Xie Yu Yan dies as a notorious Empress Dowager at the peak of power – then wakes sixty-four years in the past, before her enemies have even been born.

In her last life, she dressed herself in virtue and was cursed for it anyway.

This time, she stops pretending. When her family schemes against her and tries to force her into a replacement marriage, Xie Yu Yan fights for a way out and is thrown into the world of merchants, kilns, fuel, and northern power brokers. Every ruthless move should make her more infamous: she strikes back, divides the family, even spills blood. Yet somehow the world calls her filial, righteous, and kind.

As she crosses paths with Wang Yan, who is trying to break the grip of corrupt officials and merchants, survival becomes a larger war. To clear her father’s name and reclaim her future, Xie Yu Yan must turn coal, porcelain, and sharp calculation into weapons. In this life, virtue is optional. Victory is not.

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