I Really Just Want to Take the Imperial Exams

[Please leave a rating now that the story is complete. Thank you, thank you!] [My new story is out! Go check it out!] Told in third person.

Song Xi, a high school graduate who has just received an admission offer from a top university, drowns while trying to save someone.

He wakes up in ancient times, having become Song Xi, a poor student.

This Song Xi started studying at nine, but at sixteen still hasn't “come into his own.”

But once he looks into it, he learns it's not the original owner's fault at all.

It's all because the Song family is a thoroughly feudal household!

The Song family may not hold a high official post, but they have plenty of rules, and love picking on the children born to concubines.

The original owner was deliberately raised to be useless by the main branch.

Song Xi is speechless.

Other things, fine, but studying?

Do they really think so little of a high school senior?

Song Xi throws himself into his studies and works hard to pass the imperial examinations.

He takes good care of the original owner's mother and younger sister.

His studies go smoothly, until an unexpected encounter brings him a tall, handsome man, and the two fall into a sweet romance.

The man is a bit of a patriarch, but he treats Song Xi well. They even raise two cats and a horse together, and have started discussing betrothal and meeting the family!

Just as Song Xi finally passes the provincial examination and earns the title of top candidate, he realizes someone even more feudal than the Song family has come along!

His boyfriend is a bona fide feudal patriarch!

He never saw Song Xi as his boyfriend at all.

He assumed Song Xi had offered himself up as a male concubine.

Song Xi can't put up with that, so he quickly dumps his ex and goes back to studying.

All he wants is to pass the imperial examinations!!!

Heartbroken?

No!

This is clearly the perfect push to pass the imperial examinations!

Haven't you heard that breaking up means passing the exams?

Song Xi charges ahead, earns the highest honors in the imperial examinations, and becomes the “perfect son-in-law” every household wants to snatch up.

At last, in the great hall, the newly appointed scholar Song Xi stands tall, ready to win the highest honor and fulfill the wishes he and his family have cherished.

But why does the handsome man on the Dragon Throne look so familiar?!

Isn't this the ex who treated him like a male concubine?

Song Xi instinctively touches the bite mark on his Adam's apple. His ex's whispered words from the night before still ring in his ears.

“Xi Xi, my childhood name is Guizhou. Come and win me.”

“Please.”

The feudal patriarch of old is now completely subservient to Song Xi.

As long as Song Xi comes back,

he'll do anything.

-

Wen Huai, arrogant beyond redemption, thinks this must be another male concubine offered up by some household hoping to curry favor, specially placed here for his pleasure.

At first, he merely watches coldly, curious to see what tricks the man has. He never expects the little male concubine to be quite capable enough to actually climb into his bed.

Afterward, the man behaves well enough, so Wen Huai keeps him around for amusement and lets his family reap some benefits.

The only problem is that the little male concubine loves studying a little too much. One day, he gets so carried away that he forgets all about Wen Huai and even shares a bed with some classmate.

Wen Huai is furious. He grips the man's chin and asks what he wants, exactly.

The little male concubine's eyes are clear and bright as he replies, “I want rural revitalization!”

???

“I want scientific development!”

“I want to win the highest honors today!”

Wen Huai thinks, so this is how he's expressing his feelings.

No wonder he's a male concubine. He's certainly creative.

Wen Huai strokes his earlobe. “Fine. You can win me.”

Then the truth comes out, and the other man leaves without a backward glance, saying that feelings shouldn't be dragged out.

He really leaves.

Taking the cats and the horse with him.

He leaves Wen Huai behind.

He doesn't even look at him.

One-on-one, both leads are virgins, and the top has to win back the bottom.

Original title: Win the Laurel Today

The top is self-important and extremely arrogant at first [highlighted] [readers who mind should proceed with caution]

Up next: Can an Idiot Play with Someone's Feelings and Then Dump Them?

Song Linxi thinks he's an idiot.

That's why he tripped into a pond while walking, then ended up in this bizarre world.

The people here are so strange, and they even mistake him for a kindhearted hero who saved someone.

He's not a kindhearted hero!

He's the most malicious and hateful son of a concubine!

And he's an evil ghost who has taken over someone else's body!

