May, summer.
During the day, fierce winds and rain had darkened the skies, but after nightfall the full moon slipped free from the clouds, casting a gentle silver glow over the layered palace halls and the land beyond. Beneath the tranquil beauty, however, an undercurrent of unrest seemed to stir.
From one of the main halls within the royal villa came the constant sound of coughing.
Jing Xin finally managed to catch her breath. Her eyes were already watering from coughing so hard, and when she saw someone handing her a cup of water, she quickly grabbed it and gulped it down.
“Your Highness, drink slowly, be careful not to choke again!”
Your Highness?
Only then did she properly notice the girl speaking before her. The girl wore her hair in twin buns, dressed in a cross collared wide sleeved ankle length gown, her almond eyes filled with fear and concern as she fussed over Jing Xin.
Why was this person dressed in ancient clothing?
A sudden sharp pain struck her head. Countless memories flooded into her mind like scenes from a movie flashing before her eyes. More accurately, they were memories that originally belonged to her.
Looking around at the elegantly furnished ancient room, Jing Xin’s heart began pounding wildly. Lowering her head, she saw the collar of her robe embroidered with pink lotus patterns winding along the neckline, while her mind urgently reminded her:
“Hurry and tighten the chest bindings, do not keep Prince Zhou waiting.”
So now she was supposed to meet Prince Zhou?
That Prince Zhou, the feudal lord from the novel Strategy to Conquer the Emperor she had just finished reading, the man who could no longer tolerate the tyrant and ultimately led a rebellion against him? And she had transmigrated into that novel as Jing Xin, the tyrant’s favored consort who was planning to offer herself to Prince Zhou tonight in exchange for survival while carrying a dangerous secret?
She had transmigrated into a novel?
Her mind answered yes.
Jing Xin failed to catch her breath again and promptly fainted from choking on the food lodged in her throat.
The maid Chang Huan pinched her philtrum, pounded her back and chest in panic, and finally managed to wake Jing Xin again.
“Your Highness!”
“I’m fine…”
“Shou Quan has already arranged everything. Since night has fallen, if we leave now we can arrive at Prince Zhou’s camp before the hour of Hai.”
“Your Highness, raise your arms a little higher. If we delay any longer, it will be too late!”
Chang Huan picked up the binding sash and expertly wrapped it beneath Jing Xin’s arms to tighten her chest. Once she finished, she brought over layers of crimson gauze and luxurious brocade for her to wear.
The woman reflected in the mirror already possessed the face of a beauty capable of bringing disaster upon nations. With delicate forehead ornaments and exquisite makeup enhancing her features, her naturally seductive figure became even more alluring once bound tightly, her overflowing curves impossible to conceal.
The author truly had not lied. This vicious favored consort in the novel really was devastatingly seductive.
Jing Xin recalled the plot of the original story.
She was merely cannon fodder supporting female characters who died before even ten chapters had passed.
Who was the female lead?
Her name was Shen Qingyue.
The novel’s plot was thoroughly melodramatic. The author had advertised Strategy to Conquer the Emperor as a grand female lead story, praising how intelligent the heroine was, how she helped the male lead conquer the world and win the emperor’s heart, and even labeled it HE. Yet the later half of the story completely collapsed into chaos.
The setting resembled the feudal systems of the Spring and Autumn or Warring States periods, with one Son of Heaven ruling over five feudal lords.
The female lead’s family had been destroyed because of the emperor’s disastrous rule, and the young Shen Qingyue was rescued by the male lead’s father. The man was the queen’s brother in law and secretly coveted the throne for himself. He valued Shen Qingyue only for her beauty, intending to use her as a chess piece in the future, even as she gradually developed feelings for the male lead Qin Wuheng through their daily interactions.
Later, after the tyrant male supporting character ascended the throne and killed Qin Wuheng’s father, Qin Wuheng finally steeled himself and sent Shen Qingyue to the tyrant’s side as part of his schemes.
The tyrant’s name was Qi Shen.
In the novel, he possessed incomparably handsome looks, a deep magnetic voice, and the author repeatedly described his seductive physique. In short, he was a male supporting character with flawless outward perfection.
Because Qi Shen had grown up deprived of both maternal and paternal affection while surviving amidst brutal struggles among siblings, his personality became exceptionally violent and cruel. After ascending the throne, he enforced tyranny even more harshly than his father had, becoming a terrifying taboo feared throughout the nation.
Yet despite his brutality, he was also a highly capable ruler. That was why Qin Wuheng remained powerless even with the halo of a male protagonist and could only watch helplessly as his beloved woman was taken. During a hunting trip, Qin Wuheng arranged for Shen Qingyue to sacrifice herself to save Qi Shen, and according to the plot, Qi Shen fell in love with her at first sight. He welcomed her as queen with an extravagant ceremony, happily doting on another man’s child, specifically his cousin Qin Wuheng’s son.
Throughout his short and violent life, Qi Shen trusted only Shen Qingyue and his seemingly gentle cousin. Only in the end did he discover that the son he cherished was not his own, before Shen Qingyue and Qin Wuheng joined forces to bathe the palace in blood and reduce him to Qin Wuheng’s prisoner.
As for the later plot, the author must have lost her mind. After Shen Qingyue returned to Qin Wuheng’s side, she did not receive the happy life of a beloved lawful wife. Jing Xin never even got to witness the expected “wife chasing crematorium” trope. Qin Wuheng merely granted the heroine the title of consort and abused her daily.
