After the Broken Engagement, the Mad Regent Forces His Way Into Power

[Second Male Lead's Groveling Arc] [Long-Laid Plans] [Satisfying Power Plays] [Genius Abacus Master] [The Sweetest Romance]

"Shen Qingci, once you're out of the Eastern Palace, your Loyal Marquis household won't even have enough silver to buy rice tomorrow!"

Faced with the crown prince's condescending charity and threats, Shen Qingci gives a cold laugh, drops her broken engagement letter, and turns to leave. Back at the crumbling marquis estate, her greedy second aunt is leading a gang of thugs in smashing down the gate. She plans to sell Shen Qingci's mother's dowry shop for a paltry five hundred taels to curry favor with the new crown princess.

At this critical moment, Shen Qingci awakens a god-tier talent for balancing accounts. On the spot, she exposes her second uncle's tangled books: embezzled compensation money, extravagant gambling, and a courtesan kept on the side. The whole city gathers to watch as she turns the tables against all odds!

With her own two hands, she breathes life into the dead shop, buying low and selling high. Her purse strings become a noose around the Eastern Palace's neck. The crown prince watches the palace shops go bankrupt and his stipend dry up, and finally panics. He comes running to pester her, desperately begging to get back together.

But before he can get close, two ranks of black-armored guards kick in the Eastern Palace gates. Xiao Jue, the living King of Hell and regent with an army of three hundred thousand at his command, shields Shen Qingci behind him and points his blade at the crown prince's throat. "Nephew, if you can't repay the eighty thousand taels of silver you owe your imperial aunt today, I'll chop off your hand and use it to settle the debt!"