Dramatic Self-Help Strategy – Hao Fushen, Jin Zixuan

In the somber atmosphere of the Prince's residence at night, a chilling breeze filled the air. Li Caiwei suddenly sat up from the coffin, only to find the lifeless body beside her was that of the abruptly deceased Prince Shen Huaijin. The maid Ding Xiang brought her a cup of wine, suggesting that if she drank it, she could be with the Prince for a long time, accompanying him in the afterlife. According to the custom here, when a husband dies, the wife follows. Thinking it was just a play, Li Caiwei drank without hesitation. However, she soon felt something was wrong – the drink was indeed poisoned.

Rewinding time to the day before the grand wedding, Li Caiwei woke up from a dream. Her maid Lan Xin was by her bedside, assisting her in trying on the newly tailored bright red wedding gown. Before Li Caiwei fully awakened, Lan Xin explained her background: originally the daughter of Marquis, she became an orphan when the Marquis died in battle. Thus, from a young age, she was taken in and raised by the Marquis's good friend, Pingyang Lord. However, due to a childhood accident, she occasionally experienced confusion. After helping Li Caiwei put on the wedding attire, she immediately became radiant. When Ding Xiang brought the wine again in front of the coffin, Li Caiwei firmly refused to drink.

The Queen ordered her servants to force-feed the poisoned wine to Li Caiwei, causing her to die once more. Ten days before the grand wedding, Li Caiwei was determined not to repeat the same fate. She decided to escape from the Prince's residence and find a way back to the modern era. She took action, collecting valuable items for her escape. However, as she climbed over the wall, she unexpectedly encountered Shen Huaijin, who had returned late and entered by climbing the wall. Seeing Li Caiwei, his childhood friend, insisting on escaping, Shen Huaijin was deeply saddened. Nevertheless, he agreed to help her flee and kicked her down. Li Caiwei's escape was arduous – she not only lost her belongings but also injured her leg. To make matters worse, pursuers were closing in, intent on capturing her.

Chasing soldiers behind were pressing Li Caiwei to return and be buried alongside the deceased. Li Caiwei, preferring death over compliance, leaped off a cliff. When she woke up again, the time had rolled back to twenty days before the grand wedding. Realizing she was stuck in a deadly loop – whenever the Prince died, she would be captured for burial – Li Caiwei decided to break this cycle. She sought out Prince Shen Huaijin, intending to annul their engagement. The Pingyang Lord's residence was vast, and despite searching everywhere, Li Caiwei couldn't find the Prince. However, she overheard two people discussing using poison to kill the Prince.

Wanting to identify the conspirators, Li Caiwei was suddenly attacked from behind, her mouth covered, and she was fatally stabbed. Once again waking up, time had reset to thirty days before the grand wedding. Li Caiwei calculated she had died five times already. Eating buns in her room, she heard Lan Xin and Ding Xiang quarreling. It was evident that Ding Xiang had framed Lan Xin, and remembering that Ding Xiang had poisoned her, Li Caiwei couldn't contain her anger upon hearing her voice.

Li Caiwei burst out of the room and without hesitation, slapped Ding Xiang on both sides of her face. Ding Xiang, feeling wronged, sought help from the Queen. Li Caiwei, not backing down, delivered a swift kick, sending Ding Xiang to the Queen's feet. The Queen was about to order her subordinates to discipline Li Caiwei when the Prince arrived just in time. He stopped the Queen and others, taking Li Caiwei away from the scene. In their conversation, Li Caiwei learned that the Queen was the Prince's stepmother. She quickly informed the Prince that someone was trying to poison her, but the Prince thought she was currently acting foolish and crazy. Upon hearing Lan Xin describe the Prince as handsome and wealthy, the ideal prince charming for all women in the capital, Li Caiwei concluded that he was nothing more than a scoundrel.

Li Caiwei thought, since Shen Huaijin is a dandy in the capital, she would become a dandy woman herself and never leave Shen Huaijin. The next morning, as Shen Huaijin was about to go out, Li Caiwei followed him and insisted on going out together, claiming that she wanted to buy things. Shen Huaijin initially found her silly and didn't want to take her along. Li Caiwei deliberately provoked him, saying he was stingy and reluctant to let her spend money. Shen Huaijin, upon hearing this, waved his hand generously and immediately agreed to take Li Caiwei out for shopping.

