Proud in Poverty

Good news: Lu An wasn't hit and killed by a car.

Bad news: His soul has traveled to an unfamiliar dynasty.

He is still called Lu An, but now he's a "little monk" who was sold into a male brothel after trying to kill himself by bashing his head against a wall.

Is this what they call a disastrous start?

Lu An feels his uneven hair and sighs. It sure is!

But never mind!

He's a well-rounded young man raised in the modern era,

a talented person with a higher education,

and Lu An is fearless, ready to face the challenge head-on.

So he is forced to sleep with Fu Linghui, a would-be top scorer in the imperial examinations.

But after placing first in all three exams, this man comes to kill him in the middle of the night.

For the first time, Lu An learns how cruel this society is.

Before long, he's taken back to the manor by the Prince Duan's heir.

Xie Huai seems kind and gentle, but what he does is no different from Fu Linghui.

Lu An gains an even deeper understanding of this era.

He still resolves to stand tall with his backbone of freedom and equality,

and set these "ancients," steeped in a world of status and hierarchy, straight.

That is, until Fu Linghui and Xie Huai become hopelessly devoted to him and fight tooth and nail to die alongside him.

He thinks the spirit of fighting feudalism and oppression is shining bright!

But it's only a naive, foolish young man receiving a little favoritism.

For the third time, Lu An remembers that he's as rootless as duckweed, with no power or influence.

From the very beginning, he was a piece on the rulers' chessboard,

a whetstone, a scapegoat,

not a free, independent person of flesh and blood.

Lu An understands what a chess piece is supposed to do:

eat the opposing piece,

then eat the person moving the pieces.

After all, his name is Lu An, but in truth, he's chaos,

chaos that runs wild and does whatever it pleases!

The title comes from "Tian Zifang Instructs Ziji" in the Zhou annals of the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government. The original reads: "Ziji grew angry and said to Zifang, 'Do the rich and powerful look down on others, or do the poor and lowly?' Zifang replied, 'Only the poor and lowly look down on others. How could the rich and powerful dare to do so? ...'"

Is arrogance a privilege of the powerful and wealthy, or a bargaining chip for those who have nothing?

To put it simply, the barefoot have nothing to fear from those wearing shoes!

Cover image from Xiaohongshu: Kaixin Guo Ruan Tang (limited to six 😭)

Theme: A free life begins by surviving, then takes flight.