You Banned Me from the Imperial Exams? I’ll Write a Petition and Make the Whole Court Weep!

[Child prodigy lawyer + overturning a wrongful criminal conviction + courtroom takedowns + a fiery reckoning over his roots + overwhelming intelligence]

Transmigrated into the ten-year-old son of a convicted official in the Great Jing dynasty, he has his right to take the imperial exams stripped from him from the start!

His mother coughs blood and waits for medicine to save her life, his seven-year-old sister trembles with hunger, and his wicked clan wants to seize their home and fields, even forcing him to trade his own sister for three taels of silver from her sale contract?

Shen Yan, a PhD in both law and legal studies, gives a cold laugh. “You think you can block my path to the exams? The laws of Great Jing have loopholes, you know.”

The Great Jing Code bars me from the examination hall, but it doesn't forbid me from writing petitions for others!

A local tyrant forges a land deed from five years ago to steal people's farmland?

In court, Shen Yan presents conclusive evidence in the form of wear on the official seal: “The triangular chip in the county seal only appeared when it was dropped two years ago. So how did it end up stamped on a deed from five years ago?”

One petition later, the tyrant is in shackles and prison, the county registrar faints in court, and Shen Yan earns five taels to save his mother's life!

The clan leader shows up with men to forcibly seize the family estate?

Shen Yan fires back with the night watch register and witnesses from the neighbors filling the courtyard: “Breaking into a private home and driving someone to their death? Clan leader, you'll have plenty of prison meals ahead!”

The clan's prized genius gets ahead by stealing my family's resources to pass the xiucai exam?

Sorry, I've got conclusive evidence of your chief examiner's corruption right here under my pen!

From a ten-year-old legal clerk charging two taels per petition on a back street behind the county office, he writes his way all the way to the imperial court!

In time, Shen Yan's name is known throughout the realm, and he earns the emperor's favor.

The very Shen clan that once kicked him when he was down now kneels outside the palace, clutching their genealogy book and begging him to rejoin the family.

Shen Yan doesn't even look at them. Instead, he hands over a petition to overturn the case:

“Rejoin the family? Go do that in prison! Today I clear my late father's name, and the entire Shen clan is the first defendant!”