The day he transmigrated, his girlfriend left him for the general manager, and his boss took all the credit for his work. In a fit of despair, Ma Deqing threw himself into the river.
He didn't die. A fallen bannerman's daughter pulled him from the water, and when he woke up, he found himself in the Qianlong era.
Lan Zhu, the young owner of a spice shop, took him in, but the shop was on the verge of ruin thanks to Liu Quan, the chief steward of Heshen's household. He monopolized supplies, jacked up prices, and extorted protection money, just like the modern-day manager who'd bullied Ma Deqing.
Ma Deqing laughed. He didn't want to live anyway, so before he died, he might as well help this girl get some payback.
He gave Liu Quan a tongue-lashing that left the man stunned. Only after enjoying himself did he realize: Oh no, he'd just made an enemy of the entire Heshen household.
A modern workplace overachiever with a head full of marketing tricks starts with one rundown spice shop and takes on the household servant of the Qing dynasty's most corrupt official in price wars, PR battles, and supply-chain wars. He thought taking down Liu Quan would be the end of it, but then he caught Heshen's attention.
Heshen personally steps in and gives him two choices: work for me, or disappear.
Ma Deqing chooses a third path:
He flees to Guangzhou, only to be shaken down by the Canton Customs. He escapes to Macao, only to find foreigners keeping an eye on him. With nowhere left to run, he buys a deserted island in the South Seas and becomes its lord.
From a scapegoat crushed by his boss to an island lord at sea who dares to use the emperor's edict as a rag. People call him reckless. He says:
“I only knelt once. I could never kneel again.”
This is the story of an ordinary man driven to the brink, who stands back up and lives on to become a legend.