Li Caiwei bought whatever she saw on the street. Lanxin and the entourage behind them carried bags of purchased items, gasping for breath. Shen Huaijin not only didn't feel sorry for her, but also said that what Li Caiwei did was child's play. He took Li Caiwei to Yunjin Tower, where the best fabrics in the entire capital could be found. Li Caiwei liked them so much that she directly bought the entire store. When Shen Huaijin wanted to go to the gambling den, Li Caiwei insisted on following. Shen Huaijin brought her along, and at first, Li Caiwei kept losing. In the end, with nothing left to lose, she suggested wagering the position of the prince. Shen Huaijin immediately agreed to stake himself.

In the end, Li Caiwei won big, and everyone who played against them lost everything. To appease the gamblers, Shen Huaijin invited them to Wan Hua Lou to relax. Li Caiwei insisted on going with them. Lanxin hurriedly reminded her that Wan Hua Lou is a brothel, but Li Caiwei became even more excited upon hearing this. Shen Huaijin readily agreed, saying he would agree to anything as long as it made his prince consort happy. Li Caiwei, upon hearing this, felt elated, thinking that the prince was really good to her. In the residence of Pingyang Lord, the princess consort incited the lord about the incident of the prince taking the prince consort to visit a brothel. The lord, upon hearing this, flew into a rage.

Li Caiwei and Shen Huaijin played until midnight before returning. They lost all the money they won at the gambling den in the brothel. Even the engagement jade bracelet that the lord gave to Li Caiwei was given to the courtesan at Wan Hua Lou. Li Caiwei appeared indifferent, telling the prince that money is just an external possession, and once spent, it's spent. When they arrived at the lord's residence and saw the tightly closed gate, Shen Huaijin mentioned that the lord had a rule to lock the main gate at midnight. Since they couldn't enter, Li Caiwei suggested calling the attendant Guo An. However, Shen Huaijin couldn't understand what she was saying.

In the end, they decided to climb over the wall. The prince was skilled in martial arts, and this was no trouble for him. He let Li Caiwei climb onto his shoulders to scale the wall, and then they jumped into the courtyard together. However, the lord and lady were waiting for them. The lord, upon seeing them, became furious and ordered them to kneel. Li Caiwei took responsibility for everything, hoping that the lord would annul the engagement and send her away. The lord, however, stated that their engagement was approved by the emperor and could not be annulled. He then ordered them each to receive thirty strokes and be confined for a month. The prince, taking responsibility for all, willingly accepted the punishment on behalf of Li Caiwei.

Shen Huaijin, unable to walk due to the beating, was assisted back to his room by Guo An and Li Caiwei. The lord's niece, Liu Jingshu, had always been infatuated with Shen Huaijin. She insisted on helping him bathe, but Li Caiwei objected, saying that wounds shouldn't be exposed to water, leading to an argument between the two women. Shen Huaijin intervened, and Guo An applied a traditional golden wound medicine from his family to the prince. Ding Xiang and the lady conspired, believing that the lord's punishment was too lenient. The lady gritted her teeth, saying that the lord couldn't forget Shen Huaijin's mother, which is why he protected Shen Huaijin. However, she was determined not to let him have his way.

Liu Jingshu couldn't argue with Li Caiwei and sulkily returned to the side of the lady. The lady scolded her for not being able to handle even such a trivial matter. The lady had always wanted Liu Jingshu to seduce Shen Huaijin, hoping to make him make a mistake and anger the emperor, leading to the stripping of his title as the prince. However, she was also worried that Liu Jingshu might genuinely fall in love with Shen Huaijin. Therefore, the lady stopped pressuring her to get close to Shen Huaijin and instead ordered Liu Jingshu to bring Shen Huaibi back.

While applying medicine, Guo An told the prince that Li's attitude toward him had changed a lot, and it was evident that she was jealous of Liu Jingshu. Shen Huaijin explained that he let her spend freely and even took the beating for her, so her kindness was normal. Guo An expressed concern that the prince's actions might provoke the lord, but Shen Huaijin stated that he deliberately wanted to provoke the lord. The reason he indulged in extravagance was to divert the assets of the lord's residence because Yunjin Tower, Wan Hua Lou, and Desheng Gambling House were all his businesses. If Li Caiwei was genuinely sincere, he planned to reveal these truths to her later.