Qi Shen was imprisoned in the royal dungeon, unable even to die, humiliated day after day by that bastard male lead. Shen Qingyue sacrificed everything only to receive shattered love in return, and in the end she retaliated by releasing Qi Shen.
The conclusion became a competition between the male lead, female lead, and tyrant supporting character to see who would die first in the palace. Qi Shen’s death flag activated the fastest, and the great tyrant ultimately suffered the most miserable ending of them all.
Damn it, the synopsis was a scam. What kind of ridiculous female lead story was this? Since she had already transmigrated into the novel, could she beat up this brain dead heroine who threw everything away for love the moment she met Shen Qingyue?
Back when Jing Xin finished reading the novel, she had been so furious she wanted to mail the author razor blades. But because she had invested too much emotion into the story early on and spent a five figure amount supporting it, she could not bring herself to leave negative reviews. Instead, in a fit of anger, she wrote a thousand word review condemning the author’s absurd writing decisions and instantly went from fan to passerby.
Today, she had seen the author post on Weibo about how upset she felt after reading that long review. Jing Xin had been delighted, only for tragedy to strike moments later when she inhaled milk tea into her lungs and ended up in an ambulance.
At the moment of death, her soul had drifted above the emergency room as she helplessly watched her still young body being wheeled into the morgue.
If she had known this would become her script in advance, why had she bothered loving and hating the author so passionately?
She had actually transmigrated into the novel. Was heaven taking pity on her?
But she remembered very clearly that this cannon fodder female supporting character was about to die.
At this point in the plot and at this exact time, two feudal states had finally grown unwilling to endure Qi Shen’s tyranny and had joined forces in rebellion.
Their armies had already breached Liang Dynasty’s royal capital, Biandu, and were currently stationed outside the city at Shili Pavilion.
The original Jing Xin had been one of the beauties Prince Zhou gathered and presented to Qi Shen. She had known Prince Zhou long before entering the palace, and the novel even mentioned that because Jing Xin was so enchanting and seductive, Prince Zhou had nearly slept with her before sending her to Qi Shen.
Under the author’s pen, Jing Xin was a brainless beauty possessing nothing but her looks. Seeing that Biandu could no longer hold out day by day, she decided to defect to Prince Zhou’s side. Tonight, she planned to offer Prince Zhou a secret concerning Qi Shen.
As for the original owner of this body, she had probably died moments earlier because the chest bindings were too tight while she was eating pastries, causing her to choke to death.
What the original Jing Xin did not know was that this had all been part of a trap arranged by Qi Shen. By the time she awoke from Prince Zhou’s bed tomorrow morning, the rebel forces would already have been annihilated, and waiting for her would be the terrifying and violent Qi Shen.
He did not immediately order her execution. Instead, he first allowed the palace servants to torture her.
Because of her usual arrogance and cruelty, the servants eagerly seized the chance for revenge. Her beauty was destroyed, her tongue torn out, and she suffered every torment imaginable. In the novel, the original Jing Xin once stared at her ruined reflection in the mirror and considered suicide, but after discovering she was pregnant, she stubbornly clung to life.
One had to remember that the original Jing Xin was such a narcissist she shattered ten mirrors a day from admiring herself.
Qi Shen completely ignored her miserable fate. He had never possessed any feelings for her in the first place. The only reason he allowed her to remain his favored consort for a year was because, in his youth, he needed a bed partner, and the original Jing Xin happened to be a flawless tool for satisfying his desires thanks to her perfect appearance and body.
After Jing Xin was thrown into the Cold Palace, Qi Shen went hunting and, under Qin Wuheng’s arrangements, encountered his white moonlight Shen Qingyue. He returned from Shen Qingyue’s estate bringing back a ferocious tiger.
That tiger was deeply connected to Jing Xin.
After bringing Shen Qingyue back to the palace, Qi Shen thought that the palace could not possibly keep his former women around to annoy the woman he loved, so he ordered Jing Xin executed. Shen Qingyue also hated Jing Xin for aiding the tyrant in his evil deeds, but to preserve her image as kind and compassionate, she pleaded for mercy on Jing Xin’s behalf and instead assigned her to become the tiger’s keeper.
When Jing Xin had originally read that part, she had even praised the heroine’s clever arrangement. A spoiled and vicious supporting character like Jing Xin would inevitably be torn apart by the tiger and receive the punishment she deserved.
A few days later, Jing Xin desperately escaped the tiger enclosure and finally encountered Qi Shen in the imperial garden. She wanted to tell him she was pregnant, but because her tongue had been removed, she could not speak the truth aloud.
Meanwhile, Qi Shen flew into a furious rage at the sight of her ghostlike appearance.
The palace servants were excellent at reading their master’s moods. Seeing Qi Shen already enraged, they dragged Jing Xin away and simply locked her inside the cage with the tiger.
The pitiful beauty was devoured beneath the tiger’s fangs, and aside from Jing Xin herself, no one in the entire novel ever learned she had been carrying a child.
Her story ended there, on the day Shen Qingyue married.
“Your Highness, we should leave through the back gate. The carriage is already waiting.”
“Your Highness, can you not move?” Chang Huan nervously studied the motionless Jing Xin.
Jing Xin replied, “Move? I can’t move.”
Chang Huan tried to help her up. “What about now? You only choked a little on the Dragon Mouth Crisp earlier. You still can’t move?”
“No, close the door. This palace is not going anywhere!”