A Straightforward Man's Survival Chronicle in Chaotic Times

[One is a lone minister who crawled out of the mire yet cares for all under heaven. The other is an ambitious schemer who rose to power by stepping over the corpses of his own kin.]

In the eyes of Yan's powerful families, Shengping is an ignorant peasant who has no idea how high the heavens are. He climbed the ranks on the coattails of the aristocratic clans, yet could barely hold his wine cup at his first palace banquet. Still, he dares to tear away the clans' facade right before the throne.

The aristocratic clans watch coldly as Shengping is beaten and kicked out of the center of power, then sent to greet the envoys from Wei.

Everyone knows that the visiting young lord, Ji Li, is arrogant and brutal. He recently killed his own elder brother with his own hands, and everyone is eager to avoid this thankless task.

Everyone waits to see Shengping devoured alive. But the young lord, surrounded by servants, has a cold expression until the instant he sees Shengping. Then his face suddenly crumples as if about to weep, and he sobs, “Brother, have you come to me in a dream?”

The people behind Shengping are left gaping. Shengping looks at that familiar face and slowly blinks.

Isn't this the younger brother who died beneath the blades of bandits? How did he suddenly become a lord of Wei?

Looking at Ji Li, who never says a true word, Shengping remembers that he recently helped devise a plan that dealt a heavy blow to the Wei army. He awkwardly dodges Ji Li's outstretched hand.

That very night, Ji Li climbs over the wall into Shengping's courtyard. His jade-white fingertips hook into Shengping's sash as he asks, aggrieved, “Why don't you want to sleep with me anymore, Brother?”

Ji Li was born to a Hu woman. His father, the Duke of Wei, ignored him from childhood, and his brothers bullied him. Convinced that he has seen through human nature, he wants only to climb to the pinnacle of power.

To him, Shengping is nothing more than a temporary expedient in a time of hardship.

Who could have guessed that when Ji Li saw Shengping again, he would find him among the powerful families of Yan? So he decides that this brother can still be useful to him.

But as he continues to make use of him, Ji Li can no longer bear to let Shengping go. Someone this good ought to belong to him.

Later, the ministers kneel on the ground and look upon the one man standing beside the young emperor. The people honor him as their Grandfather, and to the emperor, he is the sole master of Lieju.

Shengping has no great ambitions. In the past, he hawked tofu from a shoulder pole in the streets, and his greatest wish was simply to raise his younger siblings well.

Only after a twist of fate led him into government did he learn that the so-called peaceful and prosperous age was merely a play staged by the powerful to beautify their rule.

Some laugh at him for trying to shake a tree like an insect, but he is determined to become the thorn lodged in the throats of the powerful.

Theme: Rising from humble beginnings to stand at the summit.