A 33-year-old single woman from Osaka, who grew up in Namba, dies after falling into the Dotonbori River in an incident jokingly referred to as saving Osaka from the curse of Colonel Sanders. She reincarnates as Renka (Lianhua), the 14-year-old daughter of a wealthy merchant in the kingdom of Ōsaku, a world closely resembling ancient China. Her sharp business acumen impresses her new father, who forces her to enter the imperial harem for bridal training alongside many other concubine candidates. In this new life, she retains memories of her past as an outspoken Osaka woman, and when under stress or excitement, she instinctively slips back into her native Osaka dialect, which causes her to be looked down upon by other aristocratic candidates.

Driven by her merchant spirit rather than a desire for romantic favor, Renka vows to survive in the harem through commerce and business. Her life changes when a man, who is secretly the Emperor Tianming himself, visits her chambers. Rather than seeking a romantic liaison, he hands her an order to cooperate with him in stopping the Empress Dowager Xiulan from gaining political power. Renka accepts this secret pact and is appointed as the Toku-hime (Virtuous Consort), one of only four highest-ranking consorts, known as the Hongde Consort.

The story follows Renka as she navigates the luxurious but treacherous inner palace. Armed with her Osaka soul and the wisdom she learned from her mother, she begins to dramatically reform the harem using practical business strategies and sheer force of will. She introduces takoyaki parties, okonomiyaki gatherings, and street food stalls, much to the confusion of the other elegant consorts. Her initial rival is the wise consort Xian Xue, but Renka manages to bridge their gap through a takoyaki party and a game of catch. However, the greatest threat comes from the Emperor’s mother, the Empress Dowager Xiulan, who is wary of Renka’s influence. Xiulan sends a spy named Zhu Lin to monitor the Consort’s pavilion, though Renkas sincerity eventually converts the spy into an ally. The conflict escalates into a "showdown" involving green onion pancakes as Renka challenges the political darkness of the royal family.

Renka survives a poisoning attempt orchestrated by the Liao Noble Consort. This event transitions the narrative into a new arc where Renka establishes a womens baseball league within the harem to foster camaraderie and healthy competition. She forms the Furong Tiger Corps, while other consorts form teams like the Peony Carp Corps and the Osmanthus Swallows Corps. A new consort, Wang, arrives who is also a reincarnated modern Japanese woman, specifically from Tokyo, creating a friendly cultural rivalry between Kansai and Kanto. As the series progresses, Renka also becomes involved in autumn festivals, suggests carrying portable shrines (mikoshi), and runs ramen stalls while navigating the increasingly complicated political conspiracies of the court and the Emperor’s growing romantic feelings for her, which she is too dense to notice. The internal conflicts of the Liao family, the father of the disgraced former consort, also threaten the stability of the kingdom as the series moves into its thirteenth volume.