I'm a Director in Ancient Times

[Career-focused, money-loving heroine VS devoted, doting hero]

Powerful man bows to love | Identity reveal early on

Little screenwriter Ji Sang is still frantically revising her script when everything goes black and she transmigrates.

The good news: She hasn't transmigrated as a princess or rich young lady, but she's no lowly concubine-born daughter, maid, or discarded imperial consort either. She's a commoner with loving parents, sisters, and brothers. By transmigration standards, she's not at the top, but she's doing better than most.

The bad news: The original body's soul insists on becoming a maid at the Xiahou residence and even jumped into a river to avoid an arranged marriage.

Ji Sang: ...Girl, who's even at the Xiahou residence? There are a thousand ways to run from an arranged marriage. Why pick this one?!

She doesn't want to marry or work for someone else, so if she wants to make a living here, Ji Sang decides to put the little directing and screenwriting knowledge she has to use and start a troupe to put on plays.

Become a director! Become a boss! Make a little money and enjoy a peaceful old age!

She makes a snap decision to flee the Xiahou residence, but along the way, she happens upon a sickly young man. He's handsome and rich, and most importantly, he's dying. Ji Sang has her eye on his valuables, figuring she'll feed him well, send him off, and claim his inheritance.

No, wait, inherit it!

She even talks him into investing in her theater troupe, claiming the money will help her find a cure for his poison, and cons him into becoming her biggest backer.

Who would have thought that just a few days later, the steward of the Xiahou residence would show up at her door with a group of people? "Young master, it's time to return to the residence."

Ji Sang turns around to see the sickly young man standing behind her, holding a folding fan and smiling meaningfully.

What?!

Ji Sang is stunned. The sickly young man is actually Xiahou Ying, the heir to a fortune and the heir of the Xiahou family?! (Ying, pronounced like "ying".)

She can lose her head, she can bleed, but she can't lose her backer! Ji Sang seizes the opportunity and gets to work on a grand scale.

The actors can't read the script? Ji Sang: I'll find a teacher to teach them to read!

People say it's improper for women to do business? Ji Sang: Then I'll hire women and help them achieve financial freedom and independence!

The troupe's shows become a smash hit, with tickets impossible to get and scalpers even popping up.

Ji Sang leads her troupe to bigger and better things. Even the emperor praises them and asks what reward she wants. All she asks for is the right for women to divorce and schools for girls.

Later, a nursery rhyme praising her spreads through every street and alley:

"Troupe leader Ji Sang dares the sky, asking heaven for women's rights. Divorce shakes the court, and girls can learn in schools from this day forth..."

*

As far as Xiahou Ying is concerned, any woman who approaches him has one of two motives: either she wants to marry him, or she wants to kill him.

On the day his poison flares up, Ji Sang unexpectedly appears before him and suppresses the cold poison in his body. Xiahou Ying reasonably suspects she's the latter. But after testing her several times, he discovers she doesn't want his life or his looks. She only has her eye on his money!

Ji Sang lays out her terms: As long as he's willing to fund her theater troupe, they can work something out.

And the one thing Xiahou Ying has in abundance is money. He watches from the sidelines, but before long, he somehow falls head over heels himself.

So he offers his entire fortune as her betrothal gift.

Ji Sang says, "If you give me everything, you'll be penniless."

Xiahou Ying nods. "So please, Boss Ji, take care of me!"

Ji Sang pretends to give it some serious thought. "That depends on how you behave."

Xiahou picks her up in his arms and carries her toward the inner room. "All right. I'll make sure you're satisfied, Boss."

--

Reading guide:

1. A light, sweet romance, one-on-one, both leads' first love, happy ending.

2. A few glimpses of women's lives. The male lead stays out of court politics and never becomes an official. His ambition is to become the woman lead's man behind the scenes!

3. An alternate history. Some details are based on real life, but most are made up. Please don't overanalyze them. Everything serves the story.

Theme: Stay true to your original aspirations