The World of Officialdom: The Reborn Are Never Naive

After dying in the line of duty as a poverty-alleviation official, Lin Zhiyuan discovers that he has been reborn. Time has rewound to the summer of 2004. He is twenty-two, has just passed the civil-service selection exam, and has been assigned to Chengguan Town in Qingshan County. In his previous life, he spent twenty years as a tireless workhorse. He worked hard and kept his head down, but his soft heart made him miss countless opportunities. In the end, his family was destroyed, and he died alone on a rainy night. Given a second life, he is determined not to repeat his mistakes. On his first day reporting for duty, villagers from Longtan Village block the road and demand compensation after a dangerous house collapses. None of the newly assigned officials dares take on this hot potato. Lin Zhiyuan volunteers. He intends to use the incident to make his first move amid the power struggle between town Party secretary Zhou Mingyuan and Mayor Liu Changhe. But he doesn’t know that Zhou Mingyuan, the “mentor” who carefully groomed him in his previous life, was the one who truly kept him trapped at the grassroots for the rest of his life. This time, he will be no one’s pawn. Kindness without an edge is foolishness. The gates of officialdom open anew, and the game begins. From the moment the young man of twenty-two opens his eyes, no one realizes that the players have changed.