In his previous life, Murong Yuan was the youngest top scholar in the empire. But after backing the wrong side, he was falsely accused of treason by a powerful minister and his entire family was sentenced to death. Only as he lay dying did he realize he had been nothing but a pawn. The woman who had repeatedly professed her love for him had poured poison down his throat with her own hands.
When he opens his eyes again, he is back on the rainy night at age eighteen when he failed the provincial examination.
The shabby thatched hut, the moldy provisions, and the fiancée outside the door, pretending to bring him an umbrella: everything is exactly as he remembers. But this time, Murong Yuan neither rages nor breaks down. He smiles.
In his previous life, he lost because he was too naïve. This time, he decides to become a thoroughly “good official”: he’ll flatter others, curry favor with the powerful, and trample people to climb the ranks. He’ll learn it all. But he’ll make sure the people who wronged him in his last life lose beyond any doubt and die without a trace.
From a country scholar to a powerful minister in the capital, from being trampled underfoot to holding power over life and death, Murong Yuan advances one careful step at a time, driving each of his former enemies to ruin. But when he finally reaches the highest position, someone he never expected stands against him: a woman who never appeared in his previous life, holding military power in her hands. She looks at him coolly and asks, “Murong Yuan, do you still remember what you wanted in the beginning?”
Political intrigue, revenge, a comeback, and putting scoundrels in their place: this is the story of a ruthless man reborn who turns himself into his enemies’ worst nightmare.
