Good Man Operation Guide

He made up his mind to treat the Eldest Princess well, tried not to participate in gatherings that might expose his actual performance, and wanted to bring his parents and family to the capital to dedicatedly support them.

Originally, everything had already been planned but on the eve of his wedding, he received a letter saying that someone knew about his cheating in the Imperial examination and that if he wanted to avoid being exposed, he should report all of the Eldest Princess’s movements after he became her fuma.

All the princes in court were coming of age. The original owner had never paid much notice to the struggle between princes to become the Crown Prince, but he never expected that the struggle for the throne would also involve the Eldest Princess.

And as for him, the son-in-law and someone who shares a pillow with the Princess, must he really betray his wife to save himself?

He was overly worried and didn’t know how to make this choice. Then on the wedding night, he became lethargic and fell into a serious illness.

To his gratitude and guilt, the Eldest Princess didn’t dislike him for this but instead kept inviting an imperial doctor to treat him and brought his family to the capital and took care of them for him, who was bedridden.

The original owner was ill for over a year. He was never been able to betray the Eldest Princess and never wrote a letter back to them. Every time he wanted to end it with suicide, he remembered his wife, who was looking forward to his improvement, and his parents and family, who washed their faces in tears, and he couldn’t bear to do it.

And so, it dragged on, until the Eldest Princess’s younger brother, the budding Fifth Princes, became prominent in court. The other Princes, who wanted to suppress him, collaborated and dug out the cheating incident of the imperial examinations. The original owner was convicted, his reputation was ruined, and the Emperor was so furious that he decreed for the original owner to be exiled, while his family would become slaves.

The Eldest Princess and the Fifth Prince was also implicated for pleading for him. And it was the Eldest Princess who finally got the Emperor to relent and not pursue the original owner’s family by kneeling in the palace for a full day and night.

The original owner also didn’t have to wait until he was exiled. After this incident came out, he was surprised, afraid, and endlessly ashamed. He dragged his sick body but was completely defeated, vomiting blood on the spot. He was dying but held on until the Eldest Princess returned.

When the Eldest Princess returned, her hair was in a mess and her face was covered with traces of tears. But she still sat by the bed as usual and personally fed her husband medicine.

The original owner knew that who she had always admired was the young talented Tanghua. As husband and wife, although he fell ill on the wedding day, he still understood some of the Princess’s preferences.

She loved men who were talented and responsible, rather than a man like him who became Tanghua by cheating.

Perhaps she had already realized his real talent soon after they got married, so she was a good wife but never fell in love with him.

After seeing the Eldest Princess, the original owner only had time to say sorry before he died.

It’s just that… While his body died, his soul remained.

He watched as the Fifth Prince was ridiculed and suppressed due to the cheating incident, watched as the First Princess was mocked at a gathering by other princesses, and watched as the Fifth Prince was plotted against during a royal hunt and died instantly by a sword through his chest.

The Eldest Princess lost her only support, she cried bitterly, while the other princesses ridiculed her and the princes all looked down on her. She still relied on herself to find the real culprit who killed the Fifth Prince and killed him with her own hands. Then finally, she was sent to a Buddhist temple where imperial women were imprisoned, suffering for the rest of her life, and died in depression before the age of 30.

Originally, the original owner wasn’t supposed to issue a task.

The task space also had its own selection criteria. Generally, only those who have done harm to others or have truly done something wrong, commonly known as ‘scum’, are selected. After all, posting a task required the payment of their soul, so that Lin Shiheng could occupy the body.

But his will was too strong and he did cheat, which led to the failure of the other Juren who should have been gotten Tanghua. And because he cheated, the Eldest Princess and the Fifth Princes were also implicated, so the task space still accepted the body after confirming three times as per the usual protocol.

***

After checking over the memories, perhaps Lin Shiheng had stayed still for too long, so the system made a rare appearance.

[The host can choose to skip this world.]

