I Conquer the Jianghu by Gawking at Scandals

[This novel is complete, and the whole story costs less than four yuan. Thank you for being here, and may everything go your way. Wishing you great fortune and wealth!]

[My other novel, Springtime Begonia, is now underway. I’m begging you to save it, rolling around and throwing a tantrum QAQ. This novel’s blurb is below~~]

Li Huaixi was the most honored and powerful princess of the Qing Dynasty. The emperor and empress doted on her, and the empress dowager indulged her, leaving her with an arrogant, overbearing temperament. So when her imperial uncle launched a coup to seize the throne, not a single court official stood by her side.

When she opened her eyes again, she was determined to seize power and ascend the throne. To that end, she did three things.

First, she curbed her old temper and appointed a newly minted official as her princess tutor.

Second, she led a group of people into a prince's manor and rescued a young slave covered in blood.

Third, she got ahead of her imperial uncle and approached the newly crowned top scholar, a man with unfathomable schemes.

Nobody but her knew that:

The aloof, upright scholar who observed every rule would one day become a virtuous minister renowned throughout the land.

The pitiful slave drenched in blood would one day become a young general who struck fear across the four seas.

The handsome top scholar, basking in his success, would one day become a treacherous minister who manipulated power.

In this life, she had seized every advantage.

*

After Huaixi used the three men to seize power, she suddenly discovered that things were getting complicated...

The aloof, virtuous minister pinned her against the desk, gripping her wrist tightly and pressing her hand to his chest. His voice was hoarse as he said, "Your Highness, there is still so much I can teach you..."

The iron-blooded general, whose name struck terror into the hearts of others, knelt beside her and carefully brushed the dust from her shoe with his sleeve. His eyes reddened as he said, "You promised you wouldn't leave me behind..."

And that beautiful top scholar, whose heart was impossible to read, smiled with a twisted, obsessive look as he slowly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "Your Highness, either kill me or sleep with me."

Li Huaixi: Oh, wow. Is this what it looks like when a whole pond of fish gets away from you?

*

Since being reborn, Li Huaixi had incurred several romantic entanglements, yet she had always passed through the flowers without letting a single petal cling to her.

The one exception was Shen Jingzhou, a man with the bearing of a noble gentleman and the meticulous discipline of a scholar. During his time as her tutor, he cleared her name, taught her to let go of her resentment, and did his best to guide her toward goodness.

Until she revealed her ruthless ambition. The man before her was shocked and confused. For the first time, he avoided her gaze and stepped back twice, saying in a low voice, "Your Highness, it seems I misjudged you..."

Later, she used herself as bait, and conflict and war surged once more. Caught in the midst of it all, she glimpsed him galloping toward her through the clash of blades. His broad blue robes billowed in the wind, his pale face was spattered with blood, and his eyes were fixed on her with unwavering resolve.

Amid the howling wind, Shen Jingzhou's jade-like hand, once so skilled with a brush, gripped a long sword and carved a path through the bloodshed. Scalding blood splashed across Li Huaixi's face as he reached out to her...

In the end, that noble gentleman fell into the dust, willing to turn against the world and stain his hands with murder for her.

[Bonus Scene One]:

The day Shen Jingzhou learned of Li Huaixi's ravenous ambition, he went home and stood in the cold wind for half the night, unable to understand what had gone wrong after all his daily lessons and patient explanations.

He had wanted to guide the little princess back to the right path, but somehow his own path kept veering further astray...

[Bonus Scene Two]:

At first, Shen Jingzhou avoided Li Huaixi's fiery gaze and tapped the desk with his fingers. "Your Highness, don't look at me. Read your book."

Later, Shen Jingzhou pinned her against the desk and tenderly kissed the corner of her mouth. "Are they really more handsome than me?"

And in countless dreams in the middle of the night, Shen Jingzhou would lower his eyes to the woman in his arms and think, "My Huaixi belongs on the throne, receiving the worship of thousands."

[This novel's blurb: Song Zhi only wanted to hear some gossip. Who knew that, before long, she'd become the greatest under heaven?]

The ace entertainment reporter Song Zhi transmigrated and found herself the illegitimate daughter of the Grand Commandant's household, where everyone despised her.

The Grand Commandant's wife saw her as a thorn in her side and secretly planned to marry her off to an idiot. Her maid looked down on her and skimped on her food and clothing every day.

Song Zhi knocked out the maid who brought her a meal with a brick. Whoever wanted to be a young lady of the Grand Commandant's household could have the job.

Fortunately, a dazzling golden finger fell from the sky. She bonded with a gossip-investigation System, returned to her old line of work, and opened a little martial-world rumor bureau.

The people of the capital dismissed it out of hand. What did some little orphan girl know about the martial world?

Passerby A: "Since you've boasted that you know the truth behind every piece of martial-world gossip, can you find the whereabouts of the Divine Physician of Nanpu?"

