Ascending the Golden List

[Female Disguise as a Man]

Thunder cracks overhead as rain pours from a sky that seems to have sprung a leak, leaving the travelers in disarray.

Fifteen-year-old Zhou Qingyuan quarrels with her mother and storms out. Hiding in a dilapidated temple with a leaking roof, she gnaws on a steamed bun and gazes through the layers of rain toward Chang'an.

At seventeen, Zhou Qingyuan is locked in a dark room. As the final stroke of ink falls from her brush, everything she has learned in her life becomes someone else's stepping stone. She will never set foot in the grand halls where the imperial examinations are held.

She dies with hatred in her heart, her lonely spirit left to wander. Then she sees the drum for reporting grievances resound, blood staining the steps, and her mother appear nearly mad with grief, asking only that someone clear her daughter's name.

When Zhou Qingyuan opens her eyes again, she has returned to the age of fifteen.

Back then, she was hiding from the rain in that ruined temple when she met several merchants bound for Chang'an. They invited her to travel there with them.

"I'm not going to Chang'an!"

This time, Zhou Qingyuan will pass the imperial examinations herself.

* There is a male lead. He appears fairly late, but gets plenty of page time once he does.

* The early chapters mainly follow the heroine's daily life of studying and farming, and her journey through the imperial examinations.

Theme: Standing by each other and offering support, never leaving or giving up.