Lin Chao Ci

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Lin Chao Ci (林朝辞)
Alias(es)	Lin Chaoci; Young Master Ci; Young Master Lin; Young Master Chao Ci 1 6 10 12
Species/Race	Human; explicitly describes himself as an ordinary person rather than a trained operative 1
Gender	Male 4
Affiliation	Lin Family; Haikou University; Galaxy Group; Lin Group 10 12 36 50
Occupation/Role	University student, company chairman, entrepreneur, and investor; formerly a career government official in his previous life 12 26 33
Family Position	Eldest son of Lin Jianguo and An Mingyue; regarded as the Lin Family’s heir apparent 29 36
Status	Alive following rebirth; his previous-life self died in hospital 1
Rebirth Date	January 13, 2000, in a parallel world 1
First Appearance	Chapter 1 1

Background / History

Previous Life

After his father’s political downfall left the family’s faction without a leader, Lin Chao Ci entered politics earlier than intended. He spent decades pursuing advancement, working late and traveling frequently. The workload damaged his health and left Qin Chi Chi, his wife, alone even when she was ill 2 5 12.

His political ambitions also kept him from accepting Liu Shuang’er romantically, despite her following him to a rural posting and caring for him during illness. At the end of his life, his greatest regrets concerned the five women who loved him and the promises he had failed to keep 1 6.

His family suffered several losses. Lin Jianguo died in despair after his career was ruined; An Mingyue subsequently declined treatment that could have prolonged her life after a late-stage breast cancer diagnosis. Lin Weiyi was manipulated by a childhood friend who exploited the family’s name and secretly installed recording devices in their home. Chao Ci eventually dealt with the man, but Weiyi remained heartbroken 12 27 28.

Rebirth and Changed Priorities

Lin awakens in a younger body on January 13, 2000, retaining memories of his former life. His first intervention is to have Uncle Li secretly record Wang Defa, the impostor involved in a scheme to make his father guarantee a 50-million loan 1.

Rather than repeat his exhausting political career, he seeks wealth, personal freedom, and more time with his loved ones. He hopes his father’s continued advancement—and eventually Lin Qingzhou’s political career—will allow him to remain outside government service 5 33.

His family initially sees him as a prospective political or military successor. By the New Year reunion, his grandfather accepts his preference for business and assures him that the family’s preferred career paths remain available if he later changes his mind 33 50.

Appearance

• Handsome and youthful: His looks attract attention both at university and in business meetings 8 13.
• Distinguished bearing: Fine clothing and confident conduct make his wealthy background apparent before others learn his identity 8.
• Improving physique: Regular exercise after rebirth makes his previously faint abdominal muscles clearly defined and his build noticeably stronger 6 28.
• Previous-life condition: Years of overwork left him bald, with a beer belly and poor health 2.

Personality

Lin’s second life is driven by remorse, but his affection is usually expressed through teasing, gifts, and practical help rather than solemn declarations. He eats Qin Chi Chi’s overly sweet porridge without complaint, becomes emotional when reunited with his family, and gently draws his grandfather away from work to join the household gathering 6 29 48 49.

He is composed and calculating in political matters. His father finds his advice more polished than his own, while Lin carefully controls which evidence reaches investigators to avoid destabilizing the province or harming his father’s prospects. He also recognizes that some friendships are motivated by the Lin Family’s influence and maintains them when an outright rupture would be imprudent 12 16 24 50.

Although he repeatedly wants to “coast,” he is decisive when protecting his family or pursuing a promising opportunity. He delegates routine work, avoids unnecessary meetings, and prefers setting a company’s direction to handling every detail himself 5 34 35.

His concern for others coexists with romantic selfishness. He insists on keeping all five women in his life, delays encounters between them, and avoids formally confirming Qin Chi Chi as his girlfriend because doing so would restrict his involvement with others. His blunt admission that he is messaging Liu Shuang’er during a date also reveals that his renewed attentiveness does not always amount to tact 7 18 32.

