The Annals of the Tangdi Brothers

An abandoned illegitimate son from the start + a top-ranking legitimate elder brother who champions him = brothers joining forces to conquer the imperial exams!

Jiang Mo’s mother was a registered entertainer, and he is an invisible illegitimate son in the Jiang family. Even his path to the imperial exams is publicly cursed by petty men as “the offspring of a lowborn woman”!

His legitimate elder brother, Jiang Yan, defies all opposition: “This uncut gem should ascend to glory with me!” He personally pulls Jiang Mo out of the mire.

A photographic memory? His policy essays astonish the head of the academy! In the academy’s second examination, Jiang Mo’s painting “Haulers in the Snow” and essay “On the Accumulated Ills of the Salt Trade” leave the scions of the powerful speechless. Fan Zhongyan slams the table: “A hero’s origins don’t matter. Accepted!”

Caught in a cutthroat business war? The matriarch secretly pulls the strings! Secret ledgers from the teahouse, a chess game in the inner city, reforms to the grain transport system... Su Wanqing plots every move, while Jiang Mo quietly helps her break the deadlock.

A hidden hand at court? Brothers from humble families turn their pens into blades! Framed in the provincial examination, ambushed on the official road... Chen Yu sneers, “An illegitimate son thinks he deserves to pass the exams?” Jiang Mo picks up his brush and laughs coldly: “With this strategy, I’ll cut down your backer first, then bring down this rotten court!”

See how the “inkstone ink” personally brought to life by his elder brother will uphold principle and integrity, and share the realm’s burden with the inkstone!