The Great Qian Dynasty, Yuzhou Prefecture, the residence behind the Taoyuan County Magistrate's office.
Xu Qinghuan sat up sorrowfully from the carved pearwood bed.
She looked at the young woman in the bronze mirror with her cloud-like hair adorned with flowers and jewels, but felt no joy at all.
Because she had transmigrated into a book.
She had entered a male-oriented political intrigue novel titled "The Power Minister's World," becoming the only daughter of the book's major antagonist and future corrupt Minister of Revenue, Xu Youde.
Doted on and spoiled.
In the original work, the Xu family was full of loyal... oh no, full of treacherous scoundrels.
Her father was a grand embezzler, who misappropriated disaster relief funds, leading to corpses of the starved littering the fields; her eldest brother was a local tyrant, abducting women and committing every evil imaginable; her second brother was a traitor, selling military secrets and colluding with the enemy. As for the original Xu Qinghuan, she was extravagant, debauched, and took pleasure in tormenting servants.
Three years later, the new emperor would ascend the throne and settle old scores. The Xu family's nine kinship groups would be eliminated in a game of elimination, and she, Xu Qinghuan, would be hung on the city wall for public exposure for three days before being thrown into a mass grave to feed wild dogs.
"This starting point, are you kidding me?"
Xu Qinghuan covered her face in despair. In her previous life, she was just an office worker who dragged herself to work sick for the perfect attendance bonus. She had finally paid off her mortgage, hadn't even had time to enjoy life, and now she had transmigrated into a cannon fodder character destined to die?
[Ding! Detected host's strong desire for survival. The 'Wealth Without Virtue System' has been activated.]
A classic mechanical voice suddenly rang in her mind.
Xu Qinghuan's eyes instantly lit up.
A system! A golden finger!
Truly the standard equipment for a transmigrator!
[This system is dedicated to cultivating the top-tier, spendthrift villains across all realms. As long as the host completes the 'wealth without virtue' spendthrift tasks totaling 100 million taels of silver or gets directly exiled to Lingnan, they will receive a massive retirement bonus of 1 billion yuan.]
[If any of the host's "wealth without virtue" actions can elicit emotional changes in others, monetary rewards will be granted and directly accumulated into the retirement bonus. The higher the social status of those affected, the greater the reward.]
[Current main task issued: Please, within 24 hours, squander 5,000 taels of silver in a 'wealth without virtue' manner.]
[Task requirements: The spending behavior must align with the 'spoiled, wicked young lady' persona, must incur condemnation not limited to the moral level, and must involve an actual transaction.]
[Task failure penalty: Erasure of the host's soul.]
Xu Qinghuan's heart pounded wildly.
1 billion! And she could go home!
Just spend money recklessly to survive, just do evil to get rich? She knew how to do this! Wasn't this just asking her to play herself as a brain-dead rich second generation?
"Miss, the master is counting silver in his study. He says the court's disaster relief funds have arrived." The maid Cui'er softly announced before pushing the door open, holding a bowl of bird's nest porridge. "Please drink it while it's hot..."
"Drink what!"
Xu Qinghuan pushed Cui'er aside, lifted her skirt, and dashed out. "My corrupt official father is counting money? Quick, it'll be hidden away if we're late!"
Cui'er stood frozen with the bowl in hand. Why was the young lady today... running faster than a rabbit?
...
The county magistrate's study, doors and windows tightly shut.
A middle-aged, portly man wearing a seventh-rank official robe, with a thin mustache, was hunched over a desk, drooling over a pile of gleaming silver ingots.
This was Xu Youde, Xu Qinghuan's biological father, the Magistrate of Taoyuan County, also famously known as a miser in the Great Qian official circles.
"Twenty thousand taels... a full twenty thousand taels of pure silver!"
Xu Youde stroked the silver ingots as if caressing a lover's hand, his face filled with rapture. "Those fools at the court, all I need to do is tweak the ledger, inflate the number of disaster victims by twenty percent, and this money will slip into my pocket without anyone knowing!"
According to the original plot, Xu Youde indeed didn't let a single coin of these twenty thousand taels of relief silver leave his grasp. The result was thousands starving to death in Taoyuan County. Although he escaped punishment by bribing officials above and below, this blood debt became one of the ironclad evidences for his family's eventual execution and extermination.
"Father!"
A sharp cry accompanied the sound of the door being pushed open, startling Xu Youde so much his hand jerked, and a silver ingot clattered to the floor.
He scrambled to cover the silver with his sleeve, but upon looking up and seeing it was his own daughter, he relaxed. His round, plump face immediately broke into a doting smile.
"Aiyo, my precious girl, why didn't you knock? You scared your father to death." Xu Youde picked up the ingot, wiping it with his sleeve. "What is it? Not enough jewelry? Or have you taken a fancy to some handsome young man from another family?"
Xu Qinghuan stared at the table full of glittering silver, her eyes wide.
This was her talisman for survival, her ticket home!
"Father, give me money." Xu Qinghuan got straight to the point, extending her fair, delicate palm. "I want five thousand taels."
"Pfft—"
Xu Youde, who had just taken a sip of tea, spat it out directly.
His beady eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at his daughter. "How much? Five thousand taels? Sweetheart, selling this entire county office wouldn't fetch five thousand taels! How much is your father's monthly salary? What do you need so much money for?"
"I don't need it for anything, I just want to spend it."
Xu Qinghuan lifted her chin, trying her best to put on the arrogant, domineering air of a wicked young lady. "I can't stand the sight of those refugees outside the city. I want to buy out all the rice shops in town, let them watch me waste the rice, make them understand what it means: 'Behind the vermilion gates meat and wine go to waste, while out on the road lie the bones of the frozen and the starved!'"
