The Entire Harem has Transmigrated - Chapter 1

In early March, as all things awakened and the grasslands gradually turned green, the lingering chill of winter still clung to the air. The overcast sky and howling wind sent shivers down one’s spine.

Yu Yunfei was filming a water scene in this harsh weather.

Due to repeated NGs, she had to plunge into the icy pond again and again. By now, her delicate, alluring face had turned deathly pale, and her lips, once as red as cinnabar, had lost all color. Yet even in this state, her exquisitely refined features and ethereal aura prevented her from appearing disheveled. Instead, she radiated a fragile beauty.

She remained stunningly beautiful, almost breathtakingly so.

Watching this, Bai Qiaoying, the actress playing the female lead in the same drama, couldn’t help but clench her teeth.

The drama they were filming was called The Legend of the Great Qian’s Consort Shu, a tale of love and hatred between the last Emperor of Great Qian and his favored consort. Judging by appearance alone, Yu Yunfei was naturally better suited for the role of Consort Shu, who was renowned for her “radiant beauty.” Yet Bai Qiaoying, leveraging the power of her wealthy backer, had snatched the role from Yu Yunfei.

Bai Qiaoying had initially been triumphant, having secured the lead role of Consort Shu while Yu Yunfei was relegated to a supporting character with an unlikeable personality. Yet, whenever Bai Qiaoying looked at Yu Yunfei’s face, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being outshone, and her resentment simmered.

“Director Chen~” Bai Qiaoying drawled, her voice dripping with practiced sweetness, as she approached the director. “I don’t think that last take was good enough. Can we do it again?”

The scene in question involved Yu Yunfei’s character, a noblewoman, deliberately staging a scene where she appeared to be pushed into the water by Consort Shu, the protagonist played by Bai Qiaoying. Bai Qiaoying’s demand for another take meant Yu Yunfei would have to fall into the water again.

Hearing this, the male actor playing the Emperor couldn’t stand by silently. “Sister Ying,” he interjected, “isn’t this going a bit too far?”

Bai Qiaoying’s eyebrows shot up, a sinister smile spreading across her face. “I’m just trying to make our drama the best it can be. How is that going too far? Are you defending Yu Yunfei because you’ve fallen for her?”

The actor opened his mouth to retort, but his assistant quickly pulled him away. Seeing Bai Qiaoying’s relentless persistence, Director Chen reluctantly gave in.

“Alright, let’s do another take. Yunfei, get ready.”

Yu Yunfei showed no reaction to the director’s words. She allowed the makeup artist to touch up her makeup, and when everything was ready, she gracefully rose to her feet, a subtle smile curving the corners of her eyes. “Let’s go,” she said.

Seeing her expression, Bai Qiaoying felt a sudden unease, though she quickly dismissed it.

Yu Yunfei was nothing more than a soft target, easily manipulated. In the past, Yu Yunfei had always endured Bai Qiaoying’s schemes without retaliation. Surely she wouldn’t dare to fight back now?

The group returned to the pond, Yu Yunfei swiftly immersing herself in her role, perfectly executing her lines. Bai Qiaoying, distracted by thoughts of how to make things difficult for her, recited her lines absentmindedly. But just as she was about to cause trouble, everything changed.

Instead of falling into the water as the script required, Yu Yunfei deftly sidestepped. Bai Qiaoying, caught off guard by the sudden movement, lost her balance and tumbled headfirst into the pond!

“Ahhh!”

The woman’s scream and the splash of her fall echoed through the air. Chaos erupted on set as crew members scrambled to rescue her, others screamed, and some rushed to confront Yu Yunfei. Amid the pandemonium, no one noticed a figure emerging from the corner of the pond. After standing there dazed for a moment, the girl’s face suddenly lit up with joy as she called out in a sweet, clear voice, “Consort Shu, is that you?”

