The Emperor’s Strategy / The Tale of Su Ji’s Coffin Shop (Su Ji) 天子谋 (苏记棺材谱) by 青垚 Qing Yao (HE)

tianzimou

In the capital, the young owner of the Su Ji Coffin Shop is Su Li Li (苏离离 – the li is significant in her name because it represents leaving). As spring was just beginning, on one early morning, she by chance saved a woodblock that had met trouble. However, no one knew that she was the daughter of the previous empire’s Grand Tutor (akin to the Imperial Adviser), and the other was the current empire’s Lin Jiang King’s son. They overcome many obstacles, to hide in this small town, to become forgotten by the people, they exchanged their hearts and wanted to never part even till their hairs turned white. However, even before anything could start, Mu Tou who had his own birth secret suddenly disappeared.

In this world of chaos and power struggle, Su Li Li’s identity was discovered by Qi Feng Xiang, his heart is scheming, his actions are cruel, he wants to reign supreme over the lands, he forcibly retains her by his side. But in the midst of using her then distancing from her, his heart gets clouded. But the road to become an Emperor is a lonely road, will he be able to give her the peace she wants, will she be able to give him his empire, and how about Mu Tou who said “If I can fly out, I can also fly back”, where did he fly to and can he fly back?

In this chaos, who is aiming to rule the sky, who is aiming for an ordinary life, who can without hesitation make the emotional attachments, and whose hand will she hold to look back on these memories of upheaval and peace? 

[Ebook] [Audiobook] [Summary] [Scene Translations] [Thiên tử mưu][Drama]

 

24 Responses

  1. hui3r
    hui3r March 27, 2014 at 3:05 am |

    Sounds good – um. Please give me directions to the right ship. 😛

  2. Peanuts
    Peanuts March 27, 2014 at 3:23 am |

    You always want to know the right ship but never bother to do research like me:P Haven’t you learned your lesson when I told you a fake ship, lol? I know the right ship but let decembi tells you since I know you don’t trust me anymore, lol.

  3. Peanuts
    Peanuts March 28, 2014 at 12:08 am |

    Well, actually I didn’t really tell her a fake ship. I just let her assume she has the correct ship. Hence, I am not guilty beyond reasonable doubt:P My case is arguable as technically I didn’t tell her anything, lol.

    Thanks for the spoiler but I already know that. I am not sure what I’ve read is true so I want to verfiy with you. Who does she love more/most? As per a comment I read in baidu, she loves the other guy more but chooses this guy bcos he is good to her. She made a pragmatic choice. Good for her & I’ll support her in real life. But, for my novel world, I don’t like my leads to compromise which is why I didn’t read this book.

  4. Joanna
    Joanna March 30, 2014 at 11:51 am |

    oh!! I think I have a ship for this. =X

    Spoiler Inside SelectShow
  5. hui3r
    hui3r March 30, 2014 at 3:16 pm |

    Woooooooo…. *clicks open all the spoiler tags*

    Ok. Going to read this. 😀

  6. decembi
    decembi April 3, 2014 at 2:25 pm |

    Here’s the scene translation for the other male lead, Qi Feng Yu:

    http://onesecondspring.blogspot.sg/2014/04/the-emperors-strategy-original-title.html

  7. karma
    karma April 4, 2014 at 12:56 am |

    This update totally made my day hehe. I love both MuTou and FengYu even though he’s just appeared. I think I find it hilarious that her 女扮男装 isn’t fooling anyone (save for MoDa I guess, who doesn’t count since he’s so dense.) Also, the implications of homosexuality in the second scene made me laugh so hard.
    I’m still waiting till summer break to break into the books, grahh!
    Can’t wait for more summaries/translations, thanks so much decembi!!

  8. Banh Bao
    Banh Bao April 4, 2014 at 2:40 pm |

    Here is VEbook http://tukhidonglai.wordpress.com/truy%E1%BB%87n-dang-lam/thien-tu-muu/
    The editor hasnt finished her work yet but it seems interesting.Uhm,btw,do you know books in which the protagonist and antagonist fall in love with each other?Thks in advance 😉

  9. decembi
    decembi April 4, 2014 at 3:24 pm |

    Hey Karma,

    Thanks for reading :)! Woohoo, I love it that no one is fooled by her male disguise (although the suggestion is that most of the townspeople just think she’s a skinny weak boy haha).

    I will be translating all the pivotal scenes! 🙂 More will be up soon.

    Hey Banh Bao,

    Thanks for the link! Shall edit it in the entry. Hmm protagonist falls for the antagonist… the crazy book of the wu gate is kind of like that though they don’t end up together in the end. That’s an interesting concept, let me think if I can find any books of that genre!

