Your Majesty, Your Meme Is Way Over the Line

Programmer Chen Mo dies from overwork and opens his eyes as the seventeen-year-old Chongzhen Emperor, Zhu Youjian.

Faced with a court full of classical Chinese, a powerful eunuch who has his eyes on the throne, and the inevitable final package deal of a crooked old tree on Coal Hill, he quietly reaches for his family’s time-tested workplace skills.

And so the Great Ming’s style takes a sudden turn:

At court: “My dear ministers, spare us the nonsense. Get straight to the point and give me your solutions. I need my PowerPoint.”

Reviewing memorials: “This report is far too long-winded. Send it back for a rewrite, and remember to use the ‘briefing format.’”

Dealing with the eunuch faction: “Eunuch Wei, you’ve done a decent job meeting your KPIs, but your values don’t align with the court’s. Shall we part on good terms?”

Calming the refugees: “Join the Great Ming Revitalization Program. Food and lodging are included. Work for three years and you’ll get land. Top performers can become full-time civil servants!”

Facing Huang Taiji: “A political marriage? Impossible! How about we set up a border market instead? I’ll give you an ‘Outstanding Trade Partner’ medal.”

Years later, the Great Ming Daily’s front page reads: “Shocking! His Majesty Went Undercover Yesterday and Argued with a Teahouse Storyteller over Details from His Own Unauthorized Biography!”

The legendary Chongzhen the Great, now holding Zhou Empress in his arms as he gazes at a globe bristling with Sun-and-Moon flags, frowns in concern:

“Honey, have we spread this ‘Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets Group’ a little too far?”