She Guarded the Empire for Fifteen Years, Then Was Reborn

She guarded the empire for the emperor for fifteen years. A single cup of poisoned wine was her reward, along with the execution of her entire family. Shen Fuyao was reborn on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony. In her previous life, she lived to thirty and spent fifteen years shouldering the empire’s burdens for Pei Yuanlang. He won the battles on the frontier, while she reformed the administration. Even most of the officials serving beneath the throne had been chosen by her own hand. He said, “I trust you.” In the end, that trust bought her fifteen years, paid for with a cup of poisoned wine. The one who sent her to the Cold Palace was her younger half-sister, Shen Fu, whom she had raised herself. Her sister tearfully presented the emperor with a forged secret letter accusing Shen Fuyao of treason. Not a single official in the court spoke up. As she drew her last breath, she counted the spiders weaving webs on the rafters: one thousand and thirty-seven. She was reborn at fifteen, on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony. Her stepmother, Madam Wang, smiled and took her hand. “Your mother has found a match for you. Master Zhou is wealthy beyond measure. You’ll want for nothing if you marry him.” Shen Fuyao looked into Madam Wang’s eyes. They held a smile, anticipation, and something she had failed to understand in her previous life. Now she understood. It was the look of a hunter watching its prey fall into a trap. In front of everyone, she opened Madam Wang’s account books for the past five years. “In the sixth year of Kangning, three hundred taels were recorded as expenses for repairing the ancestral hall. The masons were paid one hundred taels, and the materials cost fifty. Mother, whose pocket did the remaining one hundred and fifty taels end up in?” The hall fell silent. Madam Wang’s expression changed. But this was only the beginning. Halfway through her audit, Shen Fuyao discovered that Madam Wang went to the south of the city on the fifth day of every month to deliver silver. It went to the Zhou family, whose registered owner was Zhou Deshan: Vice Minister of Revenue in the second year of Yonghe and chief examiner for the imperial examinations in the third year. The top scorer that year was surnamed Pei. Pei Yuanlang’s father. And Madam Wang’s true identity was the legitimate daughter of Chancellor Liu of the previous dynasty.