Good Man Operation Guide

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 hasn’t done something that wronged others.

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

The identity of the original owner was a farmer’s child. Don’t look at the shabby appearance of the house, but this family was already considered relatively wealthy in the village, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to afford for the original owner to study.

This was a big family, where both grandparents were still alive, so the family hasn’t 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 uncle’s 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 owner’s 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 didn’t 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.

What’s 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 couldn’t be compared to before, how could they not be anxious?

They didn’t have any intention of harming their brother and sister-in-law’s 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 owner’s 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 teller’s 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 wasn’t 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 wouldn’t 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 family’s son or a peasant’s 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.)

The original owner was not smart. Under the pressure from his elders, he could only force himself to study and recite. Previously, he was still okay. Although the process was difficult, the original owner passed the Yuanshi and managed to become a Xiucai. Just when he could sigh in relief, the praises from the people who believe in him firmly put him under great pressure again.

[E/N: the test levels go from: xianshi/fushi>>yuanshi>>xiangshi>>huishi>>dianshi. While the degree levels go from: tongsheng>>shengyuan/xiucai>>juren>>gongshi>>jinshi. Where there might be some subcategories of each depending on how well they tested.]

Everyone thought that the exam was easy for him. Even the parents who paid for the fortune teller in the first place were under the influence of those around them and thought that he could do it, but only the original owner knew that he really couldn’t.

But he couldn’t say he couldn’t, because the whole family had poured out the family’s money to pay for his education, just so that he could enroll in a school and study under a teacher in the city. His outward prosperity was built upon his family’s scrimping and saving.

If he gave up now, how could he face his family?

Under such pressure, the original owner only dared to sleep for five hours every day. He would, basically, just start reading and studying as soon as he was awake. His brain wasn’t very smart, but he was not stupid. With this diligent and desperate study, he was lucky enough to pass the provincial examinations and became a Juren.

(TNote: Juren is a qualification obtained after passing the province-wide imperial examination)

Accordingly, the next step in the process was to go to the capital to take the Huishi.

The family was extremely excited and became even more convinced that the fortune teller was right, that the original owner was born to become a big official.

Going to the capital to take the exam required money. Although the clan had some money, the clan was rather poor, and there wasn’t really anyone rich. When collected, there wasn’t a lot. The original owner’s rank also wasn’t high, so no one came to curry favor by sending money. Only a few matchmakers came to match the original owner with a rich young lady from the city.

These marriages were firmly rejected by the original owner’s grandfather.

His grandson will become a big official, how can he marry a merchant’s daughter?

If there isn’t money, then we’ll just gather more.

The original owner watched as his family discussed selling their land so he could go to the capital to take the exam, his heart exceptionally tormented.

He finally couldn’t bear it anymore and told his elders that he didn’t want to take the exam, but would just use this ‘Juren’ status.

Once he said this, he immediately met the whole family’s opposition.

The family only thought the original owner was worried about not being able to raise enough money, then consoled him, saying that the family had no problem suffering for a little while until he became a big official, then the family conditions would naturally improve.

The original owner’s attempts to stop the family were, as usual, ineffective, and the family sold their land and gathered the money to give to him so that he could go to the capital to take the exam.

But he felt that it was already very lucky that he was able to become Juren, while the Huishi gathered the Jurens from all over the country. How could he have the skills to stand out from them all?

The original owner’s worries became heavier and heavier, while his study time got longer and longer and his health gradually declined. When the time came for the exam in the capital, he dragged his weak body onto the carriage and wanted to give it a try. He didn’t expect to suffer from chills as soon as he arrived in the capital and continued to fluctuate between the hot and the cold, unable to get better. Even the money that he had originally planned for the return trip was used to see a doctor. The day before the Huishi, the original owner felt a little better, but he’s had dizzy spells for this while and he couldn’t remember any of the study material at all.

While on the street that afternoon, he noticed a man who suspiciously said something to a well-dressed gentleman, who had a hesitant face, and after the two conversed for a bit, had left together.

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 couldn’t 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 didn’t 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 couldn’t 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 wasn’t 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: [探花] tàng huā = 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: 驸马 fu ma = emperor’s 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 Princess’s 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.