Song Zhi raced a thousand miles to Qingya Mountain overnight, fought the village bullies, rescued children and women, and broke through the Eight Trigrams labyrinth. Not only did she find the physician, she also exposed all the evil deeds of the bullies in Chenjia Village.

When she left, the locals came out to see her off of their own accord, hailing her as their savior.

Just then, a "ding-dong" sounded in her mind, and the System chirped happily: [Host, congratulations on completing the gossip task! You have received one Azure Sky Sword.]

Passerby B: "Little shopkeeper, I hear that Young Marquis He has shut himself away lately. Do you know what happened?"

Song Zhi stroked her chin thoughtfully. Before long, she revealed a romantic affair between Young Marquis He and the famous courtesan Liu Sanniang, and even brought down a brothel and exposed a massive human trafficking case.

Dozens of women who had been victimized bowed in gratitude. The people of the capital praised her, and Song Zhi's fame soared.

The System's voice rang out in her mind once more: [Host, congratulations on completing the task! You have received one secret martial arts manual.]

At this point, martial artists everywhere asked the question they were most curious about: "Little shopkeeper, you have incredible abilities. Can you tell us why the immortal swordsman Li Xunhe was expelled from his sect?"

Song Zhi pondered for a moment, then looked up at the handsome young man in white standing beside her and smiled. "For that, let's ask the person involved."

Later, Song Zhi had the time of her life listening to gossip around the martial world. Her collection of secret martial arts manuals kept growing, and before she knew it, she'd earned the title of the greatest under heaven and topped the martial world's Hall of Fame.

*

Li Xunhe made a name for himself at a young age. His peerless swordsmanship earned him fame throughout the martial world, and he was a once-in-a-century master of the sword.

But fate is fickle. He was framed and fell from the heights in a single day.

Mocked by everyone, he had no way to clear his name, and was eventually expelled from his sect.

Later, he met Song Zhi. The girl in the red dress looked up at him with bright, lively eyes and said, word by word:

"Li Xunhe, if you didn't do it, you don't have to admit to it."

"If Heaven is unjust, then we'll find justice ourselves!"

The road to justice was fraught with difficulty, and the heroes of the realm surrounded them.

That day, the girl beside him had blood on her face as she stood in front of him. She took the sword from his hand and said coldly and sharply:

"You pathetic nobodies, what makes you think you're worthy of being my enemy?"

[Here's an upcoming novel: I Save the Underworld by Making Clay Figurines]

Chi Hua was a well-known inheritor of the art of clay sculpture. But after an accident, she transmigrated into a supernatural fantasy novel as a hapless sacrificial character, and somehow discovered that the clay figures she made had acquired strange powers.

To return to reality, she diligently took up the work of an underworld bailiff, traveling far and wide among the souls of the dead and supernatural beings, helping them let go of their obsessions and fulfill the wishes they had left unfinished in life.

Faced with ghosts still bearing the gruesome appearance they had at the moment of death, Chi Hua silently took out a colorful clay mask. "Want a new face? I can help."

For ghosts trapped in Fengdu, never seeing daylight and longing to return to the mortal world to fulfill their obsessions, Chi Hua molded clay dolls to give them new bodies. "Dear, choose from our selection of custom clay-doll bodies~"

When malicious ghosts ran amok, Chi Hua pulled out a pile of flamboyant cartoon clay figures and grinned. "The fiercest evil spirits belong sealed inside the cutest clay figures!"

At first, nobody had any faith in this unknown ghost bailiff.

Later, the souls of the underworld found the salvation they deserved.

*

As one of the Four Great Judges, Cui Jue was supposed to punish evil and promote good, and oversee thousands of ghosts. But who knew he was a completely useless judge?

His magic was weak, he was no good at his job, and he was naturally lazy, spending every day drunk and lost in pleasure. Since Chi Hua became his ghost bailiff, she had to shoulder the responsibility of protecting him.

Yet at the brink of life and death, he came riding in on the wind and snow, unleashing astonishing power capable of destroying heaven and earth.

He stood before her, facing the demons that filled the sky, his voice resounding throughout the entire netherworld. "How dare a rabble of monsters and demons dream of destroying a god?"

And so the deity returned to his place, and three thousand demons retreated.

*

Cui Jue had once received incense offerings from countless people and stood high above them as a god.

Later, he was cast into the Avici Hell and sealed of his powers. Watching the suffering of all living beings was his punishment.

He spent countless days and nights in the underworld, numb to everything, until one day, a girl of unknown origins stood in a dilapidated City God temple. She pointed at a dusty statue and turned to smile at him. "This statue doesn't possess even a fraction of your elegance. One day, I'll sculpt one of you myself."

He had once guided countless people across the world. Now, it was the people who guided him.

[Everyone is welcome to comment and chat. If you like the story, please add it to your favorites~~ Springtime Begonia is currently updating in my profile. If you're interested, please save it!]

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