2026

My best friend and I both traveled to another world.

But I was born into it.

She arrived in someone else’s body.

By the time she came, a feudal order that devoured its people had already bent my back.

She, meanwhile, was full of ambition.

She meant to fight for the throne beside the emperor.

“I might be the heroine of this world,” she said.

“I’m Zhen Huan, and you’re An Lingrong!”

“I can do what even Zhen Huan couldn’t.

I’m a modern woman, after all.

We’re a thousand years ahead of these people.”

“And even if you are An Lingrong, I won’t treat you the way Zhen Huan did.

We’ll always be best friends.”

But she did not understand.

The cruelty of an imperial dynasty was more than two women from the modern world could bear.

She was no Zhen Huan.

I was no An Lingrong.

We were only ants struggling to survive a merciless reality.

Only after seventeen years of being raised as the marquis’s precious daughter did I discover I was an impostor.

The day his real daughter came home, I flung myself into my parents’ arms, sniffling.

“I’ll always be your daughter, won’t I?”

Their eyes reddened as they nodded.

“Silly child.

Do you think we can’t afford to raise two girls?”

I lifted my tearful eyes and slipped the jade bracelet off my wrist.

“Sister, I know I’ve taken your place.”

“I’ve worn this bracelet for three whole days and I’m already tired of it.

Please accept it as my apology.”

“And you can have the South Sea pearl powder I’ve been saving in my dressing case.

It’s gone damp and clumpy, but you’re strong!

Just give it a good pounding.”

“My monthly allowance is ten taels of silver.

Nine should do for you.

I’d hate for too much money to go to your head.”

“Oh, and we’ll cut your charcoal allowance by a fifth.

You’re so sturdy and healthy, too much heat might be bad for you.”

The mistress of our household was choosing husbands for the daughters born to concubines.

We could marry a scholar from a modest family as his lawful wife, or enter a household of equal standing as a concubine.

By the time my turn came, the only choice left was to become an old man’s concubine.

Everyone expected tears, tantrums, perhaps even threats to hang myself.

Instead, I held my dowry list with delight.

On the day I climbed into the bridal sedan, Mother asked, “Ah Tao, didn’t you always want a husband who would love only you, for your whole lives?”

I smiled serenely.

“When I was little, I wanted to rule the whole world, too.”

Childhood wishes didn’t count.

After waking up as a vicious empress, I accepted my fate.

The crown prince rebelled.

I ordered his death.

The emperor fell gravely ill.

I ruled from behind the screen.

The old ministers rose against me.

I threw them into the imperial prison, opened the civil service examinations to women, and brought in new officials.

A world of equality, for women and men alike.

Let it begin with this empress.

My eldest sect brother, who was to become my cultivation partner, brought home a woman.

For her, he succumbed to worldly desire.

Once he had tasted it, he could not stop.

But I could see that she was a demon cultivator wearing human skin.

When I exposed her before everyone, she stripped off her skin and destroyed herself.

My sect brother hated me for it.

He said I had ruined her chance to become human.

Later, after he attained immortality, he destroyed our sect, tore out my immortal bones, crippled my cultivation, and shut me in a dark dungeon to torment me day after day.

When I woke again, I was back on the day before I exposed them.

This time, I would not stand in the way of his love.

As he wished, my sect brother abandoned cultivation and went into the mortal world to live as a man.

I was an old concubine.

After the old master died, I stayed on at the estate to enjoy a comfortable retirement.

The new mistress was a hopeless weakling.

Her husband’s mistress walked all over her, driving the couple apart and throwing the household into turmoil.

I could bear it no longer.

I decided to give her a hand.

Through tearful eyes, she looked at me doubtfully.

“That woman is terribly cunning, and my husband always takes her side.

What could you possibly…” I gave a smug little smile.

“Don’t underestimate me.

The old master once had a houseful of wives and concubines.

Now I’m the only one left.

Do you know why?”

Years ago, I saved the crown prince from a falling beam.

It broke my leg, and I became the capital’s notorious young lady with a limp.

Later, when he ascended the throne, he sat high in the imperial hall and asked what reward I desired.

Everyone thought I loved him deeply and would surely ask to enter his palace as a consort and remain at his side.

After all, no official family in the capital would take a woman with a limp as its mistress.

What they did not expect was that I would ask for a title of my own and the revenues of a thousand households.

As they whispered among themselves, no one noticed the faint tension in his brow vanish.

“Then let it be as you wish.”

My elder brother tried to put his concubine above his wife.

Father beat him so badly he could not get out of bed.

My sister-in-law’s family standing was a little lower than ours, but in character, looks, judgment, and household management, she was second to none.

If no one stood up for her, we would never hear the end of it.

Later, I married, and my husband made my life difficult.

My sister-in-law came to fetch me with a chest of gold and silver jewelry.

She told my husband: “Divorce her.

There are plenty of noble young men in Jiangzhou eager to marry my sister.

You, however, may have a harder time finding anyone who wants you.”

Father hauled a strange fish out of the sea, with a woman’s body and a fish’s tail.

Thinking he had caught a mermaid, he brought her home in wild delight.

He wanted her to weep pearls—and bear an heir for our family.

But Father had made a mistake.

What he had brought home was no mermaid.

It was a man-eating fish.

On our wedding night, my husband confessed that he could neither father children nor consummate our marriage.

He had married me to repay me for saving his life.

His solution?

Invite his devastatingly handsome cousin to father our child, then raise the baby together.

I was a very traditional woman, of course.

But his cousin was handsome—and the friend he brought along was handsome too.