The Ming Dynasty's First Grand Secretary

Jiang Yunyun wakes up as an unfavored concubine-born son of the Jiang family in Yangzhou.

Her biological father is cruel, her stepmother is unkind, her talented elder brother is cold-hearted, her sharp-tongued younger brother has a rotten heart, and her beautiful sisters are full of worries. Even she is about to be given away as a gift to some important person, and her secret identity as a woman disguised as a man is hanging by a thread.

Jiang Yunyun decides to study.

When she goes to seek a teacher, everyone expects this unremarkable son of a concubine to be sent home in disgrace.

Instead, not only does she succeed in becoming a student, she goes on to soar, from Yangzhou's top provincial examination candidate to the top candidate in the capital's metropolitan examination, and finally becomes the youngest top scholar in the Great Ming.

Yet this top scholar's official career is full of setbacks, and everyone laughs at her for knowing nothing about how to serve as an official.

Because she doesn't know her place, she's demoted to impoverished Qiongzhou.

Then, for speaking out against the unfairness of the imperial estates, she's sent off to desolate Lanzhou.

Everyone waits for this stubborn woman to bow her head and beg for mercy, but instead, she wins an astonishing victory and returns to the prosperous capital.

That day, the Crown Prince himself stands at the city gate to welcome her.

Years later, Jiang Yunyun becomes an Imperial Tutor admired by all, the youngest member of the Grand Secretariat, and the Great Ming's most unconventional chief minister. Then her identity as a woman is suddenly exposed, shocking the court and the country.

The emperor orders her to admit her mistake and says he will forgive her if she enters the palace as a consort.

Jiang Yunyun refuses the command.

A student asks her why.

“Because I did nothing wrong.”

“Though I am a woman, I have the ambitions of a swan. Marriage and children are not what I want.”

“Though I am a solitary firefly, I still wish to become a river of stars across the sky.”

Content warnings: The heroine focuses on her career.

Someone has unrequited feelings for the heroine.

A coming-of-age story, from childhood to old age, from the imperial examinations to the bureaucracy.

[Reason for entering the contest] [Leap over the dragon gate and surpass those who came before] The heroine transmigrates into the body of a concubine-born son disguised as a man. Through hard work and diligent study, she swims against the current and eventually passes the imperial examinations to become the top scholar. She strives upward, overcomes every obstacle in her way, and makes her name in history, becoming the person she wants to be.

Coming soon 1: History student Chen Wan wakes up as a seven-year-old servant in the palace laundry.

Her mother is cautious around others, but raving and deranged in private, whispering in her ear every night.

You were born a noblewoman. She is the reason you're suffering like this now.

That woman holds great power, so study hard.

You must avenge the Shangguan clan. You must kill her.

“Kill who?” Chen Wan finds the words more and more familiar.

“Wu Zetian.”

Chen Wan's vision goes black.

At fourteen, after overcoming countless hardships to pass the selection for female officials, she finally stands before the supreme empress.

“What is your name?” The empress steps up to her, lifts her chin, and asks with a smile.

“Shangguan Wan'er.” Chen Wan gazes at the pearl by her lips, unable to hide her excitement.

The court and the country all know that there is a female official in the inner palace who serves as the emperor's blade and influences the affairs of state. Everyone fears her.

At first, I only wanted to get close to her and witness this turbulent history of a female emperor. Later, I thought of helping her, of making up for what history left unfinished. In the end, I stood beside her as she accepted the worship of the people and took the seat she'd long dreamed of, and only then did I realize that I had long since become a part of this history.

The empress: “If a man can sit in this seat, then so can I.”

Chen Wan: “If women are on this chessboard too, the struggle for the Central Plains is far from decided.”

Coming soon 2: Life sure has its ups and downs.

The good news is that Zhao Duan is reborn as a princess.

The bad news is that her father is Emperor Gaozong of Song.

With the army winning victory after victory while the court remains determined to sue for peace, Zhao Duan is furious. She kicks her good-for-nothing father off the throne.

“Move aside. Let me handle this.”

Theme: Charge ahead and face hardship head-on