A Peasant at Dawn, a Courtier by Dusk

The author is terrible at naming things. [No transmigration, no System, no rebirth, no romance + imperial-examination story + woman disguised as a man + growth-oriented heroine + slow and steady pacing + political intrigue]

Reader comment: This book depicts both the power struggles in officialdom and the warmth between family and friends with great subtlety. It's a story full of heart. The author writes so well! (Hehe, a reader praised me, hehe.)

Without a grandson, the family's estate is bound to be whittled away sooner or later.

Shen Zhong, patriarch of the Shen clan, has five sons, but none of them are much use. His fifth son has no sons of his own at all.

At long last, his fifth daughter-in-law is expecting again. On this particular day, a wandering monk happens to pass by the Shen home begging for alms.

When the monk points to the fifth daughter-in-law's swollen belly and prophesies, "This child is destined to enter the Son of Heaven's court," Shen Zhong weeps with joy.

But the baby who comes wailing into the world is yet another girl.

"A girl? No!" Resolve flashes in Shen Zhong's eyes. "The child born to Niang is the eldest legitimate grandson of the Shen family, Shen Yuzhi."

From that day on, Shen Liuniang becomes Shen Yuzhi.

She passes the imperial examinations as top scholar at eleven, is sent to Yazhou as prefect at thirteen, returns to the capital as an investigating censor at seventeen, is assigned to Beizhou at eighteen with the additional title of circuit-inspection censor, and is promoted to vice director of the Ministry of Justice and concurrently vice censor-in-chief at nineteen. By the time she comes of age, she already holds an important position at the Ministry of Justice.

Such rapid promotion is unheard of in this dynasty. Search the history books, and you would be hard-pressed to find anyone else like her.

Officialdom is just like leveling up by defeating monsters.

Watch as Shen Yuzhi unravels the rules of this tangled web of power, turns the tide to break through its impasse, and climbs the ranks step by step until, in the end, she becomes The Outcast, the chancellor second only to the emperor!