This story is exactly like the title

The job of an imperial concubine

That is the kind of job that you can't resign. Either you die or live. Winner or looser

It's a high risking job, with a bleak future

MC is a cold and calculating woman. All she ever want is to live peacefully

ML is an emperor. He is clear headed, and control his harem well. He doesn't love any woman untill he know MC. I kind of pity him. Even until the end, he doesn't know that ... more>>

Spoiler

MC doesn't love him. MC just do her job as imperial concubine. She just want to survive, and if you want to survive, you can't love your boss

[collapse]

. The emperor here is really realistic and not a copy paste from fan fiction that every women dream of. He didn't abolished his harem, or even make the MC empress. He is smart, and level headed

I love all side character and villains in this novel. They all have personality and reason

I especially love the empress character. She is smart, calm and collected. She know that the emperor has MC in his heart, and she know that there's no way she will have

Spoiler

a child or even emperor love

[collapse]

. So, she know when to retreat, when to advance. The job of empress is even harder than pampered imperial concubine

When she was a crown princess, she need to support the crown prince and make sure that he ascend to the throne, or else she died. And after she get promoted as an empress, she has to manage her husband harem, balance it, make sure that the emperor's backyard will stay clean, and no traitorous mind exists there. Sometimes she has to act as a detective to slove some weird case in harem, sometimes she has to act as a manager, an executor, an assistant, etc. See! Her job is even more harder than MC. She is a hardworking employe that need to be appreciated

Even sometimes MC pity the empress and curse the emperor for overworking her lol (I can't even count how many time MC curse the emperor 🙈😂)

Well, the only good side of the empress job is, you get to see all the woman in the harem kneel and greet you in the morning regardless how tired they are 🤣 <<less

It is true that the novel is realistic, but-

It is truly disappointing seeing the life and position of women in ancient society despite the country and origins. As a modern citizen how can the MC bear to resign to the derogatory fate of women and spend life in the palace with a man like the emperor from the novel.

It is not entirely hard to escape from the palace with the street smarts of a modern person. A disguise of a eunuch will do the work. The very intelligent women can... more>> plot with the wealth of a concubine she can live her life happily with a small business.

people favour other romance novels with faithful ML despite being unrealistic because they cherish and approve of the ever so controvercial relation between the two sexs.

Realising how the ancients were, should strive to be better concerning relationships in this modern world.

How can people say the lack of feelings is good/satisfying when human relationships and society revolve around emotions like love and hate? Don't you hope they have respect if not love or devotion.

After all that nonsense, it was a suffocating and nauseous read. No hard feelings, To Be a Virtuous Wife was much better... <<less

This is my second time reading this and it doesn't fail to amuse me. Like any other reviews regarding this novel, they are true, this novel is almost realistically written. The characters are realistically portrayed, especially our FL and our ml. They're not the typical leads in other novels who's love conquers all but nonetheless, I'm not against it.

Zhuang Luoyan (FL) :

She's a transmigrator like any other leads but what's different about her and the others? She knows what to do, she's calm, collected, sane, and kind but not to... more>> the point where she's foolishly kind. The word virtuous suits her well because for me, she's really virtuous. She's not the type of woman who held deep resentment because she experienced the modern times whereas she just find these harem women pitiful. She don't scheme against others unless they scheme against her first. She pretended that she genuine love the emperor so that she can keep his favor and live the rest of her second life comfortably because that's the only tactic she knew would work. Rest assured, this novel do not have much dogblood drama but is still not suitable for ages below 18. She's a great character, aside from TBAVF FL, she's my most favorite.

Emperor (ml) :

He's not a one of kind ml. If you're looking for a monogamous ML or a ML who abdicates the harem just for the FL then this novel is not for you. He's the kind of ML where you typically see when the story of another novel starts but he's not the ML there, he's the emperor which is the another novel's ml's father, something like that. He's definitely not the best ML out there since as a woman, we all want a monogamous man, which is only loyal to us, will favor only us, and will definitely love us until our deaths. But the one thing that I like the most, he's not like the other ML where he would fall love at first sight with our FL, this one is a slow burn. The one with 'she pretended to fall first but he fell harder' kind of trope. Don't worry, he didn't love anyone except our FL but he's not only a man but also the Emperor of a dynasty that's why don't expect much for a sweet romance.