Li Caiwei grabbed Lanxin and asked if her engagement with the prince was approved by the emperor. Lanxin confirmed that it was because the marquis had outstanding merits, and the emperor took pity on her for being lonely and without support, thus arranging this marriage. However, Lanxin told her that in this residence, only the prince sincerely cared for the young miss. After the events of today, Li Caiwei also felt that Shen Huaijin was a very righteous person and decided to help him find the person who harmed him. She first organized a list of individuals related to Shen Huaijin and prepared to investigate each one.

Shen Huaijin noticed that Li Caiwei was secretly tracking the assailant and found it amusing but didn't reveal that he knew.

Lanxin told Li Caiwei that the prince is becoming more and more infatuated with the young miss, which naturally pleased Li Caiwei. Curious, she asked Lanxin why the prince indulged in extravagance all the time. Lanxin explained that the prince wasn't like this before; he changed completely after the death of the late queen consort, Lady Yang. Learning that the lord and Lady Yang had a love match, and the current Lady Liu was chosen by the old queen consort for the lord, essentially an arranged marriage, the lord favored Shen Huaijin born to the late queen consort. Li Caiwei daringly speculated that Lady Liu envied Shen Huaijin and wanted to harm him, hoping to establish her own son, Shen Huaibi, as the prince after Shen Huaijin's demise.

Upon hearing from Lanxin that the prince's birthday was approaching and he hadn't celebrated it since Lady Yang's death, Li Caiwei decided to organize a birthday celebration for the prince while warning him to be cautious of Lady Liu. In his room, Shen Huaijin painted a portrait of Li Caiwei. He found himself increasingly fond of the present Li Caiwei, with her lively and spirited demeanor. When Li Caiwei entered, the prince quickly hid the portrait. She asked him to accompany her somewhere. In the garden, Li Caiwei had already set up a table with a variety of dishes that she had prepared all morning.

Every dish on the table was modern, and the prince had never tasted them before. However, he enjoyed each one, mentioning that no one had celebrated his birthday for him since the death of his mother. Li Caiwei quickly comforted him and reminded Shen Huaijin that someone in the residence intended to poison him. Just as she finished speaking, Shen Huaijin suddenly fainted and fell unconscious. Li Caiwei hurriedly called for Guo An and Lanxin. Upon hearing the news, the lady and her attendants, along with a physician, arrived to diagnose that the prince had mistakenly ingested walnut powder. Li Caiwei insisted that she didn't put walnut powder in the food. The lady ordered the physician to use acupuncture to treat the prince.

The lady intentionally claimed that Li Caiwei had poisoned Shen Huaijin and ordered the physician to administer acupuncture to save him. Li Caiwei instinctively sensed that there was an issue with the physician, so she pushed him away and personally performed CPR on Shen Huaijin. Seeing Li Caiwei giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to Shen Huaijin, the lady, accusing her of conspiring against the prince, ordered her subordinates to arrest her. Upon receiving the news, the lord rushed over. The prince was briefly in shock, and Li Caiwei had used CPR to restore his breathing. However, she and Lanxin were still arrested and detained.

The prince went to see his father, respectfully bowing and pleading for permission to visit Li Caiwei. The lord agreed to let him visit her but insisted that Li Caiwei not be released until the matter was thoroughly investigated. Just then, a royal official arrived to apprehend Li Caiwei, as news of her plotting against the prince had spread throughout the streets. Shen Huaijin urgently pleaded with the official, and the lord expressed disbelief that Li Caiwei, who had grown up with him since childhood, would conspire against the prince.

Shen Huaijin requested one day from the official, confident that he could uncover the truth and identify the real culprit. The official agreed to go back and mediate. Locked away, Li Caiwei and Lanxin were starving when Shen Huaijin sent refreshments. Li Caiwei eagerly opened each item and finally found a note from the prince, assuring her to wait patiently.

Shen Huaijin knew that the mastermind behind this incident must be Lady Liu, the consort. He sent Guo An to investigate, and indeed, Ding Xiang had instructed the palace maid to put walnut powder in the water. Now, the palace maid was pressing Ding Xiang for hush money! The consort's scheme was a clever move, aiming not only to eliminate the troublesome Shen Huaijin but also to get rid of Li Caiwei. The prince sneered, saying that since she used someone else to do the dirty work, he could do the same.

