A Commoner Protagonist Who Takes the Imperial Exams and Becomes an Official 主角布衣，科举做官

1. 51 从 Life in Ancient Times, Starting as a Cowherd 从放牛娃开始的古代生活 A Primordial Beast一只洪荒兽Historical1.6M WordsCompleted After transmigrating to ancient times, Zhao Xiaoshan doesn’t become a prince or a royal lord. Instead, he ends up a village boy tending cattle. He stares at the sky in dismay. Fine, if he can’t go back, he might as well roll up his sleeves and get to work. So what if they’re poor? He has his wits about him! See how he leads his whole family to earn money and make a fortune in ancient times! [Farming + business + lighthearted + everyday family life] No pocket dimension, no System, no golden finge 3.7kReads7.9Score252Shelves
2. 52 寒 The Poor Scholar Who Squandered His Family’s Wealth 寒门败家子 Xun Beiyi寻北仪Historical3.5M WordsCompleted Also known as Back to Ancient Times to Build a Factory. Main characters: Wang Yuan and Li Shihan. After transmigrating to ancient times and into a poor family, Wang Yuan had nothing to his name, yet he started squandering money! He poured mud into brown sugar, mixed limewater into lard, dumped government salt into a pond, boiled government liquor in a pot, set a live ox’s tail on fire, and handed money to every beggar he saw... These bizarre ways of wasting money left the imperial clan, powerful 6.7kReads8.4Score836Shelves

   Reader note

   🔥🔥🔥Not only do outstanding children come from poor families, but also spendthrift children!

3. 53 手 With the Notable Ministers System in Hand, I Disguise Myself as a Man in Ancient Times 手拿名臣系统，我在古代女扮男装 Tianyang Peak, Who Loves Handmade Wheat Dumplings爱吃手工麦饺的天阳峰Ancient Romance1.0M WordsCompleted Xu Yue transmigrates into a book. She becomes the delicate, vulnerable cousin of the male lead in an examination-themed novel: her mother died young, she has no brothers and no one to rely on, and her family won't take her in, so she is awkwardly forced to live in the male lead's home. In her previous life, Xu Yue rose from being an orphan to earning a doctorate. She never believed in fate, and even though it was hard for women to get by in ancient times, she never stopped thinking about how to 119.8kReads9.6Score11.5kShelves

   Reader note

   Although I'm a little embarrassed, I still want to recommend what I wrote. If you'd like to read other imperial examination-themed stories, I can recommend some that I enjoy.

4. 54 科 Imperial Exam Triumph: The Strongest Female Grand Secretary 科举逆袭：最强女首辅 Dressed in Splendor宝妆成Ancient Romance1.8M WordsCompleted After finally becoming the first female heir in her family, she opens her eyes and finds herself back before the revolution. Her father is dead from the start, leaving her with a frail mother and three beautiful older sisters. She is the only son who can carry on the Cheng family line... Cheng Qing looks down at her slightly developed chest, wondering what on earth went wrong. Surrounded by scheming wolves, Cheng Qing, now with a new soul in her body, sets herself two small goals: First, keep pr 8.5kReads9.5Score1.3kShelves
5. 55 赤 A Pure Heart Climbs the Ranks 赤子登阶 A Youngster Riding the Wind稚子乘风Historical551k WordsOngoing [Alternate World + Reincarnated as a Baby + Imperial Exams + Martial Arts + Everyday Life + No Golden Finger] Yang Yuan never imagined he’d wake up one day as a swaddled baby in ancient times. He never imagined that in this strange world, with no System, no pocket dimension, and no golden finger of any kind, he’d have to rely on himself, one step at a time: rolling over, crawling, standing, then memorizing the Thousand Character Classic. He began his studies at three, learned martial arts at fou 14Reads—Score—Shelves

   Reader note

   This is a story about a protagonist who is reborn into a scholarly family and takes the imperial examinations. There are no cheat codes, no system, no talent for reading ten lines at a glance, and no repetitive steps like making salt, ice, sugar, glass, or cement. The protagonist relies entirely on his diligence day and night to pass the imperial examinations and enter officialdom.

6. 56 吾 I Sing the Song of Mortals for You 吾为君吟凡人歌 Six Sons of Qingfeng青峰六子Historical552k WordsCompleted [Male-Oriented, Transmigration, Fictional Setting, Farming, Everyday Life, Imperial Examinations, No System, No Golden Finger, Rural Life, Rustic Setting, One Heroine, Not a Power Fantasy] Lin Zezu, an ordinary nobody from Blue Star, transmigrates to the fictional Wu Kingdom. He arrives just as the original body's father, a scholar, dies of illness. Since the original body's birth mother was a brothel girl, his stepmother and eldest half-brother in the Lin family never treated him well. After Ma 2Reads6.4Score—Shelves

   Reader note

   A time-traveling, imperial examination-focused farming story. A classic tale of a commoner's rise to power.

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