“Chen Jiao! Get out here!” Inside the Yong’an Marquis Residence, chaos reigned as noise filled the courtyard.
The Yong’an Marquis, famed as a refined and romantic scholar, had a flushed face as he waved a sheet of paper in his hand. Agitated, he shouted, “You unfilial child, come out here! You’ve got the nerve to fail, so come out if you’ve got the nerve!”
Furious and imposing, the Yong’an Marquis stormed straight toward the heir’s study. The servants and stewards nearby were terrified by the sight, yet the person at the center of the storm, Chen Jiao, remained remarkably calm.
She had originally been sitting at her desk, suffering over the essay assigned by her teacher that day. The moment she heard her father’s thunderous voice, she instantly sprang up from the chair with quick reflexes, grabbing a handful of sunflower seeds along the way. Her posture as she prepared to flee was flawless.
Seeing this, the Yong’an Marquis grew even angrier. Holding up the willow branch he had deliberately brought back for punishment, he chased after her while shouting, “You unfilial child! Stop right there!”
Chen Jiao circled the desk repeatedly, darting up and down with nimble movements. Glancing back, she said helplessly, “Wouldn’t I get beaten if I stopped? I’m not stupid!”
The Yong’an Marquis: …?
He was so angry he nearly staggered backward, clutching his chest as he struggled to speak.
When the lady of the Marquis Residence, Princess Yihe, hurried over, this was the scene she saw. First she rolled her eyes, then took a breath, and in the next instant adopted the posture of a delicate beauty clutching her heart.
Princess Yihe was an exceptionally beautiful woman. Though she was already past forty, years of pampered living had left her without a single wrinkle. At this moment her brows were knit in distress, her expression heartbreakingly fragile, and anyone who saw her could not help but feel sympathy.
With a gentle expression she stepped forward slowly to intervene, speaking in a soft voice. “Marquis, why are you so angry? The heir is still young. How can we elders raise a hand against her?”
Although she did not yet know what had happened, Princess Yihe immediately chose to shield her daughter.
Her daughter was a piece of flesh from her own body. If Chen Jiao were punished, she would suffer along with her. A husband, however, was different. If he died from anger, she could always remarry.
Princess Yihe’s stance was perfectly clear and displayed great wisdom.
The Yong’an Marquis had never truly had the heart to punish his daughter anyway. Every time he made a fuss it ended with more thunder than rain. Now that his wife had arrived, giving him an excuse to back down, he promptly lowered the willow branch and complained, “Madam, you don’t understand! The teachers at the Imperial Academy have already complained to me. After court today, the entire court surrounded me to admire this unfilial child’s essay…”
All his life the Yong’an Marquis had been the model child others envied. Born into wealth and nobility, he had been intelligent from a young age and devoted himself to study. He had passed the imperial examinations with exceptional success and had been awarded the prestigious title of Tan Hua. In this era he could truly be called a top scholar.
Yet now, after living such a life, he was being summoned by teachers from the Imperial Academy over his child’s education.
With grief written across his face, his hand holding the willow branch trembled slightly. “I recognized the classics at three, wrote essays at five, passed the provincial examination at sixteen, and at twenty was named Tan Hua! Now all of Chang’an knows that the son of the Yong’an Marquis ranked last again in the Imperial Academy’s evaluation!”
His tone was full of despair, but Princess Yihe was displeased instead. Flicking her handkerchief, she glared at him and said, “How can this be blamed on our Jiao’er? Her teachers keep urging her to participate in the imperial examinations. Don’t you know what would happen if she actually took them?”
The imperial examination system was strict and well established. Several years ago a shocking cheating scandal had shaken the court. Since then, before entering the exam hall, candidates had to strip completely for inspection to ensure they carried no concealed notes. During the several days of the exam they also had to eat, sleep, wash, and relieve themselves inside the compound. With Chen Jiao disguised as a man, the chance of her not being discovered was practically zero.
Thinking of this, the Yong’an Marquis fell silent.
