Originally, she was just a merchant's daughter that managed to get selected by the Grand Empress Dowager to serve the vassal king, Jing Wang (the ML). She came with 9 other beauties (I'll call them Young Misses since they're not normal maids but they're not masters either) to the Northern front and was from the lowest caste out of everyone there. The only thing she had going for her was that she was the most beautiful and people tended to underestimate her because she looked brainless.

Once in the estate, she exhausted all her means trying to seduce Jing Wang Shizi (the adopted son Jing Wang). At some point, she even tried and failed to drug him with an aphrodisiac to sleep with her when she realized her actions so far caused the plot (of her little magic book) to derail (to the point of causing her to lose her chance to become his concubine as predicted by the book).

Later on, she fell for the plot of another Young Miss and ended up on Jing Wang's bed instead. By some stroke of luck (?), once was enough to get her pregnant with the Wangfu's only biological heir. Jing Wang had already fallen for her at that point and decided to elevate her to the position of Jing Wangfei.

As Wangfei, she put on airs as the nominal mother-in-law and made things difficult for the Shizi's wife and concubines. She kept stuffing more and more concubines into their yard under the pretense of caring as an elder and wanting Shizi to have heirs as soon as possible. Everyday, she made a fuss out of showing off her pregnancy while harassing the 'younger generation' but as soon as someone turned things on her and suggested she recommend a concubine to Jing Wang now that she was pregnant, she cried and incited Jing Wang into throwing the other women out.

When her son by Jing Wang became a little bigger, she started having thoughts of pushing her child to become Jing Wang's heir instead. As a result, she sowed discord between Shizi and Shizifei to alienate Shizi from Jing Wang. Shizifei was the legitimate wife that was selected by Jing Wang. The more Shizi neglected his wife and favored the concubines, the more disgusted and disappointed Jing Wang would be in him.

When you look a little deeper, both MC and the ML are quite the villains. MC was shallow and greedy in her first life (ok in her third life too). She competed for the affections of a man she did not remotely love and forsook her old betrothed without a second glance. Granted, it probably wasn't her desire to get drafted to become an imperial relative's concubine but she was still very heartless in how she went about processing it. Her only good features are that she would never purposefully scheme to take another person's life or ignore the people she thinks treat her sincerely (Very confused by her tbh. She shunned her betrothed because she didn't believe in his sincerity but was soft-hearted to his mother because she believed in her fondness for her).

Meanwhile, the ML might seem upright and dignified, but in his first life, he actually developed feelings for his own (adopted) son's concubine (MC) and even confessed as much to her (dumbass didn't get it though). He never did anything to her but I suspect that if Shizi in their first lives didn't plot against him, ML might've snatched his woman. (Just like something Shizi once said. Once one ascends to the dragon throne, what woman could an Emperor not have? Also, in their second lives, when ML was anticipating meeting MC again, he'd mentioned that he'd made preparations for almost every scenario including one where she's already married. I highly doubt he's above stealing another man's wife/concubine.)

He's also quite the hypocrite. He wouldn't let his son marry the woman he loved most (Zhou Shunhua) and forced him to marry a woman whose family could benefit his career. Meanwhile, he followed his own heart and brought back a common merchant's daughter to be his wife just because he loved her.

When MC was a child, her father neglected the wife (her mother) and favored the concubine. Although she and her mother weren't ab*sed, they weren't able to fully enjoy the glories of being the legitimate wife and daughter. Whenever the mansion had anything good, the son of the favored concubine had the first pick, the daughter of the concubine got the second, and when MC could finally have a look, there'd be nothing she wanted left. As a result, she grew up with a belly fully of resentment and hostility for the whole family excluding her mother.

When she came to the Wangfu, she already knew the fates of everyone inside because of her magical book that a monk gave her mother (in exchange for a very, very hefty donation... that woman spends money like water dawg idk sometimes I feel like maybe her husband's decision to delegate household management to Concubine Su wasn't a completely goofy one...) She knew that the Shizi was destined to become the Emperor one day and did not slack off in trying to win him over.

According to the book, she would someday become his concubine but later die at the prime of her life when she lost to the scheme of the book's protagonist, Zhou Shunhua. ZSH was another Young Miss that got selected to come serve Jing Wangfu and had the most prestigious identity as she was the legitimate daughter of a Duke. Knowing this, MC did her best to upstage ZSH but always got her schemes backfired every time.

