No More Leeching in the Courtyard: I Talk Back My Way to the Top

Female-oriented + transmigration + golden finger (refuse and grow stronger) + hilarious wish fulfillment + equally powerful male and female leads + distinctive villains + period setting + courtyard home A modern office drone who loves roasting people transmigrates by accident into He Yushui, a character of the same name from Love in the Courtyard. But this Yushui is not that Yushui: she's an upgraded version! She breaks free from the tragedy of the original story, protects herself and her Silly Zhu from being sucked dry by the courtyard's assorted troublemakers, and builds a comfortable, prosperous life, with a little people-watching on the side. The male lead isn't a longtime resident of the courtyard. He's a young technical engineer who has just been transferred there. Cool and reserved on the outside, he's actually sharp, calculating, and sees right through everything. At first, he watches the courtyard's dramas from the sidelines, but gradually he's drawn to the female lead's distinctive style. There are plenty of villains: Uncle Number One, Yi Zhonghai, is the embodiment of moral righteousness. Everything he does is for his retirement, and he tries to control Silly Zhu and Yushui through moral blackmail. But the female lead turns his own moral arguments against him with such airtight logic that he questions his whole existence. Uncle Number Two, Liu Haizhong, is obsessed with official titles, loves throwing his weight around and meddling in others' affairs, and hopes to establish his authority by bullying the Silly Zhu siblings. The female lead often exposes his shortcomings in public and leaves him speechless. Uncle Number Three, Yan Bugui, is a human abacus, miserly to the extreme, and always looking to get something for nothing. But he invariably loses out when dealing with the female lead, whose calculating skills leave him in the dust. Qin Huairu is a white lotus with a talent for leeching off others. She uses tears, helplessness, and neighborly ties to manipulate Silly Zhu, but the female lead's ability to spot a fake leaves her nowhere to hide, and every scheme falls flat. Xu Damao is a genuine scoundrel who makes no secret of how rotten he is. His clashes with the female lead are a battle of dirty tricks versus open strategy, and in the end he loses both his wife and his money. Jia Zhangshi is a necromancer and a master of making trouble. The female lead won't fall for any of it.