Everyone in the Great Jing court knows that the Zhan family of the capital is a distinguished scholarly clan with a century-long legacy. Four generations of its family have produced successful candidates in the imperial examinations, making it the pinnacle of the exam system.
Only the legitimate grandson, Zhan Yu, is a good-for-nothing who somehow emerged from this literary lineage.
He studies for three minutes, then sleeps for two hours. When he picks up a brush to write, he makes more mistakes than he writes characters. He recites the Four Books and Five Classics in a muddle, and makes up every classical phrase as he goes.
The elders shake their heads, his classmates mock him, and the whole city gathers to gossip. Everyone is certain that if the boy manages to pass even the lowest-level exam in his lifetime, it will be a miracle.
With the prefectural examination approaching, Zhan Yu gives up completely.
Stay up all night studying? No way! Recite books while nodding along? Not happening!
He spends every day drinking tea, slacking off, and lying flat in the sun. His motto is to take the exam as it comes and not worry about the outcome.
But no one expects him to awaken the Slacker God System!
The more he slacks off, the clearer his thinking becomes! The more he loafs, the more brilliant his answers are! The less he wants to take the exam, the higher he places!
Everyone waits to see him fail and make a fool of himself, but he lies flat and cruises through the examinations, winning first place at all three levels.
At the palace exam, the emperor stares at his peerless essay, eyes wide with shock. “Th-this is the legendary good-for-nothing exam candidate?!”
Zhan Yu looks innocent. “Your Majesty, I really didn’t study. I just scribbled whatever came to mind.”