MC's plan was to become the Shizi's most favored woman and rise up. The book told her that the future Shizifei would be childless all her life and die early, leaving the wife's seat vacant. Jing Wang was bound to rebel one day and seize the throne. After him, it'd be Shizi's turn to ascend. If MC could give birth to a favored son, she had a good chance of becoming the Empress Dowager and retire freely after her son is crowned Emperor.

In reality, she'd failed her initial goals hopelessly, but during those times, she accidentally became romantically entangled with Jing Wang who'd forced her to become his study room maid to keep an eye on her. He didn't trust her as she was a person from the Grand Empress Dowager (the woman who killed his mother, 2 full blooded brothers, and 2 former fiancees) and was worried that she would seduce and lead Shizi astray with her outrageous beauty.

Wangye was attracted to her coquettish mannerisms and silly antics. The servants around them noticed and thought that MC was his woman because he always summoned her for company and let her get away with a lot of things. At some point, Jing Wang even used his own body to protect MC during a hunting trip gone wrong and was repaid the favor when MC gambled with her own life (she did it out of self-preservation. Jing Wang dead = Wangfu unalive her ah) to lure the remaining assassins out and drag Jing Wang to safety.

One day, Jing Wang mysteriously announced his intention to marry when asked by a madam and caused MC to panic. She hadn't realized her feelings for him then and was mostly worried for herself. The most prospective candidate for Wangfei was one of Jing Wang's old fiancees' younger sister. The younger sister, surnamed Xi, hated MC because of her vixen looks and closeness to Jing Wang. If she entered the estate, she'd make life hard for MC and present another obstacle for her to get close to Shizi.

MC pulled that little aphrodisiac stunt on Shizi as a desperate last resort but was discovered by Jing Wang. Jing Wang was jealous but then found she only did such a thing out of fear of the new Wangfei. Jing Wang thought that she truly did not appreciate his intentions (his choice in a candidate was her) and sighed thinking that since she did not want him, it was useless to force her and still not have her heart in the end. He told her to not worry as there would no longer be a Wangfei and dispelled her worries temporarily.

At a later date, MC inadvertently discovered that the Grand Empress Dowager had laid out a trap for Jing Wang and intended to have him killed in battle. Logically, she ought to be on the GED's side in order to live well and technically, Jing Wang's matters had nothing to do with her but she couldn't help thinking more. On the day Jing Wang was due to set out, she was attending the Dragon Boat Festival and changed her mind about not warning him halfway through the event and hurried home before everyone else. Unbeknownst to her, Feng Qian (one of the Young Misses from the draft) had laced her tea with aphrodisiac hoping to have her violated by some random hooligan at the festival and ruined. MC got to Jing Wang's study in time to blabber some nonsense ramblings. Jing Wang was touched by the sentiment but still decided to go anyway (with precautions set ofc since he was already aware even without her telling him). He noticed that MC was feverish and not quite right and tried to straighten her out. Apparently, the drug was too much for little ol' her so MC threw herself onto him. Jing Wang was torn because although he was more than happy to cook the rice, he was worried that she didn't even recognize him and was only acting close by virtue of the drug (never mind her inability to consent but yeah...). When he confirmed that she did know that he was Jing Wang and still insisting on rubbing herself all over him, he just gave up and consummated their ambiguous relationship. Because of the time constraint, he had no time to give her a title and left right away with only instructions for the top servants to keep an eye out for her and treat her well.

After he left, MC woke up and thought he wanted nothing to do with her since he didn't even so much as show his face when she got up. She mistook the fever medicine that the servants brought out for her as contraceptive and misunderstood even further. When she realized she was pregnant, she panicked and almost aborted the baby herself but then couldn't follow through.

During this time, a lot of unhappy things happened and MC became estranged from the Shizifei (who once treated her very politely because she thought she was Jing Wang's woman). At some point, Feng Qian discovered her pregnancy and reported it to the Shizi and Shizifei. The Shizifei wanted to curry favor with Miss Xi (because everyone thought Miss Xi would become the new Wangfei) and invited her and her mother to preside over MC's trial. The imperial physician bribed by Feng Qian misdiagnosed her pregnancy as being not long enough for it to be Jing Wang's as he'd been out for longer, causing everyone to condemn her for being loose and unchaste. At the critical moment when the momos wanted to abort her child by force, Jing Wang rushed to her yard straight from the field and stopped everyone.

