Jilted from the Start, a Farmer's Son Climbs the Imperial Exam Ladder

Special thanks to book friend “Mu Yuan of Tianluzhou” for the support!

[Imperial examinations] [Multiple heroines] [Transmigration] [System] [Career in government] [Officialdom]

A modern young man transmigrates to the eighth year of the Jiajing reign in the Ming dynasty, becoming Shen Jingchuan, a twenty-year-old member of the Shen family who has spent six years taking the exams but still remains a licentiate, and has just been publicly humiliated when his engagement is broken off.

At the end of his rope, he binds himself to a plain but crucial [Learning System], gaining “photographic memory” and “ten times the learning efficiency.”

Faced with family pressure, cut-off resources, and a ruined reputation, Shen Jingchuan stakes everything on one final prefectural examination, while having to support himself. With memories from his previous life and help from the System, he embarks on an unusual path to turn his fortunes around: writing bestselling storybooks with one hand to make a living, while studying the sages’ classics with the other to prepare for the examinations.

He starts by adapting “Nie Xiaoqian” into a storybook for sale, meeting Li Weishuang, the shrewd daughter of a bookseller, and earning his first pot of gold. Then he studies diligently with the System’s help, making an early impression in a county school exam and overturning his family’s prejudice. Next, his storybooks become hits, giving him financial independence, and he passes the county examination in one fell swoop, beginning to clear his name… Shen Jingchuan advances one careful step at a time.

Along the way, he finds unexpected emotional comfort, a business partner who is both mentor and friend, jealousy and suppression from his classmates, and the shifting warmth and expectations of his own family. He must not only overcome every obstacle on the proper path of the imperial examinations, but also navigate the worlds of scholars, farmers, artisans, and