From Concubine’s Son to Chief Minister: The King of the Imperial Exams in Dream of the Red Chamber

In his previous life, Lin Yan was an orphan who rose to become a double-award-winning Best Actor. Then, in a single twist of fate, he found himself in Dream of the Red Chamber as Jia Huan, the most despised concubine-born son.

His stepmother treated him like he didn't exist, his birth mother did nothing but wail and throw tantrums, and his elder brother, born with a jade in his mouth, was the apple of the whole family's eye. As for him, he wasn't even allowed through the gates of the Grand View Garden.

No matter. An actor's greatest strength is playing a role.

Cowardly, timid, unfit to show his face in public: the Jia Huan you want, I'll give you.

But behind closed doors, the Analects opened beneath the moonlight was the real battlefield.

He put the logical training from his previous life in law school to work dismantling the eight-legged essay.

And the ten years he'd spent acting in front of cameras helped him maneuver carefully through the Rongguo Mansion.

Everyone thought Jia Huan was still the same timid little kitten.

Only when his name appeared on the palace examination list did they realize:

This cat had sharpened its claws long ago.

From an ignored son born to a concubine to the all-powerful chief minister.

In this life, I trust only the brush in my hand and every move I've calculated in my heart.