I'm a Spy in White Cloud City

Next project to fill a plot hole: Deadly Lies. Feel free to add it to your collection.

Historical version:

I am a spy.

My public employer is the head of the Imperial Entertainment Bureau.

In the sixth year of Taijing, the Luan River burst its banks. My father, a minor official in the Ministry of Works' Waterways Department, was made a scapegoat. He died unjustly in prison, my mother was sent to the Laundry Bureau, and I was sent to the Imperial Entertainment Bureau at the age of six.

My secret boss is the West Factory's chief eunuch, favored by the Noble Consort and known as the Ninth Thousand Years. The West Factory was established only six years ago, but its influence has already surpassed the East Factory. It tramples the Embroidered Uniform Guard underfoot and has informants throughout the Jing Dynasty, yet it has made little headway among the jianghu factions.

My other secret boss is the deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Suspecting that the Six Fan Gate was colluding with the jianghu and plotting against the court, he went to the Imperial Entertainment Bureau to find a well-bred young lady to enter White Cloud City and search for evidence.

One more thing: The previous two wives of the lord of White Cloud City were both well-bred young ladies. The young lord is now in his prime, but still unmarried. He has few entanglements with female heroes of the jianghu, and it is rumored that he does not care for them, but only admires well-bred young ladies like his mother.

And I am the "well-bred young lady" chosen for the mission.

Transmigration version:

Lu Yunzhu transmigrated, starting as a baby. She thought she had been handed a story about growing up as a refined young lady. She never imagined that when she was six, her world would collapse: her father was unjustly imprisoned and died, her mother was sent to the Laundry Bureau, and she was sent to the Imperial Entertainment Bureau.

To avoid the fate of becoming a courtesan whose lips everyone gets to kiss, Lu Yunzhu clung to the Ninth Thousand Years in the palace. When she discovered that the deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard kept visiting the Imperial Entertainment Bureau and learned he was looking for a well-bred young lady to infiltrate the jianghu, her ambitions grew.

It turned out that the story she was meant to live was an undercover revenge-and-comeback tale, as well as a heroine-of-the-jianghu tale!

PS: 1. The setting is a fictional dynasty modeled on the Ming, with a chaotic mix of institutions such as the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the West and East Factories, and the Six Fan Gate. The main setting is not the imperial court, but the jianghu, specifically White Cloud City. The male lead is not the young lord, but his good friend.

2. After her family is ruined, the female lead stops at nothing to protect herself. Please take caution if that bothers you.

Theme: Even if you live in hell, never give up hope. Only by fighting your way upward can you reach freedom.