He harshly reprimanded the mother and daughter of the Xi family to the point of tears and rebuked his adopted son and daughter-in-law. MC was moved to the main yard to raise the child and give birth safely. After she married in, Jing Wang stripped the Shizifei of her household management duties and delegated top authority to MC instead. After being able to sit stably in her position, MC began to enact revenge and nitpick Shizifei and her lack of children. She added more and more women to Shizi and even promised the title of Cefei (Side Consort, the highest ranking concubine that an imperial relative can have) to the first two concubines that can give birth.

A bunch of things happened through the plot of Zhou Shunhua, who had now become Shizi's most favored concubine. Two other concubines that started out as Shizifei's dowry maids reported pregnancy but were then suspected to be conspiring (for the Cefei positions) when the report ended up being false as a result of a drug they took. Shizi was determined to kill them as punishment but Shizifei refused. They ended up having a nasty spat, even with MC's intervention. In fit of anger, Shizifei ran out in the rain and slipped, destabilizing the 1 month old fetus in her womb that no one had known about up until this moment. The child could no longer be saved and had to be aborted to protect the woman (aiya MC never meant to keel! MC only mean to maim or seriously injure...)

The matter could no longer be concealed from Jing Wang since a legitimate heir had been lost. Jing Wang was very angry and investigated everything thoroughly, tracing the steps back to Zhou Shunhua. As he was about to to sentence Zhou Shunhua to death, ZSH came forward and claimed pregnancy. At this point, the physicians didn't dare to confirm her claims anymore because there were the prior incidents of the dowry concubines taking pills that induced pregnancy-like symptoms. Everyone in the Wangfu could tell that ZSH had taken the pill but Shizi was determined to save her. He insisted they at least wait to confirm so everyone had no choice. Jing Wang did not want to insist on killing ZSH out of concern that it would drive a wedge between him and his adopted son.

Some more things happened and everyone important ended up going to the capital for the New Year Celebration. ZSH was mocked and and satirized by everyone over when she would find the time to 'miscarry' during the visit. Everyone was weary of her, especially Jing Wang and MC. ZSH felt backed into a corner and decided to sow discord between MC and the Dowager Empress Dowager who at this point, had always believed MC had been her loyal but severely useless spy because of how s*upid she was).

Following ZSH's snitching, the GED tested MC. By this time, she had already put him in her heart and could no longer bear to gamble with his life. When the Grand ED tried to gouge her loyalties by making her promise to poison Jing Wang, MC refused to even accept the drug and lie to the GED for fear that she and her husband will never recover as lovers and share feelings this deep again. She was even willing to swallow the poison pill herself so that Jing Wang and her son could remain unscathed but ah... this is a romcom. Of course her husband came to rescue her in time and drag her away from GED's claws.

Since MC failed the test, the GED decided to rely on ZSH instead. Together, they wove a plot to destroy MC's reputation and harm Jing Wang and his new biological son.

MC was led away during Wang Taifu's (Jing Wang's old teacher and something of an ally I guess) birthday celebration by one of the Wangfu's less used maids who said that ZSH miscarried and Jing Wang wanted to meet her. MC noticed something was wrong when they tried to get her to go to a secluded garden and fled while her maids tried to stall the traitors.

Jing Wang had been very vigilant since the start so he was alerted in time and was able to rescue his wife just before it was too late. MC was frightened to point of collapsing and needed medical attention. It was then discovered that she was pregnant again and the plot just now almost killed her baby in the womb.

The elders did some investigation and found out that at the same time MC went missing, Wang Taifu's favorite son became drunk and was led to a room in the secluded garden. This meant that the plot was to send MC to the Young Master Wang's room and stage an affair. By then, even if MC could keep her life by virtue of the baby, there'd be ambiguity surrounding its conception and her and children's good days would of course be finished.

Wang Taifu and the other fellow old ministers of the court were very chilled to find out the extent that the GED was willing would go to. Wang Taifu could be considered among one of the dynasty's most loyal and senior officials but even still his own flesh and blood was almost pushed out to dirty the waters in Jing Wangfu. Through this, Jing Wang gained another group of supporters for his bid for the throne.

