A Writer in Republican-Era China

In the eighth year of the Republic, opium dens were everywhere.

They say, "When the guns start firing, it's either your child being sold or your wife being pawned off."

After gambling away the family fortune and pawning off his wife, Xie Laosan turned his sights on his thirteen-year-old daughter.

Xie Qinghe, who had transmigrated into this world and was worth only one silver dollar and eight copper coins, refused to accept her fate.

She ran dozens of miles through the night and climbed aboard a small steamboat.

She was going to Shanghai to seek refuge with her aunt.

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The Su Residence.

He Meizhen, a master chef and a skilled professional among the household staff, had a poor relative arrive from her hometown.

The little girl was thin and small, but her beauty was impossible to hide.

Even servants had a hierarchy.

The gatekeeper, kitchen hands, cleaning maids... The lower-ranking workers who had sons all began hoping to marry the girl and thereby gain favor with Chef He.

Who would have thought that, a few months later, the orphan everyone had reluctantly put up with would walk into school clutching textbooks?

The servants were envious, but didn't dare hope for anything more. They could only curse Chef He in their hearts for being so calculating.

Raising a poor relative like this, she must be planning to give the girl to some young master as a concubine.

But the orphan shattered everyone's expectations once again. She bought a house, moved out of the Su Residence, and even published a book, becoming a famous author.

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The Fang and Su families had been close for generations.

Fang Yuzhou and the third young master of the Su family had been friends since they were little enough to run around in split-crotch pants.

One day, Fang Yuzhou heard an unfamiliar name from his childhood friend... Xie Qinghe.

At first, her name came up only once in a while. Before long, it came up more and more often.

Even after Fang Yuzhou went abroad to study, Xie Qinghe was never absent from the letters sent across the ocean.

His descriptions went from clever, to sensible, to beautiful, to talented, and finally to one in a million.

The third young master of the Su family was troubled by the low status of the beauty he adored. The only thing he could do was take her as a concubine.

After returning home, Fang Yuzhou happened to get to know Xie Qinghe. He learned she had no interest in the third young master and planned to move out of the Su Residence.

In the eyes of others, Fang Yuzhou was a gentleman as refined as jade. He "kindly" helped her find a house far, far away from the Su Residence.

Content warning: This is an alternate-history setting, very loosely based on reality. The story is entirely fictional. Please don't overanalyze it, thank you!

The heroine is an absolute beauty! The hero competes fiercely for her! An unconventional strong heroine, a feel-good wish-fulfillment romance, sweet and full of everyday life!

Blurb is tentative! Screenshots have been posted on Weibo!

Theme: Hard work and perseverance are the keys to a better future.