In the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, Crown Prince Zhu Biao dies suddenly, and undercurrents swirl through Nanjing. Zhang Pi, a modern-day street punk from the bottom of society, wakes to find himself transmigrated into Zhu Yuntong, Zhu Yuanzhang's legitimate grandson, a tragic figure who was deposed by Zhu Yunwen and died suddenly in history. Facing pressure at every turn from his hypocritical elder brother Zhu Yunwen and a string of plots by the Lü clan, the court officials all take him for a mad, useless fool.
“You want to play palace intrigue with me? I only know how to fight in the streets!”
When Zhu Yunwen's cronies make snide remarks at court, Zhu Yuntong flips the table and knocks one of them down with a punch. “Cut the crap. Looking to get smacked?” When the Lü clan sends assassins after him, he turns the tables, ties up Zhu Yunwen, and stuffs him in a sack. “Pull another stunt and I'll throw your son into the Qinhuai River to feed the fish!” Unable to scheme and plot, he relies on street smarts to break out of every trap: he exposes the Lü family's corruption with a staged “accident scam,” recruits troublemaking Jinyiwei with street slang, and even wades into a street brawl against Zhu Yunwen's faction in Nanjing's back alleys, brick in hand.
Zhu Yuanzhang watches coldly, thinking him a reckless fool, but sees this grandson spew coarse curses while repeatedly turning desperate situations upside down. Then one night, Old Zhu looks at the black-eyed, bruised Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Yuntong grinning with a brick in hand, and suddenly slams the table.
“That ruffian's got the same spirit as me!”
And Zhu Yuntong knows exactly what he has to do to survive: risk everything and seize the Ming throne for himself!
