[Late Ming + "Dao Gui Yi Xian" crossover + "Ai Hong" + unhinged + self-interest]
The year Gu Changning transmigrated into "Ai Hong" was the ninth year of the Chongzhen era.
He had no identity, no travel permit, short hair, and spoke Mandarin. In late Ming Yangzhou, he was an outcast who could be beheaded at any moment.
To survive, he took on bounties, killed bandits, and used the “Remnant Ledger of Ink and Brush” to see the structural lines of all things, as well as the lines of death marking people’s debts of fate.
The price was that he began to go mad.
The world faded into ink wash before his eyes. Human faces became masks, and voices turned into ink patterns.
Then he wandered into the red-light district by mistake, pushed open a door, and saw Lin Pianpian.
In that moment, color returned to the city’s ink-washed streets.
She was his anchor.
The only living person he could recognize in this mad world.
He bought her freedom and gave her two choices.
“First, come with me. I’ll give you food, a place to stay, and the right to lock your door.”
“Second, take the money and leave on your own. Wherever you die after that is none of my concern.”
Lin Pianpian chose the first option.
Later, everyone in Yangzhou knew that Gu Changning was cold-blooded, mad, self-serving, and ruthless.
He controlled the brothels, commanded the salt routes, brought the boat gangs under his sway, squeezed the money houses, and held the secret ledgers. He became the undisputed power beneath the surface of Yangzhou.
But only Lin Pianpian knew the truth.
He wasn’t after power.
He was simply afraid.
Afraid that somewhere in this city, there was still an uncontrolled corner that might drag her into the abyss again.
All living things are entries in the ledger. She alone is the anchor.
Gu Changning does not save the world.
He only recognizes her.
So-so, I still like vernacular novels