Su Lu, a thirty-year-old urban white-collar worker, finds himself transported back five hundred years to the Ming Dynasty, inhabiting the body of a thirteen-year-old peasant boy in the remote border region between Sichuan and Guizhou. The original owner of the body died from heatstroke while working in the sorghum fields during the busy autumn harvest. Su Lu struggles immensely with the physical demands of rural labor, suffering from sore muscles and sunburned skin, a stark contrast to his previous life of office work. Despite his initial desire for an idyllic pastoral existence, he quickly realizes that the reality of farming is brutal and exhausting.
The Su family is part of a military household, a status that has declined since Su Lu's grandfather lost his position as battalion commander after injuring a local scholar from the powerful Cheng family. The father, Su Youcai, is a failed scholar who has spent his life studying for the imperial examinations without success, now working as a lowly teacher. Su Lu has an elder brother, Su Tai, who is strong and simple-minded, and a younger uncle who is a junior officer in the local battalion. The family is poor, surviving on sorghum and living in a dilapidated stilt house.
The central conflict arises when Su Lu's youngest uncle is beaten by the Cheng family. Su Youcai and Su Tai intervene to protect him, leading to a brawl. The Cheng family, led by the scholar Cheng Xiucai, uses their social status to manipulate the local military commander, Zhou Baihu, into pressuring the Su family for compensation. Cheng Xiucai claims that Su Tai broke his elder brother's leg, demanding twenty taels of silver, an impossible sum for the Su family. However, Su Lu notices inconsistencies in the elder Cheng's condition, realizing the leg injury is fabricated. Using his modern medical knowledge and keen observation, Su Lu exposes the deception by producing a harmless green snake, causing the elder Cheng to drop his act in fear. The Cheng family is forced to retreat in disgrace, but the incident highlights the systemic injustice faced by military households against the scholarly class.
Following this event, Su Lu's aunt proposes that he apprentice at a local winery to earn money, as he is considered too old to continue his education. Su Lu refuses, declaring his intention to study and take the imperial examinations. His aunt, skeptical of his abilities given his poor academic history, sets a challenge: he must pass the entrance exam for the prestigious Taiping Academy within three months, or he will begin his apprenticeship. Su Lu accepts the challenge, recognizing that the examination system is his only path to improving his family's status and escaping the hardships of peasant life.
Su Lu begins his studies under his father's guidance. He discovers that his modern knowledge and memory techniques give him a significant advantage. He quickly masters the basic texts required for the exam, including the Three Character Classic, Hundred Family Surnames, and Thousand Character Classic, astonishing his father with his rapid progress and deep understanding. Su Youcai, initially doubtful, becomes hopeful as he realizes his son may possess a genuine talent for scholarship. Su Lu sets a rigorous schedule, aiming to memorize hundreds of characters daily, driven by the knowledge that his future depends on his success in this impossible task.
