A Generation of Servants

A Generation of Servants is a historical time-travel web novel by the online writer Dangtou Pao, first serialized on Zongheng Chinese. The protagonist, Qian Xiaoxing, is an ordinary high school student who is struck by lightning during a thunderstorm and unexpectedly transported to an unfamiliar ancient world. He has no special-forces combat skills, no system or cheat powers; disheveled and penniless, he starts out begging on the streets and selling himself to bury his father, and after many twists and turns enters a wealthy household as its lowest-ranking servant. In this chaotic era, where the Hu, Si, Yimu, Lin, Shi, and other powers all contend, Qian Xiaoxing must first deal with a fiery-tempered young mistress and a shrewd, wily chief steward, making a living while feeling his way forward. Relying on common sense and ideas from modern society, he starts with "small inventions"—building air conditioners, making mahjong sets, improving farm tools and workshops—gradually accumulating capital and connections, and turning a small place into a fulcrum that can move the larger picture. As circumstances change, he is drawn from household trivia into business wars, military affairs, and interstate conflicts, maneuvering among the various powers with wit and calculation, and ultimately completes his transformation from servant to man of power. The book's tone is light, its style touched with wry humor, and its pacing slow-burning: the early part is mostly small cleverness in daily life and business, while the middle and later parts gradually open up into intrigue and warfare, with the main thread centered on "how an ordinary person makes a place for himself in a strange world through brains alone."