Forced to Disguise as a Man, I Take the Imperial Examination and Become the Prime Minister

Song Xiaoxiao, a twenty-three-year-old traditional Chinese medicine specialist, dies after a sudden accident and awakens in the body of Song Liangzuo, a four-and-a-half-year-old child in a rural village during the Daqing dynasty. The original owner was born into the Song Sanqian branch of the Song family, a lineage that has fallen on hard times. The family structure is governed by a strict patriarchal land inheritance system established by the great-grandfather, which allocates land shares based on the number of male descendants. Because the Song Sanqian branch has only one male heir, the family has been secretly raising the biological girl as a boy to secure their land rights and social standing. The household consists of the matriarch, Wang Chunlan, the mother, and two older sisters, Song Zhaodi and Song Pandi, who are treated as burdens in comparison to the cherished "grandson."

The central conflict erupts when Bian Xiuqin and Bian Xiuli, women from the rival Song Daqian branch, arrive at the Song Sanqian home with Song Chengjiao, a four-year-old boy who claims to have witnessed Liangzuo urinating and noticed the absence of male genitalia. They demand a public inspection to prove Liangzuo's gender, threatening to seize the family's six acres of land if he is revealed to be a girl. The matriarch is initially inclined toward violent confrontation, but Song Xiaoxiao, utilizing her adult intellect, devises a plan to avoid exposure. She realizes that a direct physical inspection would result in the destruction of her family's livelihood and her own safety.

Seeking a solution, Song Xiaoxiao and the matriarch visit Old Hunter Lin. Although the hunter is absent, they encounter his grandson returning with a young deer. Song Xiaoxiao negotiates for the deer skin and uses a pungent gum from a nearby tree, masking its odor with fish residue, to craft a convincing fake male organ. Upon returning to the village, the tension escalates as the rival family and villagers gather. When pressured to prove his manhood, Song Xiaoxiao, embodying the brave and defiant persona of the family's sole male heir, publicly lowers his trousers. The crowd witnesses the fake organ, and the immediate threat is neutralized. The rival family, embarrassed by their public accusation and lacking concrete proof of fraud, withdraws, though the underlying hostility remains.

Following the crisis, Song Xiaoxiao integrates into her new life, recognizing the harsh realities of peasant existence. She endures the physical demands of field labor and the meager diet of millet porridge and wild vegetables. Despite her young body, she maintains her professional mindset and identifies education as the path to escaping agricultural drudgery. She persuades her matriarch to allow her to accompany the family to the weekly market in Gu'an Town. At the market, she applies her knowledge of commerce and presentation, sorting vegetables by size to maximize their value and selling them more efficiently than her grandmother typically manages. This success provides a small financial boost and reinforces her role as the family's strategic pillar.

The story establishes a trajectory where Song Xiaoxiao must navigate the precarious balance of maintaining her disguise while leveraging her modern medical and intellectual knowledge to improve her family's status. The matriarch's intense favoritism and the sisters' subordinate positions create a complex domestic dynamic. As Song Xiaoxiao grows older in this body, she faces the impending challenge of the land division when she reaches the age of ten, a deadline that will force a permanent resolution to her gender identity crisis. Her journey involves adapting to the constraints of ancient society while subtly introducing innovations to secure the family's future against internal clan rivalries and external economic pressures.