Bestow Her a Silken Brow
Do not prize men and scorn women. Write poems on the terrace and bestow them upon the women., Qiu Jin
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Looking back on her life, Wen Daiqing went from a country girl to a courtesan, then to a madam, and finally to the ruler of a nation. Her path was full of stumbles, and she had to tread as if on thin ice. She endured disdain and abuse, drowned beneath the scathing attacks of scholars and writers, but she was unafraid. Steadfast and fearless, she walked toward a life as tumultuous as the waves, believing that posterity would judge her merits and faults.
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Many people loved her.
Countless storybooks and anecdotes were written with Wen Daiqing as their inspiration. Rumor had it that she had accepted a young prince's jade token of love, visited the new top scholar's elderly mother, and taken the Mighty-General as her lover. Even her sharp-tongued, cold-faced guard was said to be under her spell. In the end, she supposedly bore the new emperor a son.
Little did they know, these were no mere rumors.
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Many people loved her, and many people hated her, too.
She tried to establish schools for women, teaching them ways to earn a living.
She issued regulations for brothels to protect the rights of courtesans.
She selected the talented and worthy, regardless of their background or gender.
The world's stuffy old scholars cursed her, calling her a transgressor against morality and heaven, a scheming woman, a sinner for the ages, and a shameless libertine!
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In truth, on that night in early winter, Wen Daiqing had already understood: rather than long for the love of others, she would love herself. She would not be a caged bird in a man's hand. She would be a phoenix, able to spread her wings and fly!
Her life was neither long nor short. And to count it all up, it began with that string of cash that could not buy a jar of wine from a rich man, but could buy a poor man's life...
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Unkillable cockroach personality + top-tier trash-talking buff + shrewd, calculating "villain" mindset heroine vs. all kinds of men
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Please note before reading:
1. The heroine is a courtesan, and she's sold off right at the beginning. Don't expect her to be untouched. But this is fiction, so just assume all the clients are good-looking.
2. There is no one absolute male lead. None of the men are virgins or chaste. The male lead and supporting male characters are all driven by lust at first, not saintly, and the romance comes in phases, with one taking the stage after another.
3. The characters are not perfect. They all have their share of human flaws.
4. There is a competition among men and a harem of rivals, but no competition among women. Every character has a purpose.
5. The setting is fictional, and the political scheming is not meant to be taken too seriously. Research-minded readers, please don't nitpick.
6. The writing is poor and wordy. No writing advice, please, and there's no need to tell me if you drop the story.
Theme: Do not prize men and scorn women. Write poems on the terrace and bestow them upon the women.
