The penniless, timid-looking top runner-up x the aloof, scheming powerful minister
Since ancient times, the top scorer usually has the strongest abilities, while the third-place scholar is usually the best-looking. As for the runner-up...
Maybe it comes down to who works hardest, can bear the most, and can stick it out the longest.
Anyway, Zheng Wuwang was exactly that kind of runner-up.
She never drew attention or made a fuss, and wherever she went, she wore a cheerful smile, like a living piece of background scenery.
But who could have guessed that this scholar had two enormous secrets hidden away:
First, she had died once.
Second, she was a woman.
In her previous life, she had been a peerlessly beautiful young lady from a distinguished family. For the sake of her family, she had reluctantly married Li Hengzhi, a treacherous minister with a belly full of schemes. In the end, she failed to save her family and died in the minister's plot instead.
Reborn into a new life, she decided to take matters into her own hands.
Using the identity of her late elder brother, she entered officialdom. With the memories of her previous life, she had only meant to pass the imperial examination and become a jinshi, then secure some kind of post so she could support her family.
Who knew that on the day of the palace examination, the emperor would act on a whim, lift his hand, and point at random?
And she would become the runner-up!
The runner-up who did the most work but was remembered by the fewest people!
She nearly spat blood on the spot. But there was no choice. She would just have to accept her fate and be an utterly ordinary runner-up. At least she could earn a living.
What she hadn't expected was that one day she would be assigned to the Ministry of Justice and become Li Hengzhi's subordinate.
Zheng Wuwang: ...Sure enough, fate's script still had that same familiar malice.
[Reader's Guide]
1. The protagonist's name is undecided.
2. A lighthearted comedy.
3. Undecided.
Theme: Sincerity will eventually be seen.
