I Use Trashy Novels to Blow Ancient People Away

Xu Chengyue transmigrated into an ancient aristocratic family. She thought she could lie flat, loaf around, and wait for the days to pass, but reality gave her a rude awakening.

Her parents ignored her, and her aunt pressured her to marry. With no other choice, she packed her bags and left.

Living in Chang'an is no easy thing.

Living in Luoyang isn't easy either.

To support herself, she returned to her old line of work and wrote an old-school, melodramatic power fantasy, The Divine Doctor and Poisonous Consort, to test the waters.

The ancients had never seen this kind of literature before. They were deeply shocked and rejected it outright.

"What is this eyesore?! It's an insult to refinement. Take it away, take it away! I absolutely won't read it!"

Later...

"How shameless, making the elder sister marry in her younger sister's place."

"She's so beautiful, why disguise herself? When will she reveal her true face? The suspense is killing me!"

"This prince has no eye for good jade. His wife is the peerless beauty he met!"

"What happens next? What's going to happen after this? Can't the author write the whole thing at once?!"

*

At first, the court officials paid no attention, convinced that this was lowbrow entertainment and not worth their concern.

But then her readership kept growing, and public opinion even forced changes to the laws. Only then did they panic.

Court officials: "Your Majesty, this person is outrageously subversive, overturns right and wrong, disregards morality, and spreads wicked lies. She seeks to undermine the foundations of our Great Tang with her depraved words. She deserves death."

Xu Chengyue: "I didn't, I haven't, don't make things up."

When they investigated, they discovered she was a noblewoman. Her father was among those in court who'd condemned her most fiercely.

The officials: "...How did you raise your child?!"

Xu Yucheng: "..."

It was so hard being him!

Later, the officials discovered:

"This sweet-and-sour fish is delicious!"

"This method for increasing crop yields really does seem to work!"

"Damn it, she found a loophole in the laws our Ministry of Justice agonized over and refined so painstakingly!"

Everyone chorused, "Xu Yucheng, you've raised a wonderful daughter!"

Xu Yucheng: "...Is it too late to regret this?"

Xu Chengyue felt like a passerby in this dynasty. She only wanted to write stories and support herself, but somehow everything went off course.

Yet standing in court, looking at the rows of upright female officials, and at a peaceful, prosperous world, she had never once regretted it.

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Note: The first three chapters explain why the heroine ran away and give some background. They are a little long-winded, so give them a try, but if they start to drag, you can skip straight to Chapter Four without affecting your understanding.

This story has many original worldbuilding details and its logic is not rigorous. Everything serves the plot, so read at your own discretion.

This is set in a fictional version of the Tang Dynasty.

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Please add my upcoming story, My Lord Builds Her Kingdom by Taking People In, to your reading list.

Fufeng was born at the end of a dynasty. The court was corrupt, the powerful fought amongst themselves, and the people suffered. Officials were no better than bandits, while the common folk struggled to survive.

Fufeng wasn't afraid. In her previous life, she was a young hunter and the vanguard of a matriarchal clan!

In this life, there were three people in her family, and everyone besides her was strange.

As a woman, her mother should have been strong and fearless, unstoppable, but instead she was always in tears.

As a man, her father should have been foolish, ignorant, and arrogant, but instead he was meek and honest.

Fufeng: This family can only rely on me!

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Fufeng's father went off to perform corvee labor, but came home carried on a stretcher. The laborers had also seized all the family's money and grain.

The house was dilapidated and on the verge of collapse. The rice jar was so empty it didn't hold a single grain, and even the mice had starved to skin and bones.

Her father lay pale on the kang, breathing his last.

Her mother leaned over the edge of the kang and wept, "Heavens, how is our family supposed to survive?!"

Fufeng could take no more. "Mother, as a great woman, how can you sit there crying? Father is in trouble, so you, as the pillar of this family, need to be strong."

Her mother: ?

.

Fufeng tearfully said goodbye to her fellow villagers, became an outlaw, and claimed a mountain as her own.

War raged across the land. Rebel kings rose up everywhere, and Fufeng struggled to survive, fighting to carve out a place of peace for herself.

Fufeng liked taking people in because the high priest had once said that there's strength in numbers, and more friends mean more options. It would be even better if they became citizens of her kingdom. She would make sure to treat them well.

But as she kept taking people in, she realized something was wrong.

A half-blind fortune-teller who made his living from predictions that were only half right became a strategist.

A consumptive, barely breathing and seemingly one moment from death, took a fire poker and beat the enemy commander senseless.

A smooth-talking fraud who loved to bluff became a spy, sneaking into enemy territory and conning their army into ruin.

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In a chaotic age, rival warlords rose to power and fought for the land, all casting greedy eyes on the highest throne.

But they never expected a woman to sneak into their ranks, brazenly declaring that she would set things right.

The warlords scoffed at her. What could that ragtag outfit of hers possibly do? Ha!

Among her advisers, you could count all the normal ones on one hand.

There was a blind fortune-teller who relied on divination to devise strategies and still had to cast a reading before the enemy even reached the front lines.

There was a siege commander, a consumptive so weak he couldn't even walk upright, who had to be helped onto the battlefield.

There was a shifty-eyed cheat who stole chickens, pilfered anything he could, and never stopped lying.

And plenty more besides.

That crew was nothing to fear. They'd destroy themselves without anyone needing to lift a finger.

Who knew that ragtag outfit would swagger all the way to the end?

Only when they faced it head-on did the warlords discover that the blind fortune-teller made flawless plans, the consumptive sprang back to life on the battlefield, and the cheat came and went like a ghost, impossible to guard against.

They couldn't win. They had no chance at all!

Fufeng, who loved taking people in but knew how to put them to good use, smiled faintly and kept her achievements to herself.

Theme: A single spark can start a prairie fire.