The Successor Wife’s Legitimate Daughter

Princess Consort Su, a woman who had navigated the treacherous waters of the imperial court for decades, died on her fortieth birthday. Having raised her nephew to become the Emperor and secured her family's status through sheer will and political acumen, she reflected on her life with a sense of hollow victory. Despite her outward success, she harbored deep regrets about her role as a successor wife and the sacrifices she had made. Upon closing her eyes, she did not find peace in the afterlife but instead woke up in the body of her ten-year-old self, Su Yingzhen, aboard a boat traveling along the Yongding River. This rebirth placed her back in the tenth year of the Kaiyuan era, a time when her uncle, the Heir of Pingzhang Hou, had recently died, triggering a fierce struggle for the family's inheritance.

Yingzhen found herself in the company of her mother, Princess Qinghe, and her younger brother, Su Jin. The family was returning to their ancestral home in Fufeng Jun to attend the funeral and navigate the complex succession politics. In her previous life, Yingzhen had been naive and trusting, easily manipulated by those around her. She remembered clearly how her cousin, Chen Liu, had feigned friendship before attempting to destroy her family's reputation and how her eldest sister, Su Yingya, had stolen her destined marriage to a prince. Determined to alter her fate, Yingzhen used her mature mind to protect her mother from Chen Liu's schemes. When Chen Liu and her grandmother attempted to sabotage Princess Qinghe during a Ghost Festival lantern ceremony by coating the deck with tung oil, Yingzhen anticipated the trap. She redirected the princess to a different location, causing the schemers to fall into the water themselves. The incident was reported to the authorities, resulting in Chen Liu's imprisonment and the permanent removal of this threat.

Upon arriving at the Pingzhang Marquis Household, Yingzhen encountered the fractured family dynamics that had defined her past. Her grandmother, Lady Zhou, favored the Eldest Branch, led by the widowed Princess Ningyuan and her son Su Duan, over her own son Su Run, who was next in line for the inheritance. In her previous life, this favoritism had led to Su Run being forced to yield the peerage and Yingzhen suffering catastrophic losses. This time, however, Yingzhen's father demonstrated his martial prowess by lifting a heavy stone in front of the aging Marquis, securing his position as the Heir. Yingzhen also worked to mend the relationship between her father and her eldest brother, Su Zhi, who had been raised by his grandmother but was now being wooed by his biological father. By gifting a seemingly valuable night-luminescent pearl to her cousin Su Yingya, Yingzhen neutralized the girl's envy and prevented the social maneuvering that had previously isolated her.

As the family settled into the capital, Yingzhen observed the subtle alliances forming around her. She recognized that Su Yingya, though outwardly kind, harbored ambitions to be adopted into the Second Branch to secure a higher status for her own brother. Yingzhen also noticed the potential in her concubine-born cousin, Su Yinglan, who had previously lived in obscurity. With her father now firmly established as the Heir and her immediate threats neutralized, Yingzhen began to lay the groundwork for a different future. She sought to protect her brothers from the political purges that had destroyed them before and to ensure that her family avoided the factional conflicts that had plagued the imperial court. The story follows her careful navigation of household politics, marriage arrangements, and court intrigue as she strives to rewrite the destiny of the Su family.