A Commoner's Diary of the Imperial Exams

[A Woman's Imperial Examination Story]

Shen Huai woke up to find herself transmigrated into the body of a girl from a modest household. She wanted to lie flat, but her whole family were overachievers: her parents each had their own careers, and her elder brother was working himself to the bone to pass the imperial examinations, and wanted to drag her along with him.

Shen Huai: Huh?

Her brother patiently coaxed her. “Huai'er, take the exams with your big brother.”

Only then did she learn that this dynasty was unusual. The last several rulers had all been empresses, so both men and women could take the imperial examinations.

Whenever she read imperial examination novels in her old life, she had always complained that the heroine either had to disguise herself as a man or transmigrate into a man's body just to take the exams. Now that she had the chance to enter the imperial court as a woman, how could she not seize it?

Shen Huai's brother had only wanted the two of them to take on the imperial examinations together. Who could have guessed that Huai'er was far more talented than he was?

People in later generations would say, “The humble Shen family produced a phoenix among women. She passed all six top examinations and transformed her family's fortunes!”

Her younger sister may be cleverer and more gifted, but they are still family. The siblings support one another, in a warm and cozy household.

P.S. The setting takes place a few generations after The Empress's Own Daughter Has Returned. Several empresses have already ruled in succession, and a new outlook is taking shape, with the first signs of equality between women and men.

Theme: A family living together in warmth and harmony.