Rise of the Humble Family

After countless rejections on the job market, a graduate student specializing in ancient Chinese language finds himself hurled back to the mid-Ming Dynasty—and into the body of a young child in a remote mountain village. His new father is taciturn and reserved, his mother sharp-tongued and fiery, and his household is crammed with an assortment of eccentric relatives who ensure that no day passes without its share of rural squabbles. Fortunately, he carries with him thousands of years of historical and cultural wisdom. With the Four Books and Five Classics memorized and the intricacies of the eight-legged essay firmly in his grasp, his scholarly expertise is unexpectedly the perfect tool for this era. Who says that noble offspring cannot spring from humble doors? The empire is ascendant, with rulers governing through quiet non-interference; yet laws are lax, officialdom is languid, and a handful of treacherous ministers stir trouble alongside sporadic pirate raids along the coast. Despite these flaws, it remains a fertile ground where the scholar-official class can flourish freely. It is here, in this unlikely setting, that the legend of a humble family's meteoric rise truly begins.