The Side Female Character Refuses to Take Responsibility

Zhao Mingzhu, a modern office worker who died after a stressful overtime shift, transmigrates into the body of the cannon-fodder female supporting character in the novel Infinite Sweet Pampering. In the original story, she was the arrogant eldest daughter of the Duke of Zhen, who schemed to marry the refined Crown Prince Gu Qingheng, only to be strangled to death on her wedding night. Upon waking in her wedding chambers, Zhao Mingzhu realizes her dire fate and immediately decides to abandon her original personality. She kneels before Gu Qingheng, confessing her past faults and promising to live a quiet, untroubled life without interfering with the novel’s heroine, Su Lu, or the Crown Prince.

Gu Qingheng, known publicly as a gentle nobleman, is actually cold and calculating. He suspects Zhao Mingzhu’s sudden change but allows the marriage to proceed, viewing her as a manageable threat. On their wedding night, Zhao Mingzhu discovers that her maid, Qiao’er, had drugged her wine with a gu poison intended to make Gu Qingheng fall in love with her. However, Zhao Mingzhu had drunk both cups herself, meaning she absorbed the poison. She learns that the gu causes the victim to fall in love with the first person they see upon waking. Panicking, she resolves to avoid Gu Qingheng at all costs to prevent unwanted romantic feelings from developing.

The next morning, Zhao Mingzhu is summoned to the palace to face the Empress Dowager, who is furious about Zhao Mingzhu’s past scheming. Instead of fighting back, Zhao Mingzhu accepts thirty strokes of the paddle without complaint. Gu Qingheng intervenes, reducing the punishment to copying Buddhist scriptures, a decision that leaves Zhao Mingzhu with sore hands but alive. She returns to the Duke of Zhen’s residence, where her father expresses concern but also disappointment in her past behavior. Zhao Mingzhu maintains her facade of repentance, focusing on survival rather than romance.

Zhao Mingzhu is required to attend the Imperial Academy, where she encounters Su Lu and other key characters. She avoids conflict, but her past reputation precedes her, causing students to fear and avoid her. During a zither class taught by Gu Qingheng, she is falsely accused of sabotaging Su Lu’s sheet music. Zhao Mingzhu accepts the punishment again, realizing that the original plot is forcing events regardless of her actions. Later, while fleeing academy officials after being caught near Su Lu’s quarters, she stumbles upon Gu Qingheng in a private hot spring. An assassin attempts to kill Gu Qingheng, and Zhao Mingzhu inadvertently saves him by throwing a vase. In her dazed state, she touches his face, triggering a strange reaction that suggests the gu poison may be affecting her.

Seeking a cure, Zhao Mingzhu visits a Western Regions merchant and purchases a powerful knockout powder. She then approaches Gu Qingheng, demanding two maids and a written promise that he will save her life if she ever causes a catastrophe. Gu Qingheng agrees to her terms, surprising his attendant Chang He. Zhao Mingzhu sleeps that night and dreams of Gu Qingheng’s childhood, where he reveals his cruel nature by offering her yogurt made from human blood and his mother’s brain matter. Waking in terror, she realizes the depth of his darkness. The story follows Zhao Mingzhu as she navigates a dangerous court, trying to survive while managing the unintended consequences of the gu poison and her growing entanglement with the Crown Prince.