In the first year of Hongwu, during the ceremony to worship Heaven.
Lin Zhi opens his eyes and discovers that he has transmigrated into the body of a low-ranking official at the Court of State Ceremonial. Zhu Yuanzhang is above him, civil and military officials surround him, and there is only one mission in his mind:
Survive until Zhu Yuanzhang dies.
He lays down a strict code for himself: take no sides, show no talent, and make no friends among fellow transmigrators. He has only one catchphrase: “This humble official is foolish and knows nothing.”
But trouble keeps finding him. His fellow villager Li Chun recognizes him at the altar, then turns around and writes a ten-thousand-word petition to reform the Ming. The chancellor tries to recruit him, the censor tests him, the nobles threaten him, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard comes knocking… Every time, he walks the edge of a blade and somehow makes it back.
The Case of the Blank Seals, the Hu Weiyong Case, the Lan Yu Case, the Jingnan Campaign. Thirty-five years, five reigns, and countless people brought down.
He does not seek a title of nobility or the office of chancellor. He does not want power over the entire court.
He only wants to live long enough to see the sun rise on the first year of Yongle.
But when he finally makes it to that day, a lunar eclipse disrupts the System’s teleportation…
The road home is gone.
