Too Many Beauties and Blue Confidants, What Should I Do? Help!

Blurb: A fake underdog with a real knack for face-slapping goes astray on her quest for revenge ▏ The noble, beloved beauty reborn from the cultivation world, with one more admirer trailing behind her

The first time they met, the lecherous Fu Cang was an inn waiter, wearing ill-fitting clothes and chewing on a blade of grass as he gave Fang Ke a roguish once-over. “Where did a beauty like you come from, to end up suffering here?”

Fang Ke wore only the simplest rough-spun clothes, her hair half-pinned up with a wooden hairpin. Even so, her breathtaking beauty was impossible to hide. With that pretty face, she tried to pass off counterfeit money.

The second time they met, Fang Ke sat in a luxurious, exquisite carriage, looking down at Fu Cang, who was gravely wounded and lying in the dirt, barely alive.

She said, “What’s that stinking corpse doing still breathing? Throw it farther away.”

The third time they met, Fu Cang held off dozens of attackers while protecting Fang Ke, and still found time to tease her. “You look awful when you cry.”

Fang Ke was so weak she could barely hold the sword in her hand, but she kept her back straight and sneered, “They all say a beautiful woman brings ruin.”

Fu Cang replied, “They lied. You’ve done nothing wrong. They’re the ones at fault.”

The fourth time they met, Fu Cang glanced back at the two people approaching slowly. His fingers twisted around his belt as if it were his heart, his gaze fixed on the backs of their hands brushing close together. When they reached him, he joked, “Fang Ke, you sure have a wide circle of admirers.”

It was the first time Fu Cang had called her by her full name, and his eyes were full of exasperation.

Fang Ke smiled, a playful glint at the corners of her eyes. She took the arm of the person beside her and said leisurely, “Fu the Second, take notes.”

*

Everyone knew: the gods loved all living things and protected heaven and earth.

Fang Ke’s life had gone extraordinarily smoothly. She was of royal blood, had the most renowned master in the immortal sects, an endless supply of miraculous pills, countless close friends, and more people at her feet than she could count, all begging for a single glance.

With extraordinary talent, she earned the recognition of the Heavenly Dao in less than a hundred years and successfully ascended.

Only after ascending did Fang Ke learn the truth:

There were no gods in this world.

Reborn, she had lost all her cultivation. She could neither lift a hand nor bear a burden.

So what? There were always people ready to spoil her.

Her sect pulled strings behind the scenes, just to take her back in.

Her old sisters traveled thousands of miles just to make sure she was safe, bringing her rare treasures and miraculous pills.

The men who considered her their beloved beauty went to every length to make her smile.

And those who had tried everything to kill her,

seeing her alive, still feared her and dared not approach.

Fu Cang stood behind her, the star chart in his hand shining brilliantly. “There was once a saying in the Fu family: ‘When noble clouds fall, fortune and calamity are hard to tell.’”

The elders of his family had died because of it, and the Fu family had fallen into decline.

He used to hate Fang Ke.

Fang Ke raised a brow and leaned against a tree trunk, waiting for his answer with interest. “And?”

Fu Cang pulled out the few spirit stones he had left. “So, please do me the honor of sharing a pot of wine with me. Let that settle the calamity. Thank you for bringing me good fortune.”

Meeting you was a blessing.

Fu Cang had resisted and avoided it a thousand times, but in the end he gave in to fate and became Fang Ke’s devoted admirer.

Then he took a shovel, dug up the Fu family graves, and made off with the burial goods, all to buy Miss Fang an expensive moon-shaped hairpin and make her smile.

After all, there were far too many people competing for her favor.

Before his father died, he said, “Fang Ke is too softhearted, both toward her friends and toward those men. I’ll leave you a letter. If you truly have feelings for her, show it to her. It may make her soften toward you a little more.”

Fu Cang had been disdainful of the idea, but in the end he turned the house upside down to find the letter, hoping to appeal to Miss Fang’s soft heart.

It was all to make her happy. What was wrong with using a few underhanded tricks?

Reading guide:

Plot-focused, probably a 64:1 ratio, and slow burn.

Theme: Lush blossoms scatter in radiant profusion, their flowing light rippling onward, walking shoulder to shoulder with the wind.