The Swordsmith's Shop

As the eldest daughter of a family famed for its swordsmithing, Meng Zhaosu was doted on by everyone from a young age. She thought her life would be simple: marry her childhood sweetheart, whom she loved and who loved her in return, have a child, and inherit the family business a few decades later.

Who could have known that disaster would strike, leaving her family ruined and her loved ones dead in an instant?

Her fiance ran off, their ancestral estate was destroyed, and to make matters worse, she became the daughter of a notorious rebel.

Family, love, money, and reputation: she lost everything. All she had left was a pile of messes to clean up.

Meng Zhaosu desperately wanted to throw in the towel, but what could she do? She was the boss.

The manor was home to a hundred or two burly blacksmiths, and every last one of them turned into a sobbing mess. "Wahhh, Boss, what are we supposed to do now?"

And then there was Yan Fuzhi, the second young master Yan, a brilliant writer famous throughout the land, standing at her side and solemnly insisting that he needed her protection.

Meng Zhaosu hugged her little sister with one arm and raised the other to rally everyone. Gritting her teeth, she said, "Come on, we're going to the neighboring kingdom!"

A few years later, Meng Zhaosu had become a renowned tycoon, wealthy enough to rival a nation.

Only she and the second young master Yan knew all the hardships it had taken to get there.

[Falsely aloof, gentle high-mountain flower x genuinely flirtatious, beautiful social butterfly]

A little scene

Someone coveted her business and spread rumors that she used her beauty to get ahead, with a powerful, unfathomable backer supporting her from behind the scenes.

The second young master Yan scoffed. "She has protected her people all the way to where they are now. Why would she need a backer? She herself is the greatest support anyone could ask for."

Reader's guide: 1. The heroine changes her name midway through: Zhao Wanwan in the early chapters, Meng Zhaosu later on. 2. Includes nation-building. 3. Two strong leads who flirt with each other.

Please add my new novel, Spring Lantern, to your reading list~

New novel blurb:

Lu Shiyi: He once wanted to be her teacher for life. Later, he grew greedy, wanting to be her old friend, the one she returned to, and the one in her heart.

Yan Chuizhang: He never believed in gods or buddhas, but when her life hung in the balance, he prayed to every deity in the heavens.

He Liancheng: He lost the right to grow old with her, so he gave half his blood to bargain with fate for one more stretch of life for her.

Everyone says Jiang Jisu is lucky.

At nine, she found a renowned teacher. At fourteen, she was promised to a young general. Her father guarded the northern border, and the General's residence held great power.

She grew up beneath spring breezes and blazing sunshine, riding out in fine clothes. The most outrageous and baffling thing in her life was falling in love with her own teacher.

Then a plot was laid in the capital, and unrest stirred at the border.

He Liancheng was covered in blood when they carried him back from a mound of corpses.

The young general who had grown up with her and was betrothed to her folded up the marriage contract and tucked it into his sleeve. "Then let's call it off."

Lu Shiyi injured both legs saving her, and from then on could no longer stand as before.

That celebrated top scholar, as graceful as a breeze beneath a bright moon, had once loved her in return. In the end, he only said gently, "Go on ahead without me. I'll stay in Jinling, and I pray the wind and snow never reach you."

And then there was Prince Ning, Yan Chuizhang, whom she had always thought cold-hearted and impossible to approach. After border inspectors took her away for interrogation, he personally searched the entire border city for her.

Later, the history books recorded: "Prince Ning pacified the border. In three days, he executed twelve officials, and the border army was cowed into submission."

But no one knew.

He only wanted to take a girl home.

[The heroine is a truly wonderful person. The author loves her even more than these men do. This story includes her growth, but she is not an all-powerful heroine.]

Theme: Never give up in adversity. My fate is mine to shape, not Heaven's.