The Guide to Rising to Power: The Ultimate Schemes of a Green Tea Beauty

Mine clearance:

Don't bring your brain, because I don't have one.

Criticize me, but don't criticize the female lead.

All the important male characters who have in-depth interactions with the female lead are virgins.

Some of the high-ranking official fiction is fictional! Please do not relate it to reality! There are no real-life prototypes!

The female lead is beautiful, strong, and tragic; she's a bad woman. Here are a few characteristics of her rise to power, see if you can accept them: ruthless, two-faced, money-loving, manipulative, scheming, and she uses and discards men after seducing them...

Do you like or dislike the numerous male leads?

Don't ask, the answer is that my virtuous husband helped me achieve my ambitions, and in return, he had two mistresses. This is a matter of opinion.

It's essentially a Mary Sue romance novel with a universally adored protagonist!

No matter how powerful the male lead is, he'll eventually end up banging his head against a wall and acting like he's going to die for the female lead. If you want to see the male lead torture the female lead, run!

Mary Sue: This type of character usually combines beauty, talent, and charm, easily gaining the admiration of many popular characters and dominating the plot development.

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In the dilapidated main room of the Shen family home, the stench of cheap tobacco and alcohol was almost suffocating.

"Five thousand? Are you trying to fob me off like a beggar?!"

Shen Daqiang slammed his hand on the rickety dining table, the bowls and chopsticks bouncing and making a jarring sound.

"My daughter's a college student! Shanghai University! Do you know how important that is? You think you can just touch her for five thousand yuan?"

Opposite him sat Liu Laowu, a notorious old bachelor from the neighboring village, grinning with yellow teeth, rubbing his hands together, his cloudy eyes gleaming with greed.

"Brother Daqiang, five thousand is in cash! Besides, it's just to see how things go first."

"Looking around? My daughter's looks, her figure—she's destined to marry into the city and enjoy a life of luxury!" Shen Daqiang spat as he took another swig of cheap liquor, his face glistening with oil. "The dowry for the butcher Sun's daughter in the next village is this much!"

He held up two fingers. "Twenty thousand? My daughter is ten times better than his! It'll be at least fifty thousand! Not a penny less!"

Behind the crack in the inner room door, Shen Yao stood quietly, her back against the cold earthen wall.

Her father's words pierced her ears one by one, yet strangely, they did not cause her any pain.

A person who has never been loved by their father will have a numb feeling in their heart.

fifty thousand.

She silently curled the corners of her lips into a smile.

It turns out that in her father's eyes, she was just a "goods" worth this much.

Well, it's good to have a clear price list, that's straightforward.

She remembered her mother's withered hands as she grasped them and said, "Yaoyao, escape, you must escape."

She was too young then to understand what "escape" meant.

Now she understands.

This home, this village, and this father who treats her as his private property to be sold at will—these are all cages she must break free from.

The sky outside the window gradually darkened, with dark clouds looming overhead, signaling an impending downpour.

Shen Yao walked to her "bed" made of wooden planks and pulled out a small cloth bag from under the tattered mat.

There wasn't much inside.

A carefully folded admission letter from Shanghai University, with some wear and tear on the edges;

A black and white photo of my mother when she was young, her eyes and brows gentle;

There was also a small roll of crumpled change, which she had secretly saved and accumulated over three years of high school by copying for others; it totaled less than seven hundred yuan.

This is all her possessions.

The haggling in the main room continued, the voices growing louder and louder, interspersed with Shen Daqiang's smug boasting and Liu Laowu's lewd agreement.

Shen Yao tucked the cloth bag tightly into her bosom and pressed it against her chest.

That cold acceptance letter, at this moment, felt like a red-hot coal, burning her heart with pain, and also making her incredibly clear-headed.

"Boom!" A thunderclap rang out, and raindrops began to pelt down.

The two men in the main room seemed startled by the thunder. Shen Daqiang, perhaps due to the alcohol or something Liu Laowu had said that enraged him, suddenly raised his voice:

"I'm putting my cards on the table today! Fifty thousand! If you, Liu Laowu, can't come up with that, plenty of men will want her! Boss Wang in town has already asked around! You can't just marry her and do whatever you want with her!"

Shen Yao closed her eyes and made up her mind.

She walked silently to the back of the door and gripped the thick wooden stick she used to prop it open.

The rain poured down harder and harder, drowning out most of the sounds in the world.

After the old bachelor left, Shen Daqiang got up cursing, probably to relieve himself, and staggered toward the outhouse in the backyard.

Shen Yao took a deep breath, suddenly opened the door, and slipped out.

Shen Daqiang had his back to her and was urinating in the corner of the wall, muttering curses under his breath.

Unexpectedly, without hesitation or fear.

Shen Yao raised the wooden stick and, with all her might, smashed it down hard on the back of her father's head!

"Ugh!" Shen Daqiang let out a short, muffled groan, his obese body swayed, and he collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud.

The murky urine mixed with rainwater, making it filthy.

Shen Yao dropped the wooden stick, not even glancing at the person on the ground.

She grabbed her things and rushed into the rain. Her thin clothes clung tightly to her body, outlining her curves, which, though still somewhat immature, were already showing signs of budding beauty.