He had almost forgotten. He still had a system.

Lin Shiheng didn’t feel uncomfortable taking over this body that basically didn’t do anything bad.

[What’s the task?]

[Ding- For this world’s mission, allow the Lin family to enjoy their old age. Guard the Eldest Princess. The longer this body lives, the better. As well as, become the type of person the person issuing the mission wants to be.]

[What specifically?]

[Please disguise yourself as a gifted scholar.]

[What disguise?]

Lin Shiheng cracked his neck, walked to the table, and picked up the writing brush. After dipping it in ink, he naturally placed it on the rough paper atop the table, and the ink bloomed on the paper. After a moment, he put down the brush, and a flower appeared on the paper. With only a few brush strokes, it was as if a real flower had actually bloomed on the paper

[I was already one.]

Today was the day when the Lins’ Juren was heading off to the capital to take the exam. It was no exaggeration to say that half of the villagers came to see him off. After all, it was clearly recorded that the last scholar from the village that made a name for himself was during a previous dynasty 80 years ago.

This was the only Juren in their village. In addition, the Lins had spare no effort to publicize that the fortune-teller who passed by once said that Lin Shiheng had a purple aura above his head and that he would be a great official in the future. So the people in the village looked forward to Lin Shiheng’s growth even more.

Nowadays, it was all about one man’s success. So if their village really produced a government official, when they went out in the future, other people would have to consider it properly before they wanted to bully them.

The original owner had always stayed inside the house and never came out much. The villagers were also often in awe because he was a scholar, so he was not very familiar with them. So now, even though they were sending him off, they still didn’t dare to get too close to him. They just stood at the back and watched as Lin Shiheng got into the ox cart with a light-of-hope-for-the-future shining within their eyes.

Standing in the front was the Lin family. Father Lin and Mother Lin both had some worries. Mother Lin, in particular, whose eyes had already reddened, placed the luggage properly onto the ox cart, and sternly instructed.

“You are in poor health, so you need to take good care of yourself on the road. Don’t save on the food and don’t worry about home.”

At some point, she really couldn’t hold back her sadness from her son going so far away to the capital to take the exam. She covered her mouth and wept with her face looking away.

“What are you crying about? You’re just lacking experience, you know. Our Shiheng is going to go to the examination to become a big official. How is it a good omen if you cry like this?”

Old Grandpa Lin glared at his daughter-in-law in a huff and walked to the cart to look at his grandson with a softened gaze. “But your mother is also quite right, your health isn’t well. If there is any discomfort, you should get well first. No matter what, the ranking in the exam is not as important as the body. If you feel uncomfortable during the exam, then just stop testing.”

“Pei pei pei, don’t you jinx my grandson!”

(TNote: Pei pei = the sound of someone spitting, cursing away bad luck. It’s different from tsk, the meaning is like throwing a pinch of it over their left shoulders, but more aggressive.)

Grandma Lin quickly squeezed over when she heard what her husband said. Her wrinkled face was full of love for her grandson, “Shiheng, don’t be nervous, just do your best on the test.”

The eyes of the other two uncles, aunts, and several cousins were also filled with anticipation for Lin Shiheng’s trip to the capital to take the exam.

Lin Shiheng could guess why the owner was under so much pressure.

The expectation from the family was enough to make him anxious, while the whole village regarded him as hope, so it was no wonder that he studied so desperately.

Facing these few faces in front of him, there was a smile on his face, and he said as warmly and weakly as the original owner, “I know, then I’ll be going now.”

“Grandma, Grandpa, Mother, Father, Uncles, Aunts, everyone take care of yourselves. After the exam ends, I will definitely immediately send a letter back.”

He sat back down and slowly left the village on the ox cart under the hopeful and reluctant gaze of the Lins.

According to the route, if he wanted to go to the capital, he couldn’t just take an ox cart, but also had to take a boat. It was probably because he drank raw water on the boat that the original owner’s body collapsed.