Gao-something (Emperor's Eunuch)

I like how he's the first one who noticed the Emperor's feelings for our FL be shocked everytime he happens to see it.

I wish I could see a head-on battle between Noble Consort Shu and our FL but sadly, before it happened, the Emperor already took action, a pity, a pity.

This story is a 5/5 and would definitely reread it again in the future. <<less

Plot: 4.5/5

Entertainment Value: 5/5

I couldn't put it down! This is probably the most realistic ancient Chinese novels I've read here. The emperor is scum, like nearly all Chinese emperors were. I'm suspicious that MC actually returned to her real life when she got deathly sick in the Extra, but chose to return because she heard her son calling to her.

Honestly, even though it's the women of the harem who scheme, the Emperor is the true villain here. All for the sake of him having women to "relax with", he destroyed... more>> these women's hopes and dreams of having true love and a life of their own. He doesn't feel bad for them because he views their relationship as equally transactional. Bleh. True, a life confined to the inner courtyard was the faith of most highborn women at that time, but life within the inner palace is even more cruel and lonely.

Honestly, the only time I cried was during the downfall of Noble Consort Ning. The Emperor doted on her for 10 years, and her family grew arrogant. Thus, the Emperor executed her father and brother. Noble Consort Ning attempted to commit su*cide but was saved. What saddened me was thinking how wonderful her life would be if she was born in modern times.

Modern China is not the kindest to women, but as the daughter of a well-to-do family who's excellent at dancing, perhaps Noble Consort Ning would have entered the top performing arts college in China or went to a famous dancing academy abroad. Then, she would've been at the top of her field and could've married a man who'll treat her much better than the emperor does.

It just saddens me how in real life, millions of women had no chance of pursuing their own idea of happiness or success because they lived in a time and place that confined them to a life of servitude towards others. Even the ones who had a moment of glory like Noble Consort Ning, or the ones who will spend their entire lives as the most honored women in the country like MC and the Empress, can be considered "happy". <<less

This is my third time re-reading this story.... each time leaves a bittersweet taste lingering....

I felt pity and sympathy for all the women in the harem.... Each fighting each other till their last breath, for their family, children and themselves....

I love MC with all my life.... If she was the first woman in ml's life, the story would have different, but they met when the emperor had countless women in his harem, who were also his concubines thus he can't abandon them

I also love the ml, he did not forget... more>> that the empress was the one who accompanied him in his youth, and sacrificed her for our MC... MC was realistic and did not for a second loose her sense of self and till the end of the story did not fall in love with the emperor....

The author did an excellent work.... The story protrays the reality of the situation during those times and also the conflicting sides of human nature....

Lastly, I want to thank the translator for this wonderful work.... <<less

It's a good novel. MC portrayed the life a real concubine (MC). A realistic novel.

At first part of the novel, I don't get it why MC keep thinking that the reason of her transmigration is because of her PR job.

Anyway, I cried at the time when MC cried because she miscarriage even though she was not even pregnant. It was all an act but I don't know why I cried. I'm too emotional. I think the matter of feeling of the Emperor to MC is not well put because he... more>> is an emperor. In MC's eyes, all the things that the emperor did was calculated. I felt that the emperor really feel sad about the fake miscarriage of MC. But MC taught he didn't because she thought that the emperor used that to deal with the empress.

The last part struck me! The emperor is pitiful. Not knowing how to show his love. Even if he knew he can't fully show it since he is the emperor. Until the end, MC didn't know the emperor love him not she knew if she really have feelings for him. They only act the same as before and treat their son so well.

Hope I can see more extra where they can finally show what they really felt.

Thank you for translating. <<less

Firstly don't look at this as a novel with ML and FL. No, there's only one MC here. This novel is never intended as a romance novel but a historical novel using the concubine of a Chinese emperor to explore the social life in the harem. You can even imagine this novel like any other Quick Transmigration novel where the target is inconsequential and the MC is just acting the whole time.

Secondly this novel will bore you to death if you don't care much about women talking drivels. Because that's... more>> all they do - talk and talk and talk and talk and most of them is repeating their salutations which they need to do every other paragraphs since that's all these ancient people seems to do - bowing and scraping and kowtowing. You will also feel bored with how thin all these girl's skin are, they throw sarcasm at each other but somehow still got hurt even after much practice. I skip so many paragraphs and still got the gist because most of the words are just garbage.

