Modern-day teacher Chen Wen suddenly dies at his desk and wakes up in another world as a poor scholar running a dilapidated academy. His only students are three hopeless cases: a spoiled merchant's son with low grades, an insecure farmer's child, and an aloof illegitimate son. The whole county laughs at him for taking in worthless students, while the county government issues an ultimatum: if they fail the entry-level imperial examination, the academy will be shut down! Chen Wen slams his hand on the table. As an educator, he refuses to admit defeat! While others teach the Four Books and Five Classics, he teaches logical reasoning and error analysis. While others stay indoors studying theory, he takes his students to the docks to observe trackers and rummages through garbage to find evidence. Three months later, his students sweep the top three places in the county examination, then claim the top spot in the prefectural examination, leaving old scholars furious and denouncing his methods as unorthodox. Who could have imagined that these supposedly useless students would one day uphold the entire imperial court? All the court officials kneel together and say, "Teacher, please accept your students' bow!"