A Bankrupt Landlord's Infrastructure Projects

[Coming soon: Historical transmigration, The Lazy Empress Dowager's Daily Guide; new life, The Little Things About Being Doted On in a Survival Variety Show. Their blurbs are at the very bottom. There's also a fantasy-egg novel, The Foolish Beauty Charges Into the Infinite Flow, but since this one is romance, I didn't feel comfortable putting its blurb here. If you're interested, feel free to check out my author page!]

After staying up all night drawing, Gu Qingzhui opened her eyes and found herself transmigrated into a bankrupt landlord's family in a mountain village. Natural disasters and human calamities were piling up, but luckily she had the standard transmigration perk: a System!

Bind to a certain shopping app for one-stop shopping, with direct delivery across worlds. It's just what you need!

A barren village from the start, and all the equipment has to be bought.

#Shocking: A woman does this in a mountain village#

Gu Qingzhui: Don't you use a shopping app for your infrastructure projects?

This golden finger was ridiculously powerful, and Gu Qingzhui was very pleased.

The only downside was that she still had to earn the money herself.

Putting her old skills to work, Gu Qingzhui used her portrait sketches to get in with the army and became a famous portrait artist.

With this skill, Gu Qingzhui earned her first pot of gold and embarked on the long road to building infrastructure.

What should they do when drought leaves them with no harvest at all?

Buy filling foods from the shopping app's curated selection!

What should they do when floods cause homes and buildings to collapse?

Buy the kilns and bricks recommended by the sellers!

What should they do when villagers have no tools for mining?

Buy cheap, durable shovels and hoes!

While making money like crazy and enjoying the perks of being a real-money player, Gu Qingzhui could only say: It hurts, but it's fun.

Seeing the wretched lives of the working people, the red spirit within Gu Qingzhui blazed to life.

Building a new countryside and lifting people out of poverty is everyone's responsibility!

In this little mountain village, she worked on both material and spiritual development, determined to see the poverty-alleviation mission through to the end.

From a barren village where even getting enough to eat was a problem to a model tourist town known across the country, Gu Qingzhui rose to become a wealthy and influential businesswoman.

After finally defeating the corrupt officials, she was dealt a crushing blow when she went to meet the emperor.

Gu Qingzhui stared wide-eyed as the once awe-inspiring emperor respectfully addressed Lin Yanmo, who was twirling her hair, as Imperial Tutor.

And that aloof, flower-on-a-high-mountain type who was actually completely unhinged could still tell her with a straight face that the emperor had mistaken him for someone else.

Gu Qingzhui: ...Do I look stupid to you?

Content notes:

1. This is entirely fictional, with no real-life models.

2. Some details differ from reality. Don't try them out in real life.

3. One-on-one romance, both leads are each other's first.

4. The heroine is the author's darling, and her golden finger is massively overpowered.

5. At the beginning, the heroine doesn't feel deeply connected to the world and sees herself as an outsider, so some scenes may make her seem a little sanctimonious.

6. More notes may be added.

Coming soon:

The Lazy Empress Dowager's Daily Guide

Everyone in the capital knows that the current emperor and the empress dowager have been at odds for a long time, but no one knows why their relationship suddenly changed.

Qin Qiaoyue had only yawned when a flowerpot fell from the sky and sent her to a dynasty that had never existed in history.

The good news: She skipped palace intrigue and household feuds altogether, became empress dowager in one leap, and could now enjoy her retirement.

The bad news: Her new stepson seems to have a grudge against the current emperor.

The young emperor is only around ten, yet he can already sit on the dragon throne with a stern face and oppose her at every turn.

Unfortunately, Qin Qiaoyue has no ambition to fight. She'd rather grow flowers, play with dogs, cook, and raise children in the palace, keeping everyone entertained. Her greatest interest is looking forward to the day the young emperor grows up so she can arrange his selection of consorts.

