The Great Literary Patriarch of the Northern Song

In the second year of Xining (1069 AD), the capital city of Bianjing gleams with prosperity. Gu Cheng, an associate professor of history, wakes up to find himself reborn as the son of a merchant living outside the South Wèi Gate. With a thin family fortune, poor academic standing, and constant mockery from his academy peers who sneer at his "merchant blood," his father's small cloth shop is on the verge of collapse—they can barely scrape together next quarter's tuition fees. When the academy holds its monthly examination, the policy essay topic cuts straight to the heart of the new state reforms. While other students drone on about "competing with the people for profit," Gu Cheng writes "On Regulated Loans." He proposes tiered quotas, interest rates adjusted by yearly harvests, reserve funds for bad debts, and dedicated supervisory officials. His essay stuns the entire hall. From ranking first among the junior class to receiving private instruction from the academy's headmaster, from humble pickled radishes in Zao'er Lane to unexpectedly acquiring a manuscript by Zhou Dunyi at the Daxiangguo Temple—his journey has only just begun.