The Imperial Exam: A Powerful Minister’s Rise Begins with a Five-Year-Old Prodigy

[Alternate History + Ancient Setting + Farming + Business + Imperial Exams + Child Prodigy + Feel-Good Power Fantasy]

Fan Xian, a PhD in political economy from Huaqing University, one of Huaxia’s top universities, suddenly dies and transmigrates into the body of a five-year-old boy named Fan Xian in the Great Xia dynasty.

He finds himself in an official family that has fallen into utter decline over three generations. The year before he arrived, the family had been forced to move from the county town to the countryside, and their lives had grown increasingly difficult.

The family supports his uncle and cousin, two scholars preparing for the imperial exams. They do nothing but study, never lift a finger to help, and drag the whole family down.

Fan Xian is determined to change all this and restore his family’s former glory. From the start, he makes money through medicine, reveals his prodigious talent, enters school to prepare for the imperial examinations, and passes again and again, rising rapidly through the ranks.

His uncle does nothing but cram from books. Fan Xian says, “Uncle, if you only read and never think, doesn’t it leave you confused? Remember, learning without thinking is useless, and thinking without learning is dangerous!”

His aunt tries to use superstition to keep him out of school. Fan Xian says, “Auntie, have you heard that Confucius did not speak of the supernatural, violence, disorder, or spirits?”

His cousin tries to oppose him by quoting the classics. Fan Xian says, “Cousin, a scholar who has read widely shouldn’t use his learning as a weapon against his own family. Don’t be so shortsighted and misuse it whenever you please.”

Fan Xian steadily expands his influence, changing the way people throughout the Great Xia dynasty think, one step at a time. With his ingenious ideas, he finds the best solutions to countless problems, breaks with outdated customs, and brings benefits to the people.

Everyone, please board the plane. He’s about to take the whole world soaring!