Stealing the Imperial Exam Novel's Heroine's Script (Imperial Exams)

Sunny male lead x beautiful, strong, capable female lead who isn't tragic

I can't quite get the effect I want at the moment, so I'll set this aside for now. I'll finish it after I gain more experience.

Novel blurb:

Xu Qiaowen transmigrated and found his family had a hundred qing of fertile fields, with generations of scholars and farmers in the family... What a wonderful life!

Before he could enjoy it for two days, he received terrible news: his family had offended the county magistrate.

A county magistrate wasn't so scary, but one even the prefect couldn't control was certainly interesting.

Just as the Xu family was being targeted and life grew increasingly difficult throughout Qingyuan County, a benefactor appeared out of nowhere and rescued them from the flames.

The benefactor had a lovely face, and was a delicate, pretty young woman. She parted her lips, and what she said nearly made his eyes pop out.

"They say in storybooks that when you have no way to repay someone, you should offer yourself to them..."

Xu Qiaowen's face turned bright red. He had fallen in love with her at first sight, and stammered, "I..."

Before he could say the words "I will," the benefactor finished speaking.

"How about you become my subordinate?"

Xu Qiaowen: "smiles"

Have you ever felt like you'd gone from heaven to hell? That's me right now.

A struggle for the throne, a dynasty nearing its end, and corrupt officials controlling the provincial examinations: all of these were the dark side of the story that the original novel never revealed.

After all his hard work, he finally passed the imperial exams and came first, only to face a dynasty in its twilight years.

The Great Qi famine: nobody was growing potatoes or sweet potatoes for the government granaries.

Rebellious troops at home: members of the imperial clan bullied men and women and seized land.

An enemy invasion from the north: the princess was a woman and couldn't go to war.

Xu Qiaowen: Great Qi deserves to fall. I can't save you. I really can't.

But why did the figure in imperial robes, armed with a sword and spear in the Golden Throne Hall, look so much like the woman he loved, the one who had saved his life?

Xu Qiaowen: I can still fight!

He promoted potatoes and sweet potatoes, sent members of the imperial clan to prison, and debated the court into letting the princess lead the army.

He turned the tide when the realm was on the verge of collapse and held up the crumbling dynasty. Xu Qiaowen became Great Qi's only regent.

Xie Yuhui was Great Qi's only princess. Clever and resilient, she could govern the realm with her literary talents and take up arms in battle with her martial prowess, outshining any man.

If she had been a man, she would have been the ruler to restore this rotten dynasty to glory. Her name would have been enshrined in the imperial ancestral temple, carved into the history books, and praised by all under heaven and countless generations to come.

But she was a woman.

Her father, the emperor, sighed that she would become a wife and mother sooner or later. Her mother scolded her, saying that practicing with swords would roughen her soft, delicate fingers and make her future husband dislike her. The court ministers opposed her, saying that a princess ought to be virtuous and refined, not dream of wielding regency!

Everyone in the realm was trying to stop her from becoming the person she wanted to be. Trapped by society's prejudice and unable to move, she was nearly crushed beneath it.

Then, one day, she met Xu Qiaowen without warning.

She had casually saved him once from a corrupt official, but he saved her for the rest of her life.

He said women could become generals and commanders. He said women were no worse than men. He said women could hold positions in court. He even said she could aspire to that throne.

His affirmation let her long-buried ambition finally break free of its cage.

She was Great Qi's only princess, the only daughter of Emperor Zhenhe. Her literary and martial talents were unmatched, so that throne naturally belonged to her.

A theatrical, funny "pretty husband" male lead x a beautiful, strong, capable princess who excels at both letters and arms

Reader's guide:

1. The heroine will ascend the throne, but does not appear until the middle and later portions

2. The male lead will achieve the highest honors in all six imperial examinations

3. The next emperor will be a daughter

4. More to come

Imperial examination story from the male lead's point of view: exams in the early part, court politics later

The cover title, Not Thanking the World, comes from Li Bai's poem "Written While Reading at the Hanlin Academy for the Scholars of the Jixian Hall": "Having achieved my goal, I bid farewell to the world, and from then on cast in my fishing line."

That's all.

Click the author's page for the upcoming novel: The Female Lead's Stepsister's Daily Life of Gossip in the 1970s

Theme: Study hard and make progress every day