"My name is Xu Qinghuan, a transmigrated villainess in a book, a person who will do everything possible to go home."
My interest piqued quite a bit.
The brush fell like a gentle breeze.
The strokes carried a sense of joy.
"Mhm, this sentence is well written."
It was night.
The candlelight flickered.
Xu Qinghuan sat alone at the desk, holding a brush, seemingly writing something.
"Speaking of which, it seems no decent person writes a diary."
"Whatever, I am a transmigrator who is going to go home. Writing a diary will leave them something to remember me by when I'm gone."
"Maybe someday when I return to reality, turning this into a book could make it a minor hit?"
Xu Qinghuan absentmindedly chewed on the end of her writing brush.
After fantasizing about the future for a while, Xu Qinghuan patted her cheeks to wake herself up.
She dipped the brush into the top-quality ink that her cheapskate dad had gotten and given her as a gift.
Xu Qinghuan took a deep breath.
Following the first sentence she had already written, she began to write.
"I transmigrated into a male-oriented political intrigue novel called 'The Powerful Minister's World'."
"I don't know who came up with this title, it doesn't sound good."
"If I were to write it, I'd write a book called 'Dad! Stop Getting Promoted, Our Family Are Truly Corrupt Officials', it would definitely be a hit."
As Xu Qinghuan complained, she rapidly wrote down the things that had happened to her.
"My dad is a corrupt official, my oldest brother is a local bully, and my second brother is a traitor. It's basically a catastrophic starting point."
"But I thought about it, at least compared to some transmigrators who are orphans, I'm doing a bit better."
"At least, when we all get beheaded together, our heads can stare at each other on the ground. Dad's eyes are always smiling, so he'll definitely be the one with the small eyes."
Thinking of Xu Youde's squinty eyes, Xu Qinghuan couldn't help but want to laugh.
Her writing became much more cheerful at this moment.
"Oh right, I also bound to a system called [Heartless Rich], it's really evil, let me tell you!"
"I was originally a good girl who accepted good values, did three years of college entrance exams and five years of mock tests, but it forcefully turned me into a bad girl who gets poked in the spine by others!"
"Oh right, Old Xu, you probably don't know what a system is. It's like, like a deity, ugh it's so hard to explain, you better just not read this and wait to count your money."
Xu Qinghuan pondered for a long time, not knowing how to explain what this system was.
"In order to complete the system's tasks, I had to do some bad things."
"Like, going to provide disaster relief porridge for the refugees, and putting some stones and sand in it, ruining the food thoroughly."
"And letting those local ruffians and hooligans become city guards, and making the old, weak, sick, and disabled go build roads."
"Look, are these things a good system would make me do?"
Although, Xu Qinghuan did all of this.
But, setting the facts aside, the system was definitely at fault!
If it hadn't forced Xu Qinghuan to do bad things in order to go home, she wouldn't have listened!
However...
Thinking of this, Xu Qinghuan scratched her hair with a look of wanting to cry but having no tears.
"Perhaps God isn't helping me, and is even playing tricks to torment me."
"I put stones in the porridge, and they say I have the talent of a great scholar."
"I make bullies collect protection fees, and they say I'm protecting them."
"I make the old and weak build roads, and they say I have the heart of a Bodhisattva."
Xu Qinghuan felt truly powerless, and a hard-to-suppress curve hung on the corners of her mouth.
"What is all this nonsense!"
"The script I got isn't the holy mother one!"
Xu Qinghuan kept complaining.
"If this keeps up, I'll soon have a statue erected for me to enjoy incense offerings!"
"It's all Li Sheng's fault, how is he so good at getting things done?"
"I beg God to stop messing with me, I really, really want to go home!"
Xu Qinghuan, perhaps being too homesick, wrote the words 'go home' exceptionally heavily.
But, when Xu Qinghuan wrote this, her mind uncontrollably thought of those commoners.
They could only go home if they were full.
They could only go home if they earned money.
For the sake of their homes, they couldn't go home.
The withered, sallow faces of those who starved to death.
The bone-piercing chill of those who froze to death.
The helpless resentment of those who were bullied.
All these scenes flashed back in Xu Qinghuan's mind.
She didn't consider herself a saint, she only wanted the benefits right in front of her.
But.
A heartless person is one who attains enlightenment, one who becomes a saint.