Princess Yihe sneered. “At that point your colleagues wouldn’t just laugh at you in court. With the crime of deceiving the emperor, they’d probably be watching you get executed at the marketplace.”
The Yong’an Marquis lowered his head. Though he had clearly softened, he still muttered stubbornly, “A doting mother spoils her child. Just keep indulging her. When all of Chang’an knows she’s a wastrel…”
He grumbled under his breath, but Princess Yihe let out a cold laugh. “Has she raced horses recklessly through the streets like those other wastrels? Has she gone to brothels or gambling houses? Isn’t she studying properly at the Imperial Academy? And you dare say a doting mother spoils her child. If you want to beat her, then go ahead and beat her to death. I won’t stop you!”
Chen Jiao had been hiding behind them, cracking sunflower seeds while watching the show. Hearing this, her pupils trembled as she hesitated before speaking. “Mother… that’s a bit excessive, isn’t it?”
She had only failed the evaluation. Surely that wasn’t a capital offense!
The Imperial Academy used a classified teaching system, with three divisions: A, B, and C. Students in the A division were all talented scholars who had already achieved academic titles, except for the occasional noble youth who slipped in through connections.
Chen Jiao belonged to the latter category. Surrounded by students who had passed countless examinations and were absolute academic prodigies, it was genuinely difficult for her not to rank last.
Princess Yihe glanced at her daughter and said, “My child, don’t be afraid. Do you think this old thing would really dare touch you? He loves waving that willow branch to put on a show, but from the time you were little until now, when has he ever truly had the heart to strike you?”
Before her marriage, Princess Yihe had been the cherished darling of her family. After marrying, her life had remained smooth and comfortable. Now that she was older, her proud and domineering temperament had not faded in the slightest, and no one in the household dared provoke her.
Being called an old thing by his wife to his face, the Yong’an Marquis did not dare make a sound. Silently repeating that a good man did not fight with women, he merely coughed and pretended he had heard nothing.
Unable to provoke Princess Yihe, he sighed and changed the subject. “I really don’t know who this unfilial child takes after with her dislike of studying…”
Seeing that her father had finally calmed down, Chen Jiao, ever the dutiful daughter, immediately pulled out another handful of sunflower seeds and offered them to him with eager enthusiasm. “Father, the teachers at the Imperial Academy asked me that question too. I told them I inherited your noble spirit!”
The Yong’an Marquis looked utterly shocked and incredulous. …??
What sins had he committed in his past life to produce such a debt-collecting daughter?
His reputation in old age was ruined!
After a moment of thought, the Yong’an Marquis calmed himself. He beckoned Chen Jiao closer and whispered hesitantly, “If anyone asks you that question again in the future, just say you inherited it from your grandfather…”
Hearing this answer, the look Chen Jiao gave her father immediately changed.
She had not expected that her father was such a dutiful son himself.
She had always wondered whether constantly dragging her father down might be somewhat improper. Now it seemed this was actually a family tradition.
Under his daughter’s strange gaze, the Yong’an Marquis coughed and explained, “You don’t know this, but your grandfather came from a military background. He fought across the land as a majestic general, yet the moment he looked at books he would get a headache. He was never good at studying.”
Cause and effect came full circle. He suspected Chen Jiao had inherited the trait across generations.
Just then, the old Marquis walked in unnoticed. After hearing this, he became so angry that he searched the room for a stick. “You brat! How dare you slander your own father!”
“Father, don’t hit me, don’t hit me! I still have court tomorrow!”
…
After the farce ended, Chen Jiao escaped being beaten, but her father received a thorough scolding instead.
After watching the entire spectacle with great enjoyment, Chen Jiao still had to finish the essay assigned by her teacher. Putting down her sunflower seeds, she slowly walked back into the study.
Inside the square study room, Chen Jiao sat on a pear-wood chair, staring blankly at the eight-legged essay in front of her.
It was too hard. Truly too hard.
Life was difficult. Studying was exhausting. She just wanted to sleep.
