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 is at his door to seize his little sister: their grandmother wants to sell her own granddaughter to pay their cousin's tuition.

He grabs a hatchet and hacks into the doorframe, forcing his grandmother to back down and his uncle to write a deed of recognition. He saves his sister, then declares, "I'm going to study."

With no land, no food, and no connections, he makes his own way. He digs up wild ginseng, makes soap, freezes ice with saltpeter, and sells braised meat, carving out a path through the imperial examinations by sheer grit. He places first in the county exam, first in the prefectural exam, makes the top list in the academy exam, wins first place in the provincial exam, and earns the title of top scholar, riding through the streets in triumph.

After entering court, the Grand Tutor tries to win him over through marriage. He refuses in front of everyone: "I have pledged my life to the state." The Grand Tutor hates him to the core and sends him to his death amid the border wars. The barbarians invade, the Grand Tutor cuts off their food supplies, and no reinforcements arrive. In this desperate situation, Lin Yan leads five hundred new troops in a night raid behind enemy lines, while his second brother kills the barbarian crown prince in battle. The Khan returns for revenge with an army of fifty thousand. Lin Yan rides a thousand li once more and takes the Khan's head, earning a glorious victory at Langjuxu. The news shocks the entire court, and the emperor makes him a marquis on the spot.

The Grand Tutor, driven to desperation, conspires with a martial arts organization to assassinate the emperor and usurp the throne. Lin Yan reveals the evidence, leads troops to protect the emperor, and wipes out the Grand Tutor's entire clan. The Prince of Liang carves out his own domain, and powerful clans dominate the land. Lin Yan curbs the fiefs, distributes land by household, and pacifies Liaodong. From Taohua Village to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, from sickly youth to Duke Who Guards the Nation.

The grandmother who once called him a jinx now kneels at the village entrance, begging him to acknowledge his family roots. Meanwhile, in the duke's mansion, his eldest brother has become the richest man in Dayuan, his second brother has been made Duke Who Pacifies the Nation, and his little sister oversees three hundred girls' schools across the country. His mother wears her title-holder's robes, and Zhao Wanning waits for him to come home with honey-sweetened iced water.

Cast out by his family, he slashes his way through the imperial examinations, and within ten years his whole family is clad in robes of office.