A Day Laborer in Troubled Times: Bluffing My Way Into Becoming the Warlord’s Favorite

Twenty-first-century wage slave Lin Nian opens her eyes to find she’s become the daughter of a laborer in the Gu household amid a chaotic era. Her father runs off to escape his debts, and she’s made to shave her head, bind her chest, and disguise herself as a boy before being sent to serve as a personal attendant to Gu Yuan, the cold-faced commander rumored to kill without blinking.

To stay alive, she acts so fanatically loyal it’s frightening: “The commander is my electricity, my light, my one and only god!” Behind his back, she grumbles nonstop: The boss makes empty promises, and in a time of war, it’s overtime all the way. Whoever wants to be loyal can be loyal. She just wants to run away and find herself a powerful patron on the Red side.

But the more she keeps her head down, the more famous she gets: taking a bullet for the commander, sneaking into a military academy, winning over an impassioned but dim-witted hothead, secretly passing on intelligence, and starting a factory to make money. Somehow, she turns a spy thriller into a hilarious workplace comedy.

Until one day, her comrades open her coffin. The legendary “Lin Shouyi” of Shanghai Beach sits up inside it, takes off his men’s clothes, and smiles. “Let’s meet again. My name is Lin Nian.”