The night was quiet, yet Hua Lian could not sleep.
She sat beneath the lantern light, scrolls spread across her desk. Poems, strategy classics, even business ledgers from her father's study — books she had once ignored now became weapons in her arsenal.
But Hua Lian knew knowledge alone would not win this war. Even the sharpest blade is useless without someone to wield it at the right time.
That week, she noticed a servant boy being beaten in the courtyard. His name was Yin Chen, one of the lowest-ranked attendants, bullied by higher servants for being poor and orphaned.
"Trash like you shouldn't even be serving in the Hua estate," one sneered, striking him again.
Before, Hua Lian would have looked away, too timid to interfere.
This time, she stepped forward.
"Enough."
Her voice was not loud, but it carried authority. The servants froze, startled by the steel in her tone.
She knelt beside Yin Chen, helping him up. His eyes widened — he was used to scorn, not kindness.
"Do you wish to remain a dog that everyone kicks," Hua Lian asked softly, "or will you rise and fight with me?"
Yin Chen lowered his head, but in his trembling voice was a vow:
"If Young Miss grants me a chance… I will be your blade."
And thus, her first loyal shadow was born.
A few days later, at a small bookshop outside the manor, Hua Lian met a scholar named Shen Wei. He was brilliant but unrecognized, working as a copyist to survive. In her past life, she remembered him only faintly — the man who once offered her advice that she ignored. Later, he had been recruited by her enemies.
This time, she approached him.
"You copy words, yet the brush in your hand deserves more than fading ink," she said. "If I offer you a stage, will you write my victory?"
Shen Wei looked at her in shock, but her eyes were steady — deep, unwavering, filled with a vision far beyond a 14-year-old girl's.
He bowed slightly. "Then I shall be your strategist."
That night, Hua Lian stood on her balcony, the wind brushing her hair.
In her last life, she had been alone — betrayed, used, discarded.
But in this life… she would gather her own people, one by one, like stars forming a constellation.
Enemies had taken everything from her once.
This time, she would make them kneel.