I Won! I Won!

Blurb one: Zhao Ke transmigrates as the daughter of an ordinary rural family in the Yu Dynasty. Her meals are mixed with wheat bran and wild greens, her clothes are patched, and she's looking after her little brother at three, cooking at five, and sent to the new county magistrate's home to serve the young lady at seven.

Thank goodness the magistrate is a woman. Zhao Ke helps the magistrate's daughter, who is hopeless at her studies, memorize lessons and do her homework, all while feeling grateful and dreaming of passing the imperial exams and marrying a husband.

Her parents didn't sell her into slavery. She's still registered as a free commoner, so she can take the exams.

When Zhao Ke is thirteen, the magistrate's powerful backer loses a political struggle, and the whole family falls from grace. Her parents come to take her home and arrange a good match for her: the plump son of the town butcher, an honest, obedient, strong young man.

Zhao Ke begs her parents to let her take the imperial exams. They refuse.

Despondent, Zhao Ke slips and falls into the moat. Her former young mistress rescues her. Her parents think she tried to drown herself, and in their fright, agree to let her take the exams.

Zhao Ke passes all three levels, the county, prefectural, and academy exams, becoming the first woman scholar in the area!

The whole village is in an uproar!

Scholar, provincial graduate, metropolitan graduate: Zhao Ke climbs the ranks one step at a time.

County magistrate, prefect, chancellor: Zhao Ke rises through the ranks one step at a time, reaching the highest offices, with a worthy husband by her side.

Blurb two:

Zhao Ke transmigrates as the daughter of an ordinary rural family in the Yu Dynasty.

Meals with grit, wheat bran, and wild greens; clothes covered in patches; and a future whose end is already in sight:

At three, she looks after her little brother. At five, she cooks. At seven, she does laundry. At nine, her family starts looking for a match. At ten, she spends her days weaving.

At fifteen, she marries the butcher's younger son. For the rest of her life, she works her way from daughter-in-law to mother-in-law.

On the day the new county magistrate visits the countryside, Zhao Ke sees another possible life:

The way is cleared with gongs, guards carry staffs and spears, a soft sedan chair is borne along, and more than forty attendants follow and surround it.

The curtain lifts, revealing a woman in a green official robe, A woman?!

The constables shout, "The county magistrate is here! Kneel! Bow!"

That day, Zhao Ke learns that in the Yu Dynasty, women can study, take the imperial exams, and become officials.

White rice, fine fish and meat; clothes for every season, a house with brick walls;

They can choose a husband from among the respectable young men trained and educated by the government. The men are young and handsome, and every graduate is thoroughly versed in the virtues expected of a husband.

This is the life of a powerful woman in the Yu Dynasty.

Zhao Ke wants to become the second kind of person: one who stands above the rest!

Many years later, her descendants ask the old woman basking in the sun beneath the grape trellis, "Grandmother, how did you go from a country girl to the chancellor?"

Old Zhao Ge chuckles. "Our dynasty's laws say that anyone with an academic title must establish a separate household. They can't become a live-in son-in-law or marry into another family as a daughter-in-law."

"I didn't want to get married, so I buried myself in my books."

Some things readers might want to know:

1. The dynasty is fictional, with inspiration from the Song and Ming dynasties. The founding emperor and the second and third generations are all women, but the later generations haven't been decided yet. There are lots of original details, so there will definitely be some plot holes.

2. This isn't a matriarchy. It just opens a small crack in the ancient clan system, allowing a few women to legally pass on their surnames and inheritances.

3. There is a male lead. He's a distant relative of the imperial family, but not officially part of the clan. He's highly skilled in combat, and starts out imperfect, but the brutal realities of life will teach him a lesson. Don't blame the female lead or demand things of her out of sympathy for him; the author won't listen.

4. The female lead may have more than one romantic storyline. After all, it's an era when women can become officials, so having a few male friends is normal. Ultimately, it's one-on-one, and the female lead settles down after marriage.

Theme: Work hard and strive for success.