The billionaire venture-capital queen dies a tragic death. When she opens her eyes, she's become the disgraced daughter of a family sent to prison, soon to be sold into the government brothel.
She has ten days before she's put up for sale, and the original owner has just five copper coins to her name.
Everyone is waiting to see how the once-regal beauty of Jiangnan will kneel in the snow and beg for mercy.
Instead, she uses her five coins to rent the inn's only brick stable on the spot.
Half an hour later, the blizzard crushes her rival's thatched shed.
Standing on the tribute silk of Jiangnan's richest man, ruined by snowmelt, she holds up three fingers, red with cold. “Three hundred taels in silver, plus a carriage. Not a coin less, or your goods will rot right here.”
The crooked merchant loses his temper and draws a knife. She doesn't even flinch. Instead, she tosses a hundred-tael banknote at the cold-faced killer in the corner, a stranger radiating menace:
“One hundred taels for your blade. Put this barking dog in its place!”
From five copper coins to wealth beyond the nation, from the daughter of a disgraced minister to the power behind the Great Zhou treasury.
With a purple sandalwood abacus, she calculates the fate of everyone in the world, but fails to predict that the rough-edged swordsman she “hired” for a hundred taels would turn out to be Xiao Qi, the power-mad Regent Prince who holds the entire court in his grip.
“Shen Banxia, you think a hundred taels can buy my blade for good?” Xiao Qi backs her against the Dragon Throne, his fingertip stroking the soft skin behind her ear. His smile is dangerous and brazen. “My fee these days is the empire, and you.”