Abilities & Skills

Enhanced Memory and Foreknowledge

Following rebirth, Lin discovers that he can recall events from decades earlier simply by thinking about them 2.

• Remembers political scandals, hidden evidence, future company success, and the defective Lishui Dam 8 15 26.
• Reproduces more than a hundred songs and draws on remembered clothing designs from subsequent decades 16 28.
• Anticipates harm to Li Si Han and manipulation of his sister before those events repeat 15 28.
• Recognizes that his interventions have moved relationships ahead of their original timeline, making future romantic conflicts less predictable 18.

Political Strategy

His decades of previous-life government service give him experience far beyond that expected of a university student 5 12.

• Refines his father’s plan by using lesser charges to hold Ding Qiushan while central investigators assemble the stronger case 12.
• Warns about violent retaliation and recommends surveillance of Ding’s allies and stronger personal security 12.
• Distributes selected evidence to provincial and municipal leaders to isolate Ding without making every compromised official fear exposure 22.
• Proposes public fundraising, donor recognition, and published accounts to finance urgent dam repairs 32.
• Identifies potential advancement opportunities in remote military postings for Lin Huguo 49.

Investment and Financing

Lin combines knowledge of future growth with the credibility supplied by his family’s standing 8 18.

• Secures early stakes in Tencent/Penguin, Wangzhu, Qiandu, and Soumao 25 28.
• Uses share-transfer-before-payment agreements, then pledges the shares for bank loans to fund the investments 18 25 28.
• Insists on a documented loan assessment rather than accepting an unchecked favor from the bank manager 25.
• Later rejects additional leverage because political enemies could use overdue loans or banking pressure to collapse his company 46.
• His Tencent/Penguin holding provides dividend rights, not decision-making rights 39.

Manufacturing and Marketing

Lin develops a productive business rather than relying solely on long-term investments and intellectual property 26.

• Hires designers for strong technical fundamentals so they can execute the successful styles he remembers 28.
• Requires garments to pass two or three quality inspections before warehousing 39.
• Promotes the Beauty Series through flyers, print and television advertising, and street events featuring models 39.
• Uses limited availability to preserve the brand’s image while expanding production capacity 39.
• Builds a distributor network and uses sales results to identify employees worth developing 41.
• Postpones perfume and cosmetics production because he lacks the technical knowledge and would need expensive laboratories 43.

Delegation and Use of Connections

Lin relies on specialists rather than claiming their skills as his own 1 16.

• Entrusts surveillance to Uncle Li and covert evidence retrieval to operatives trained by his grandfather 1 15 16.
• Trains Fang Miaoke through an experienced secretary and later recruits Li Si Han to share the workload 20 43 44.
• Selects a suitably ranked Magic City contact to protect Penguin without unnecessarily involving a more powerful figure 40.
• Recognizes that family-supplied employees are not necessarily loyal to him personally and wants his own trusted team in key positions 16 17.

Business Holdings & Financial Milestones

Holding / Milestone	Chapter	Details
Startup registration	9	Registers a company initially described as focusing on internet businesses and real estate.
Galaxy Group	10	Uses its rented offices for the Penguin investment discussions; employees recognize him as their boss.
Tencent/Penguin investment negotiations	9 10	Offers US$2.5 million for 40%, raises the bid to US$2.7 million, then accepts Brother Ma’s reduction to US$2.3 million and signs a letter of intent.
Song copyrights and domains	16 17	Produces more than a hundred remembered songs and has their copyrights registered; plans to acquire promising website domains early.
Tencent stake and first major loan	25	The later share-transfer account records a 20% stake. He pledges it for a 20-million-yuan loan at 5.3% annual interest, with approximately 16 million needed for the company’s funding.
First garment factory	28	Purchases a factory near the expressway for 530,000 yuan, including buildings, machinery, land, and workforce. Its stated capacity exceeds 100,000 garments per month.
Wangzhu, Qiandu, and Soumao	28 29	Receives 15% of each company. Arranges loans of 10 million, 12 million, and 9 million yuan respectively, then directs Fang Miaoke to transfer funding to them.
Beauty Series launch	39	Sells approximately 8,000–9,000 garments on its first day, generating over 100,000 yuan in revenue.
Distribution expansion	42	Reports over 40 million yuan earned within several days from distribution rights, wholesale orders, and retail sales.
Goddess of the Luo River Series	42	Plans a premium clothing line with prices starting at 588 yuan, alongside a full day of national broadcasting advertising.
Luxury-goods expansion	43	Prioritizes building his own businesses in clothing, bags, shoes, and jewelry rather than seeking more small investments.
Factory network	46 47	Expands to more than a dozen factories; estimates capacity to employ over 5,000 workers, potentially 10,000 with two shifts.
Lin Group valuation	47 50	Reaches approximately 100 million yuan within a month, later reported as exceeding that figure. One design’s rights sell for tens of millions.

