When it came to the character Cui Taohua, the fake Cui Taohua had only one reaction: what a fucked-up role. Utterly, completely fucked up.
Maybe she should put it this way: however godlike and overpowered Guan Fusha was, that was how fucking awful Cui Taohua was.
In short, no matter how you talked about her, it all boiled down to one word—fucked.
Cui Taohua had originally been the daughter of a wealthy merchant, born to the main wife of the first branch. She’d been pampered from childhood, willful, spoiled, and domineering.
On one outing, she was unlucky enough to be kidnapped by bandits, and just so happened to be rescued by the male lead, An Xianli, who was passing by and couldn’t stand seeing injustice.
After that, Cui Taohua secretly fell for him.
She found out An Xianli was a disciple of the Tianlun Sect, so she told her parents she wanted to join Tianlun to learn martial arts.
The two elders of the Cui family refused, so she made a scene at home every single day, raising hell until the entire household knew no peace.
Master Cui was so annoyed he couldn’t take it anymore. He finally gave in, ordering servants to carry several chests of silver to the Tianlun Sect’s leader.
The Tianlun sect leader was “moved” by Master Cui’s chests of “sincerity” and broke the rules to accept Cui Taohua as his disciple.
And just like that, Cui Taohua became An Xianli’s junior sister in name and in fact.
The tangled love and hate between a junior martial sister and her senior brother was practically a law of wuxia novels.
Although An Xianli felt nothing romantic toward Cui Taohua and only treated her like a younger sister, even so, once Guan Fusha appeared, everything quietly began to change.
Cui Taohua was jealous of Guan Fusha’s beauty and overestimated herself by running over to ask for a beating.
The result: Guan Fusha sent her back half-crippled.
She held a grudge and pushed on, bribing a waiter at an inn to poison Guan Fusha’s food and kill her.
That was exposed, and she got another beating.
Still not giving up, she made a comeback and carefully set up a scheme to make An Xianli mistakenly think Guan Fusha had tried to poison her.
This time Guan Fusha really had had enough. She directly crippled one of Cui Taohua’s arms.
From then on, Cui Taohua completely hated Guan Fusha.
That hatred had already drowned out every other emotion. Her mind was filled with nothing but revenge.
She disguised herself as a member of the Night God Sect, went around stirring up trouble, and even crippled new disciples from the four great sects, provoking conflict everywhere.
The four great sects mistakenly believed the Night God Sect was behind it all and convened a martial conference to decide on a crusade against the Night God Sect.
With such a massive scapegoat dumped on them, Guan Fusha immediately ordered a thorough investigation.
Before long, she discovered that everything had been done by Cui Taohua.
To seek justice for the Night God Sect, Guan Fusha went to the Tianlun Sect and, right in front of An Xianli, stabbed Cui Taohua through the heart with one sword.
Cui Taohua’s death made the conflict between the male and female leads even sharper.
And then… then… then…
And then nothing.
Because when the fake Cui Taohua had read to that point, she was so sleepy she couldn’t keep her eyes open. She tossed her phone down beside her pillow and fell into a deep sleep—
only to wake up and discover she had become this fucked-up character Cui Taohua!
Oh, great malice of the universe, could you be any more ruthless?
Granted, in the original story, Cui Taohua’s miserable end was largely her own damn fault.
But Guan Fusha’s heroine plot armor definitely played a huge role too.
Precisely because of that, she had decided to stay far, far away from the male lead, that source of all evil, and run over to the Night God Sect to cling tightly to Guan Fusha’s thick, sturdy thigh.
She just hadn’t expected that the whole situation seemed to be veering completely off the script…
Annoyed, Cui Taohua rolled over on the bed. Her mind was full of one thing: Guan Fusha had said she would take her to meet the Night God Sect Master tomorrow.
As Guan Fusha’s master, the Night God Sect Master in the original story was also an insanely badass character.
Taciturn, unreadable, his martial arts unfathomably deep, his actions guided purely by his own whims and moods—he was basically a twisted, perverted version of Guan Fusha.
A steady, rhythmic knocking sounded from outside the door, breaking her train of thought.
Taohua pushed herself up from the bed and looked curiously at the shadow on the door.
“Who is it?”
“Miss, it’s me.”
Taohua recognized Xiaozhu’s voice.
“Is that Miss Xiaozhu? Please come in.”
Xiaozhu pushed the door open and came in, holding a pink gauzy dress in her arms.
Seeing the confused look on Taohua’s face, she took the initiative to explain.
“This was sent by Protector Guan for you, miss.”
“For me?”
Taohua blinked, still puzzled.
Was Guan Fusha planning to have her dress more appropriately when she went to meet the Sect Master tomorrow?
“Yes.”
Xiaozhu set the dress down on the low table.
“Protector Guan has arranged a banquet at the lakeside pavilion tonight and invites you to dine with her.”
“Just me and Protector Guan?”
Xiaozhu smiled slightly.
“This servant is not quite sure.”
Taohua curled her lip inwardly.
Even if you knew, you wouldn’t tell me anyway!
After lying in bed all day, she felt like her waist was starting to ache, so she decided to get up and walk around a little.
Xiaozhu, however, misunderstood her intention.
“Is the young miss thinking of trying on this dress?”
Taohua froze for a moment, then simply went along with it.
“…Mm. I’ll try it on first.”
Knowing that Taohua was injured, Xiaozhu stepped forward to help her.
Once the clothes were changed, she supported Taohua over to sit in front of the dressing mirror, picked up a comb, and began to smooth out her long black hair.
“You look truly lovely in this dress, miss,” she said with a squinting smile.
Taohua glanced at the bronze mirror.
“It’s… all right,” she mumbled.
In the mirror, the young girl was dressed in a pink gauze dress that seemed to tint her fair skin with a playful blush.
Her palm-sized oval face was set with a pair of eyes as soft and deep as still water.
She was a budding beauty through and through.
Of course, compared to a monster like Guan Fusha, she was little more than a firefly before the moon.
After Xiaozhu finished arranging her hair, she picked up a small box from the table and applied a light touch of makeup.
In no time at all, the sickly pallor on Taohua’s face was completely concealed beneath Xiaozhu’s almost magical skill.
Xiaozhu stepped back and smiled again.
“The young miss is truly beautiful.”
Taohua smiled faintly, but inwardly she didn’t believe a word, just treating it as polite flattery.
“It’s only because Miss Xiaozhu is so skillful.”
“You flatter me, miss. You were already beautiful. I’ve only added a few final touches, like putting flowers on brocade.”
Taohua felt that this girl named Xiaozhu had an incredibly sweet tongue; every word sounded like it had been dipped in honey.
Was everyone in the Night God Sect like this?
A light breeze blew past, pushing the half-closed window all the way open with a soft sound.
The noise drew Taohua’s attention. She looked out and saw that the flowerbed outside was planted with all sorts of rare flowers and plants, blooming in full profusion, truly a pleasing sight.
“Miss Xiaozhu, may I go outside for a walk?”
She’d been cooped up in this room all day; she was about to mold.
Besides, her injured ankle didn’t hurt much anymore. Guan Fusha must have healed it. It seemed like the perfect time to go out for a stroll.
“This…”
Hesitation crossed Xiaozhu’s face. It seemed this wasn’t something she could decide.
Taohua thought about it and realized her request was probably putting Xiaozhu in a difficult spot.
“Never mind. The wind is strong outside, and my wounds have only just healed. It’s probably not suitable for me to go out. I won’t trouble you, Miss Xiaozhu.”
