After transmigrating to the Kangxi era, Su Jin wants only to be a quiet "gardener of history."
He teaches the cold and ruthless Yin Zhen what benevolent governance means, helps the genius Dai Zi avoid a wrongful conviction and show his brilliance, and guides the Mongolian youth Batu to become a bridge between peoples and the empire.
The powerful see him as a pawn, while his enemies want him dead. Su Jin only smiles in silence, gently placing seeds he has nurtured himself on the chessboard, one by one.
Until one day, Emperor Yongzheng stands before the court, now filled with talented men from Su Jin's school, and respectfully asks, "Sir, how should we reform this realm next?"
He never vies for the world, yet he makes an entire era become what he wants it to be.
