The Concubine’s Daughter Writes 3,000 Words a Day, and Her Legal Mother Is Humiliated Across the Capital

Shen Shuci, the fourth daughter of the Yongchang Marquis Household, was born to a concubine. Her mother had been an actress. When her stepmother ordered her to copy the Rules for Women, she rewrote them as a popular story called 108 Ways for a Stepmother to Die, which became a sensation among the noblewomen of the capital. When her stepmother confined her to her room, Shen Shuci wrote A Guide to Surviving the Inner Household and anonymously published it. Soon, every noblewoman in the capital had a copy. When her stepmother tried to ruin her reputation, Shen Shuci launched a serialized story called My Stepmother Is a Drama Queen, posting three thousand words a day, with hard evidence in every chapter. Three months later, her stepmother was divorced, her awful stepsister couldn’t find a husband, and the ladies of the capital were lining up to ask Shen Shuci to write stories about their own households. Shen Shuci put pen to paper and wrote a single line: “Want to know what happens next? Find out in the next installment.”