The girl’s face still bore a hint of youthful innocence, her porcelain-white skin and delicate features making her strikingly beautiful. Dressed in a wide-sleeved, long-robed gown, her attire wouldn’t have seemed out of place on the set of the historical drama being filmed, were it not for the fact that no one on the crew recognized her.

“Who is she?”

“How did I miss her appearing out of nowhere?”

“With such striking looks, could she be an actress?”

“Never seen her before. Could she be a stalker fan who snuck in?”

Ruan Qingqing, oblivious to the murmurs, pushed through the crowd, her wet clothes clinging to her skin, until she reached Yu Yunfei. Gently tugging at her sleeve, she exclaimed joyfully, “It really is you, Consort Shu! What are you doing here?”

Consort Shu?

Yu Yunfei found the title amusing. She wasn’t playing Consort Shu in this production; the girl must have mistaken her for someone else.

Just as Yu Yunfei was about to correct her, her gaze met those clear, watery eyes, and her mind went blank.

It was an indescribable sensation—confusion, joy, sorrow, shock—a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. Before she could even process them, the world seemed to spin and shift. She felt as if she had been pulled into a fantastical dreamscape, where she was draped in crimson silk, dancing lightly on a drum to the accompaniment of silk and bamboo instruments.

She spun and spun, landing gracefully in a final pose, her eyes still lowered as she curtsied.

A soft, melodious voice drifted from the high dais: “Graceful and ethereal, like a soaring phoenix. Consort Shu’s dance is truly magnificent, truly magnificent.”

The Emperor, clad in dragon-patterned imperial boots, approached her and offered a gentle hand, lifting her lightly. “Rise, Consort Shu. No need to kneel any longer.”

“Consort Shu?” Ruan Qingqing called out again.

Yu Yunfei snapped out of her daze and looked up.

The young girl before her bore an uncanny resemblance to the Emperor from her dream. Yu Yunfei’s pupils constricted, and she gasped, “Your Majesty…”

Ruan Qingqing smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “Indeed, it is I.”

How is this possible?

This was utterly absurd.

While the last Emperor of Great Qian remained shrouded in mysteries that had never been unraveled, how could he possibly be a girl? And standing right before her?

As for the visions she had just experienced, perhaps they were merely hallucinations brought on by recent exhaustion?

The girl continued to gaze at Yu Yunfei with wide, innocent eyes, her expression brimming with naiveté. Yu Yunfei, noticing her damp hair, couldn’t bring herself to turn her away. She instructed her assistant to take the girl to change into dry clothes.

Ruan Qingqing obediently followed.

She knew she had arrived in an era unlike any she had known before.

Not long ago, she had been reviewing imperial edicts in the palace when she was inexplicably swept into a temporal vortex. For most of the intervening time, she had drifted in a daze, unaware of her surroundings. At times, she could faintly hear the clamor of the outside world and glimpse its vibrant colors, but even then, she couldn’t find herself, as if trapped in an inescapable void.

Until just now.

For reasons still unknown, she had suddenly pulled herself out of that nothingness and returned to the real world.

The sensation of her feet touching solid ground was indescribably wonderful. Even more fortunate, she wasn’t alone in this unfamiliar era.

Consort Shu was here too, and judging by her demeanor, she had arrived earlier and already integrated into this new world.

Ruan Qingqing couldn’t help but wonder: If Consort Shu was here, could the others be as well? What about the Imperial Preceptor? Would she ever see him again?

Ruan Qingqing had already changed out of her wet clothes. Yu Yunfei’s assistant wiped her face and blow-dried her hair.

Though Ruan Qingqing had some knowledge of this world, she couldn’t suppress her curiosity. She sweetly thanked the assistant and pointed to the white hairdryer. “Did you use this to help me… help me dry my hair?”

She was no longer the Emperor; some habits needed to change.

The assistant didn’t understand why she was asking, but the girl’s baby-fat cheeks were fair and soft, her eyes clear and innocent, easily evoking affection. The assistant smiled and replied, “Yes, I did.”

Ruan Qingqing politely asked, “May I take a look?”

