was furious, and in her anger came up with a brilliant plan.
She mused, "I shall teach you how to be a wicked empress."
The empress was shocked. "Mother, why would you..."
Yan Qi: "Hold it. For further consultation, you must send me five hundred thousand taels of silver."
That night, the emperor came to the harem.
Only, he climbed into Yan Qi's bed.
His face was cold, a faint, eerie glow on his jade-white skin. "Mother, did you enjoy collecting that money?"
Yan Qi said nothing.
The young emperor coldly lifted her covers, only to find the empress clinging tightly to the Empress Dowager.
The empress: "Don't fight me for the Empress Dowager!"
The young emperor: ?
Regent Sui Han was utterly baffled. He could not understand why the plot wasn't following the logic of the novel.
The story clearly wasn't supposed to have an Empress Dowager.
As a transmigrator who diligently pushed the plot forward, he rushed to the harem in the middle of the night, only to find everyone there dancing to a girl-group routine.
The regent scolded, "Consort Shu, how can you wear a T-shirt and eat spicy hot pot?"
Consort Shu: "Honestly, Her Majesty the Empress Dowager told me to be a wicked consort!"
The regent turned and saw Yan Qi sitting beside them, legs spread, eating grilled skewers.
Sui Han hesitated. "People's Republic of China?"
Yan Qi's eyes lit up. "Republic!"
An honestly naive and innocent (?) young Empress Dowager x a gloomy, obsessive, crazy young emperor; a delicate, scheming male favorite; and a fellow countryman regent.
[Warning: The official pairing is with the young emperor. If you really dislike him, you can have the emperor executed. After all, executing an emperor is only natural.]
Theme: Study hard.
