After the ace agent “Bluebird” dies in the line of duty, he wakes up as a live-in son-in-law in a small town in southern Sichuan during the Republic of China era. His brother-in-law blocks the door and calls him a useless cur, while his father-in-law, Xiao Derong, commands three thousand men as head of the local security corps and has never given this worthless son-in-law a second glance. Shen Yan stays calm. The first rule of an agent’s handbook: the less noticeable you are, the safer you’ll be. He appears meek and compliant while quietly laying plans in the shadows. Everyone thinks he’s a useless man who has accepted his lot in life.
Then the Xiao family’s arms routes are leaked again and again. His father-in-law flies into a rage but can’t find the mole. Shen Yan happens to pass by with a cup of tea and casually offers three suggestions. That very night, a mole who has been undercover for five years is caught red-handed, and Xiao Derong’s view of his “useless” son-in-law changes completely. From unmasking the mole to building an intelligence network, from training recruits to annexing neighboring counties, Shen Yan uses an agent’s methods to maneuver through the turbulent times, rising from a despised live-in son-in-law to the indispensable strategist his father-in-law can’t do without.
When the War of Resistance breaks out, he leads his troops out of Sichuan and strikes such terror into the Japanese invaders on the battlefield that they flee at the sound of his name. His wife waits for him at the city gate, holding their newborn son. And it all began on the night he exposed the mole. The live-in son-in-law is done hiding. It’s time to turn this chaotic world upside down.
