Born in a Humble Family and Ascended to the Clouds

In the middle of the Yong Dynasty, aristocratic families were entrenched in the cultural background, fraud was rampant in the examination room, and the promotion paths of the poor children were blocked at all levels. All options were in vain. Only studying and taking scientific examinations was still the only glimmer of hope for the common people at the bottom. The concubine Shen Yan was born in a declining scholarly family. He lost his father when he was young, was harshly treated by his stepmother, and was scorned by his clan. His family was destitute, without food and clothing, and he suffered from the hardships of the world. With two generations of experience, he has seen through the truth of the world: wealthy families hold power, while poor families have no support. Only pen and ink can be used as a blade, and scriptures can be used as a ladder to break through the shackles of class and earn a foundation. In a desperate situation, he made up his mind and made it his lifelong obsession to change his destiny through the imperial examination. He studied hard in the snow light on cold nights, chopped firewood and copied books in exchange for rice and lamp oil, adhering to his original intention of studying in poverty. Fortunately, he was enlightened by an upright and down-to-earth old scholar. Shen Yan abandoned his flashy style of writing, studied the classics deeply and wrote his answers with a simple heart. Starting from the countryside boy examination, he worked step by step, facing the difficulties of the dandy and the cold eyes of the clan; he went to the capital city to compete for the autumn rural examination, saw through the secret schemes of his classmates, and relied on his true talent and learning to win against the wind and become one of the best. Unwilling to indulge in the glitz and glamor of the power struggle in the capital, Shen Yan took the initiative to take root in grassroots governance at the prefecture and county level, regulating floods and calming the people, suppressing evil gentry, purging officials, and promoting rural education. He benefited the people with hard work and accumulated numerous political achievements. Once he returned to the central government, he adhered to the character of a scholar and was not afraid of the obstruction of the powerful and traitors of the family. He was determined to revise the new rules for fair imperial examinations and broaden the path for poor families to become scholars.