Xu Ruining was a broke graduate student who worked herself to death in the library. Then she woke up to a “Republican-era immersive experience pass” and found herself in 1923 Shanghai, the hottest girl on the scene: penniless, homeless, and rated by AI as having “a lower chance of survival than a beggar.”
Her one consolation was that a sharp-tongued AI assistant named Doubao had come along on her phone. It looked like a short-haired girl, but spoke like a coldhearted HR manager: “According to data analysis, your main advantage right now is... you can go without food for quite a while.”
Xu Ruining: ???
To keep from starving, she had no choice but to roll up her sleeves and build a business. Armed with her knowledge of modern history and AI-powered big data analysis, she targeted the cheongsam market and left the competition in the dust. “You’re still embroidering peonies? I’m doing modern Chinese designs in muted Morandi colors! You’re all chasing Parisian styles? I’m recreating classics from the future!”
When jealous rivals spread rumors that she was a plagiarist, the next day’s headline in the Shen Bao read: “Xu’s Cheongsams Earn International Certification. Some People Should Donate Their Eyes to Those Who Need Them.”
When unscrupulous merchants tried to steal her secret formula, their warehouse was “accidentally” flooded that very night, and the dye recipe was mysteriously exposed. It turned out to be common knowledge across the industry.
Then, at the celebration banquet, the cold-faced young marshal Zhang Baichuan cornered her in the hallway, the barrel of his gun lightly pressed against her waist. “Miss Xu, your secret is quite interesting.”
Xu Ruining held up her phone in response. Doubao’s virtual avatar blinked its big, innocent eyes. “Threat detected. Recording and backing up to the cloud automatically. Young Marshal, have you heard of ‘social death’?”
#Using AI in the Republican Era to Crush the Competition#
#I Set Out to Conquer Shanghai, but Somehow Built a Monopoly#
#The Young Marshal Keeps Suspecting I’m an Enemy Spy, but He Hasn’t...
