From Concubine's Daughter to Tycoon [The Fifties]

On Hong Kong Island in the 1950s, the lower classes lived amid turmoil and chaos, while the upper classes reveled in luxury.

Pei Yixian opened her eyes here once more and took stock of herself.

The daughter of a merchant's concubine, she had an elder half-brother from the principal wife. The family fortune wouldn't go to her, and when business was bad, she was the first to be offered up for a marriage alliance.

Her fiance was wealthy, if a little too flirtatious.

Her birth mother, a former dance hostess, urged her to be content. Wasn't silk and jewelry enough? The women outside wouldn't threaten her position as his legal wife.

Her birth father looked down from on high, while her brother watched coldly from the sidelines.

Sorry, but she couldn't take part in your marriage-alliance game.

Pei Yixian turned away and set out on a different path.

It was a terrible era. Under colonial rule and a system of polygamy, women still had no say over their own lives as the last light of feudalism faded.

But it was also an era of growth, with everything waiting to be rebuilt and gold everywhere. Anyone could achieve anything.

Retro blurb 2:

She was the famous Miss Pei of Hong Kong Island, Pei Yixian.

In public, she had a string of illustrious titles: the richest woman, philanthropist, patriotic businesswoman, Hong Kong Island's first female Justice of the Peace...

In private, she had a number of former lovers no one knew about: a European writer who saw her as his muse; a detective she had helped rise to prominence, her "dog"; a film star she had sponsored; and a gentle, attentive personal assistant...

A polite warning: The protagonist gets everything she sets out to do and won't get too attached to men. There are several male characters connected to her.

The difference from the urban harem novels on Dianjia is that Miss Pei is chaste, has high moral standards, and will only play with one man at a time, so this is a one-on-one romance.

(If no one bookmarks this, won't it stay in the upcoming-stories section forever!? Please help it get published before I lose interest!)

Theme: Independence and initiative; live life to the fullest.