The Jade Beauty of the Eighties

[Draft in Progress, Please Don't Enter!] In this utterly forgotten period novel, there’s a minor maid who steals the spotlight from the leads and earns everyone’s hatred. Desperate to stay in the city, she’ll do anything, stringing along the male lead’s older brother, a handsome man with a bleak future, while eyeing the male lead as an even bigger, fatter catch. The maid thinks her looks are enough to keep her in control, but things go wrong. She fails to seduce the male lead and gets thoroughly dealt with by the female lead. Then the older brother, driven to the brink, brutally takes his anger out on her. She ends up like a dead fish, unable to get back on her feet for the rest of her life. Of all the satisfying moments in the novel, the older brother tormenting the maid is the most gratifying and makes for the best reading. Bai Yu clapped and cheered, downing three big bowls of fish soup. But life is unpredictable. She wakes up one morning as the poor little fish being pinned to a chopping board by the older brother, struggling for her life... A disastrous start... and a System that's even more useless than she is, liable to crash at any moment... What can she do? The seductive beauty turns into a softie in a flash: "Honey, let's talk this out. Put down the knife and go easy on me." The big shot, whose face says, "If I'm unhappy, you're getting written out of this story": "..." With a terrible hand and no way to play it, Bai Yu gives up resisting. She just wants to be a contented couch potato, eating her fill and dying peacefully in her sleep. But as she keeps lying low... "Sis, whatever you want, I'm with you." "Sister-in-law, how do you like this place? If you do, it's yours." Before she knows it, she’s made a fortune and gained a whole crowd of young men and women from the business pages as fans. The cold, intimidating big shot turns into a devoted husband who’d do anything for her, quietly protecting her from behind the scenes. And now she’s won the first Spring Breeze Cup award for Outstanding Young Entrepreneur? What is even happening? She honestly doesn’t understand how city people have so much fun. Many years later... "Ms. Bai, many women look up to you and hope to live the way you do now. What advice would you share with women everywhere?" The advice is... Before you become the person you are now, lie low whenever you can. Who cares about saving face? It’s not worth a damn. New upcoming novel: The Spoiled Empress Dowager Transmigrates into a Couch Potato. Please follow! Bai Yi was born to be a handful. Luckily, fortune favored her: the old emperor died just after she entered the palace. Using her family’s influence, Bai Yi quickly settled on the frail young prince, like a kitten, and brainwashed him over and over. "From now on, Mother Empress is your whole world. Respect me in public, and respect me even more in private. Now repeat after me..." The Empress Dowager is always right! The emperor is right only when the Empress Dowager says he is! If the Empress Dowager is wrong, refer to the first rule! The young emperor grew bigger and stronger with each passing day. He honored the Empress Dowager in public and in private, but that look in his eyes... They glowed an eerie green, making her a little nervous. But who cares? As long as the kid listens. One day, the Empress Dowager heard that the young princess of Lingnan was breathtakingly beautiful, even more so than she had been in her youth. The fresh lychee in her mouth, shipped from far away at great expense, suddenly didn't taste so good. The emperor went to see the Empress Dowager as soon as court ended. Bai Yi said indignantly, "The Prince of Lingnan is asking for death. He actually sent us rotten lychees." "I'll deal with that traitor at once." The emperor soothed her, then turned around with a long saber in hand and murderous fury in his eyes. Not long after the emperor left to lead the campaign, Bai Yi came down with a sudden high fever. When she woke again, the world above her had changed. An old nanny held a bowl up to her mouth. "Drink this medicine and it'll take effect. It won't hurt!" With the army at the gates, everyone in Lingnan was on edge, and thousands of arrows stood ready to fly. Then a disheveled woman appeared on the city wall, her face red as she shouted at the army below. "You little brat! If you haven't copied the rules five hundred times, you can forget about sleeping!" This day would be recorded in the history books forever. The emperor raised an army and marched in person just to take away the young princess of Lingnan, a woman so beautiful she could steal one's soul and so wild she was utterly mad. From then on, he kept her in a golden palace and doted on her every single day. Theme: May flowers bloom and the moon be full, and may all find happiness.