I Was a Layabout in Ancient Times, but They Forced Me to Take the Provincial Exam

After transmigrating into the body of a fool from a landowning family, Qin Xiuwen is hit with a broken engagement from the start and faces the threat of his family's bankruptcy. He had hoped to lie flat with the help of the System, but is forced to turn his life around through the imperial examinations. His county-level essay, “I Don't Want to Work,” astonishes the education commissioner; his prefectural-level piece, “On Yueyang Tower,” shakes the literary world; and his essay for the palace examination makes the emperor drop his teacup!

But after placing first in all three examinations, he finds no wealth and glory awaiting him. Instead, he stumbles upon an earth-shattering scandal involving corruption in the salt and iron industries. From a county magistrate auditing the books to a lone minister at court, he plays with cats in one hand and wields his brush in the other, carving out a path through the whirlpool of political intrigue. “System, all I want is to be a lazy fish!”

Watch as a language teacher uses Tang and Song poetry to conquer the world of officialdom and writes the legend of a literary giant from humble beginnings in slender gold script!