I'll go back and add this review to the other books as well, since...well honestly folks this is a roller coaster.
Quickly - CW for rape, assault, some torture stuff, misogyny, and that's about it
General Spoilers for the series as well
I don't remember how this series crossed my KU dash. Its not, strictly speaking, related to any of the other books I've read or bought from Kindle, and I RARELY seek out new content from authors I haven't read before. Not on KU at least.
Its fate maybe that I found it. Strictly speaking, in a technical level, this can be hard to get through if you've not read translated light novels before. I'm not sure how professional the translation was, but dialogue, sentence structure and even phrases could throw off the new reader.
That said it would be a shame to ignore this series because its a soap opera of no equal.
Meet Bai Xiangxiu, the fourth concubine of Long Heng (also known as Prince Li, an honorary title having nothing to do with Imperial blood relations), an acclaimed General in what's essentially ancient China (but like many wuxia, which this draws a heavy amount of inspiration from, its not QUOTE China).
Having somehow had her soul travel through space into the body of this fourth madame, our MC quickly (but with a healthy amount of horror) realizes she's in the world of a webnovel she read. Worst, her new vessel is slated to die QUITE HORRIBLY in a few months time.
Thus begins Bai Xiangxiu's quest to survive, somehow.
While she's fairly likeable, if much too competent and lucky, Long Heng is an alphahole hero to the nth degree. Bai Xiangxiu explains it as the "male lead halo", but really its because he's emotionally, morally and psychologically constipated by a long life of traumatizing events.
Kind of like in Scarlet Heart (choose your version), Palace, and heck "A Kid in King Arthur's Court"/"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" our MC used her future knowledge to win the day.
Sometimes its through cooking 100 vegetarian dished on a limited amount of food and sometimes its creating hand grenades to stop an enemy country's army from killing everyone. Once it was even making lingerie. She was skilled ok? She eventually becomes much more like Yuri (in Red River) in that she gains a lot of military prowess and renown.
Unlike in those other series I named, Bai Xiangxiu has a bit of an advantage in that Huo'er, a cactus, can offer her help in later volumes.
This is kind of meta, in that much of Bai Xiangxiu's ability and knowledge comes from the webnovels and dramas she read/watched about her very situation.
Generally however Lin Qianzi, the female lead in the original novel (thus Long Heng's original love interest) gets a rough end of life simply by being the literal worse. Even Yu San isn't as contemptible.
If like me you want something VERY not centered on the trashfire of reality, I invite you to read this series.