Su Fengyi had transmigrated into a book. Those who often transmigrate know that it usually happens randomly, coming without warning.
But Su Fengyi was different. Her transmigration was something she had prayed for, spent money on, and begged for.
It all started when Su Fengyi’s mother wanted to visit a temple to pray and asked Su Fengyi, who was on vacation at home, to come along. Su Fengyi didn’t believe in such things and didn’t want to go:
“What’s the use of praying to gods and Buddhas? Will it get me a promotion or a raise? I’d rather catch up on some sleep. I’m not going!”
But her mother, being the boss, not only knew how to reason but also had some martial arts skills. She dragged Su Fengyi along by force.
So, when Su Fengyi made her wish, she did so with resentment and half-heartedly, making an outrageous demand to the Bodhisattva:
“In the new year, I want to reap without sowing, become rich and beautiful overnight, enjoy the fruits without effort, and rise to the top in one step!
Bodhisattva, I’ve spent money. You better deliver, Bodhisattva.”
After making her wish, her mother told her:
“Sweetie, let me tell you, the Bodhisattva here is the most effective.”
Su Fengyi scoffed at the time, not believing a word of it. But by evening, she couldn’t scoff anymore.
Because that evening, despite never reading male-oriented novels, she was recommended a male-oriented rebellion novel by the algorithm.
And when she read the synopsis, she realized she shared the same name as the villainous female supporting character, the Grand Princess.
This was downright eerie.
At the time, Su Fengyi was comfortably tucked under her warm blanket, leisurely scrolling through novels, when she suddenly felt a sinister chill run from head to toe.
Every hair on her body stood on end. Relying on the intuition honed from years of reading web novels, she immediately got up and spent the entire night reading and memorizing the entire book.
The book recommended to her by the algorithm was a male-oriented rebellion novel, so the main plot was obvious: it told the story of a feudal lord protagonist and how he rebelled step by step to become the Emperor.
As the twin elder sister of the reigning Emperor, the Grand Princess Su Fengyi was naturally the villain in the book.
Before the Grand Princess appeared, the plot mainly focused on how the male protagonist worked hard to accumulate the resources needed for rebellion.
He amassed a great deal of silver, gathered many talented advisors, and built a reputation for being humble, generous, and righteous.
But to rebel, he still lacked the most important thing: military power.
The feudal lord’s private army numbered less than a thousand soldiers—far from enough to stage a rebellion.
So, how could he obtain military power?
After much planning, the feudal lord protagonist set his sights on the Shen family of the General’s Estate.
The Shen family had two brothers, both renowned generals of the court.
The Shen family had guarded the border for many years, commanding a powerful army and never suffering a defeat.
For the feudal lord protagonist, bringing down the Shen family would not only give him an army but also eliminate a major obstacle on his path to rebellion—a classic two-birds-with-one-stone strategy.
Soon, the feudal lord protagonist found his opportunity.
The two Shen brothers, due to their refusal to offer bribes or build connections, had a strained relationship with the powerful eunuch close to the Emperor.
The male protagonist spent money and effort to escalate the minor conflict between the two sides into a major one.
In a fit of rage, the powerful eunuch accused the two Shen brothers of treason, sentencing them to execution in the autumn.
Upon hearing the news of the Shen brothers’ imprisonment and impending execution, the male protagonist, who had used others to do his dirty work, laughed triumphantly:
“Heaven truly aids me! This is my destiny!”
And then, in the book, the villainous Grand Princess Su Fengyi made her appearance.
The Emperor and the Grand Princess, this villainous sibling pair, were the Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong of self-destruction, each with their own absurdities, turning the imperial court into a complete mess.
As the villain, the Emperor’s greatest flaw was his neglect of state affairs, his obsession with pleasure, his favoritism toward treacherous eunuchs, and his indiscriminate execution of loyal officials.
As the villain, the Grand Princess’s greatest vice was her love of keeping men as consorts.
As the Grand Princess, the eldest legitimate daughter of the imperial family, her grandfather was the founding emperor, her father was the emperor, her younger brother was the emperor, and barring any mishaps, her nephew would also be emperor.
In this empire, no one would ever lack for anything before she did. As a royal noblewoman sustained by the entire realm, keeping a few consorts was nothing unusual.
The problem lay in the Grand Princess’s high standards. Ordinary men were beneath her notice; she particularly favored military generals and court officials.
For generals, she wanted handsome men with robust physiques, capable of performing seven times a night. For court officials, she desired those with an ascetic, unattainable aura—the kind whose shattering under her influence brought a sense of cruel pleasure.
The more promising and unyielding the young talents were, the more she loved to break them, deriving a sadistic thrill from their conquest.
This time, the Grand Princess had set her sights on the younger brother of the Shen brothers, the young general of the Shen family.
Shen He, styled Kezheng, was a handsome young man of nineteen.
What the Grand Princess loved most about him was his unyielding, defiant demeanor, even while imprisoned in shackles.
She had the young general of the Shen family brought out from the imperial prison, cleaned up, and offered him a chance to save his life by becoming her consort.
But upon hearing her demand, the young general snorted in contempt, took the Grand Princess hostage, and fought his way out of the princess’s mansion single-handedly, escaping.