If she gets along with the young emperor, she can sneak out for a stroll now and then. Qin Qiaoyue gazed happily at the enormous Renshou Palace and began dreaming of a wonderful future.

Before long, however, her greatest obstacle had changed from the young emperor to the current Imperial Seal Bearer.

Whenever she admired a beauty, the Imperial Seal Bearer would advise her, “Your Majesty, please mind your decorum.”

Whenever she held a market in the palace, the Imperial Seal Bearer would advise her, “There are too many people around. Your Majesty, please return to Renshou Palace.”

Whenever she tried to climb over the wall in the middle of the night, the Imperial Seal Bearer would advise her, “Your Majesty is precious. You mustn't risk even the slightest injury.”

Qin Qiaoyue: ...I'll put up with it.

The Imperial Seal Bearer was one of the few in the palace who had always treated the young emperor kindly, even back when he was still a prince, and was exceptionally close to him. Even Qin Qiaoyue, as empress dowager, had to show him some respect.

“Then what happened? Naturally, I put on the airs of an empress dowager, punished him for disrespecting his superior, and threw him into the death cells...” Qin Qiaoyue said through gritted teeth as she leaned on her aching waist and fed the fish in the imperial garden.

The young emperor looked at her with concern, but didn't dare remind her that the person she had accused of “gross disrespect” had quietly come to stand behind her.

The Little Things About Being Doted On in a Survival Variety Show

No one knew that Bai Shao, the renowned master puppeteer of the occult world, was actually a coward who was afraid of the dark, ghosts, and monsters.

She became a master purely because she had been timid every single day for decades.

Once, someone who didn't know the truth was puzzled: with such incredible abilities, why did the master specialize in puppetry?

Bai Shao: Thanks for asking. It's because remote control means I don't have to get close to certain things.

Even as people lamented the waste of such a talent, Bai Shao remained determined not to study close-combat spells, until someone knocked her out and sent her to a survival show.

Bai Shao: Thank you for at least remembering to search me and take away every puppet I had, even the ones the size of a thumb.

This survival show was a global sensation. Everyone, whether they knew about the occult world or not, was watching, and the betting on the contestants' final rankings on the black market remained incredibly popular.

Seeing how frail Bai Shao looked, many viewers cursed the production team for creating a gimmick to boost ratings. Some even declared she'd last less than two hours. They never expected to have their words thrown back in their faces again and again in just one day.

The mutated rabbit, cute on the outside but extremely fierce, was as docile as a pet bunny around Bai Shao.

The man-eating vine, which liked to hang contestants' corpses up to dry like cured meat, competed jealously for Bai Shao's attention.

Even the usually vicious and ruthless giant forest python obediently put away its fangs for Bai Shao.

Adored by every monster, Bai Shao became a huge star and the first contestant in survival variety show history to have zero fights with monsters.

When Bai Shao's puppets finally made their long journey to the forest, they found Bai Shao lounging with a python as a pillow, petting a rabbit, and sleeping on vines while a wolf rubbed against her. The blissful, carefree Bai Shao looked perfectly content.

After getting her puppets back, Bai Shao undid her seal and tore off the flower vase label for good, killing gods when gods stood in her way and killing Buddhas when Buddhas stood in her way.

When the people of the occult world finally made it to the show, they wanted to burst into tears:

How did the hope of our entire world end up being doted on by our archenemy?

Just as they were about to head into the mountains and rescue Bai Shao, someone finally realized that the silver wolf who followed her around, begging for affection and acting cute, seemed to be the new Demon King who had taken the throne just recently.

The silver wolf opened his mouth in disdain, ready to threaten the viewers posting comments. The next second, Bai Shao called, “Where's the doggy?” and he obediently ran back to her.

Who cares who's a wolf? Let whoever wants to be a wolf be one!

I'm just my wife's pretty, well-behaved big dog.

So said the ferocious silver wolf after successfully earning a big hug from Bai Shao.

Theme: Farming and infrastructure, poverty alleviation