When they came home, Jing Wang went straight to the point and uncovered ZSH as the true culprit. At this time, ZSH revealed she was truly pregnant, but only by two months. Jing Wang still refused to believe her even with Shizi begging and protesting to the point of fighting his father's own people to free ZSH. Jing Wang ordered for ZSH to be punished by the board but after just three planks, blood began to stain her skirt to show that she had indeed, been pregnant.

They let her go, but she became haggard and depressed after losing the child that she so desperately hoped and schemed for these past years. Furthermore, the maids and other servants of the mansion had become disgusted by her and would not-so-subtle tr*sh-talk her for being a treacherous white-eyed wolf that 'ate inside but served outside'.

After Jing Wang was done with her, he moved to arrange the death of the 14 year old Emperor by means of 'illness'. After the smoke and dust cleared and the Emperor died with no heirs, Jing Wang ascended to his seat as his closest in kin. He locked the Grand Empress Dowager up and brought MC in as the new Empress.

Around this time, MC became more transparent about her reluctance to let Shizi step on her son's head and inherit ML's achievements. Eventually, ML found out about the book but did not get angry and trusted her even more. They burned the book to prevent the psychological shadow being cast about ML's ominous future. ML had to leave to quell the other vassal kings' attempt to rebel and MC was alone again.

Blah blah... oh my god I'm so tired... Shizi, Zhou Shunhua, and the ED took the opportunity to collude when the report came that the new Emperor was struck by a poisoned arrow and had fallen into a coma. They framed MC for spying for the foreign Tartar people and weakening ML's foundations by poisoning him little by little. Again, ML arrived just in time to stop them from forcing her to commit su*cide. He faked his coma in order to keep their guards down so he could arrive unhindered. He wanted test Shizi's loyalties during this time because he'd grown increasingly wary of his treatment of MC, Shizifei, and the other members of the family. If Shizi did not rebel, ML would've been content to ignore his previous mistakes and ennoble him as the new Jing Wang. ML loved his new son with MC very much and would never let him become a vassal prince under an Emperor of a different surname someday. Unfortunately, Shizi failed the test and was granted poison wine. Zhou Shunhua was granted live burial with Shizi while another one of Shizi's concubines was ordered to become a nun and guard the mausoleum after it was decided that she was complicit in the conspiracy. Additionally, the families of both concubines were demoted and disgraced. Seeing as Shizifei, surnamed Lu, wasn't involved in the plot, she was allowed to divorce Shizi to absolve herself of his crime by association and move back to the Lu family estate. If she so wished, she was also free to remarry properly. ML also suggested to GED that she commit su*cide if she wanted to preserve her daughter and grand-daughter's lives. She followed through.

In the end, MC and ML were able to get their happy ending, birthing 2 sons and 2 daughters under their knees and enjoying familial bliss in the new capital that was moved to the North.

MC: Tang Shishi grew up the cherished only daughter of her mother while her father favored his Concubine Su and her children. Although her father wasn't abusive or unkind, he wasn't warm or considerate enough. MC hated him and his whole family for this and swore to do good for herself to bring glory to her mother. Although she's not as noble or crafty as the other Young Misses who came with her, she's quite possibly the most driven and ambitious as she's desperate to succeed but she's... she's not good at plotting. Honestly, she probably would've died on Wangfu Diaries: Day One if not for the protagonist halo on her head. She sucks at scheming and only manages to get away every time because... yeah the plot. It's always by some stroke of sheer dumb luck that her insidious plan backfires so badly she ends up looking innocent or caught in the crossfire. But she does know how to use one thing which is her beauty and charm. She milks the ever-loving f*ck out of her looks and works that magic on Jing Wang to be coquettish and unreasonably throw blame.

Jing Wang: Zhao Chengjun was born the 3rd son of the Shizong Emperor and Noble Consort Gonglie. Overall, he was the Emperor's 4th son and very well loved by his parents. When his father died, the legitimate prince born from the Empress ascended the throne. The Empress became the Empress Dowager and ordered Noble Consort Gonglie to be buried with the Emperor (an outrageous and despotic act as high ranking concubines, especially one with children, have the privilege of continuing to outlive their Emperor and enjoy the younger generation's filial piety). The sons of the Noble Consort were scattered and two died of 'illness'. Of all three boys, only the young and sickly Jing Wang survived and lived in the North for 12 years defending the borders and consolidating his influence.

