[Alternate-world transmigration + comedy + on-screen comments + no romance + career-focused + predominantly female ensemble]
Chen Xi, an online novelist, transmigrates into the book she wrote.
From the start, she is chased with a sword by Gu Ciyuan, the deranged second male lead she created.
At death’s door, she thinks fast. “General! You wouldn’t want the whole capital to hear about how you sneak out at night to watch the Minister of Rites’ daughter bathe, would you?”
Gu Ciyuan is stunned, and Chen Xi survives.
But now they’re enemies!
To stay alive and get rich, she decides to put her specialty to work: making money and building a business!
She recruits Song Jinnian, the capital’s most “wasteful” rich kid, and opens the Great Yin dynasty’s first Tomato Bookshop.
All to support Shen Lingwei, the most talented woman of the age!
While others sell books of sages, she sells the serialized storybook The Tyrannical General Falls in Love with Me, updated weekly, with no refunds for missed chapters!
While others compose poetry, she publishes The Capital Entertainment Weekly, with front-page headlines like “Shocking! General Gu’s Mysterious Little Hobby!” and “The Third Prince’s Romantic Encounter with the Minister of Revenue’s Daughter: Truth or Rumor?”
Before long, the people of Great Yin are gossiping instead of discussing farming, and the literati are talking about the latest chapters instead of romance.
General Gu Ciyuan sends people out every day to buy up every copy of the storybooks, then sneaks off to read them alone at home. He grumbles that they’re all nonsense, but his ears turn red enough to drip blood.
The empress scolds Chen Xi in court for spreading lies, then privately sends someone to demand an update: “Tell Chen Xi to hurry up and write! The couple I ship needs to get a sweet moment today!”
Just as everyone assumes Chen Xi is merely an unusual woman who writes a bit of scandalous romance, she summons Bi Sheng and shocks the entire court. She uses theatrical tours to sway public opinion, rising step by step from a disposable extra to Great Yin’s feared cultural matriarch and top-tier star!