Thirdly I don't know if I can finish this novel because in the end it's pretty inconsequential, whatever it is the harem is doing. They can toss and turn and toss and turn but they can't actually do or change anything since everything is determined by the emperor. It's like looking at a bunch of clowns jumping up and down. <<less

Simple and sincere.... it's not a long read and the schemes are also realistic.

Rather than making her a transmigrated character it would have been better for her to be reborn or better yet a woman who had simply vowed to give her love to emperor but not her heart...

When transmigration is used I hope the authors speaks more about the persons trauma and experience in past life and teach us a lesson.

I do think that there is a lot of affection in this story, just not quite as selfless as in most romances. This is a really good book I'd go back to. 9.5/10

The Story:

This story is exciting and fun! Beginning hooked me immediately! The pace is just right! The plot is basically how the FL climbs from the bottom to the top. She pretends to be dumb but she's actually very clever and cunning. Please note that this isn't a romance novel. The Translation:

The translation is great. They did a great job in translating the story and when you don't understand a reference or something, they put images or notes on the end of the chapter to help you understand.

The ending and my thoughts on it:

I thought The Times Spent in Pretense and To Be A Virtuous Wife were already full of grade-A actors... I really didn't expect to find this piece... and got totally mind-blown! 🌬☃️

Because this story is the perfect example of Life is A Stage-- we are the main actors in it~ 🌈☔️

and as the story progresses, you keep on wondering when will the farce ends? Will this ever get discovered? What is real and what is fake? Are our desperation and effort to live an act of sincerity? Is everything worth... more>> it?^^😌🌟🍿🥤🧁

p.s. The translation is also top notch 👑 truly excellent 🏆🐳 <<less

Well-written and good development of plot... FL is fleshed out and the harem intrigue is described beautifully. Characters come alive and there aren't any exhausted stereotypes. I am enjoying the story so far and hope that the author doesn't let down the quality by putting in a shallow ending. This fic is mature and clever- stands out in its category (romance and transmigration), heads and shoulders above the rest.

as many people have said... its a very realistic palace transmigration drama.i like how she didn't bring in her modern world ideas nor did she fight for his favor, she tried to hook him and let him take the initiative each time.

i like how she didnt fall in love with him nor make herself his only woman. of course there were a few flaws eg the lack of children in the harem despite him sleeping with countless of women. it didn't seem practical as well as to why the MC... more>> only had one son with the emperors and there is literally no existence of any kind of little princess... <<less

The story mainly focused on harem intrigued and how the MC ascended from lower rank concubine to guifei.

This novel is really not perfect and not the most satisfying story especially when it comes to romance.

Compared to the male lead who fell in love with her, the MC only treat the male lead as her boss and she's the employee who's working on his company--if y'know what I mean. On the other hand, the male lead may love her at first without knowing, later chapters, the ML forgotten those concubine and... more>> the new comer.

Spoiler

I'm not really comfortable whenever the ML went to other concubine and have physical relationship! Especially the part where the newly concubine got the favor of him! Shit! I really want to punch him in the face! Here I thought he won't look for another woman since he have feelings for the MC! The only I'm thankful is that our MC doesn't have deep feelings for him.

[collapse]

<<less

MC transmigrates into the body of a low ranked concubine of the current emperor (he's 28, she's 18). She has a clear head and accepted her fate as a concubine. She views her role as a job, which is why she does everything to gain a favourable impression on the emperor and be promoted. It is honestly a refreshing take as she accept that the emperor may never belong to her alone.

The romance is barely there as she's mostly sober but acts lovestruck.

I honestly loved reading about how she's not... more>> as beautiful compared to other concubine, nor well versed in the 4 arts, but she uses her intelligence and experience from modern society to potray a woman who is in love and cares for her husband. Sometimes you wonder if anyone could see through her, but she has established a simple persona.

The emperor isn't bad, he just views the women in the harem as tools and playthings. Which is a common mindset at the time. He can't give his heart away (see his father's case), but will feel guilty because he believes that MC loves him wholeheartedly. He also separates the harem from politics, which indicates how strong and just he is.

