Golden rays of sunshine shined onto Yanghua's face. Her nose scrunched up as she was gently woken up by the twittering of songbirds outside. Hm, I don't remember setting my alarm to the sound of birds? Yanghua peeled open her eyes. She felt a wave of panic as she realized she woke up way past her alarm. "Shit, shit!" Yanghua cursed as she blearily looked for her phone. As she felt around her bed, something didn't feel right. "Hold on, I definitely don't remember falling out of my bed, why the hell is my mattress so hard?" Yanghua wondered out loud as she finally got a grip on her bearings. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Then she rubbed them again. "Well fuck. We're not in Kansas anymore Toto" Yanghua joked to herself.
Instead of the familiar 200 sq ft dorm room Yanghua and Holly shared, the room that Yanghua was in, was much, much smaller than that. Yanghua was sitting on a simple wooden bed, dressed in a dingy beige shirt with a mandarin collar, with matching beige pants. She swiveled her head around to take in the room. In the corner there was a small bamboo vanity clad with a bronze mirror, a straw mat was placed in the middle of the room with a small round wooden table, accompanied with two small rattan chairs.
Yanghua quickly slipped on the cloth shoes placed neatly next to her bed and walked to the small vanity. Sitting down on the small stool, she faced herself in the mirror. Yanghua studied her new face in the bronze mirror, taking in her blurry image. Gone were her bobbed date-colored red dyed hair and the little scar at the corner of her temple. Replacing those features was straight, long, midnight black hair. The little moles around her face disappeared and in place in place of her double lidded eyes were mono-lids. Thank god I still have my dimples, Yanghua thought in relief. Alright, now let's figure out what the fuck is going on here. Yanghua thought as she got up to pace around the room. I'm definitely not in my time period, everything looks way too old, and it looks like the person who was here before me lived a relatively nice life. I was probably a farmer's daughter, or a really poor noble's daughter Yanghua rationalized. Wait a second...I transmitted?? Yanghua panicked as got up to pace around the room. So, I went to sleep and than I woke up here...no truck, no weird illness, no portal? Lame...Yanghua pondered. Yanghua was strangely giddy, as she could feel adrenaline blanketing her initial panic in waking up in a entirely new world and a new body. Hold on, I could have a system. Yanghua paused in her tracks as this thought dawned on her.
Quietly she said, "System? Appear please?" In a fit of sparkles, an automated voice called out "Yes, esteemed guest. Welcome!" In an instant the little ball of sparkles burst, and a little purple star with fairy wings appeared. "Greetings esteemed guest! I am NALA, and I am the 'Screw over the Male Lead System." It said as it flew around Yanghua. "Hm…HUH?" Yanghua exclaimed as she tried to wrap her head around what was happening in front of her. I have a system, no I isekaied, kind of? Is this quick transmission? What the hell does 'screw over the male lead' even mean? Yanghua's mind raced with these thoughts.
"Yes, yes, I know you're entranced by my beautiful appearance but I must quickly go over the ground rules with. First, you can't go too OOC out of your character, second your main goal is to fill up this progress bar with devious plans to ruin the male lead's life, and lastly you have side missions that you can complete to earn NALA currency to purchase different buffs." The star that called itself NALA said as it floated in front of Yanghua. "Ok, ok, right. How do I get home?" Yanghua asked anxiously. NALA responded briskly with, "I'm not sure yet, that's up to my big bosses, but you can rest easy right now. You get an simple world first as a trial run, which will help us figure out how good you are, and see how we can put you to use."
Yanghua took a deep breath to calm her racing heart as she thanked NALA. Before NALA left, it left Yanghua with a jade necklace. NALA left Yanghua with no instructions, so she curiously touched the jade necklace. Instantly in front of her eyes she saw the information about the life of the girl before her, and what world she was in. Yanghua gasped as she re-read the title of the world. It was "Does the Emperor Love Me, or Does He Hate Me?" Yanghua's current favorite web novel. Yanghua skimmed the rest of the page of information, and she found out her name. She was now Zhang Yang Hua, she was the illegitimate daughter of a generals family in the empire. Yanghua's father was General Zhang, the general in charge of protecting the southern part of the empire. There were three other generals besides her father, General Cheng, General Hu, and General Li. They were all respectively protecting the empire through the North, West, and Eastern parts of the empire. Currently the reigning emperor was Emperor Wang, and the crown prince was Wang Yu Fen.
Zhang Yang Hua was the child of General Zhang and a courtesan woman. General Zhang let his daughter live in his household, on the condition that she didn't make any trouble. She was constantly bullied by her older brother and her stepmother therefore she had a very weak personality. She was in a coma for about 3 years, after she was pushed into the lake when she was fifteen. Her brother was going to go to the capital and be an official for the crown prince. One time in court he managed to catch a glimpse of the female lead, who was studying to be a court officer, and he tried to make a pass on her. After this was witnessed by a eunuch of the crown prince the brother was sentenced to death by the crown prince, who by then was the new reigning emperor. Wang Yu Fen also sentenced the three generations of the brother's family to be executed and Zhang Yang Hua was included even though she was in a coma the entire time.