After I Transmigrated, How Do I Save My Best Friend from a Torture Romance?

Reincarnated into a xianxia world, she lives for seventeen years before realizing that her best friend is trapped in a melodramatic romance novel, and the novel's plot is unfolding in this very world. Seeing that the poor girl is about to run into the male lead, who's completely nuts, she hurries to the capital to rescue her. But then... is this really the capital from the book? Why are the harem consorts putting on a concert tour? Why are exam-prep prediction papers flying everywhere? Why is there an entire street devoted to “selling oneself to bury one's father” as soon as she goes out for a stroll? And isn't contestant number seven, who is selling herself to bury her father, the senior sister who went down the mountain to gain experience last year?