She was soaked in the rain but didn't care at all. She even felt a sense of pleasure from the rain washing away the filth. At that moment, she had an urge to burst into laughter.

Shen Yao turned around and took one last look at the dilapidated house that looked like a ghost in the torrential rain, then turned away and never looked back.

Behind her lies a blood-sucking past; ahead lies an unknown, bright future that belongs to her.

It rained all night long.

Shen Yao hid in an abandoned melon shed, soaked to the bone, her lips turning purple from the cold.

She dared not walk on the main road, but only along the country lanes and the foot of the mountain. Her cloth shoes were already covered in mud, and every step was extremely difficult.

As we approached the highway to the town, a dilapidated long-distance tricycle chugged up and down.

The driver was a thin, dark-skinned man in his forties. When he saw Shen Yao alone by the roadside, especially her beautiful features that were still evident despite her disheveled appearance, he subconsciously slowed down.

"Little girl, where are you going? It's raining so hard, it's not safe for you to go alone. Can I give you a ride?"

The driver leaned out, a seemingly honest but actually shrewd smile on his face, his gaze sweeping over Shen Yao's soaking wet body.

Shen Yao felt a surge of disgust; she had seen that kind of look many times before.

Her face instantly changed to a timid, grateful, and helpless expression: "Uncle, can I go to the town's bus station?"

"Hey, come on in! It's on my way!" the driver greeted him warmly.

Shen Yao got into the car seemingly grateful, sat in the passenger seat, and tried to shrink herself down to minimize her presence.

The driver then started talking non-stop.

"Is the young lady a student? Why is she out alone? Where are her family?"

"Going to the city to visit relatives?"

"Oh dear, you're all soaked. Aren't you cold? I have a jacket here."

As he spoke, a greasy hand made a gesture as if to slap him.

Shen Yao jerked back, dodging the hand, her voice carrying just the right amount of panic and determination:

"No need, Uncle! I'm not cold! We're almost there, thank you!"

She sneered inwardly, thinking that this old, poor lecherous man was trying to take advantage of her.

That's like a toad trying to eat swan meat—a pipe dream!

Fortunately, seeing her strong reaction and the fact that they were on the road near the town, the driver didn't dare to go too far, though he still said a few unpleasant things.

As soon as they arrived at the bus station, Shen Yao jumped off the bus and rushed into the ticket hall without looking back.

With the crumpled change, she bought a ticket for the earliest long-distance bus to Shanghai. Only when she held that thin ticket in her hand did she feel a faint sense of security.

The bus bound for Shanghai swayed and rattled along the national highway.

Shen Yao sat by the window, watching the scenery outside rushing by and becoming increasingly unfamiliar.

The farther she was from home, the calmer her heart became.

She took out the admission notice and gently traced the four characters "Shanghai University" with her fingertips.

This was her only stepping stone, and her only hope of escaping the quagmire.

She knew very well that a pretty face meant nothing in a cutthroat big city, and might even be a death sentence.

Shen Yao needs more weapons, wisdom, cunning, and the ability to climb the social ladder by any means necessary.

The air inside the car is stuffy in the summer, mixed with the smell of instant noodles and sweat.

Sitting next to her was a young man in an inexpensive suit who claimed to be a big businessman in Shanghai. From the moment she got on the bus, he tried to strike up a conversation with her, showing off his Nokia phone and extensive network of connections.

"Little sister, going to Shanghai alone? To stay with relatives? To find a job? I'm well-connected in Shanghai, just let me know if you need anything!"

The man patted his chest, his eyes constantly glancing at Shen Yao's fair neck and face.

Shen Yao was extremely annoyed. The cheap cologne smell on the man, mixed with his breath, almost made her vomit.

Someone like him dares to act all high and mighty in front of her?

A shy smile, tinged with admiration and dependence, appeared on her face as she whispered:

"Thanks, brother. I'm going to school, Shanghai University."

"Wow! A college student! A high achiever!" The man's eyes lit up even more, and his tone became even more enthusiastic.

"Shanghai University is great! I have a buddy there. If you ever need anything at school, just ask me!"

As he spoke, he was about to hand over a slip of paper with a pager number written on it.

Shen Yao felt contemptuous; they didn't even have a cell phone, yet they were bragging about having a big business.

She "obediently" took the note, carefully placed it into her faded old cloth bag, and said softly:

"Yeah, thanks bro, you're so kind."

The man felt instantly lighter and began to boast even more enthusiastically along the way.

Shen Yao stopped talking, only nodding occasionally in agreement, but her gaze returned to the window.

Her pale yet stunningly beautiful face was faintly reflected in the car window.

After the resolute decision of the previous night and the bumpy journey, his eyes were not dimmed, but rather bright like stars washed by rain, carrying a kind of unwavering determination.

She gently closed her eyes and leaned back in the uncomfortable seat.

The father thought that exchanging her for a bride price was a good deal.

The older man thought he had spent money to buy a beautiful wife.

That man thought he could take advantage of the pretty female student.

They were all wrong.

She, Shen Yao, has never been a lamb to be slaughtered.

She is a hunter.

Shanghai, here she comes.