The Failed Top Scholar: The Commandery Princess's Lucky Husband

[Transmigration and imperial examinations + spouses with secret identities + sweet romance, no angst] Mu Che transmigrates into another world and fails the civil service examinations three times in a row, earning himself the nickname “the unlucky licentiate” among the neighbors. On the day the results are posted for the third time, he returns to his ramshackle home clutching a blank score sheet, only to find a matchmaker blocking his door. “Miss Chu” from the next alley is willing to marry him. She wants no dowry, just a place to call home. Looking at Chu Zhile, dressed simply in plain clothes and a wooden hairpin, with gentle eyes, Mu Che sighed. “I’m penniless and can’t even pass the exams. You’ll be settling for a hard life with me.” Chu Zhile lowered her eyes and smiled softly. “That’s all right. I believe in you.” On their wedding night, as the red candles flickered, Mu Che was figuring out how to earn money at the docks the next day to support his new wife when a hurried knock suddenly sounded at the door. An official held up a belated notice of success and boomed, “Mu Che, you passed! You placed first in the prefectural examination!” Mu Che froze. A glimmer of understanding flashed in Chu Zhile’s eyes. She had asked someone to put in a word for him, hoping he could at least earn the title of licentiate and save face. But she never imagined that this was only the beginning. The following year, Mu Che passed the provincial examination with an essay criticizing the ills of the age, surpassing all his rivals. Three years later, his proposals for reforming the grain transport system dazzled the court in the metropolitan examination, earning him the top candidate’s title. In the imperial palace, Mu Che answered the emperor’s questions with ease and spoke without fear, winning the emperor’s personal selection as the top scholar. On the day of his grand procession through the streets, Mu Che, dressed in his scarlet robe, spotted his wife in the crowd and beamed. Meanwhile, inside the Chu residence, Chu Zhile had shed her plain clothes and donned the court robes of a commandery princess. Clutching the notice of her husband’s success, she murmured to her maid, “I only arranged for him to pass the prefectural examination...”