Jing Wang hated the Empress Dowager and wanted the blood price for his mother and brothers but can only pretend to be disinterested in the matters of the capital and bide his time. I'm not sure if he had anything to do with it, but the son of the ED died shortly after ascension so she had no choice but to prop his little son of a concubine to be the new Emperor. With such a young boy at the head, the ED was wary of Jing Wang so she sent 10 beauties who doubled as spies to the Wangfu in hopes of gouging their intentions. Jing Wang originally did not care about these people and would rather find a convenient reason to unalive them one by one but unexpectedly, he became fond of the most ambitious one.

One of the turning points of his impression of Tang Shishi was when he had her copy an earlier edition of a classic book and she inadvertently corrected it. He expressed surprise that someone like her would actually read and memorize the contents of such a serious book so she revealed that in fact, she learnt all this to please her old betrothed, a prospective scholar from a family of merchants like herself. Jing Wang was surprised that she had a sweetheart before coming to him and sympathized with her. He promised that after one or two years of her behaving well in the estate, he will arrange for her to retire early and marry her beloved back.

Later on, he became jealous of TSS's old betrothed and even suspected that she was aiming for Shizi because her reminded her of her old love. After marriage, he figured that she didn't have any special feelings in particular for the old fiance surnamed Qi and was just looking please him as he was the best prospective husband. He felt that TSS also regarded him as a prospect but didn't despair and decided that since she was decisive like this, he'll just keep striving continue to be the best choice forever (lol ok then).

Eventually, he found out about the magic book and was able to confirm that TSS had grown a sincere heart for him and put his worries to rest and focused on clearing the enemies to give his wife and children a carefree life.

Tang Family: The patriarch, Tang Mingzhe (I think) was very business saavy but somewhat wanton. He and his sons are all clever and careful yet simple like commoners usually are. He was a terrible father and husband but a great merchant that stood out among the masses. After he found out his neglected daughter rose up to become a Wangfei, he changed tunes shamelessly but you know what, good for him. He was determined to please Jing Wang and by extension, Tang Shishi, so he shunned Concubine Su right away and re-delegated the household affairs to Lin Wanxi, his legitimate wife. Alas, the legitimate wife was still awkward and not assertive when dealing with the household management so Tang Mingzhe gave her the reigns but assigned the work to the older maids as to not leave things in Concubine Su's hands and piss TSS off. Concubine Su was behind MC getting sent to the palace because she secretly submitted a portrait of her to be selected as a candidate. When MC left, her betrothed became single again so they saddled him with her half-sister who was born by Concubine Su. The sister was originally very proud and gloat-y but eventually calmed down when she realized the man she stole from MC was not worth a second glance next to Jing Wang of the North. Eventually, Concubine Su was sent away to curry favor with Lin Wanxi and MC. With Concubine Su gone, the other concubines and shu childrens were even more eager and unrestrained in flattering MC's mother all day to get a good impression. Lin Wanxi never got divorced but just continued to stay in the mansion to be fawned over by everyone and then occasionally see her grandchildren from time to time. After Jing Wang ascended as Emperor, Tang Mingzhe still knew his boundaries and didn't overstep, only continuing to do business even more lucratively and contributing to the internal funds. He didn't vie for an official position and just acted as a normal maternal family member to the royal heirs, expressing his sentiments through pricey gifts and whatnot.

Zhou Shunhua: The legitimate daughter of a Duke and the original FL from MC's book. From the start, she was rather upright and had a conscience. Later on, as she competed for Shizi's favour, she became dark and ruthless. In the original timeline, she triumphed above all other concubines and relied on her son to become Xu Zixun's Empress after his first legitimate wife died. It's said that she was the only woman he ever really loved but in the end, when they got older, they inevitably became estranged once the love cooled. Because of their history, the Emperor still gave her face and dignity but stopped favoring her. After her husband died, she became the lonely but most honorable Empress Dowager following her son's ascension. In both lives, she seems to genuinely love Zhao/Xu Zixun but because of this, she's even more fierce. In my opinion, she truly is a formidable schemer. She's so scary—despite being the legitimate daughter of a Duke in the capital and living in wealth and honor all her life, she was still able to endure to extreme lengths and can always hold back her emotions by thinking of the bigger picture at any given time. When she became a concubine, she took the initiative to humble herself and made ZZX pity her. In front of MC (who had become Wangfei), she was even able to put aside her seniority in terms of age and high birth to serve her 'mother-in-law' of a far less prestigious background. Time and time again, she would always manage to pave a path to retreat for herself in advance and the only mistake she even made happened in their new lives where MC was able to become Jing Wangfei. To save her own skin, she allied herself with the Grand Empress Dowager and schemed against MC. Jing Wang had always taken precautions to excruciating detail whenever it came to his wife so the scheme that the GED forced her to go along with failed. Jing Wang was able to figure out that she was behind it and ordered to have her severely punished, result in an accidental miscarriage. After the miscarriage, she and ZZX went the scorched earth route and ended up dying for naught.

