A highly educated civil-service exam candidate had just passed the exam and secured a government job.
Who could have guessed that his joy would turn to tragedy?
When Shen Qizhi opened his eyes again, he had transmigrated into the body of a hanged man with the same name and surname...
From birth, he was the unlucky eldest grandson whom everyone avoided.
His birth was followed by the deaths of his grandfather and mother. He spent ten years exiled to a farm, while his stepmother and half-brother closed in on him at every turn, intent on driving him out of the clan and taking the hereditary privilege and future that belonged to him.
He used ritual law as his shield and the classics as his blade.
Alone, he stormed the ancestral hall to clear his late mother's name, then swept through the imperial exams on the strength of his talent, earning top honors in all six rounds.
Once rejected by his entire clan, this abandoned son ultimately climbed to the top of the court, took charge of the central government, and became the dynasty's chief grand secretary.
Years later, the Shen family's former students and associates filled the realm.
Before the old emperor breathed his last, he clutched Shen Qizhi's hand and asked, “Do you intend to emulate the Sima clan?”
