After I Transmigrated Into a Book, I Turned My Father Into the Chief Minister

[Please add this to your reading list, mwah] Xu Cong transmigrated into a male-oriented novel called The Illegitimate Son's Path to Office, becoming a tragic cannon-fodder character: the Xu family's fake legitimate eldest son, who was actually illegitimate. The cannon-fodder Xu met a tragic end. His scumbag father, who was obsessed with climbing the career ladder, had neglected and ignored him since childhood. When he grew up, he was manipulated into doing plenty of bad things. Xu Cong: o(╥﹏╥)o! To turn his fate around, the cannon fodder stayed up all night drawing up six life plans, one through six... Plan one: He had to change his name! Plan five: Study for the imperial exams and outdo his scumbag father, who only knew how to take the exams and become an official! If his father came eighty-ninth, he'd come eighty-eighth! Not only would he score higher, he'd have their rankings written side by side (note this!) in the family register and carved onto their tombstones! If his father became a county magistrate, he'd become a prefect! If his father became Grand Secretary, he'd become Grand Tutor! Keeping score.jpg But things didn't go quite as planned. When little Xu Cong slapped a handprint onto an envelope and sent it flying at his scumbag father from afar, Xu Mingcheng was delighted: My son is so filial. I'll treasure this letter. Little Xu Cong: ? When little Xu Cong had mastered the Four Books years before his father, effortlessly took first place again and again, and became the famous “other people's child,” his achievement for outdoing his father rose by N. Xu Mingcheng stayed up all night flipping through books: “‘The king quickly issued the order to return,’ what does that mean?” Little Xu Cong: ?? You're giving a three-year-old a tricky exam question? And you're proud of yourself?! And so... When little Xu Cong studied hard, his father studied even harder; When little Xu Cong was filial to his mother, his father was even more filial to her, or rather, even closer to her; When little Xu Cong passed the imperial exams all the way to the top, became Minister of Revenue, opened up trade, border trade, and maritime trade, earned the title “the wealth god of our age,” and had his comics sold across the land while people begged him for new installments every day, his father also rose through the ranks, pushed to the position of Grand Secretary by his son's relentless competition. As for the original novel's charming, fickle male lead? Little Xu Cong, “perfectly ordinary” as he was, had long since left him in some forgotten corner. Everyone said the Xu family was a house of scholars, and that both father and son were geniuses. Only “scumbag dad” Xu Mingcheng secretly wiped his brow. To avoid being outdone, I really gave it my all. Also known as: #TheYearsMyScumbagDadAndISpentOutdoingEachOther# #StudyingChangesYourFate# #ISetMyLittleBrotherTheSanwuExam# #PerfectlyOrdinaryLittleXuCong# A recommendation for a new story: My Eunuch Father Wants Me to Ascend the Throne Three-year-old Zhou Dongdong was raised by his transmigrator father. He transmigrated to a parallel world with a defective learning System, but didn't know he'd transmigrated. So when he found himself in an unfamiliar place, he hugged the leg of Zhou Yuzhi, the Eastern Depot's Chief Eunuch, then beamed up at him with a voice sweet enough to melt hearts. Zhou Dongdong: “Daddy~” Zhou Dongdong: “Dongdong's tummy is hungry!” Zhou Yuzhi, the head eunuch who had entered the palace at the age of eight, raised an eyebrow. “...Hm?” The onlookers and subordinates: Hiss!!! If we rush over now and beg the Chief Eunuch to spare us because we're just children, will it still work?! Then they saw Zhou Dongdong's face, exactly like their Chief Eunuch's, except that the Chief Eunuch had long, narrow phoenix eyes while the boy had round, watery apricot eyes... At that, everyone, whether they knew Zhou Yuzhi or not, fell silent. Oh, oh my god!! The Chief, the Chief Eunuch really has a s-son?!!!!!! Zhou Dongdong's daily words of praise: “My dad is the best.” “My dad is the best in the world. Dongdong loves him the most!” “My dad is nine dou tall, has eight cartloads of knowledge, and is the most handsome man in the world!! He's Dongdong's hero, and Ultraman!” Zhou Yuzhi (summoning a subordinate with practiced ease): “Go find out who this ‘Ultraman’ Dongdong mentioned is.” The subordinates (hesitating): Chief Eunuch, do you remember our Eastern Depot's main job is to suppress dissent, and that when you're displeased, you arrest people and lock them up in the imperial prison? Other notes about this story: 1. There is a female lead, and it's a one-on-one romance, but she appears later in the story. 2. Thanks to my friend @PearlSeaSaltLollipop for the title and blurb. 3. Thanks to the cover artist @Sour. Theme: Studying changes your fate