Hmph!

But he won't tell anyone the truth.

He'll take over the original owner's place at university with a clear conscience!

Steal the original owner's chance to study! Steal the original owner's reputation as a top student!

But whether it's finding his dorm, military training, or attending major classes,

Song Linxi is completely lost.

He can't understand anything, and he can't learn a thing.

And what's this English stuff? What kind of devilish nonsense is that!

As an ancient person, he really can't understand it!

His reputation as a top student is about to become impossible to maintain.

Song Linxi is nearly in tears.

Until he deliberately picks a fight with a nice older student!

His classmates all say the guy is kind and good-hearted, not only a top student but also someone with millions of followers on social media!

So many people like him that Song Linxi is green with envy!

Song Linxi secretly watches him for days, and at last manages to get his attention.

He says fiercely, “Teach me a foreign language, and I won't tell anyone you bullied me! Otherwise, you'll lose your good reputation!”

Lu Zhao: Me? A good person?

The good-hearted Lu Zhao pushes up his glasses, his gaze settling on Song Linxi's opening and closing lips. “All right. I'll teach you.”

Once Song Linxi realizes what he's been taught, he has to “grit his teeth and bear it” and study hard.

Because his older student didn't just teach him a foreign language. He also taught him... a lot of other indecent things!

Song Linxi studies foreign languages while secretly livestreaming.

He wants lots and lots of followers too. He wants lots of people to like him!

To become a top student!

To steal his older student's followers!

He can put up with anything!

His final exam scores scrape past the pass mark,

while the livestream keeps attracting more and more generous viewers.

Song Linxi is delighted!

Wonderful! He passed!

And he can make lots of money too!

He doesn't need his older student to tutor him anymore!

Why stick around when he can leave now!

-

Meanwhile, the good-hearted Lu Zhao is still waiting for a certain idiot to take the bait. He looks at the wall of question marks in the livestream chat.

“??? Where's the pretty little brother?”

“Where's my cross-dressing little brother? Where has he been lately?”

“Streamer, are you keeping him all to yourself?”

Lu Zhao takes off his glasses, reaches over to end the livestream, and smiles at the idiot junior standing in the middle of the crowd.

Can an idiot play with someone's feelings and then dump them?

That won't do, you know.

And when he sees that several of his alternate accounts have received maid outfits from the idiot,

he can't blame the “generous big brothers” for asking to meet him in person.

Don't worry, he'll see them one by one.

-

Making a Fortune by Spending Money [Entertainment Industry]

Wu Chen, a nobody in the entertainment industry, is the most famous metaphysics master in all of F City.

Countless officials and celebrities bring him money and beg him to ward off ghosts and evil spirits, but unfortunately, this metaphysics master doesn't care for money.

The world's hottest top-tier star comes to him with three million in cash, and Wu Chen hands it over to a second-rate esports team.

The world's richest entrepreneur respectfully gives him a ten-billion-yuan check, which Wu Chen promptly donates to an environmental organization.

He can't help it. Only Wu Chen knows that his sect's rules forbid them from keeping money overnight.

Wu Chen sighs and lays his head on the desk, weeping to an ordinary good-looking CEO: “I'm so poor!”

The CEO's peach-blossom eyes flicker. “Don't worry. I'll catch ghosts and support you.”

Wu Chen: “Sure, sure.” (He's so handsome and so weak. How can I let him catch ghosts? I'll do it!)

The CEO: “Mm.” (He's so sweet and adorable. Why are there so many ghosts around him? I'll kill them all!)

A crowd of trembling ghosts watches as Wu Chen's ordinary-human CEO walks into the number-one sect in the land, holding a Dark Nether Sword, making every ghost and god tremble.

Meanwhile, Wu Chen bows again and again before the worn ancestral tablet.

By the next morning, they're once again an ordinary-human CEO and a nobody in the entertainment industry.

Then one day, Wu Chen discovers that all the money he's spent has come back. The esports team has won the world championship, and the environmental organization's research division has developed new energy sources...

Wu Chen: I made a fortune by spending money?!

The CEO: My wife is about to be richer than me?

Theme: Live earnestly even in adversity, and a new world will surely open up.