The Farmer's Scholar (Imperial Exams)

Blurb:

All pursuits are inferior; only learning is exalted.

A man may rise from a farmer's hut in the morning to the emperor's court by evening.

Du Heng couldn't bear the hardships of farming in ancient times, so he threw himself into his studies and entered government through the imperial examinations, step by step making a name for himself in history.

At first, Du Heng only wanted to be treated a little better at home.

Later, he hoped to pass the county-level exam and free his family from corvee labor.

Once he started taking the exams, he just couldn't stop.

"If life hadn't forced me to, I never would have known I had this kind of perseverance."

People say smoke rose from the Du family's ancestral graves. How else could a humble farming family produce such a brilliant, noble-minded top-ranked candidate? Their ancestors must have worked hard indeed.

Du Heng: So? Do you know how many years of senior year I've been through?

P.S. Pure wish fulfillment, alternate universe (the imperial examination system is based on the Ming dynasty).

The male lead is self-interested, cautious, and skilled at slowly boiling frogs in every sense.

Theme: There is a path through the mountain of books, and diligence is the way.