Zhao/Xu Zixun: Jing Wang's adopted son and Shizi. His father was Xu Jing and provide meritorious service by exchanging his life for Jing Wang's so he decided to adopt Xu Zixun as his son to nurture as his heir since he never intended on marrying anyway. Shizi was a romantic and had many women, but his favorite was Zhou Shunhua. He was dismissive of his wife since the start and disappointed Jing Wang to the point of suspicion.

Qi Rusheng (I think) : Sorry forgot his given name. He was the original betrothed of FL and had eagerly looked forward to their marriage. When FL left for the palace, he tried to resist but since his efforts were one sided, he had no choice but to reluctantly accept the new fiancee pushed on his head as to not delay his matters. His mother was Lin Wanxi's childhood friend and wanted to have their children marry to reassure Lin Wanxi that her daughter would have a good life with her as a mother-in-law. After he married Tang Yanyan, TSS's half-sister, his mother nitpicked her and brooded because the daughter-in-law she wanted was no longer there. He worked very hard to study for the imperial exams in hopes of bringing glory to his family and prestige to FL when he married her as a scholar. Though their fates were cut and they ended up marrying other people, he still likes and misses her.

As an esteemed vassal king, Zhao Chengjun is described as hardworking, focused, and skilled in all pursuits (in addition to being very good-looking and sturdily built the way MLs in these kinda novels tend to be). Because of the countless bitter fruits he's had to swallow as since youth, he's grown into a sort of taciturn and aloof man. His mother died a wretched death undeserving of her identity while his once-awe-inspiring brothers were sent to their deaths before their time. Zhao Chengjun looks dignified and proper on the surface but inside, he's full of hatred for the current heads of the Imperial Family and cannot wait to eat their flesh and drink their blood no matter the price. He's not interested in the affairs of men and women and doesn't even desire a family of his own anymore. He adopted someone else's child to be his heir not just to repay their father's favor of saving his life but also to secure his ambitions.

Later on, he met Tang Shishi, fell in love, and became willing to try out the whole having a family thing but only with her. He was very lenient to her antics before they got married and became even more so after they did. Combined with the fact that MC was wronged by others at the start of her pregnancy, ML couldn't bear to reprimand her for any tantrums or possible overstepping. During her pregnancy, they noticed that they could feel the baby kick and ML became very fascinated. After their son was born, he was even more amazed by how a child of his own and his beloved could come to life. He spent a lot of time choosing the name and nitpicked feeling that some were too old-fashioned or dull or unbecoming. He ended up naming their son Zhao Zigao, a name that MC felt was too masculine (lol girl but he... he is a boy).

As the baby grew up, ML often came to check up on them between work and had family meals regularly. He learned how to hold a child on his own and personally taught "Gao'er" to move. When he was trying to get him to sit up, Gao'er often fell back but ML was always there to catch him before he hit the couch so the baby thought they were playing and laughed and purposefully fell. Instead of being displeased, ML just dismissed it as being too young and didn't tease him anymore. During troubling times like when Shizifei lost her baby and he (ML) had to rush over, he always asks if his son is being properly cared for before he can calm down a bit and deal with the 'troublemakers' below.

There's also another point that I really liked about Zhao Chengjun. He doesn't feel it's beneath himself to take care of the inner yard if he felt that MC was at risk in anyway. He personally arranged a whole security team for the courtyard where MC lived so that regular servants couldn't come in and mess with her stuff. During her labor, people weren't even allowed to leave their courtyards on threat of death or worse because he worried that something could happen at the critical time.

It seems like to him, all of MC's flaws are either a lovable personality quirk or simply a feature he absolutely had to endure because 'he owed her in their last lives'. I'm not saying this is good... but it's pretty cute idk like... I'm toxic like that... Whenever MC made things difficult for her 'juniors', he always turned a blind eye because he either felt that this is the natural flow of things or they deserved it because they wronged her before (aiyo??). To him, the blame can be cast on anyone but his wife. If she's lacking in anyway (ie brains cough cough), then it's his fault for spoiling her so naturally he should take over and continue relieving her of her responsibilities.

