[Republican-Era Transmigration + Business Comeback + Thirty-Six Stratagems + Light Romance]
When Lin Wan opens her eyes, she is a bride in a sedan chair, waiting to be sold to the highest bidder.
For fifty silver dollars, her own family plans to sell her to Shanghai's most famous house of courtesans. Armed thugs escort her from the front, while the madam waits to inspect her from behind. All she has is a battered old book.
Each time, the book offers only the name of a stratagem and a vague clue. Whether she uses it correctly or not, the page will burn away.
To survive, Lin Wan escapes the brothel in a dead man's coffin, then starts from a piece of old clothing and half a market stall. Stolen watches used to frame her, rivals conspiring against her, patterns stolen, seamstresses leaking secrets, cargo seized at the docks... When others use guns, power, and rules to force her to submit, she uses ledgers, contracts, and human nature to turn the tables.
When Shen Yanci first meets her, he thinks she is merely a clever woman on the run.
Only later does he realize that this woman, once valued at fifty silver dollars, is steadily turning herself into a player Shanghai can no longer ignore.
My new work is here! Come read it on Tomato Novel. I hope you enjoy it. Your support is what keeps me writing, and I'll do my best to tell every story well!
