Except for Me, Everyone Reborn!

Yin Zheng is the second daughter of the Yin Residence, raised by her grandmother, the Old Madam, after her mother, a Hu concubine, died in childbirth. Though beloved by her grandmother, she is marginalized by her stepmother, Madam Yin, and her half-sister, Yin Muxue. Yin Zheng maintains a facade of a gentle, unremarkable young woman, but she secretly commands a network of spies and assassins, including a female instructor and a mysterious boy, to execute a grand plan to destabilize the Daqing dynasty. Her ultimate goal is to plunge the nation into chaos rather than allow it to remain peaceful, a desire rooted in her complex past and hidden identity.

On the eve of the Lantern Festival, Yin Zheng is subjected to petty bullying by Yin Muxue’s servant, Yin Huan, who ruins new festival clothes. Yin Zheng suppresses her anger and complies with her stepmother’s request to copy Buddhist scriptures in seclusion, a ruse to monitor the Sitian Tower. That night, she releases a praying lantern, signaling her operatives. Simultaneously, the Crown Prince, Wen Ze, observes the lanterns from the palace, aware that the Sitian Tower has been infiltrated with gunpowder. He orders a search of the tower for the following morning, unaware that Yin Zheng has already received word of the search and decided to abort the explosion, moving the gunpowder to a dungeon instead.

On the fifteenth day, Yin Zheng accompanies Yin Muxue to the lantern festival. There, she encounters An Rujian, the sister of the Son of the Duke of Anguo, who treats her with kindness. However, the Son of the Duke of Anguo insults Yin Zheng for her perceived weakness. In response, Yin Zheng deliberately provokes him by criticizing the historical figure An Wu Junzhu, causing a scene that isolates her further. That night, she returns home and receives a message from her boy operative confirming the Crown Prince’s search order. She dismisses the boy and goes to sleep, haunted by a nightmare of being strangled by a figure with her own red lips.

The next morning, chaos erupts in Yongdu. Yin Zheng wakes to find her maid, Guo Jie, unable to be roused. When Guo Jie finally wakes, she is disoriented and emotional, revealing that she remembers a previous life in which she betrayed Yin Zheng. Guo Jie realizes she has been reborn and kneels before Yin Zheng, seeking forgiveness and vowing loyalty. Simultaneously, Yin Muxue wakes up confused, also retaining memories of a past life where she suffered greatly. She recalls that in her previous life, she was cruel to Yin Zheng, who eventually became Empress and saved their family from ruin after the Sitian Tower explosion.

Yin Zheng learns that multiple members of the Yin family, including her parents and second uncle, have woken up with memories of their past lives. Her parents instinctively bow to her, treating her with the reverence due to an Empress, while her second uncle weeps over his wife, regretting his past neglect. Yin Muxue, realizing she is not the only one reborn, confesses her memories to Yin Zheng. She warns Yin Zheng that the Crown Prince plans to blow up the Sitian Tower, an event that will lead to the Emperor’s illness and the Prince’s rise to power, ultimately causing the fall of the dynasty.

Yin Zheng is stunned to learn that in Yin Muxue’s memory, she herself married the Crown Prince and helped him rebuild the nation. However, Yin Zheng knows her true intentions are far darker. She suspects that the timeline has shifted because she canceled the explosion, yet the gunpowder remains in the Sitian Tower. Meanwhile, Crown Prince Wen Ze, also aware of the rebirth phenomenon, decides to use the situation to his advantage. He plans to let the mastermind behind the gunpowder reveal themselves by allowing the search to proceed, hoping to identify and eliminate the threat to his power. The story concludes with the Yin family grappling with their second chances and the political landscape shifting as the Crown Prince prepares to trap his unseen adversary.