The extras of the story provides an insight into the emperor and their son's interaction with MC and each other. <<less

This is probably one of the most realistic court haram novel. Though, I wish we could see more of MC true self (when she’s relaxed and has her guard down). But overall, this is. Good read. Plus, her inner dialogue is pretty funny, I laugh so much reading them. How is our ML? Tr*sh. Basically, he’s a good king but not a good life partner for our MC. The fact that our MC will never show her truest self to him show how much trust she has for him.... more>> Probably when he died, and she became 太后, she probably could be herself again. <<less

Read. This.

It's ironic how the emperor doesn't notice that the other concubines have genuine feelings for him but our female MC who's got top-tier acting skills got his attention because he felt guilty that she entered the palace because of her "genuine" feelings for him hahhaha.

At the end, he's pitiful too and the story overall is quite bittersweet.

As for the imperial concubines, I feel sad for them. If you really think about it, its not strange if they fell for the emperor just because he gave his attention to them... more>> a little. The imperial harem is such a place, if the Emperor fancies them, they don't really have much choice and after that, he's the only man they see everyday. Eventually, at the slightest favor, some feelings are bound to develop.

I don't know how to write a proper review so I'll make this short. Overall, even tho this novel is not my usual read as all of our FMC's feelings are not genuine and the emperor sees other women as well, I found this very enjoyable. I'm actually glad that the FMC is quite heartless because she'll just suffer if she really love him for real like the other concubines. That's her biggest weapon, I think. She's aware that in order to survive, she can't love him for real and she never did til the end. It makes sense because she's from the modern world and has more insights about things. As for the emperor, he's not totally unlikable. He's a kind of ruler who doesn't let anyone get in his way. He has absolute power as the Emperor and you could see it too. He's not some pathetic wannabe emperor that you could fool on a normal day. Of course, being the emperor, everything he did also has motive behind it. So he could favor you this morning but by the next he's got your brother on the guillotine hahaha. Like our FMC said, he's not amorous, even tho some imperial concubine are more beautiful than her, relying just on beauty in the imperial harem is not enough to keep his favor. I like when our FMC said that if he truly wanted to protect someone, then nobody can touch them. She's really right and I do like that aspect.

Anyways, just read this. It's really great.

Edit: the heck, I must be brain dead to give this a 4 star. IT'S CLEARLY A 5 STAR NOVEL!! I even re-read this earlier this year. <<less

This is more of a 3.5☆ than a 4☆ but NU doesn't do that.

I'm not in the mood for writing a review but I just wanted to jot down my thoughts briefly.

I really enjoyed this. I went in with apprehensions because of some reviews I read. I thought there was only pretense between Zhuang Laoyuan & Feng Jin but it isn't so. I do think they both love each other in their way. The emperor will never be totally faithful to her but he does treasure her. Same goes for... more>> Zhuang Laoyuan. I also adored reading Feng Qi's POV. I do understand their weird relationship, interaction and love. ZL saying she was afraid to love FJ resonated with me.

Please do read. It'll also broaden your pretty-words-with-a-knife-hidden speak. <<less

• First of all, FL is no saint or Buddha

So don't expect her to be there to save others or have great empathy for them. This is an Imperial harem, where no one is friends with anyone, everyone stands by their own luck, the biggest focus will, of course, be your own survival.

• No one is innocent there, from the protagonist to any woman in that harem.

In order to survive, women have to defend themselves and know how to counterattack, so it is expected that almost all of them have... more>> bloodstained hands.

• Don't expect that at the end of history FL will be the only one in the harem

I found this story very realistic actually, the fact that despite the emperor loving FL, but continuing to visit other palaces, shows that the author tried to make this story the closest to reality at that time.

• The plot is wonderful (As expected from one of my favorite authors)

All of her novels have an interesting development, with little or big schemes happening there and making us curious to know who's to blame for each one. (I have to admit that every time they framed FL, I ended up blaming Noble Consort Shu, for being the most obvious in my head)

In the end, this story left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. Of course, the story as a whole had no problem from my point of view, but knowing that in an imperial harem so many flowers appear and die so insignificantly, knowing that they may never receive reciprocated love and still having to fight with other women because of a man is very sad. Seeing so many beauties fall at the end was unacceptable to me.

This author never disappoints me, so I will give her 5 stars <<less

I love this one. I think this one showcase a more realistic portrayal of the imperial harem and the emperor.

ZL is definitely my favorite character. She's smart, decisive, and never went OOC.

The ending was a bit melancholic and bittersweet but I think it was how it's supposed to be. All in all I think this was well written.