Scarlet Heart (2011)

After being hit by a taxi and electrocuted, Zhang Xiao wakes up in China in 1704, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, in the body of 16-year-old Maertai Ruoxi. Initially confused and disoriented, Zhang Xiao then decides she does not want to try to return to a present in which she might have died: she thus begins to adapt to her new life as Ruoxi, astonishing the girl’s acquaintances with behaviour that runs counter to the customs of the time, whilst staying at the residence of the Eighth Prince, the husband of her elder sister Ruolan. Before long, Ruoxi enters the Forbidden City for the selection of concubines; however, thanks to the friendships she has formed in the meantime with some of the other princes, she is instead chosen as a maid to prepare tea for the Emperor, whose trust and paternal affection she wins. But life in the Forbidden City is far from easy, and danger lurks around every corner, whilst the Eighth Prince and the Fourth Prince clash not only over the throne but also over the girl’s heart. Ruoxi knows that a despotic and ruthless reign awaits China when the Fourth Prince becomes Emperor, and, using her knowledge, she tries to limit the damage; but history is a cruel tyrant that brooks no change, and every single detail can mean the difference between life and death.