There’s a joke in the Great Yan dynasty: the man on the throne is a useless fool.
Lin Yi thinks it’s a great joke. The more people believe it, the more peacefully he can coast until retirement and move to a small town in Jiangnan to bask in the sun. After working himself to the bone at a big company in his previous life, his ultimate goal this time is to lie flat.
But the Empress Dowager wants Consort De to bear a royal heir so she can dispose of him. Grand Secretary Shen Kuo holds the court’s power in his fist and is ready to replace him with a more obedient puppet at any moment. Not a single minister wants him alive. Even the tonic soup sent by a concubine can kill a pot of weeds.
Lin Yi is furious. He just wants to retire. Why are they all trying to kill him?
Fine, then he’ll stop playing by the rules.
He puts the many tricks he learned as a project manager at a big company in his previous life to spectacular use in this feudal dynasty.
The latrines stink? He launches a toilet revolution: ceramic flush toilets with siphon systems, and the palace ladies line up to buy them. The food is awful? He opens a small kitchen and wins half the palace guards over with a plate of dumplings. Need money to build up his team? The “Personally Endorsed by His Majesty” brand appears out of nowhere. Soap, down jackets, and frostbite ointment go on limited sale, and scarcity marketing strips the capital’s wealthy ladies of every last coin.
The ministers laugh at him for fussing over food and toilet business in the inner palace, calling it unbecoming. Lin Yi laughs too. They think he’s playing in the dirt. He’s running a money-printing factory.
Build a market on wasteland? On the surface, it’s a new residence for the Empress Dowager. Underneath, a commercial complex rises from the ground. Shen Kuo sends his son to open a rival shop across the street, but Lin Yi counters with membership cards, horse giveaways, and storytelling performances to draw in customers. In five days, his sales reach 2,800 taels. The Grand Secretary smashes a teacup at home before finally realizing that this puppet emperor is not what he seems.
