Making It Big as a Gold-Digging Woman in Ancient Times

[The heroine is imperfect. Please don't bash her if she's not your cup of tea. The author loves her like the apple of her eye.]

[One-on-one relationships at different stages]

Song Nansi, a single woman past marriageable age who'd rather die than face another round of matchmaking, suddenly transmigrates to ancient times.

Good news: No friends or family here to nag her about marriage.

Bad news: She has no parents, is an orphan, and is so poor she could pee blood.

Song Nansi studies herself in a bronze mirror. Not bad! That's the only thing she has going for her.

She's no spring chicken even in modern times, and she's seen through all the talk about modesty and chastity. In this life, money is what matters.

Who says a woman can't use a man to climb the social ladder? It depends on what you treat him as.

For example, she treats every man as a stepping stone.

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a. The cultured, depraved merchant

It doesn't matter whether a method is new, only whether it works.

With a cup of fruit wine, Song Nansi sends herself straight into the arms of the wealthy merchant Ma Chengye.

Don't let his unfortunate name fool you. Ma Chengye comes from a family that's been wealthy merchants for three generations.

Once he gets Song Nansi, he can't bear to let her go and would pluck the stars and moon from the sky for her.

Song Nansi knows that only what she has in hand is truly hers. She uses the stars and moon Ma Chengye gives her to build her own business, and soon she is living in great luxury, with money pouring in.

She truly loves him while she's in love with him. But when she discovers that he wants to take a concubine, all tenderness vanishes. She throws a divorce agreement in his face, and they never have anything to do with each other again.

b. The gentle Minister of State Ceremonies

Song Nansi devotes herself to business, and meets the Minister of State Ceremonies while dealing with foreign countries.

The minister is gentle, considerate, and skilled in literature and music. He wins her heart.

So she gets ready and marries into an official's family for the second time.

When they are in love, they spend their days making music and their nights calculating 34+35.

The noblemen all know the Minister of State Ceremonies has married an absolute beauty. They can only make frequent visits in the hope of catching another glimpse of her.

Song Nansi thinks she could be content with this life, but after she gives birth to a legitimate daughter, her mother-in-law starts pressuring her to have more children and repeatedly talks about taking concubines for her son to continue the family line.

Song Nansi bids the Minister of State Ceremonies farewell and doesn't begrudge him a single tender moment.

c. The wolfish tyrant

No matter how much the court officials try to reason with him, after the tyrant and Song Nansi share a drink, they cross into each other's forbidden territory.

Song Nansi transforms into the mother of the nation.

For her sake, the tyrant gives up his three thousand beauties and never takes another consort.

Song Nansi thinks she has finally found the right man.

But then rebellion breaks out at the border, and the tyrant never returns.

By then, Song Nansi has just turned thirty. She has a daughter and two sons, a vast fortune in her hands, and a sprawling empire to rule alone.

She has it so hard.

Theme: Everyone deserves the right to find happiness