Skip The ML, Get Rich

Xie Zhaozhao transmigrated into a Mary Sue historical romance novel titled “The Ice-Cold Prince Only Turns Back for Her Smile,” becoming a minor background character so unimportant, her face wasn’t even clearly described. Right at the beginning, she got bound to a broken-down system that cheerily shouted the moment it came online: “Dear Host! Your mission is: raise the male lead’s affection to 99 points and successfully marry into the prince’s manor to unlock your hidden life side quest! Fighting!” She actually believed it. Burned the midnight oil studying the male lead’s files, worked hard for two whole days trying to raise affection—yet the male lead didn’t spare her a single glance. “Did the male lead look at me today?” “Unable to detect effective eye contact.” “Was my smile sweet enough today?” “Male lead turned his head for 0.5 seconds. Target: the cat behind you.” “Then tomorrow I’ll change into a new outfit—” “Ding! System will now enter maintenance and upgrade mode. Estimated downtime: unknown. Host is advised not to dismantle the device.” Xie Zhaozhao: “???” Fine. Mission failed, system ran away, and before she could even die a cannon-fodder death, the whole plot collapsed first. Just as she was ready to lie flat and rot, the constables came knocking. “By imperial decree, the Xie family is found guilty of colluding with the enemy. All assets are to be confiscated!” Xie Zhaozhao froze for a second. And just like that—their entire household got cleaned out. Even the cooking pots were taken. Xie Zhaozhao: “…” So the system vanished, and the male lead’s affection score went back to zero—fine. But now she was dragging along a bunch of concubines, noble-born young ladies, her own mother, and her maid, fleeing like refugees to a half-collapsed, abandoned shack at the far edge of the village. A dozen women sharing one pot of porridge. Xie Zhaozhao stared at the few lonely grains of rice floating in the pot, lost in thought. She took a deep breath, turned to the teary-eyed women sitting at the table, and declared: “It’s alright. We still have our hands and feet!” Her mother sobbed softly, “But we don’t have land…” Xie Zhaozhao looked off into the distance. “Then we’ll rent some!” “No seeds.” “Then we’ll buy them!” “No money.” “…” Xie Zhaozhao gritted her teeth. “Then we’ll owe it first!” ** Three days later, Xie Zhaozhao was really out in the fields, hoe in hand, leading a bunch of pampered “noble ladies” to clear the land. On day one, the maid Xiaotao’s skin peeled from sunburn. On day two, her mother twisted her ankle hoeing the soil. On day three, they finally got their crops planted. On day four, every single sprout was rooted up and eaten by Old Man Wang’s pigs from the village. Xie Zhaozhao stormed off to confront Old Man Wang, only to be met with a sneer and a flick of his trouser leg: “Your family doesn’t even own a pig, and you think you can farm? Might as well plant your veggies straight into my pig’s mouth!” Xie Zhaozhao came back, pulled out their last 500 copper coins, and went straight to the market—returning with a limp little piglet. Everyone: “Miss… this pig looks crippled…” Xie Zhaozhao: “Lame or not, it’s ours! Next time someone messes with our field, our pig’s going to mess up theirs first!” She looked at the small patch of barren land in front of the dilapidated courtyard, her gaze firm: “From now on, forget the male lead. We’re going to grow the priciest cabbages in the empire and rake in silver from every noblewoman in the capital!” —Assuming, of course, the pig doesn’t wreck the field again tomorrow.