The eight-legged essay consisted of eight sections: opening the topic, amplifying the topic, preliminary exposition, initial argument, first leg, middle leg, later leg, and concluding leg. Each section followed strict rules. For example, the preliminary exposition usually could not exceed ten sentences, and the four sections that followed were known as the “four parallels,” in which every pair had to form balanced couplets, matching both word classes and tonal patterns.
Achieving success in the imperial examinations was far from easy. Countless scholars who had spent decades studying diligently since childhood were stopped at this hurdle. Chen Jiao herself could only be considered average in talent.
Before transmigrating, Chen Jiao had been a poor student academically. She had studied dance since childhood and was professionally competent. Originally, she could have entered her desired university through an arts admission quota. Yet after just finishing her arts examination, she opened her eyes and somehow found herself transported to ancient times.
What could a modern dance student possibly do in the past? There was no piano or violin here. She could hardly perform a piece of modern ballet for people.
Fortunately, the family she was born into in this life had excellent status.
Her grandfather had once been a highly respected great general. Her grandmother came from a prestigious family. Her father was the Yong’an Marquis, and her mother was the daughter of the Grand Princess, titled Princess Yihe.
The Chen family maintained an upright household tradition and had no habit of taking concubines. Their family line was sparse. Beginning with the old Marquis, three generations had passed with only a single heir each generation. Chen Jiao’s father had not had her until he was nearly forty, and after that there were no more children.
The family held great power and influence, yet had only a single daughter. Because of this, even distant relatives began eyeing them like vultures circling meat.
Members of the Chen clan frequently visited under various pretenses, recommending themselves as potential adopted heirs for the Marquis, hoping to become the future heir of the residence.
Some people went even further. While chatting with the Yong’an Marquis, they would casually hint that they would not mind letting one of their neglected illegitimate sons marry into the family. Their greedy expressions and thick skin made it obvious they wanted to seize the entire estate.
An ordinary young girl might not understand what such behavior meant. But before transmigrating, Chen Jiao had already been a high school student. Even if she was still somewhat naive, everyone knew about Lin Daiyu’s fate in Dream of the Red Chamber.
Before Chen Jiao could even figure out how to resolve her situation, she realized she had not simply transmigrated into the past. She had actually entered the world of a novel she had read before taking her arts examination.
The original book was a typical male-protagonist web novel. It told the story of a literature student who transmigrated to ancient times, obtained an overpowered protagonist’s script, and rose to the pinnacle of life.
At the beginning of the story, the protagonist awoke in ancient times inside the body of a poor and unsuccessful scholar. Though he started as a destitute farmer’s son, how could a chosen protagonist possibly remain stuck like that?
He first gained fame by copying famous poems and literary works, earning the reputation of a young prodigy. His talent then attracted the attention of a distant relative who happened to be a marquis.
This marquis possessed a distinguished lineage. The old marquis in power had once helped the founding emperor conquer the realm. Unfortunately, the family had produced only a single heir for three generations. Now there was only one legitimate daughter in the household, and they wished to adopt a son. Not because they needed someone to mourn at their graves in the future, but because they wanted a brother in the family who could support their daughter after she married.
According to protagonist logic, such a golden opportunity naturally fell right into the male lead’s hands.
After successfully being adopted into the marquis household and becoming the heir, the protagonist’s life only soared higher. Not only did he gain both fame and fortune while marrying a noble lady from a prestigious family, but later he also won the admiration of a princess who willingly married him as a secondary wife. From that point onward he collected beauties and built a vast harem.
As for the marquis residence’s real daughter, once she had served the purpose of enabling the protagonist’s adoption, she died in some accidental incident, her existence dismissed in just a few lines.
Chen Jiao was that unfortunate tool character in the book, the legitimate daughter of the marquis.
But Chen Jiao was not stupid. There was no way she would willingly play the fool!
After learning the future plot, she immediately decided that since everyone wanted to scheme their way into becoming the heir of the Yong’an Marquis Residence, she absolutely could not yield such a good opportunity to others.
If there was going to be an heir, she would be the one.
This heir’s position—she would take it herself.