After Lin Zhe, a 40-year-old deputy section chief in a township, dies suddenly from overwork, he is reborn on the eve of the provincial civil service exam results, back at age 24. At the time, he has only a few hundred yuan to his name. His impoverished girlfriend, whose university education he paid for and whom he accompanied through a year of exam preparation, has just cruelly dumped him to attach herself to the son of a deputy bureau chief. To make matters worse, he ranked only fourth for a general administrative position at the county government office, leaving him at the end of his rope.
Drawing on fifteen years of experience in government from his previous life, he seizes an opening when the second-place candidate is disqualified for lacking the required qualifications. After being promoted to the interview round as a substitute, he wins the position with practical, down-to-earth answers. Once on the job, he keeps a low profile and avoids pitfalls, making a name for himself through his accomplishments in flood control, disaster relief, and rural revitalization. He also receives discreet help from the female lead, Shen Qingci, the daughter of a high-ranking official.
From a clerk in the general affairs section to the county magistrate's secretary, and then on to a city-level post, Lin Zhe seizes opportunities others overlook and uses his abilities to overcome every challenge. Carefully navigating the rules of the system and his own emotional choices, he ultimately rewrites his down-and-out fate and rises from the bottom to the top.
