Rising from Humble Beginnings: My Road to a Comeback in The Story of Minglan

When he woke up, Ren Changqing, an overworked office drone stuck in the 996 grind, discovered that he wasn't dreaming: he was lying in the bitter cold, surrounded by snow!

Mortgage? Car loan? A wife and kids waiting at home? Gone, all gone!

In their place, he had become a poor scholar with a house stripped bare, both parents dead, nothing but a ragged felt hat and a head full of Confucian classics. To make matters worse, he was nearly frozen and starved to death from the start.

Before he could recover from the shock of being a transmigrator forced to find a new job, a desperate cry cut through the storm. Sheng Hualan, the eldest legitimate daughter of Sheng Hong, the prefectural judge of Yangzhou, was being hunted by criminals! He had transmigrated into The Story of Minglan. Should he save her? The assailant was a burly man with a knife, while Ren Changqing couldn't even hurt a fly. He'd probably be throwing his life away, too!

But if he didn't help, his conscience would never let him rest. Besides, wasn't she... from the Sheng family in The Story of Minglan?!

In a split second, Ren Changqing grabbed his only weapon, a hardwood stick, and charged in!

After luckily saving Hualan, he thought he'd landed himself a powerful patron. Instead, he got Sheng Hong's heartfelt “reward”: an invitation to “study in peace” at the Sheng residence, with room and board included, plus one-on-one tutoring from a top teacher, Sheng Hong himself.

Ren Changqing appeared overcome with gratitude, but he knew exactly what was going on: this wasn't a reward. It was house arrest! They were keeping the one person who could threaten the family's reputation under close watch!

The gratitude was genuine, but the scheming ran deeper. Beneath the sweet promises lay cold control and exploitation. Trapped in an elegant cage, penniless and with no idea what the future held, modern office drone Ren Changqing would have to rely on his astonishing memory, a gift from the original owner, to turn his fate around in The Story of Minglan.