The Lin Family's Rebellious Son Becomes Chief Councilor, and the Whole Clan Weeps at the Village Gate

Lin Yan transmigrates into the body of a sickly young man in Taohua Village. From the start, a butcher shows up to seize his younger sister. Their grandmother wants to sell her own granddaughter to the butcher to pay his cousin's tuition.

He grabs a hatchet and hacks it into the doorframe, forcing his grandmother to back down and his uncle to write a letter acknowledging the agreement. His sister is saved, and he makes one thing clear: "I want to study."

With no land, no food, and no one to rely on, he earns everything himself. He digs up mountain ginseng, makes soap, uses saltpeter to make ice, and sells braised meat, carving out a path to the imperial examinations by sheer grit. He places first in the county exam, first in the prefectural exam, earns a top ranking in the academy exam, becomes the provincial top scorer, passes the palace exam as the top scholar, and rides through the streets in triumph.

After entering court, the Grand Tutor tries to win him over through marriage. He rejects the offer in front of everyone: "I have devoted my life to the realm." The Grand Tutor hates him to the core and sends him to his death amid border warfare. The barbarian tribes invade, the Grand Tutor cuts off supplies, and no reinforcements come. In dire straits, Lin Yan leads five hundred new soldiers on a nighttime raid behind enemy lines. His second elder brother kills the barbarian crown prince in battle. The Great Khan leads fifty thousand troops to avenge him, but Lin Yan once again rides a thousand miles to take the Great Khan's head, winning a legendary victory. When the news reaches the capital, the entire court is stunned, and the emperor enfeoffs him as a marquis on the spot.

The Grand Tutor, desperate, allies with a martial arts organization to assassinate the emperor and seize the throne. Lin Yan exposes the evidence, leads troops to protect the emperor, and wipes out the Grand Tutor's entire clan. The Prince of Liang claims independence, while powerful clans entrench themselves. Lin Yan curbs the vassal princes, redistributes the land tax, and pacifies Liaodong. From Taohua Village to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, from sickly boy to Duke Who Protects the Nation.

The grandmother who once called him a bringer of bad luck kneels at the village entrance, begging him to return to the family. Meanwhile, in the duke's residence, his eldest brother has become Great Yuan's richest man, his second brother has been made Duke Who Guards the Nation, his younger sister oversees three hundred girls' schools across the country, his mother wears her noblewoman's robes, and Zhao Wanning waits for him to come home with honey-sweetened iced water.

The abandoned son of a divided family carves his way through the imperial exams, and in just ten years, his entire family rises to the highest ranks.