  10. Banh Bao
    Banh Bao April 5, 2014 at 4:44 am |

    decembi:

    Hey Banh Bao,

    Thanks for the link! Shall edit it in the entry. Hmm protagonist falls for the antagonist… the crazy book of the wu gate is kind of like that though they don’t end up together in the end. That’s an interesting concept, let me think if I can find any books of that genre!

    Well thank you decembi,I read the first chapter but it’s not my cup of tea.Anyway thank for your help.I’ve been crazy about this catergory for these days.Love hate rls always interesting right 😀

  11. decembi
    decembi April 6, 2014 at 4:37 pm |

    Just to say that I will be translating the pivotal scenes until the end! This is scene 3. I won’t clog up this board by updating further, just check on my blog occasionally if you are interested.

    Scene 3 is a cute scene b/w Su Li Li and Mu Tou:
    http://onesecondspring.blogspot.sg/2014/04/the-emperors-strategy-original-title_7.html

  12. karened
    karened April 16, 2014 at 3:51 pm |

    decembi:
    Whee! I haven’t posted a new c-novel in SSB since well… since I left Hong Kong! Largely because I’ve not read a c-novel good enough to sustain my interest after Once Promised and Lost You Forever (please do not think those novels represent the average standard of c-novels or you will have very little c-novels to read haha).

    So the Emperor’s Strategy was the first c-novel that I managed to finish and also love after reading the other 2 epic novels.

    I think Lost You Forever fans might also be intrigued because the two male leads, 江秋镝 (Jiang Qiu Di) alter ego 木头 (Woodblock/Mu Tou) resembles Jing and 祁凤羽 (Qi Feng Yu) resembles a combination of Zhuan Xu and Xiang Liu.

    I know what you mean. After watching BBJX (never read the book), I was on Qing-travel high and went to read Hui Dao Da Qing, which was highly recommended as a good Qing-travel novel, but was a bit disappointed. The book was ok, but not memorable, and I expected the writing to be richer; had watched Zhen Huan Zhuan earlier and was impressed by the amount of poems weaved into the plot and dialogues. It took a Chang Xiang Si to bring back my interest in Chinese novels, but the withdrawal was bad. I coudn’t read lesser novels anymore!

    Going to give this book a shot since it got you over the slump. Thanks for the rec!

  13. decembi
    decembi April 17, 2014 at 2:37 pm |

    oooh I hope you like it! I find the writing poetic 🙂 but some of the politicking parts of the plot I just skip. In the end, I enjoyed it for its very loving depictions of all three lead characters!

  14. Snow Berries
    Snow Berries May 27, 2014 at 10:25 am |

    Hi Demcibi….this is really a nice book. I was reading TH’s lost you forever and Feiwoxichun 佳期如梦 series and seek refuge for my poor heart in this. I love that the side characters were all very well developed like uncle Cheng, yun fei, Mo da, the white face scholar and even that handsome monk(Who can resist a Beautiful face). QFX and lili were so cute together and his remarks hilarious..just wish they can spend a longer time with each other…But if I need to choose ships, I will ship the bromance between MT and QFX…2 beautiful men with smart brains. Both are equally outstanding and love her in their own way. I especially like QFX comments “between us, we do not need to discuss about her”. There were only a few meetings between both men but each scene was so witty and powerful.I wouldn’t even be disappointed if MT end up dead in that black coffin she made and she end up with QFX as her queen.Qing Yao masterfully create a plot that allow all 3 mains to shine….definite worth my time reading

  15. decembi
    decembi May 27, 2014 at 11:56 am |

    Snow berries, I totally totally totally agree with your comment! The best part of this book is the bromance between the two men!!!!!! 🙂

    I especially love the ending though. Everything I could ever want.

  16. Jolly
    Jolly December 3, 2014 at 3:03 am |

    Does anyone know where the rest of the Audiobook can be found? The one posted is parts 1-21 and 35. It seems like there could potentially be 40 parts total — but I have not been able to locate those with searches. Hopefully someone else has better searching skills than I have. Thanks in advance!

  17. Peanuts
    Peanuts December 3, 2014 at 9:45 am |

    Nope, no complete set online. You go & read decembi’s summary or request her to translate the missing bits for you 🙂

  18. Jolly
    Jolly December 3, 2014 at 1:41 pm |

    Thanks Peanuts! Hmmm, it does seem like they have at least up to 35 (or wherever the 35 labeled on tudou is, the last chapter wasnt consecutive with second-to-last chapter) recorded — too bad it’s not on any website I went on. I couldn’t even find a Chinese download link for the whole thing. In the hours since the post I have skimmed most of the rest of the book so all is well. Currently dont have time to do a full detailed read, but now I might just have to schedule that in during the holidays.

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