I Scammed the System to Save Enough for Passage

Pei Shuangren has only ever trusted three things: blades, fake account books, and making a fortune out of thin air.

The day she found the Heavenly Secrets Casket, it promised to bring her back to life if she cleared all ninety-nine trials. She smiled and agreed, then turned around and packaged up the gatekeepers’ passwords to sell, adding three pages of transactions to her red-ink ledger. The casket’s gears jammed with rage. “You’re cheating the Heavenly Secrets.” She wiped her blade. “You’re a box. What would you know about supply and demand?”

Later, the casket took human form and blocked her way atop the walls of Chang’an, dressed in red. “You taught me well, sis. You even lured the person I hold dearest into your organization.”

Pei Shuangren: “Since when did you have someone you hold dear?”

The casket: “...I’m still looking.”

Pei Shuangren: “Then why are you blocking my way?”

The casket: “I thought you’d found them for me. Turns out I had the wrong person.”

Pei Shuangren: “...”

Someone behind her chuckled. Wei Huaishui leaned against the battlements, peeling a mandarin. His moon-white brocade robe fluttered in the night wind. “Funny. I came to see her so I could dig up your secrets.”

Pei Shuangren glanced at the casket, then at him. One had the wrong person, and the other was hiding his face. Both of them were using her as a stepping stone.

She tucked the mandarin into her sleeve and spun her short blade around a finger. “Fine. The one looking for someone can keep looking, and the one digging for secrets can keep digging. As for the red-ink ledger...”

“We’ll settle who owes what, one item at a time.”

You’re all scheming behind each other’s backs. Lucky for you, scheming is my specialty.