The Black-Hearted Lotus Goes Wild in a Republican-Era Novel

[Writing This One Next]

Tang Xiaoman died at the age of twenty-one.

Her own mother and younger sister joined forces against her. A dance hall manager cornered her with a room keycard and drove her to her death.

When she transmigrated into this body, the original owner's memories still lingered, and that room keycard lay right by her feet.

Rather than let a bunch of leeches suck her dry, she might as well find herself a few protective charms.

That very night, Tang Xiaoman knocked on a man's door.

The man sat on the sofa without even lifting his eyelids. "Who sent you?"

Tang Xiaoman wore a qipao. Leaning against the doorframe, she looked up at him with a smile. "Third Master Duan, may I be so bold as to ask you to trade me a way to survive?"

"You've got some nerve." Duan Shaoting's gaze was like a dull knife, grinding over her inch by inch. "Get out."

Tang Xiaoman walked up to him, bent over, and tugged at his plain long robe.

Her breath brushed his ear. "Aren't you curious what price I'm offering, Third Master?"

/

After that night, Duan Shaoting kept Tang Xiaoman like a canary, but she had never planned to be just a bird in a cage.

Tang Xiaoman used Duan Shaoting's money to open dance halls, buy docks, and set up a stock exchange.

When Gu Mingchuan, the newspaper owner's son, booked out the dance hall for a whole month, she used his articles to make the name "Boss Tang" known throughout Shanghai.

The aloof Shen Yanzhi never did anyone a favor for free, but one rainy night, when she was surrounded by people, she smiled at the man holding an umbrella at the alley entrance. "Lawyer Shen, name your price."

She found herself three protective charms.

Each of them thought he was her one and only support.

/

One day, three cars appeared at the entrance of a newly opened dance hall at the same time.

Duan Shaoting wore a grim expression. Gu Mingchuan still looked as warm and gentle as ever. Shen Yanzhi leaned against his car, a cigarette between his fingers.

"Tang Xiaoman," Duan Shaoting said, "are you done playing around?"

The woman stood on the steps, holding a pearl clutch and smiling carefree. "What are you three masters here for? To wreck my place?"

Gu Mingchuan said gently, "We're here to bring in a crowd."

Shen Yanzhi exhaled a puff of smoke and said coolly, "Come home with me."

/

In the original plot before she transmigrated into a book, her younger sister Tang Wanru was the one who won at life. On the night Tang Xiaoman died, Wanru had just received her university acceptance letter.

But then everything changed.

Her older sister refused to keep paying her tuition, and Tang Wanru, unable to endure hardship, could only marry a supposedly "honest and decent" schoolteacher.

After the wedding, the schoolteacher revealed his true nature: an alcoholic who beat his wife, among other things.

Tang Xiaoman, meanwhile, moved among the most powerful men in Shanghai and lived a life others could only dream of reaching.

One day, Tang Wanru knelt at the entrance to the dance hall, begging her older sister to spare her a bowl of rice.

The door opened. Tang Xiaoman's smile did not waver. "Throw her out."

[Reading Guide]

1. This novel does not involve the military or politics, and the female lead is not a prostitute.

2. The author's preference is a reverse harem with multiple men vying for the female lead, so this is a one-female-lead, three-male-lead story.

3. The female lead is a wicked, bewitching woman. Duan Shaoting is a patriarchal old-school tyrant, Gu Mingchuan is a bright and charming puppy, and Shen Yanzhi is cool and self-possessed.

3. There are awful relatives, domestic drama, and foils. This is a revenge story with satisfying payback.

Blurb saved on 2026.08.12

Theme: Let the wicked enjoy life first