The Top Scholar's Road to Success (Imperial Examinations)

The workaholic Song Chengze dies unexpectedly and transmigrates into an alternate dynasty.

The bad news: He has become a gambling addict and owes the gambling house a huge sum of silver.

The worse news: The gambler was about to offer his younger sister as collateral to the gambling house.

Song Chengze feels like the sky has fallen.

Faced with the grief-stricken parents of the original owner, Song Chengze finally manages to fill the hole in their finances.

But when he rescues a woman from drowning, bystanders mistake his actions for an attempt to take advantage of her. The gossip never stops, and her reputation is ruined. He only meant to save her, but he never expected that feudal morality would nearly drive her to her death.

Faced with everyone's accusations, the woman's parents press him at every turn.

Unable to defend himself, Song Chengze grits his teeth. "I'll marry her."

This only makes an already struggling family worse off.

To survive in this world that devours people, and live like a human being, Song Chengze sets out on the path of the imperial examinations.

Song Chengze spent seven or eight years studying for his master's and doctoral degrees in the imperial examination system. He had studied the essays of China's top scholars throughout history more times than he could count. His greatest wish in this life was to meet a top scholar in person.

Now that he has transmigrated into an alternate dynasty, if he can't meet one, he'll become one himself.

*

Over time, the villagers of Songjia Village notice that Song Chengze, the village ne'er-do-well, has suddenly become ambitious. Not only is he earning money, he's also built a house.

Just as the villagers are envying him, word spreads that he plans to take the imperial examinations.

They immediately laugh at the farm boy for overestimating himself. He knows a few characters, and now he thinks he can pass the exams?

But on the day the results are posted, Song Chengze places first in the county examination. Even the county magistrate summons him for an audience.

Everyone thinks he just got lucky. No one expects Song Chengze to go on to top the examinations six times in a row and become the top scholar.

[Reader's Guide]

1. The setting is fictional, with the examination system based on the Ming dynasty.

2. A feel-good power fantasy with some original worldbuilding. Don't overanalyze it.

3. The romance develops slowly; the plot takes center stage.

Theme: Keep learning for as long as you live.