The Female Minister

A rags-to-riches career story, with leads whose values are both upright

Before she transmigrated, Lin Chishao had never imagined

that she would scheme and plot to climb the social ladder.

Much less that she would kill someone.

She was born into this world, and her family life was peaceful during her early childhood, until disaster struck when she was four.

Her maternal grandfather and father died one after the other.

Her clansmen seized the chance to take over the family property, driving her and her mother out of the village.

To keep food on the table for her daughter, her mother was tricked into marrying the villain Zhang Da.

That year, mother and daughter suffered endless abuse.

When Zhang Da beat her mother again, leaving her unconscious,

Lin Chishao could take no more. In the dead of night, she secretly set a fire and burned Zhang Da to death.

Afraid that the truth would come to light,

she fled in a panic with her mother.

They endured hardship after hardship on the road.

By the time they realized they had gone the wrong way and arrived in the capital,

they had no money left at all.

With no other choice, they took shelter in a ruined temple and became beggars.

When the winter snow fell, she thought she was going to die.

Of hunger, or of cold.

Luckily, she met Shen Huaiqing,

who took her in as a maid responsible for sweeping and cleaning his household.

But servants were worth little and suffered every kind of bullying.

At last, she understood that mountains could crumble and people could run away.

From then on, she put away her kindness and planned every step carefully, using every scheme she could.

In the end, she was permitted to sit for the imperial examinations and enter government service.

Lin Chishao had once been a beggar and a maid.

Through her own hard work, she rose to become Minister of Revenue.

Theme: Where there's a will, there's a way.