Confucian Daoism: From Exam Stand-In to Imperial Mentor of Ten Thousand Nations

In his last life, he was a workaholic postdoctoral researcher at a top university. In this life, he’s a poor young scholar. As his father and uncle fail the prefectural examination for the eleventh time, their family fortune is wiped out, and corvee labor looms over them. Xiao Ning is at his wit’s end. To save himself, he tricks a “wealthy big brother” and plans to start a small business. Who knew that, by a twist of fate, the big brother’s family would hire him as a study companion? And now the young master wants him to take the prefectural exam in his place? Xiao Ning: ...Fine. I’ll show you what max-level comprehension looks like! I mastered the classics at eight and reached the peak right away! I invented the eight-legged essay format, and I’m king when it comes to debating scholars! I wrote the annotations that got the classics into the government schools, and the entire civil service exam system has to follow my outline! Passing all six levels of the imperial examination is a piece of cake. Becoming chief grand secretary is a breeze! When he stands in court as a young child, all the high officials bow their heads. When he wields his pen as a literary sage, foreign tribes across the seas all submit. He builds giant ships, expands the borders across the seas, crushes the enemy, and brings the great powers to heel... The emperor? That throne will be mine sooner or later! From stand-in examinee and study companion to tutor to the rulers of all nations, Xiao Ning declares: This poor-family start has turned into one heck of a comeback!