Xu Youde was stunned.
He stared at his daughter for a long moment, his expression shifting from shock... to confusion, and finally to a trace of eerie... approval.
"You mean... you want to buy all the rice, and not give it to the disaster victims?" Xu Youde probed.
"Right! Not only will I not give them any, I'll also buy the worst rice at high prices, let those unscrupulous merchants make a killing, and infuriate those paupers!" Xu Qinghuan added through gritted teeth, afraid she didn't seem wicked enough.
Xu Youde set down his teacup, stroked his mustache, a shrewd glint flashing in his small eyes.
The abacus in his mind clicked rapidly: Although the court issued relief funds, this money is hot to handle. Those above are watching, those below are protesting. If the money goes directly into my pocket, that's embezzlement.
But if... the money is "squandered" by my daughter?
My daughter buys rice, monopolizes the grain on the market. When rice prices skyrocket and the disaster victims can't afford it, then it's not the government failing to provide relief, it's the merchants hoarding and profiteering!
And my daughter just said to buy the "worst rice"?
Brilliant!
Absolutely brilliant!
Keep the good rice for resale, buy moldy old rice just for show. This way, the money is spent, the accounts are balanced, the blame is shifted to the rice merchants, and ultimately, the money can circle back into my hands through the merchants!
Xu Youde was moved to tears.
When did his silly daughter, who only knew how to buy cosmetics, develop such political acumen? She's helping her father launder money... oh no, she's helping her father share the burden!
"Good! Well said, 'Behind the vermilion gates meat and wine go to waste!'"
Xu Youde slapped his thigh, directly scooped up five thousand taels worth of silver notes from the table, and grandly stuffed them into Xu Qinghuan's hand. "Truly my own flesh and blood! This vision, this ruthless streak, it's just like me!"
Xu Qinghuan held the silver notes, feeling a bit dazed.
That's it? He gave it?
In the original story, wasn't this old man obsessed with money? Why did he give it away so readily?
"Father, you... you're not going to scold me?" Xu Qinghuan felt uneasy.
"What are you cursing about? Your father supports you!" Xu Youde said meaningfully, patting his daughter's shoulder. "Go on, go spend it all! Go and poke a hole in the sky of Taoyuan County for me, your father will back you up! Remember, you must buy the worst rice, and you must offer the highest price. Make sure everyone in the city knows our Xu family has money to burn!"
This was a crucial step in money laundering—it had to be done with fanfare!
Although Xu Qinghuan found her father's reaction a bit odd, looking at the banknotes in her hand and the system's countdown, she didn't have time to dwell on it.
"Don't worry, Father. I will squander it so spectacularly that I won't save you a single copper!"
Grabbing the banknotes, Xu Qinghuan turned and ran, her retreating figure filled with the resolve of "pressing forward though ten thousand block the way."
Watching his daughter leave, Xu Youde stroked his belly with satisfaction. "This child has finally grown up and learned to care for her old man. After this operation, even if the higher-ups audit the accounts later, we can claim it was a family misfortune—that a spendthrift daughter squandered all the money, and it has nothing to do with this official... Brilliant, absolutely brilliant! My daughter's move is truly unbeatable!"
...
Xu Qinghuan rushed out of the county office and immediately ordered the servants to prepare the carriage.
That luxurious carriage, inlaid with gold and jade and pulled by four horses, looked utterly out of place on the dilapidated streets of Taoyuan County.
"Young Lady, where are we going?" the coachman, Old Huang, asked.
"To the largest rice shop!" Xu Qinghuan lifted the carriage curtain, her heart giving a slight twinge as she saw the sallow-faced, ragged refugees by the roadside.
But she immediately hardened her heart.
I'm sorry, everyone. I have to save my own skin first. I was just an ordinary office worker in the modern world; I can't save the world. I can only play the villain, finish the task quickly, and go home.
[System Notification: Time until task completion: 23 hours. Current expenditure: 0.]
"Zhao Family Rice Shop, we're here."
Xu Qinghuan jumped down from the carriage.
The Zhao Family Rice Shop was the largest grain merchant in Taoyuan County. The owner, Zhao Si, was a notorious unscrupulous merchant currently profiteering from the national crisis, having raised the price of a peck of rice to five times its usual rate.
Inside the shop, several shabbily dressed scholars were arguing with a shop assistant.
"Five hundred coppers for a peck of rice? You might as well rob us! This is forcing people to their deaths!"
"Take it or leave it. If you won't buy it, get lost! In times like these, those with rice are the masters!" The assistant rolled his eyes, his face full of arrogance.
Xu Qinghuan swaggered in and kicked over an empty rice barrel by the door with a bang.
The loud noise instantly silenced the shop.
"Well, if it isn't Young Lady Xu?" Zhao Si emerged from behind the counter, his face obsequious. "What brings you here?"
Ignoring him, Xu Qinghuan slapped the thick stack of banknotes onto the counter with a smack.
"Shopkeeper Zhao, this young lady wishes to buy rice today."
Zhao Si stared at the banknotes, his eyes nearly popping out. "Buy... buy how much?"
"I'll take all of it! Every last moldy, worm-infested, unsellable old grain and rotten rice in your warehouse!" Xu Qinghuan lifted her chin, her voice clear and ringing, carrying down the whole street. "And what's more, I'll pay double... no, triple the price for it! Do you understand?"
The entire place fell silent.
Everyone looked at the county magistrate's daughter as if she were a madwoman.
Passing up good rice to pay triple the price for rotten rice? Has Young Lady Xu's brain been squeezed by a door?
