How a Fallen Crown Prince Can Survive in Chaotic Times

※The main story is complete. The author's ongoing novel, The Fallen Scion's Daily Life in the Imperial Examinations, is now serializing. If it sounds interesting, feel free to bookmark it!

A seemingly frail, gentle nobleman * a female general with overwhelming martial prowess

Yu Yu, a grassroots civil servant, wakes up to find he has transmigrated into a novel as the crown prince of a fallen kingdom, a hapless fool who dies as soon as he appears, setting the chaotic times in motion. He's the most unlucky of the unlucky, and also the beloved moonlight praised by everyone in the book.

Luckily, he doesn't die from the arrow wound that was supposed to kill him. Unluckily, he's about to put down roots in this chaotic world.

A fallen kingdom's crown prince in turbulent times? Not even a dog would take that job!

He refuses to take on this profession, which is basically a game on nightmare difficulty.

Don't panic when your father dies and your kingdom falls from the start. He has the entire plot in his hands, so he just needs to conceal his identity and wait for the protagonist to bring peace to the land~

He does the math and discovers: What? The protagonist won't be born for another twenty years...

Well, then, let's see how to be a crown prince properly~

He thought that being in a favorable location would let him carve out a corner of the realm and preserve what he had.

But the productivity of feudal society is shockingly low.

If he wants to lie flat and not work, he'll go hungry nine times in three days!

Who came up with this nonsense?

For the freedom to eat his fill, he decides to fight this chaotic era to the bitter end.

Drawing on his past life's grassroots experience, he leads the people in developing industry and agriculture, strengthening infrastructure, establishing schools, and spreading knowledge, while easing taxes and letting the people grow wealthy.

Just as it looks like he'll finally get to live a comfortable life and slack off to his heart's content, forces from every direction march toward the great river and point their swords south. As the hapless one, his livelihood is suddenly ruined.

This is simply intolerable!

Guided by the fine principle that it's better to inconvenience others than suffer yourself, he recruits talented people, builds up farmland and grain reserves, enriches the people and strengthens the army, then leads his troops north. He completes the perfect achievement path in the eyes of the rival warlords, going from "beloved moonlight" to "dog turd moss."

In the end, he defeats all his rivals and pacifies the realm, transforming perfectly from a fallen kingdom's crown prince into the founding emperor.

Reader's guide: The male lead focuses on his career. First comes infrastructure, then the struggle for supremacy. The female lead appears later and has her own career. The characters are fictional and have no real-life counterparts. The settings blend elements from various dynasties, so please don't overanalyze or fact-check them. This is the author's first novel, so please show your support!

Reason for joining the Growth and Comeback event: The male lead transmigrates into a book as the crown prince of a fallen kingdom, facing certain death. To survive, he uses the plot of the book to save himself, while also using modern knowledge to rescue the people from hardship and restore the realm. He rises from fallen prince to founding emperor.

Blurb for The Fallen Scion's Daily Life in the Imperial Examinations:

Gu Jin'an is unexpectedly reborn in the womb and becomes part of a branch of the imperial clan. He thinks he's off to a perfect start, but it turns out the emperor has too many relatives to count, and his family is among the most distant. To make matters worse, his father has been kicked out of the family by his grandfather.

Misfortune never comes singly. With no home to return to, their money is swindled by a treacherous servant, and their good days seem to be over for good.

Fortunately, his mother planned ahead and kept her dowry money with her. His father may be a wastrel, but he can paint beautifully. Their life is not as comfortable as before, but there's still hope.

But can someone tell him how his parents quietly went and had another pair of children? The sudden arrival of two little money pits makes their already struggling family even worse off.

And his parents, who love nothing more than romance and poetry, are particularly distinctive even among spendthrifts.

Watching the family of four spend money like water, Gu Jin'an feels their household is doomed!

Their quality of life hasn't visibly declined, but he's already trying to save their crumbling family. After several attempts, he discovers that improving farming isn't his forte, imperial relatives aren't allowed to do business, and only the imperial examinations and a career in government suit someone who spent his previous life working himself to the bone.

What else can he do? Roll up his sleeves and keep grinding.

He studies the classics and practices calligraphy. After more than ten years of enduring the seasons, he finally passes the provincial examination, and his family is saved.

Then he discovers that the sky is clear and there's no trouble at home. His father has even made a name for himself in the painting world.

Oh! All that studying was for nothing. Then he'll just lie flat!

But while he's lying flat, the emperor suddenly starts calling him brother, the princes call him uncle, and even the Empress Dowager is considering arranging a marriage for him with a relative.

And then there's the imperial grandson who follows him around every day. If the emperor hadn't firmly ordered him to do it, and his nephew the crown prince weren't so decent, he really wouldn't want to become the boy's tutor.

From the Hanlin Academy to the Imperial College, from remote border towns to the heart of the cabinet, he rises and falls before finally reaching the pinnacle of the court.

Help! All he wanted was to be an insignificant imperial relative who could coast through life. Who decided to play Raise Your Chief Grand Secretary?

Reader's guide: A male lead who takes the imperial examinations and enters court, with a slice-of-life feel. There is a female lead and plenty of family life, but not much romance. The focus is on his career.

Theme: Rescue the people from hardship and resolve the nation's crises.