“Of course.”

The assistant handed over the hairdryer. As Ruan Qingqing reached out to take it, her fingertips accidentally brushed against the assistant’s palm.

Ruan Qingqing paused abruptly. When she looked up again, she studied the assistant carefully, pinched her fingers together, and said with utmost seriousness, “Sister, if you encounter a road blooming with peonies today, you must avoid it at all costs.”

The assistant looked at her with confusion.

Ruan Qingqing tried to explain using the language of this era: “Actually… I’m a fortune-teller. I can help people assess feng shui and predict good or ill fortune.”

When she was the Emperor, she had possessed no such abilities. The mysteries of metaphysics were profound and elusive, making it nearly impossible for ordinary people to grasp even the basics. Even those who stumbled upon rare opportunities could only scratch the surface. Only extraordinary individuals like the Imperial Preceptor, who could communicate with the heavens and understand the past and future, deserved to be called true masters of metaphysics.

But ever since being caught in the temporal vortex, she had silently witnessed countless cycles of blooming and withering. In a daze, she had observed every facet of human existence, and somehow, she had developed the ability to glimpse the secrets of the cosmos.

However, Ruan Qingqing couldn’t explain this to a stranger. She could only repeat her warning with utmost seriousness, hoping to convince the assistant.

“Alright, alright,” the assistant replied soothingly, as if humoring a child, but inwardly dismissing her words entirely.

Inside the room, Bai Qiaoying continued her unreasonable tantrum. As the assistant led Ruan Qingqing over, she sighed and said, “Wait here for a moment.”

Ruan Qingqing couldn’t wait any longer.

Even though she was no longer the Emperor, she couldn’t stand by and watch her Imperial Consort be bullied.

Ignoring her assistant’s attempts to stop her, Ruan Qingqing strode over to Yu Yunfei and called out, “Consort Shu.”

Bai Qiaoying, already seething with anger, exploded at the sound of the title. “Who are you calling Consort Shu?”

“Her, of course,” Ruan Qingqing replied, pointing at Yu Yunfei with an air of absolute certainty. “Who else would it be? You?”

“I’m the Consort Shu! How dare you call her that!” Bai Qiaoying hissed through clenched teeth, her eyes blazing with fury. She unleashed a torrent of abuse at Yu Yunfei: “Did you send her here to disgust me, Yu Yunfei? Pushing me into the water wasn’t enough? Now you’re resorting to these petty tactics to humiliate me? How low can you sink?”

Ruan Qingqing frowned and stepped in front of Yu Yunfei, her voice calm but firm. “With your vicious appearance and venomous heart, how could you ever be Consort Shu? Even the eunuchs serving in the Imperial Study have more refined features than you, and the cleaning ladies are far more upright and kindhearted.”

After speaking, Ruan Qingqing counted on her fingers and smiled brightly. “Moreover, Miss Bai, you know better than anyone that when it comes to ‘baseness,’ no one can surpass you. Your actions are the epitome of vulgarity, unmatched by anyone else in this room. Beyond that, you’ve dared to compare yourself to a pearl, presuming to replace it—a truly laughable delusion. While it’s true that one can achieve anything through effort, your use of underhanded tactics will inevitably backfire. As the saying goes, ‘Virtue unmatched by position invites disaster.’ At this point, I can only advise you to seek your own good fortune!”

Ruan Qingqing delivered these words with perfect articulation and righteous indignation, leaving everyone around her stunned.

Bai Qiaoying, the first to recover, tried to retort but found herself speechless. Overcome with anger, she burst into tears.

Director Chen felt a headache coming on, but remembering Bai Qiaoying’s wealthy backer, he had to intervene on her behalf.

Just as he began to scold Yu Yunfei, Ruan Qingqing quickly calculated on her fingers and declared crisply, “You… old man, there’s no need to speak for others. Your retribution will come even sooner.”

At this point, Yu Yunfei, who had been calmly observing the drama, finally couldn’t help but burst into laughter.