Chen Yi, a modern orphan, claws his way from the orphanage into a prestigious university, then from intern to billionaire, driven by his determination to “be number one at everything.” A car accident sends him to the ancient Great Zhou dynasty with his memories from his previous life and a “Workaholic Development System.” He is reborn as the eldest son of an ordinary farming family in Jiangnan that values both agriculture and scholarship.
Boosted by talents such as [Photographic Memory] and [Deep Sleep], Chen Yi creates one miracle after another on the path of imperial examinations: first place in the county exam, first place in the prefectural exam, first place in the academy exam, top graduate in the provincial exam, top graduate in the metropolitan exam, and third place in the palace exam. He enters the Hanlin Academy, serves as an imperial envoy, and rises to Grand Secretary. Step by step, he uses his previous life’s financial knowledge and his current life’s political acumen to introduce work-for-relief programs and disaster relief bonds during famines, fight the old guard to the death at court, and save the empire from crisis. When his reforms threaten the interests of the entire old order, assassinations, rumors, impeachment, and attempts to force the emperor’s abdication follow one after another. His enemies are the Empress Dowager, Prince Qing, and the entire deeply entrenched network of powerful clans.
From a seventh-rank compiler to a first-rank Grand Secretary, from the pinnacle of power as The Outcast to his eventual retirement at Zhongshan Academy, Chen Yi spends two lifetimes answering one question: Once you’ve outworked the whole world, what comes next?
