Chapter 44.1

Chapter 44.1

Lin Shiheng stood up and wandered once around the house.

This was a very narrow room, only a little light shined through the window, and there was a dampness in the air.

Very shabby, but in the memory of the original owner, this was already the best room in the house.

As he was the only one who studied in the family, they gave it to him to use.

He received the memory and was strangely surprised.

This was a rare occasion where the original hasnt done something that wronged others.

To be precise, he had never thought of harming others.

The identity of the original owner was a farmers child. Dont look at the shabby appearance of the house, but this family was already considered relatively wealthy in the village, otherwise, they wouldnt be able to afford for the original owner to study.

This was a big family, where both grandparents were still alive, so the family hasnt separated. His father was the youngest son in the family, with two older brothers. At first, they married one after another, but, not knowing why, the children birthed by their wives were all daughters. When there were already three granddaughters in the family, his father finally married and got a son, the original owner.

Because he was the only grandson in the family, the original owner was very favored. When he was five years old, his uncles wife also gave birth to a son, only then did this favoring lessen a bit. After all, the elders loved younger children.

In this dynasty, it was generally the eldest son or the first son who would inherit the family business, while the remaining children could only get a small share of the estate. So, the remaining sons could only try to take advantage of the family before it was divided. Originally, the original owners parents thought their son was the only male descendent of the family, so they would definitely get a big share in the future separation. But they didnt expect that the eldest sister-in-law would give birth to a son, and a male born by the eldest son was definitely more valuable than their son by any reasoning.

Whats more, in the past 5 years, because they were the parents of the only male in the family, the two had long been accustomed to being able to have a say in anything at home, and the two brothers and sisters-in-law were tolerant of them. Now, once they felt their current treatment couldnt be compared to before, how could they not be anxious?

They didnt have any intention of harming their brother and sister-in-laws child. Instead, they just went to a fortune teller with some of the money they had secretly saved and faked a chance encounter. The fortune-teller divined a fortune for the original owners grandfather, saying that the original owner had purple energy on the top of his head and that he was destined to become a great official in the future.

This was essentially a big gold nugget falling from the sky for this grandfather, who had farmed his entire life yet still had to nod and curry favors with all the soldiers that guarded the city gate.

He sincerely believed the fortune tellers words, thinking: otherwise, how could the other person not ask for money?

It was exactly because of this belief that the treatment of the original owner had returned to how it was in the past, as his parents wished, or perhaps even better than before.

Therefore, he was brainwashed to study diligently from an early age to become a great official in the future. At first, only his grandparents said so, later, his parents also said so. In the end, even if the original owner wasnt even a Tongsheng yet, the people in the village would still give him a few compliments when they met. Just so when he became a big official, he wouldnt forget about the villagers.

[E/N: Ancient examinations are separated into degrees/levels. You start at your local county/prefecture and test towards the capital/palace. A tongsheng is an entry-level student that has already passed the county/prefecture exam.]

Compared with the modern college entrance examination, the ancient exam was much more difficult. After all, at this time, whether it was a noble familys son or a peasants son, they would all do their best for the examination. This was particularly true for this country called the Wei State which was now in its prime. With their large population, the examination was equivalent to a thousand troops trying to cross a single plank bridge.

(TNote: a thousand troops crossing a wooden bridge = many people want to achieve a certain goal, but few are successful.)

There was a bamboo tube on the ground, apparently left behind by the two. The original owner picked it up and chased after them to return it, but couldnt find any traces of them.

He opened the bamboo tube, only to find that there were actually some topics within it.

At that time, the market was already selling all kinds of past exam test questions or hypotheses, so the original owner only thought that the suspicious person was also selling those. Opening it up and giving it a read, he found that the difficulty of these questions was indeed quite high.

He made the first regrettable act of his life and went back to the inn to try doing the topics just once.

On the day of the exam, the original owner was amazed to find that the topics from yesterday were exactly the same as the ones under his brush, and he wrote it like it was a divine blessing. When the ranking list was released, he actually got Huiyuan, the first place.

The staff and customers at the inn where he was staying all came to congratulate him, while the proud talents also came to greet him with envious glances.

Only, the original owner was panicking in his heart.

He knew that his results were from cheating.

Even if he could fool the Huishi, what would he do for the Dianshi?

Cheating in the imperial examination was a capital crime. It didnt matter if he died, but what if he brought trouble to his family?

He heard that the Dianshi was conducted by having the officials write the questions before submitting them to the Emperor to choose. Now, even if he wanted to buy the questions, how would he be able to?

The original owner couldnt eat or sleep, and after seeing that man who had left the questions before, he gritted his teeth and chased after him, eventually succeeding in buying the Dianshi questions.

There were a lot of them, but he still gritted his teeth and memorized them all. When the examination came, he really saw all the same familiar questions.

The original owner was not a genius and his knowledge wasnt good, but he had a good face and it was no exaggeration to call him the bright moon among many Gongshis.

The Emperor joked that his knowledge matched his looks very well and he named him the Tanghua of this examination. After asking if his marriage had already been settled, he granted him marriage to the Princess.

(TNote: [] tng hu = candidate who came third in the Han-lin examination. Lit; flower explorer.)

So, the original owner leaped and became a Fuma just like that.

(TNote: fu ma = emperors son-in-law.)

Unlike the conventional, he was always engrossed in reading and had never had contact with any woman. His family was also convinced that he would become an official, so even though he was old enough, they never arranged an engagement. Thus, becoming the Fuma did not cause any emotional issues for the original owner.

Moreover, in this dynasty, even if he became an imperial son-in-law, he could still be an official and it would even be better, as his status as a relative of the Emperor would keep him from being bullied and humiliated.

Although the eldest Princesss birth mother died young, and her younger brother was just an unfavored prince who had not yet entered the ranks of the Imperial Court, it was still an excellent marriage for the original owner.