At night, the palace maid hurriedly walked with a silver note, and suddenly, a masked person stopped her. Holding a knife to her throat, the assailant informed her that someone had paid to take her life. The palace maid guessed it was Ding Xiang, cursed her, and pleaded with the assassin to spare her life. However, the assassin remained unmoved. Fortunately, Prince Shen Huaijin arrived just in time and saved the palace maid. After chasing away the assassin, the palace maid pleaded with the prince to protect her, revealing how Ding Xiang had manipulated her to harm the prince and frame Li Caiwei.

Li Caiwei was released, and her first instinct was to find Shen Huaijin. Guo An teasingly told her that the prince had been arrested, causing Li Caiwei to panic. The prince quickly appeared, easing Li Caiwei's worries. Guo An informed her that Ding Xiang and the palace maid had been taken to the Judicial Office. Starving, Li Caiwei was treated to a table of delicious dishes prepared by the prince, and she devoured them eagerly. Li Caiwei told Shen Huaijin that now he should believe that someone in the mansion was plotting against him. Shen Huaijin calmly replied that he had known it all along. Li Caiwei then took Shen Huaijin to the riverside, where she had prepared many sky lanterns, saying that making wishes to them could make dreams come true.

Li Caiwei lit a sky lantern for Shen Huaijin, asking him to make a wish facing the lantern. Shen Huaijin was deeply moved; today happened to be the anniversary of his mother's death. In those years, his mother had been constantly oppressed by Liu Shi within the mansion and finally passed away in despair when he was ten. Before her death, his mother entrusted him with the wish to escape from the mansion and live a happy life. Li Caiwei suddenly understood, so Shen Huaijin had been causing trouble all day, hoping the lord would expel him.

However, the lord understood his son very well, thinking he was missing his mother, so he did not blame him. Shen Huaijin told Li Caiwei that after going through so much, he had decided he could no longer escape. He had grown up and had the ability to protect the ones he loved. Li Caiwei asked him who he loved, and Shen Huaijin replied that it was her, listing various good things she had done for him. Li Caiwei hurriedly explained, but Shen Huaijin refused to listen, saying he understood her feelings for him.

Li Caiwei couldn't argue, and Shen Huaijin took out the peace knot left by his mother and gave it to Li Caiwei. Li Caiwei recognized the peace knot; she had seen it on the filming set and thought it was the key to return to the modern era. She accepted it, but no matter how hard she tried, it didn't work. She realized the urgent task at hand was to overthrow Liu Shi, rescue Shen Huaijin, break the cycle, and leave this place to return to the present day.

Li Caiwei went to find Shen Huaijin and was pleasantly surprised to see him fully engrossed in painting himself. At that moment, Guo An came to report on the expenses of Yunjin Tower and Hongyi Tower. Shen didn't avoid Li Caiwei and instructed Guo An to continue as usual. It was then that Li Caiwei learned that these businesses were all owned by Shen Huaijin. She suspected that he might be transferring assets from the royal residence, but Shen Huaijin explained that he was only moving his mother's dowry.

After returning from the academy, Shen Huaibi came to visit his brother and Li Caiwei. He had already learned about what Ding Xiang had done and sincerely apologized to Shen Huaijin and Li Caiwei on behalf of the queen for her actions. Shen Huaijin told him there was no need for excessive courtesy; he was himself, and the queen was the queen. He didn't need to apologize for her.

Liu Jingshu reported to the queen that Ding Xiang couldn't bear the torment in prison and had taken her own life. Liu was resolute and vowed not to let Ding Xiang die in vain.

Shen Huaibi brought pastries he had bought for the queen, but she was still melancholic. Learning it was because of Ding Xiang's suicide, Shen Huaibi said it was her own doing. The queen was displeased with Shen Huaibi's words and asked him if he wanted to become the prince. Shen Huaibi replied that he could earn titles through hard work and didn't care about the position of the prince. The queen was very unhappy with his response and asked them to leave so she could rest. As she watched Shen Huaibi leave, the queen pondered how her troubles might have been avoided if she had not given birth to a stillborn child in the first place.