[Miserable Office Drone X Cruel, Treacherous Minister]
Qiu Ti'an is a famously lucky person in the capital. She was born into a family of scholars, with loving parents and a childhood sweetheart who is the very picture of a gentleman.
Happy puppy Qiu Ti'an has had such a smooth, carefree life that it's almost boring. But, out of admiration for the incorruptible pioneer Marquis Liangping, she made joining the Censorate her ultimate life goal.
Until
she actually joined the Censorate
and the happy puppy turned into a miserable workhorse overnight, going from living the dream to losing her mind.
On the whole, the Censorate is what you might call a "five-good" workplace.
Good benefits: every day comes with five kinds of insurance and one nasty surprise.
A clear path to promotion: do well and get promoted; do poorly and get promoted to the afterlife.
Flexible working hours: even your free time is still spent working.
A strong emphasis on self-discipline: there's no time left outside of work to develop bad habits.
Plenty of funding: you just need plenty of time to kneel before the Ministry of Revenue and beg them to approve your reimbursement.
After taking a daily beating from work, Qiu Ti'an could only keep up appearances while silently falling apart inside, sneaking off to have a private meltdown and crawl around in the shadows, then begging Heaven for forgiveness, all the while hoping to hit rock bottom and finally turn her luck around.
And then...
by the worst possible stroke of luck, she caught the eye of Huai Lanzhi, a notorious villain in the capital: the cruelest of cruel officials, the most treacherous of scheming ministers, and a man who had abandoned all higher pleasures since childhood.
Before the exhausted workhorse Qiu could even drop to her knees and beg, she was hauled off in her work clothes on her way home and dragged into Lord Huai's residence, where he forced her to bow before Heaven and Earth.
From then on, going to work was like heading to the execution grounds, and coming home was like descending into hell.
Qiu Ti'an: ... (She didn't even have the strength left to tie a sturdy knot and hang herself from the rafters.)
Theme: Without dreams, how is a person any different from someone carefree and worry-free?