Lin Shiheng didn’t plan to use the system’s medicine to complete the task this time.

After all, he had insisted that he was a gifted scholar.

Sitting in the ox cart, he lifted his sleeve, showing the delicate thin arm caused by the lack of sunlight.

[E/N: Vitamin D is important for health, guys. Just don’t stay too long and get skin damage.]

Thin, very thin.

Such that you couldn’t even describe it as “too weak to kill a chicken.”

After all, the original owner kept staying up all night to read year-round and only slept for five hours. And he has had a poor appetite because of staying up all night for a long period of time and had consciously scrimped on meat, eating only vegetables because he believed he had spent a lot of money on his studies.

Having also suffered from over-thinking, his brain still had to think about all sorts of tedious things even in his sleep.

It was probably all thanks to his youth that he was able to survive until now without suddenly falling dead.

To keep a body like this alive for a long time…

Lin Shiheng silently put down his sleeves.

He was a man of integrity and will certainly do what he has said.

Having said he wouldn’t use the system’s medicine, he just wouldn’t use the system’s medicine.

Then, we’ll just have to nourish back this body.

***

Zhao He was a Juren who went to the capital to take the exam. But unlike those who went to the capital alone or in groups, Zhao He’s family were wealthy merchants for three generations, and he happened to be a descendant of the fourth generation who could take the exam. There are nine males cousins in the family. Since a young age, they carried the expectations of their grandfather and their parents, who paid a large sum of money to invite a teacher; but in the end, the only one who attained Juren was Zhao He.

On diligence, Zhao He couldn’t compare with his cousins, but who asked him to have a good brain? Although he couldn’t remember everything just by reading things once, he can remember many books as long as he looked at them several more times. So, he could be regarded as an excellent seed in their city.

It’s just that Zhao He didn’t have much contact with the Jurens in the area, to the point where their actual relationship wasn’t very good. The number one reason was naturally that he was from a merchant background. Although the court ordered that merchants could take the Imperial examination after three generations, some of those who were ‘born and bred’ still despised the descendants of merchants who full of the odor of copper.

(TNote: the odor of copper = the smell of money/copper coins; In these dynasty people still admired people who could ignore wealth, and walked the road free of worldly desires. So, merchants were looked down on.)

The second reason was that Zhao He knew how to enjoy living.

He came from a wealthy family and was served by others since he was young, where even if he was studying, someone had to grind the ink for him. When he was in the academy, his grades were always among the best. But because of his fondness for good clothes and food, he usually went to play with a group of merchant’s sons at the lake instead of joining the poetry meetings of his classmates when the academy was on break. So naturally, he didn’t fit in.

Fortunately, Zhao He didn’t mind either. If those classmates didn’t play with him, he also wouldn’t play with them. They were just young and frivolous scholars, so there would always be friction between the two sides. Although Zhao He had a good memory and his ranking was much higher than others, he just had to use his knowledge only on the exams. Usually, every time he met them, he would be insulted over and over subtly, but he knew what those people meant. He just didn’t know how to respond even if he wanted to. Therefore, when he found out that he was actually on the same boat as those classmates again, he simply hid in his compartment and didn’t come out.

As said before, Zhao He was different from most other scholars who are heading to the capital to take the exam. The difference was that while people might take at most one coachman and one study assistant, Zhao He actually brought along four book-boys and two coachmen with him – a six-person team to ensure that he would be served comfortably wherever he was.

(TNote: Book-boy = study assistant.)

Zhao He had never traveled far from home and he was also the most beloved child in the family. His parents were worried, so naturally, would have him fully equipped.

For example, these four book boys: one is good at cooking, the other is good at medical skills, one of them is agile and handy, and the other is the one who really serves him in reading and writing. While the remaining two coachmen, in addition to the driving, also knew some martial arts. After all, the road to the capital is very long, so the family could only rest assured if there was someone to protect him in case they meet a robber or something.