In the final years of the Great Qin, political schemes churn beneath the court, while the martial world is in turmoil.
After the former Marquis of Zhenbei's household is wiped out, his young son Xiao Jin is rescued by a servant and left to fend for himself among the common people.
He becomes a street thug, loafing through life with a sharp tongue and lazy hands. Everyone calls him "Xiao the Idler."
No one knows that he is a reborn man who has returned from the dead and only wants to remain a nobody until the end.
But fate drags him into a major case involving military funds on the frontier, drawing the attention of the heir Xiao Jingheng.
The two become bitter rivals: one is cool-headed and scheming, the other laughs, curses, and takes life as it comes.
By chance, Xiao Jin acquires the golden finger, The Ashen Stratagem, which can foretell fortune and disaster and reveal prophetic verses.
Shake a wine jar three times, and a golden bell rings at midnight. Mechanisms, hidden objects, and conspiracies can all be uncovered.
Streetwise cleverness paired with prophetic poetry helps him expose stolen goods, uncover secret rooms, and tell truth from falsehood.
While others investigate for ten days without a clue, he cracks the mystery with a silly little verse.
From a gambling den's riffraff to a man forced to take action, he gradually brings down the mastermind behind it all.
Those who once looked down on him now realize that this lazybones hides an astonishing past.
When The Ashen Stratagem reveals, "When the fire is spent and the ashes emerge, you are the true dragon," the truth comes to light.
The birthmark of the marquis's household, the dragon veins of the military tally, and the old order of the Shadow Needle all point to him as the true Son of Heaven.
In the end, he ascends the throne, reforms the government, and brings the martial world into the halls of power, finally turning his lazy life around.
Beneath the moon, a new poem appears among the ashes. It turns out to have been left by himself twenty years ago: the cycle is not yet complete.
If he can lie down, he absolutely won't stand. But when he has to act, he'll make it count.
It's wonderful to have you all.
