Shen Huai'an, a gifted student from a poor family, enters the grassroots bureaucracy only to be suppressed by his superiors and ensnared by his colleagues. Yet, thanks to his solid abilities and clear principles, he steadily finds a way through every crisis. At a martyrs’ cemetery, he meets Dong Yong, a retired high-ranking official who offers him hard-won wisdom about officialdom. Shen quickly grows by handling a company crisis, laid-off workers’ petitions, internal frame-ups, and other challenges. At its heart, this is the story of an idealist who holds fast to his original purpose amid tangled relationships, undercurrents of power, and the mire of reality. He turns circumstances to his advantage, outmaneuvers petty villains, and ultimately ascends the ladder of success.
