The Legitimate Daughter Goes Mad After Reclaiming Her Fate

Shang Shiyan, the legitimate daughter of Marquis Huainan, awakens to find her face being flayed by her younger sister, Shang Yunrou. Shang Yunrou reveals she is a transmigrator who has stolen Shang Shiyan’s fate, having manipulated the Marquis family and the Crown Prince, Shen Shian, into rejecting Shang Shiyan. In her previous life, Shang Shiyan was cast out, her mother driven to suicide, and she died in misery. As the knife cuts her skin, Shang Shiyan’s consciousness fades and she wakes up at the bottom of a cliff, having survived the accident that originally marked the beginning of her downfall. She realizes she has returned to the past, before Shang Yunrou was officially recognized as a legitimate daughter and before her engagement to Shen Shian was broken.

Shang Shiyan resolves to reclaim her destiny and protect her mother, Shen Zuizhi. She remembers that in her past life, she saved Shang Yunrou and Shen Shian from the cliff but was abandoned by them, leading to her disgrace. This time, she climbs the mountain alone and encounters Gu Peice, the Prince of Lin’an, a powerful and feared military commander. Remembering that Gu Peice protected her in her previous life after she was cast out, she boldly asks for his help. He agrees to give her a ride back to the capital, an act that begins to shift his perception of her from a spoiled noblewoman to someone of unexpected courage.

Upon returning to the Marquis residence, Shang Shiyan confronts her family. She exposes the lies of her maid, Chunhua, who had been bribed by Shang Yunrou, and reclaims a precious gilded hair ornament that Shang Yunrou had stolen. During her coming-of-age ceremony, presided over by the Empress, Shang Shiyan publicly announces her desire to annul her engagement to Shen Shian, stating that she will not marry a man whose heart belongs to another. This shocks the court and her family, particularly her father, Marquis Shang Changhe, who had planned to use the ceremony to legitimize Shang Yunrou.

Shang Changhe’s scheme is thwarted when a woman from the countryside, Shang Yunrou’s biological mother, accidentally intrudes into the ceremony. Fearing exposure of his affair and Shang Yunrou’s illegitimate status, Shang Changhe abandons the plan to inscribe Shang Yunrou into the family genealogy. Meanwhile, Gu Peice sends lavish gifts through his aide, Zhen Yun, signaling his growing interest in Shang Shiyan. Shen Shian, humiliated by Shang Shiyan’s public rejection and her closeness to his rival Gu Peice, lashes out at her, only to be rebuked by the Empress.

Shang Shiyan secretly visits Gu Peice at night to deliver medicinal ointment for his wound, which was inflicted by the Emperor’s suspicion. She proposes a alliance: she will help him ease the Emperor’s suspicions by recommending him as an instructor at Shengting Academy, and in return, he will help dissolve her engagement. Gu Peice agrees to consider the proposal. Back at the academy, Shang Shiyan faces ridicule from her peers, led by Yu Yao, a lackey of Shang Yunrou. She outmaneuvers them by exposing Shang Yunrou’s theft of her cousin’s rare Tongyan Hui ink, winning the support of Su Wenyan, a powerful noblewoman with martial skills.

As the story progresses, Shang Shiyan strengthens her alliances, particularly with her loyal maids Hubo and Zhenzhu, and her cousin Qi Yanyu. She begins to dismantle Shang Yunrou’s influence within the household, turning her brothers against the illegitimate sister’s manipulations. The narrative follows her strategic efforts to secure her family’s political standing, protect her mother from the fate that killed her in the previous life, and navigate the treacherous court politics involving the suspicious Emperor and the powerful Prince of Lin’an. Her journey is one of reclaiming agency, exposing deceit, and forging a new path distinct from the tragic destiny she previously endured.