I Went Back to Ancient Times and Rose to High Office Through Exams

This is a short story with a modest word count, and it is complete.

The story is free.

Updates around 8 p.m., every other day, and sometimes daily.

System-bound + only each other + a two-faced, calculating, career-minded female official heroine who seems sweet on the surface + a seemingly virtuous crown prince who is honey-tongued but poisonous

Lu Yunqi transmigrates into the body of a female official who was killed after disguising herself as a man. The System tells her that if she completes her missions and rises to wealth and rank, she can make a wish for anything she wants.

To get rich, rise through the ranks, and complete her missions, Lu Yunqi drags the current crown prince into the mess, helping him fight for the throne while they do terrible things with clear consciences.

With the System at her side, she does whatever she wants, switching back and forth between Shen Zhenwan and the other factions.

*

Lu Yunqi uses the System to answer questions and earn points, steadily accumulating the experience she needs to rise through the ranks. Working with Shen Zhenwan, she rockets from a low-ranking seventh-grade official to a third-grade grand official. But what can she do when she can’t climb any higher?

Lu Yunqi decisively kicks her former ally Shen Zhenwan to the curb and joins Prince Huai’s faction, successfully becoming a first-grade grand official. With money and power in hand, the world is hers.

*

After Prince Huai is killed, Shen Zhenwan barely survives and returns, immediately killing Prince Huai, crippling the emperor, and taking control of the regency.

Late at night, she summons Lu Yunqi.

Lu Yunqi kneels beside the bed, trembling, afraid to speak.

Shen Zhenwan steps down from the bed, lifts her chin, and sneers. “Aren’t you usually so eloquent, my lady? Why have you gone mute in front of me?”

Lu Yunqi drops to her knees and begs for mercy.

Shen Zhenwan sneers, pulls Lu Yunqi onto the bed, and grips her chin as she settles the score. “Your real gender hasn’t been exposed yet, has it? If you want to rise higher, why not beg me?”

Lu Yunqi’s career takes off from then on. The only catch is that a petty, nosy male ghost who loves spying on her and keeping score is now on her tail.

I’m doomed!

Content warnings:

1. The heroine doesn’t love the hero very much, and her feelings are mixed with self-interest. The hero is happy to accept this. They are bound together in a life-and-death struggle.

2. The hero will discover the heroine’s transmigrated identity later in the story, and she will try to kill him to silence him.

3. The couple literally love and fight each other. We’ll see who lasts longer.

4. No shipping same-sex couples. This is a heterosexual romance. I haven’t confirmed the pairing, so don’t match characters up.

5. The heroine comes first throughout the story, which centers on her career.

Theme: Climb your way to the top.