What kind of person was she, Xu Qinghuan?
How could she be truly heartless?
"Ugh, so annoying!"
"Why is it so hard to return to reality?"
Xu Qinghuan picked up her brush again.
"No! I have to work harder!"
That was what Xu Qinghuan thought.
So she started writing again.
"After this, I'll let them know my methods!"
"I'll increase taxes, I'll create monopolies, I'll get some poop to use as poison gas bombs!"
"I even cursed that fake Buddha in here, and even made the original protagonist of the book, Old Tsui, go work as a gigolo to serve clients!"
"Heh heh! Making a protagonist who read the sages' books do these things, I'm bad enough, right?"
Thinking of this, Xu Qinghuan couldn't help but feel a burst of pride, especially about the dance Old Tsui did on his opening day.
"Oh books of the sages, Old Tsui was still hoping you would come save him until the very last moment!"
"Old Tsui oh Old Tsui, your sages' books never reached here, did they? Look what you've been reduced to enjoying!"
Xu Qinghuan picked up the cold tea next to her and took a sip to moisten her throat.
"But, this still isn't enough. I've wreaked so much havoc in Jiangnan, and they still haven't exiled me!"
"What kind of emperor is this old geezer, he's completely blind!"
Xu Qinghuan curled her lips. If she became the emperor, she would definitely be the first one she beheaded.
"Just like that, I celebrated the New Year in the book."
"It's only because Dad and the others treat me well that I gave them face and stayed here for the New Year first."
"Yes, I gave them face. It's absolutely not because I can't go back myself."
"Absolutely not!"
Xu Qinghuan pondered for a long time, and still added that in for the sake of her own pride.
"The New Year is over, and I've stayed here long enough. It's really time to go back!"
"In order to truly be exiled to Lingnan to plant lychees."
"I've decided to pull off something big!"
She hastily wrote down the weaving machine incident.
Xu Qinghuan felt a surge of excitement.
"You absolutely can't guess what I'm going to do. I'm going to make a move on the soldiers guarding the border and my silly brother!"
"I, Little Xu, prepared some braised pork bricks full of hardcore ingredients for them."
"They hardly have any grease in their stomachs."
"With Nu'er Hong wine, sugar, and salt, taking a bite probably feels about the same as Lao Ba's experience."
"Here, I want to say sorry to you guys first, but I really want to go home, I'm a villainess, hey!"
She had studied the laws of the Great Qian Dynasty for several whole days, and only after making sure that her dad's family wouldn't die because of her did she do this.
Calling herself a villainess, she was still far from it!
Thinking of the meat bricks sent to the border, Xu Qinghuan had hardened her heart.
She seemed to foresee the news of her impending exile.
"Hehe, my ocean-view house, my big villa is coming!"
Xu Qinghuan looked out the window. The moonlight was gone, replaced by a sky full of dark clouds.
"What the heck."
Xu Qinghuan stretched lazily.
And at this moment, there was a knock on the door.
"Good daughter, you're still not asleep?"
It was Xu Youde's voice.
"Dad?"
"If you don't say anything, I'm coming in!"
Carrying a small lantern, Xu Youde pushed the door open.
Xu Qinghuan froze for a second, then quickly shoved the almost-dry sheets of paper in front of her to the side.
"Dad, what are you doing!"
"Wandering around so late at night instead of sleeping, you really don't give anyone peace of mind!"
Xu Qinghuan marched up to him, her main strategy being a complete role reversal!
"Huh?"
Xu Youde stood at the doorway, dumbfounded.
Outside, dark clouds blanketed the sky, hiding every last trace of moonlight.
At the threshold, Father Xu held his lantern, illuminating the only path.
Inside the room, a faint scent of ink drifted through the air, washing away the worldly stench of money.
"What do you mean 'huh'!"
"Wandering around blindly in the middle of the night instead of sleeping is a fine of five hundred taels!"
Terrified that her father would see what she had been writing, Xu Qinghuan pushed him out the door.
"Let's go, let's go. Are you having trouble sleeping and too embarrassed to tell your daughter?"
"I'll take a walk with you!"
As she spoke, Xu Qinghuan turned around and pulled the door shut behind her.
The door slowly closed. In the very last second before it shut completely, Xu Qinghuan's eyes...
Looked inside.
And gave a little wink.