We come to find out that the magic book's plot actually did happen, but it happened in a previous life. In that life, MC died in the deep palace after losing to the scheme of Zhou Shunhua as they were competing for the favor of Zhao Zixun, Jing Wang Shizi-turned-Emperor. In that life, we see that Jing Wang rebelled and won the throne but died early due to an ambush during an expedition. As he never married MC there, he had no biological heirs so Zhao Zixun seized the throne. When MC died, the eunuch in charge confiscated her treasured luminous pearl bracelet and presented it to Zhao Zixun. He talked to himself and said that if MC wanted to blame anyone for her ending, she should blame Zhao Chengjun because he 'owed' her. ZZX vaguely made statements about how even as she was dying, she still held onto the memento that 'that person' gifted her. He and the eunuch then talked about how 'that person' (ML) was last seen barely fleeing the ambush scene and meeting a monk, talking about a 'book'. It can be assumed that ML died from here but the monk that he met ended up disappearing and they couldn't find traces, causing ZZX great anxiety as he worried that his throne could be compromised by a secret that ML was keeping.

At this time, MC had already come back as a ghost, unresigned to her fate. She overhears the conversation and reminisces how she got her bracelet. When they still lived as Shizi's concubines in Jing Wangfu, she was once calculated by Feng Qian and ended up in Jing Wang's resting chambers. Instead of rebuking her, Jing Wang was generous and did not blame her, even gifting her a beautiful luminous pearl bracelet to replace something she lost. She liked the bracelet very much and kept it with her at all times, wishing to come back to thank him later only to never get the chance as he became busier and busier.

Unbeknownst to her at the time, the luminous pearls had a special meaning.

还君明珠双泪垂，恨不相逢未嫁时。

"Returning the shimmering pearls with twin tears, regretting not meeting when she was unmarried."

(This is a line from a classic poem. Originally, it also had a hidden political meaning related to diplomatically refusing favor (cough bribes cough) on account of loyalty to another entity but we don't care about that here so we'll look at it from a purely romantic context.)

It's not explained how, but from the chapter we can infer that Jing Wang admired and loved her from afar but could not act on his feelings. He gave her the pearls as a love token but daft MC never realized and wasted his intentions. From this, we can guess that it was likely Zhou Shunhua who told ZZX about pearls and instigated him to execute her, probably on the suspicion of adultery.

In her anger, Ghost!MC chased ZSH when she saw her again but ended up transmigrating to another timeline. She was now in their second lives, but still existed as a ghost. She went back to her old palace and was surprised to see that there was a resident already. After some back and forth, she realized she ended up in an earlier reality where Zhao Chengjun was still a little prince in the imperial palace. Young!ML could see ghosts and ended up bickering with her on whose palace it is. She was very angry with him and told him he 'owes' her while ML had no idea what she was talking about. Eventually, they ended up in a truce and became something like friends.

Once, MC complained about how when she was young, her half-sister snatched a hairpin she liked, causing her to bear a grudge for a lifetime. Later on, ML gifted her a similar hairpin and MC mentioned that this wasn't the first time he gifted her something. She then told him about the pearls and ML realized right away that the 'debt' she mentioned before was a love debt. He felt guilty and had already begun to like her so he treated her better, but then she began to fade.

Around this time, the start of his woes had begun. His Father-Emperor died, followed by his mother, and then his two brothers. During this time, MC kept fading in and out. She tearfully told him to not hold himself back and marry the Xi young lady as planned but 'beware of Dowager Empress Yao, do not adopt a child, and beware the hidden arrow'. When they met each other for the last time, ML begged for her to finally tell him her name and where he could find her but she could only say her name before disappearing completely.

When MC opened her eyes again, she found herself as a child in the old Tang family mansion. Since her waking up, she became more mature and taciturn but her mother just attributed it to her growing up. MC felt sorry for the feelings between her and ML in their last life and how it never came to fruition. This life, she hoped he would marry and settle down well without her even though it hurt her. She followed the path of her old life and accepted a betrothal with Qi Rusheng and intercepted the secret submission that Concubine Su prepared for the palace draft. She successfully evaded getting sent to Jinling this time and followed the path she chose albeit very saltily.

