I'm the Favored Little Villain (Imperial Examinations)

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Cheng Yan transmigrates and becomes Jinbao, a farm boy in Shangxi Village.

His grandparents dote on him. Every day, it’s: "Jinbao, come here. Here’s an egg Grandma and Grandpa saved for you."

He is also his parents’ only child. His mother often plants her hands on her hips and boasts: "He’s the Cheng family’s only heir. He deserves the best food and clothes!"

He is the family’s precious golden child.

Cheng Yan’s eyes light up. This is a sure thing. He’s definitely landed in a warm, everyone-loves-me story.

But when he steps outside, he freezes.

His kindly grandmother is standing at someone’s doorway, her eyes narrowed as she throws a tantrum.

His doting father is lazy and greedy, stealing chickens and dogs.

His mother is ordering the plump bun seller around: "Why haven’t you gone to shovel the chicken droppings yet?"

Cheng Yan: ...

He looks down at his own plump, fair body, then at the skinny, dark little boy across from him.

An image of himself pinning the other boy down and beating him appears in his mind.

Oh, he’s the childhood trauma of the male lead in an imperial-examination novel: a village bully who does nothing but cause trouble, relying on his awful family to run wild.

He’s also the first cannon-fodder to be eliminated by the future male lead.

Cheng Yan: No way. He has to get his act together!

P.S. Alternate setting, imperial examinations, everyday life, farming, very little face-slapping. No historical nitpicking, please.

Upcoming: "The Second-Generation Rich Kid’s Road to the Imperial Exams"

In his previous life, Gu Zhou was a rich kid who did whatever he wanted.

He had nothing but money, and did everything except his actual job.

After an accident, he transmigrates into the youngest son of the poorest family in Gujia Village.

The wind howls. The house is bare. Their quilt has been cold as iron for years, and their poor child tosses and turns until his bedding tears.

Young Master Gu, used to a soft bed and pillows, looks at the ragged quilt at his feet, his face turning green.

He gets out of bed and steps in mud.

He looks for food and finds a cold, hard wild-vegetable cake.

Gu Zhou: I can’t live like this!

But things outside the door are even worse.

His eldest brother is about to be taken away for corvee labor. He’ll be sent far away to guard the border, where death is all but certain. The whole family is crying their hearts out as the soldiers come to take him. One of them chuckles: "If you don’t want to do corvee labor, either pay silver or pass the imperial exams. You can’t do either? Then you’ll come with us at sixteen!"

Six-year-old Gu Zhou: ... He looks at the wild-vegetable cake in his hand and the mud under his feet.

He grits his teeth!

Gu Zhou: He’ll get both an official title and money!

P.S. A story of a spoiled young master growing up as a farmer’s son and earning his place through the imperial exams.

Upcoming: "Painting the Dai Eyebrows"

Shen Qingdai has a fiancé, Gu Changfeng, whose family is her equal. They are childhood sweethearts and deeply in love.

But when the Shen family falls on hard times, Qingdai has no choice but to rely on Gu Changfeng’s family and serve as his personal maid, so she won’t be forced into a brothel.

Her future mother-in-law swears to Qingdai’s parents, who have entrusted her with their daughter, that the betrothal will be honored once the young couple come of age.

So Qingdai is deeply grateful to the Gu family. She serves her future mother-in-law with utmost respect and treats her fiancé with boundless tenderness.

But as her coming-of-age ceremony approaches, her future mother-in-law takes her fiancé to banquets again and again. He also grows close to other young women, even hinting that he has taken back the marriage contract.

Qingdai watches coldly as her heart slowly dies. Then her family is cleared of all charges, so she packs her bags, takes back the marriage contract, and resumes her life as a young lady.

After the Shen family is exonerated, its status rises even higher. Her former future mother-in-law and former fiancé regret everything and come to try to salvage their relationship.

But when they arrive at the Shen residence, they find it decked out with lanterns and red silk everywhere.

The matchmaker announces cheerfully, "I have come on behalf of Lord Gu to present betrothal gifts to the Shen family!"

Lord Gu?!

Gu Changfeng turns and sees his usually cold-faced, powerful uncle smiling faintly. His uncle’s gaze passes over him without a trace of emotion, then turns tender as he looks toward the Shen residence.

Gu Changfeng: ...?!

Core theme: Independence and self-reliance