Humiliated, the Grand Princess flew into a rage and sought the Emperor’s help to vent her anger.
The monk might flee, but the temple remained. Though the younger brother had escaped, the elder brother was still languishing in the imperial prison.
Thus, the young general of the Shen family became the most wanted fugitive, while General Shen’s sentence was changed from execution after autumn to immediate beheading.
Su Fengyi had now transmigrated into this world on the very day of General Shen’s execution.
According to the plot of the book, after General Shen’s death, the new garrison commander of the border city Xuanfu was an incompetent fool.
The male lead, a feudal prince, played his “borrowing a knife to kill” trick for the second time. He sent word to the Northern Barbarians.
Upon hearing that his nemesis, the Shen family, was gone, the Little Prince of the Northern Barbarians was overjoyed. He immediately slaughtered cattle and sheep, made offerings to heaven and earth, and marched his troops to Xuanfu.
The entire Northern Barbarian tribe was mobilized for war. Anyone who could ride a horse or wield a bow, regardless of age or frailty, was conscripted, amassing an army of fifty thousand. They invaded Xuanfu, burning, killing, and plundering their way all the way to the capital.
The capital fell. The Emperor fled south with the Grand Princess and court officials, establishing a new court.
Seizing the opportunity as a member of the imperial clan, the male lead rallied most of the northern military forces, drove out the Northern Barbarian army, and marched southward.
Under the pretext of “eliminating treacherous officials and purging the emperor’s side,” he raised an army in rebellion.
A year from this day would mark the male lead’s successful rebellion and the day the Grand Princess Su Fengyi’s head would roll, “ascending to heaven in a single step.”
Now that Su Fengyi had transmigrated into the book as this Grand Princess, in a year’s time, it would be her head on the chopping block.
Su Fengyi did not want to die!
She rolled around in frustration on the Grand Princess’s massive bed, inwardly apologizing frantically to the Bodhisattva:
“Bodhisattva, oh Bodhisattva, your humble devotee should not have doubted your efficacy. I was wrong! Please, let me go back!”
Her mother was right—this Bodhisattva was too effective, eerily so.
She had wished for “unearned gains, sudden wealth and beauty, and reaping benefits without effort.” The Grand Princess’s status and looks fit the bill perfectly.
But the Bodhisattva had also granted her wish for “a new year,” giving her only one year of luxury.
One year of wealth and glory in exchange for her life was far too steep a price.
Su Fengyi’s thrashing on the bed did not summon any divine intervention from the Bodhisattva. Instead, it attracted the attention of the Grand Princess’s personal maid.
“Your Highness, it is almost noon. Yesterday you mentioned wanting to go to the execution ground to watch General Shen be beheaded. Shall we prepare to depart now?”
The maid entered the Grand Princess’s bedchamber and called out softly.
Noon!
That meant there was less than two hours left until the third quarter of noon. Su Fengyi immediately sat up.
The maid stepped forward to draw aside the gauze curtains, then knelt to help her put on her clothes, shoes, and socks before supporting her to the bronze mirror to freshen up.
Su Fengyi gazed at the unfamiliar face in the mirror. The Grand Princess was tall and slender, with a bright and noble appearance. Her every movement carried an air of haughty superiority, as if looking down upon all living beings.
She was breathtakingly beautiful—a beauty that was both aggressive and full of vitality, as intense as fire.
Everything about her was perfect, except for one thing: she was fated to die young.
Su Fengyi sorted through the main plot points from the book. After much thought, she concluded that the key to survival lay in saving General Shen.
As long as General Shen remained standing, the Northern Barbarians’ army would not dare to advance.
If the Northern Barbarians did not come, the northern border would remain stable, and the male lead would have no troops at his disposal.
Without troops, the male lead would lack the resources to rebel.
And only if the male lead did not rebel could Su Fengyi keep her head securely on her shoulders.
She dug through her memories for the names of the Grand Princess’s maids and instructed:
“Wutong, go to Wuque Street. Find the most renowned physicians currently at their clinics—no matter which family they belong to—and bring them to the residence. Bring eight or ten of them. Go now.”
The Grand Princess had a bad temper and was impatient. What she wanted, she wanted immediately; what she wished to do, she demanded be done at once. She could not bear to wait, and no one dared to make her wait.
Whimsical, abrupt orders like summoning physicians were common occurrences, and the servants never dared to ask questions.
Wutong hurriedly replied, “Yes, I will go at once.”
Wutong bowed and left, while another personal maid, Dangui, stepped forward to take over the task of dressing the Grand Princess’s hair.
Su Fengyi then called toward the door, “Is Xie Xuan here?”
Xie Xuan, the commander of the Eldest Princess’s Residence’s personal guards, immediately entered and knelt, asking:
“I am here, Your Highness. What are your orders?”
Su Fengyi stopped the maid’s busy hands. “No need to be too elaborate. Keep it simple.”
Then she addressed the guard commander:
“Xie Xuan, gather every guard in the princess’s residence who can still breathe and bring them with me to the execution ground.”
The third quarter of noon was fast approaching, and General Shen’s head was about to roll. There was absolutely no time to enter the palace now and seek an edict from the Emperor.
General Shen must not die. Su Fengyi was going to storm the execution ground!