The Thirteen Provinces' Beauty Killers

(A writing exercise I worked on from my sophomore year of high school to my sophomore year of college. It was also my first real 100,000-word story, though I never finished it. I wanted to post it here as a record, and looking back on it now is pretty fun, hehe. Maybe I'll rewrite this premise someday.)

[The heroine rises through the ranks thanks to prophetic dreams and witnesses ten heirs of feudal lords compete for the throne. That's right, the beauties in the title are men!]

Everyone knew that when the second daughter of the Su family was born, a phoenix alighted on a parasol tree. She was destined for wealth and a marriage into a powerful family.

As she grew up, she proved she could do more than marry well. She could climb walls, fight, and criticize the government...

In short, in the eyes of matchmakers, she was absolutely unmarriageable.

Yet she was quite proud of it. "I'm going to do great things! I'm going to unite the thirteen provinces!"

When she was thirteen, Su Yanwu disguised herself as a boy and met the first person who truly understood her: an attendant to a famous courtesan.

He never thought her criticism of the government was nonsense. He listened carefully to every word she said.

Once, she declared indignantly, "Gu Zhi'an, the Prince of Guangping's son, is a good-for-nothing layabout."

He propped his chin on his hand. "How do you know?"

"There's no record of him accomplishing anything in the thirteen provinces."

He smiled faintly. "Hmm... I see."

Three years later, she met Gu Zhi'an.

Only then did she realize that the young man had hidden himself in the darkness, using a carefree facade to shoulder the people's hopes for a brighter future.

He could take his place in the court, and he could pass for a beggar.

"I hear I'm a good-for-nothing layabout?"

"No, you remembered wrong. Someone like you ought to hold the court in the palm of his hand."

How could the good brother Su Yanwu had picked out at thirteen possibly be the good-for-nothing of the rumors?

She would spur him on to overthrow the corrupt emperor and help her achieve her grand plan to unite the thirteen provinces.

People still said Su Yanwu would never find a husband.

The reigning emperor pouted. "I'll marry her, I will! But she only wants to climb the ranks and get rich. She won't marry me..."

Later, everyone in the thirteen provinces knew that the reigning emperor had become the lady strategist's devoted admirer.

Theme: Be self-reliant and stand on your own feet.