Legend has it that the underworld is incredibly dark, but here it seems no different from a clear night in the human world. Not only is the moonlight shining brightly, but there is also a warmth that makes people—or rather, ghosts—feel extremely comfortable.
She noticed a tall, imposing figure sitting on a throne, looking at a large stack of books beside him with a worried expression and sighing repeatedly.
Not far in front of him, another figure knelt respectfully, trembling as if walking on thin ice.
The pile of books was emitting black smoke.
"Your Majesty, this...this is another pile!" the kneeling man said in a trembling voice, his voice trembling with sobs.
The person sitting there seemed utterly hopeless: "What can I do? I'm desperate too!"
The next instant, Chu Nian had already fallen into a physical body.
She was soaking wet, and a cold wind was blowing in, making Chu Nian's teeth chatter uncontrollably. Moreover, she was probably lying on the ground, and her back was also very cold.
When she opened her eyes, she saw a clear blue sky, a cloudless expanse of sunshine, yet a chilly wind was blowing; it must be autumn or winter.
Before she could process the original owner's memories, a very magnetic baritone voice rang in her ears: "Consort Lian, aren't you going a bit too far? Cough cough... cough cough..."
He was only halfway through his sentence when he started coughing uncontrollably. A voice that was neither male nor female comforted him, "Your Majesty, please calm down. Consort Lian has already woken up and should be fine. Please don't worry and ruin your health."
Chu Nian: MMP!
Perhaps because of what the other person was saying, Chu Nian unconsciously extended her spiritual power and discovered that she could actually use some spiritual power in this world. She then took the opportunity to scan the baritone voice from before and found that his body was much healthier and stronger than her current physical body. Moreover, there was a rich energy fluctuation in his body. Although it was not as magical as spiritual power, it could definitely strengthen the body and prolong life.
So, this guy's supposedly weak internal energy is clearly faking his illness. Coughing?! What a load of rubbish!
Chu Nian was too cold lying on the ground, so she quickly got up.
A group of people, men and women, stood around in ancient court attire. Not far away stood a beautiful young woman wearing a phoenix crown, with a bright face and a voluptuous figure. Judging from her makeup and the fact that she was surrounded by palace servants, Chu Nian guessed that she was of high status, most likely the empress of this dynasty.
A little further away, there was a handsome young man sitting on the emperor's palanquin, looking sickly. He must have been the one who spoke just now.
He had even more palace servants around him.
The man standing beside the imperial carriage, dressed in the attire of a palace steward, was probably the one who had just advised the emperor.
The original owner of this body is named Lian Nian, and lives in the ancient feudal dynasty of Dayu Kingdom. His father, Lian Sheng, is a mighty general of Dayu Kingdom, and his grandfather, Lian Ping, was enfeoffed as Duke Protector of the State by the late emperor. Although they are not exactly powerful, the Lian family's status in Dayu Kingdom is extraordinary.
The current emperor, Emperor Yanqing, Ying Yuan, ascended the throne at the age of eight. Due to his young age, he was temporarily assisted by the regent, Li Xiao. However, Ying Yuan is now twenty years old and has not yet been able to rule in his own right; the government has been controlled by Li Xiao.
In the original story, Li Xiao is the male protagonist.
The female protagonist is named Chu Susu, the empress of Ying Yuan. However, because she was forced upon him by the regent, her family background and personal talent were not considered top-notch, so she was not initially favored by Ying Yuan. But later, Chu Susu's personality changed, and she transformed from a useless and incompetent woman into someone very resourceful and capable, attracting the attention of both the emperor and the regent.
Emperor Ying Yuan, at the beginning of the story, is portrayed as seriously ill and weak, a facade to conceal his true intentions while secretly plotting to seize power from Li Xiao. He is the book's primary antagonist; although initially unkind to the female lead, Chu Susu, he later falls in love with her. Ultimately, he is overthrown by a combined force of Chu Susu and Li Xiao.
Li Xiao established a new state called Chu and declared himself emperor.
The female protagonist, Chu Susu, despite lacking the family background and talent for singing and dancing of Consort Lian Nian, rose to the position of Empress with Li Xiao's support. During her time as a useless and incompetent woman, the Lian family plotted to depose her and install Lian Nian as Empress; naturally, Lian Nian and Chu Susu were at odds.
Chu Susu's personality changed drastically later. She suddenly became resourceful and capable, and her skills in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting were far superior to before. This made Lian Nian feel even more pressured. In addition, she later attracted the emperor's attention. Lian Nian was afraid of losing the emperor's favor, so he provoked and made things difficult for Chu Susu in many ways.
The relationship between the Empress and the Consorts became even more strained.
However, after several palace intrigues, Chu Susu always made steady progress, gradually turning from initially being trapped to later pressing forward step by step; while Lian Nian suffered defeat after defeat, eventually making the emperor utterly disappointed in her, while he fell deeply in love with Chu Susu.
Lian Nian was in great pain because of this.
She had always loved the emperor deeply, believing that he felt the same way about her. However, she never expected that the emperor's initial kindness and favor towards her was merely because the Lian family held powerful military authority.
It was precisely because of the intimidation posed by the Lian family army that Li Xiao was wary and did not directly depose the emperor and establish himself as emperor.
When Lian Nian later discovered the truth, she was heartbroken and jumped into the lake to end her life.
This woman was truly detached from reality. In her despair, she took her own life, without considering that as the emperor's concubine, not living a good life and committing suicide would be tantamount to accusing the emperor of injustice, equivalent to the crime of deceiving the emperor, which would be punishable by the extermination of her entire family.
Therefore, her death did not elicit any sentiment from the emperor; instead, it gave Li Xiao the opportunity to exterminate the Lian family. Shortly after her death, the entire Lian family, including their nine generations, was wiped out, not even the newborn infants were spared.
Perhaps the Lian family was too tragic, and Lian Nian felt guilty after learning of this ending; in addition, she also learned something she never expected: that Chu Susu was actually Chu Shu, the former chief eunuch of the emperor, who had traveled through time.
Speaking of Chu Shu, he was always loyal to Li Xiao; having grown up in the palace since childhood and constantly navigating the complexities of the emperor and his concubines, he was quite shrewd. So, although Li Xiao had no feelings for him, he valued him highly during Chu Shu's lifetime because he was useful to him.
However, he was Li Xiao's man, and the emperor was determined to eliminate Li Xiao and rule in his own right. As soon as he found an opportunity, he killed Chu Shu.
Who would have thought that this eunuch, though dead, would not die and would transmigrate into the body of Empress Chu Susu? From then on, his life was like a cheat code. He not only won the heart of the male protagonist Li Xiao, whom he had always loved, but also helped Li Xiao destroy the pro-imperial faction, depose Emperor Yanqing, establish himself as emperor, and create a new country—Chu.
Honestly, if she had lost to Chu Susu, as they were both women, Lian Nian might not have felt so resentful; but Chu Susu turned out to be a eunuch in human form.
Actually, Chu Nian, as a modern person, didn't feel much about eunuchs, male-male fanfiction, or male-to-female transformations. But the original owner of this body, Lian Nian, was from ancient times, and she found these things somewhat unacceptable.
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