Meanwhile, ML had grown up and finally found out where "Tang Shishi" lived after comparing the portrait his underlings presented and an old portrait of the adult Ghost!MC he painted while she napped one day. He was prepared to take her back but was told that right now, she was but a child and decided to wait a little further.

On the day that MC was supposed to be preparing the rites for getting married to Qi Rusheng, she was called out to be meet an esteemed guest. Despite her resoluteness in this path she chose, MC was still very prickly and irritable because she didn't actually want Qi Rusheng as her husband.

The bonus story ends with MC hearing the familiar voice of Jing Wang saying "I don't acknowledge it" when he was told that MC already had a husband-to-be.

being pregnant and marrying his father

their oldest daughter is an absolute demon.

You can see the difference when the author made an extra of how it would be if MC was reborn instead of having a prophetic book in her hands

Examples of those scenes were when ML decided to take advantage of MC when she was delirious with drugs. It's r*pe whenever there is no proper consent! It was even worse when the ML said something as if it was fine because the MC didn't give him a choice as she was the one throwing herself towards him. I don't like this trope where people just romanticize r*pe like that. Stop this kind of thinking, ah! The rampant use of drugs too. Then the in*est vibes too with ZZX and TSS, and the royals. These issues are disturbing.

Even though the Empress Dowager plotted so many times to kill Wangye, she always couldn't stand to see him dead and always rescued him. This is most especially true when the dowager decided to test her and ordered her to make Wangye drink the poisoned drink. Tang shishi loved him and knew in her heart that the moment she took that cup, even if she pretended, it will destroy her relationship with her husband. So instead she said resolutely, "I'm sorry Empress Dowager. I cannot."

Chapter 65. She got drugged and male lead sleeps with her. She gets pregnant and he leaves her at his house for two months. Until she is nearly forced to have an abortion and become infertile. He saves her, they get married, they both don't thinks the other loves them.

In her past life, she was defeated by her rivals and died without even knowing why. In her current life, she does not learn and will never learn, will remain s*upid and unrepentant. The only difference was that Jing Wang noticed her early on and thus had time to fall in love with her s*upid self and thus made her happy and made her be the victor.

One debated example is Yao Pei'er, a former Empress who had a tragic life. Her younger husband didn’t love her, and she never harmed the FL. After the Emperor’s death, she was demoted to Empress Dowager and became even more miserable, trapped in the Harem despite being a virg*n. She eventually died of depression.

MC doesn’t go for ML but kept chasing after the og ML for like half the novel. Not because she likes og ML, but she’s convinced that’s how she’ll survive to the end. However the more she tries to meddle with the original plot to achieve her goal, the further she gets from the og ML and closer to our ML. Everyone kept misunderstanding her actions in the most hilariously dumb but beneficial ways for our MC, providing lots of comical relief. She’d be panicking after messing up everything herself, only to be pulled aside and told “You’ve done well”, and she’d be like EHHHH?

MC falls for ML early but she won’t realise it until nearly the end, which is frustrating for many readers but I find it quite realistic and charming. You don’t need to be told “badump badump her heart is beating wildly, she’s blushing like crazy, a corner of her heart is warm” or any of that crap. You know she fell for him through her protective actions, her inner dialogue of how she admires him as a person, how she appreciates him protecting the country’s borders, how she gets mad at him for s*upid stuff.

ML knows she’s a beauty trap and willingly falls for it because that’s just how lovable she is. He sincerely loves all her flaws and the process feels very natural, unlike a few novels where ML just gets interested for no real reason other than she’s pretty. There will be non consensual aphrodisiac fueled interc**rse from our ML, which tbh is his only real flaw, but I suppose the author ran out of idea for plot progression. This bit doesn’t fit with his character at all but I guess author needed to speed things up.

OG FL and ML are - surprise surprise, hypocritical scums. After the first half of the novel filled with hilarious failed schemes from the MC, the second half of the novel is where our og ML and FL do some actual abhorrent schemes. It starts slow at first, with increasing level of evilness proportional to their mental state of falling apart. I love their character progression and break down. There’s clear cause and effect as well as motives and environmental influences for their actions.

We get a happy ending, but the plot progression feels like rushed on the last two chapters. Could have been expanded to a few more chaps tbh but im satisfied with it overall.