Transmigrated as a Prince's Bastard Son? No Books to Read from the Start

(Imperial examinations + no romance + sharp-tongued male lead who talks back + born into another body + no golden finger)

His father has been dead for six years. His stepmother holds the power, and his birth mother is frail.

He is six years old and has never even touched a primer.

His older half-sister had a tutor by the age of four, while he has to crouch on the ground and write with a twig.

The charcoal is rationed, the medicinal soup is left to go cold, and old rice is mixed in with the good.

The steward says the household is struggling, so everything must be kept simple.

He glances at the gold-painted screen newly installed in the main courtyard and smiles.

“Can’t afford to let me study? Then return that screen and sell the silk.”

“If that still isn’t enough, I’ll sit outside the gate and ask the neighbors to lend me books.”

How much is the dignity of the Prince’s household worth in silver?

He plans to weigh it himself.