The Third Path: Surviving Between Corruption and Righteousness

A modern historian's knowledge means nothing when you're reborn as a five-year-old cowherd in Ming Dynasty China. Chen Ke discovers the hard way that internet expertise doesn't translate to reality—his attempts at glassmaking explode, sugar production leaves him bedridden, and the imperial exams are fought in fly-infested latrines. Caught between the corrupt Yan faction and the self-righteous Pure Stream scholars, he must forge his own path to survival. No system, no cheat abilities, just wit, grit, and hard-earned wisdom in a world where one wrong move means death.