A Scholar's Road to Success

Wei Sanlang was talented and well-read, but fate had it in for him. After years of hard study, he always failed just before the exams.

The time before last, he burned with fever until he was out of his mind. The last time, someone knocked him down and injured his arm before he even reached the exam hall.

Wei Sanlang’s mother had planned to find him a city bride once he passed the county-level civil service exam, but he fell for Tian Mi from a neighboring village at first sight.

Tian Mi had suffered a hard life. Her mother died when she was young, and after her father remarried, he became a stepfather in all but name. Wei Sanlang’s mother found fault with her in every way, but only after bringing her home did she discover that this daughter-in-law was unbelievably lucky for her husband! A fortune-telling fraud once told Tian Mi that she would bring misfortune to her brothers. Her stepmother believed it and cruelly married her off to Wei Cheng, a poor scholar plagued by bad luck who had failed the exams time and again, hoping to protect her own son from harm. Wei Cheng was talented and learned, but misfortune always struck whenever he sat an exam, while Tian Mi happened to have prophetic dreams. After marrying, the couple joined forces to overcome troubles at home and threats from outside. With Tian Mi’s help, Wei Cheng passed the county-level exam, then went on to earn the jinshi degree, enter officialdom, and raise his family through the civil service exams.