The Poor Student Forced to Take the Imperial Exams

Coming soon: The Ming Dynasty’s Low-Ranking Clerk and After I Became the Strategist for My Peasant-Born General Father. Blurbs below. Please add them to your reading list. Blurb: Cheng Zi'an, a rich second-generation underachiever, was waiting to inherit the family fortune when he found himself in the body of a seven-year-old brat. Fortunately, his family owned dozens of acres of good farmland, and his father, Cheng Zhen, was a handsome and talented provincial graduate. They had no worries about food or clothes. As the only son, Cheng Zi'an declared, "There is no way I'm studying. I'll be a happy underachiever and keep living the life of a spoiled rich kid." Who could have guessed that something would happen to Cheng Zhen, cutting short Cheng Zi'an's plans to lie flat? Everyone said, "Without Cheng Zhen, the Cheng family is finished. Cheng Zi'an is foolish and ignorant. What can he possibly do?" Forced to study under Cheng Zhen's threats with a stick, the underachiever Cheng Zi'an wailed, "I can't even recognize all the characters in my textbook!" But who knew that this pressure would turn him into a model scholar, remembered in the history books, and a trusted adviser to two emperors for thirty years? The Cheng family didn't fall apart. Starting with Cheng Zi'an, the Cheng clan flourished for centuries, and the name Mingzhou Cheng became known throughout the land. The young crown prince asked Cheng Zi'an, his tutor: "Sir, have you loved reading since you were a child?" Cheng Zi'an smiled without answering. Sigh. Don't ask. It brings back too many tears. Cheng Zi'an's private memoir, never published for the world, was titled: "All I Ever Wanted Was to Be an Ordinary Spoiled Rich Kid" Reader's Guide: An alternate world. Please don't nitpick the history. The imperial examination system combines elements from the Tang and Song dynasties. It is not the familiar Ming and Qing system. The early story focuses on studying and the examinations, while the later story moves to government and court politics. The Mingzhou Cheng clan was inspired by the Yimen Chen clan. The male lead has an unusual way of doing things and is not perfect. The story is lighthearted, with a little luck. The main focus is the imperial examinations, infrastructure, farming, and a modest amount of romance. Coming soon 1: After I Became the Strategist for My Peasant-Born General Father. Blurb: Meng Xiyi transmigrated into the daughter of a family that ran a coffin shop in the capital. Her family loved money above all else, but they were exceptionally united. When she came of age, her parents couldn't bear to marry her off and planned to find her a husband who would marry into the family. Then one day, the official matchmaker arrived with gongs and drums, seeking Meng Xiyi's hand in marriage for Zhou Zhaolin, the young lord of the Duke of Weiguo's mansion. A renowned monk had read Zhou Zhaolin's fate and declared that his legal wife had to be born on the fifth day of the fifth month at noon, or she would be in mortal danger. The Duke of Weiguo's mansion and Zhou Zhaolin were both infamous throughout the land. Zhou Zhaolin: a combination of Duan Zhengchun and Jia Baoyu, the treasured phoenix of the ducal house, flirtatious and amorous, with no interest in learning. The Duke of Weiguo's mansion: a den of extravagant wealth and depravity, with a whole household of reprobates. They specialize in bullying the weak and oppressing the locals, and set the historical record for baby booms during mourning periods. Meng Xiyi had terrible luck because of her birth horoscope, but she had no choice but to marry him. The Duke of Weiguo's mansion was at the height of its power. Zhou Zhaolin's aunt was a noble consort, and his cousin was the crown prince. The crown prince was the old emperor's only son, and the Duke of Weiguo's mansion would be the future emperor's family on his mother's side. To Zhou Zhaolin, Meng Xiyi said: "No romance, and no sharing a bed as husband and wife. We can still be friends." To Zhou Zhaolin's many darlings, she said: "I'm not here to break you up, and I'm not here to join you. I'm just here to make money." But Meng Xiyi soon realized that the Duke of Weiguo's mansion was so rotten that it was practically a guaranteed future customer for her coffin shop. Even making money while watching the drama unfold made her nervous, as she feared the whole family would be executed. When the responsibility of managing the household fell to her, she had no choice but to take charge of this mess if she wanted to survive. Meng Xiyi's speech when she took over the Duke of Weiguo's mansion: Everyone knows the Meng family runs a coffin shop. The dead are the only ones who get absolute immunity. Reform is painful. I can only promise that I won't suffer. I can't make the same promise for you. Under Meng Xiyi's management, which relied mainly on bloody purges and secondarily on modern business practices, the Duke of Weiguo's mansion became a rare bastion of wealthy respectability and earned the title of Great Yong's Model of Virtue. Reader's Guide: An alternate world. Please don't nitpick the history. The female lead is no saint and was born into this world. She is ruthless, iron-fisted, and skilled at singing, acting, reciting, fighting, throwing tantrums, and pretending to be possessed. Coming soon 2: The Ming Dynasty's Low-Ranking Clerk. Blurb: Ning Xun transmigrated into a constable in the Shan Yin County Office during the Ming Dynasty. A constable's pay: barely enough to get by. The job: easily summed up as high-intensity, high-risk, and year-round. Social status: an untouchable. For three generations, the family is barred from the imperial examinations and forbidden to marry commoners. Actual power: familiar with both the underworld and the legitimate world, and a local tyrant. Ning Xun: Well, that's certainly something! Ning Xun set three small goals for himself. First, make sure he didn't go insane. Second, avoid taking part in the following activities as much as possible: collecting protection money, embezzlement, taking a cut from smuggling, extortion, covering up for criminals, taking money from both the plaintiff and the defendant, and so on. Third, escape his untouchable status and become a commoner. These three small goals consumed Ning Xun's whole life, but in the end, he protected the peace of the region. Reader's Guide: An alternate Ming Dynasty. Please don't nitpick the history. A portrait of everyday life and the struggles of ordinary people at the bottom of society. He will not become an official. There is a female lead. The story focuses on the plot. The author's profile has completed stories in other genres. Drop by and take a look. Thank you. Theme: Establish a moral heart for Heaven and Earth, and secure the lives of the people.