Chen Yuan, a professor of Chinese language, is reborn as a “dim-witted boy” in a farming family. His cousin is driven mad by corruption in the imperial examinations, and the family is on the verge of falling apart!
His grandfather grits his teeth and takes another gamble on the exams. Everyone thinks Chen Yuan is a fool, until he writes “The people are most important; the ruler comes second” with dirty dishwater, leaving them stunned. But then an enemy forces him to become a spoiled young master’s page, seemingly ruining his future.
“Sure!” Chen Yuan agrees, a sharp glint hidden in his eyes.
At the county magistrate’s residence, he outsmarts people in a gambling match, bests the tutor with his wits, and uncovers the spoiled young master’s hidden motives for self-destruction. Armed with mastery of the eight-legged essay, he rises from a humble page, taking each step from licentiate to provincial graduate to metropolitan graduate with nerves of steel!
His exam paper is stolen and passed off as someone else’s? He takes back the title of top scholar with a single counterstroke!
Corruption blankets the imperial court? He becomes a blade in the hands of the poor, carves his way through the examination system, topples the powerful, and ultimately ascends to the lonely yet glorious position of chancellor!
The county magistrate said that killing people can kill people indiscriminately. Didn't you read it? If you kidnap someone every day, you frame him or he frames you.