Just born and written into the genealogy as a grandson, Xie Qingfeng had not yet learned to walk when she bound herself to the Imperial Examination System. If she fails to pass the child scholar examination before eighteen, she dies; once her female identity is exposed, her whole family dies! From then on, she can only disguise herself as a man, fighting her way all the way into the imperial examination grounds where only men can walk. When the clan leader tries to suppress her, she uses the genealogy to push back; when bailiffs trample documents and kick her grandmother, she endures until she places top in the county examination, then forces the villains to kneel in public; academy body searches, tribute examination nude inspections, court registry checks—every rank she rises, her identity becomes more dangerous. Yet she insists on rising from a peasant baby to a top imperial scholar, from a humble student to an inspecting salt commissioner, investigating corruption, fighting powerful families, reforming the salt administration, and entering the cabinet.