The moment Luo Lian'er opens her eyes, she has become the concubine-born daughter of the Cheng'en Earl's household, sent to marry into the Guan family in place of her legitimate elder sister.
The man she's marrying is Guan Xuansi, the ultimate villain in the original story: a merciless killer with a harem of wives and concubines, and power over the whole court.
On their wedding night, Luo Lian'er clutches her handkerchief, her ears red with fear, and steels herself to make a deal with Guan Xuansi: each gets what they want.
But the moment she lifts her veil and shyly lowers her eyes, Guan Xuansi's heart skips a beat.
She's soft-hearted and pure, and even when admitting she's wrong, she first makes excuses for other people. In the midst of his endless schemes, she's the one ray of light that can bring him down.
From then on, their marriage of pure calculation goes off the rails.
He acts as cold as iron, yet leaves a lamp lit at night for her bookkeeper;
She reminds herself every day, "Don't fall for him," but loses completely when he leans against her doorframe drunk and murmurs, "Don't go."
Everyone is waiting to see how this soft-spoken concubine-born girl will be chewed to pieces by both her husband's family and her birth family.
Luo Lian'er looks down at her empty dowry and smiles. Chewed to pieces? Perfect. What I need is startup capital.
She puts her old livelihood skills to use and makes her start with a pot of frost sugar, turning a tiny street stall into the capital's one-of-a-kind Sweet Drinks Shop. She knows her inventory, double-entry bookkeeping, gross margins, and cash flow better than anyone.
But just as her sugar shop takes off, she crashes straight into the moneybags of the aristocratic families. The salt, sugar, and tea trades are all monopolized by powerful clans. If she wants to sell so much as a piece of candy, she'll have to fight half the court for her share.
Luo Lian'er doesn't back down. In this dog-eat-dog world, she insists on making her own way
The writing is funny and very interesting.