Relationships

Family

• Lin Jianguo — Father, initially Haikou’s municipal Party secretary and later deputy governor. Lin prevents the framing scheme, becomes his confidential adviser, and proposes solutions to infrastructure and unemployment crises. Jianguo supports his career choice while insisting that he protect the family’s reputation 4 12 32 46 47 50.
• An Mingyue — Mother and a Culture Department deputy director in the imperial capital. Her previous-life death strengthens his resolve to safeguard the family; she entrusts Weiyi to his care and encourages his relationship with Qin Chi Chi 27 31 34.
• Lin Qingzhou — Younger brother. Lin expects him eventually to enter politics and carry on the family’s influence, allowing Lin himself to remain in business 5 29.
• Lin Weiyi — Younger sister. He arranges her transfer to Haikou to separate her from a future manipulative boyfriend, gives her gifts, and balances protection with promises not to control her unnecessarily 27 28 31 34.
• Grandfather — Decorated former soldier, family patriarch, and source of military connections and covert operatives. Lin is deeply attached to him; their reunion brings Lin to tears, and his grandfather ultimately accepts his business ambitions 16 48 49 50.
• Tang Ningxue — Grandmother. Welcomes him home with affectionate concern about whether he has lost weight 48.
• Lin Huguo / Fourth Uncle — Paternal uncle, army division commander, and senior colonel. Lin supports his request for a remote posting as a route to broader experience and future advancement 47 49 50.

Romantic Connections and Employees

• Qin Chi Chi — Wife in his previous life and a central romantic interest after rebirth. He seeks to make up for his former neglect through companionship, reassurance, and gifts, but deliberately avoids formal commitment while pursuing other women 2 7 30 32.
• Liu Shuang’er — Devoted previous-life companion whom he originally rescued from thugs. She followed him to his university and later his rural posting despite his earlier rejection. In the new life, he attends her dance performance and reciprocates her affection 5 6 35 38 44.
• Fang Miaoke — Personal secretary and an important connection brought into his life earlier than before. He pays for her father’s treatment, assists with her education, and supplies work clothes and a phone. Her gratitude and admiration gradually develop into romantic feelings and jealousy 17 18 20 39 42 46.
• Li Si Han — University classmate and later secretary. Lin intervenes against the people responsible for her remembered future ordeal, funds her father’s treatment, and arranges family protection. She accepts employment after he reassures her that the arrangement will remain professional and respect her boundaries 15 16 37 43 44.

Allies and Opponents

• Uncle Li, the driver — His father’s driver and his grandfather’s former bodyguard. Lin trusts his proven loyalty with the secret recording operation and offers to help his son Xiao Hua enter a good elementary school 1 4.
• Qiangzi — Associate who coordinates covert evidence retrieval, delivery to investigators, and distribution to officials 15 18 22.
• Brother Ma — Tencent/Penguin founder and business partner. Their rapport begins during investment negotiations; Lin later protects the company from Ximen Wentian’s pressure 10 21 40 41.
• Wu Daojun — Penguin representative who first gives Lin flowers to comfort Qin Chi Chi, then introduces him at the investment meeting 7 8 9 10.
• Bank Manager Li — Financing partner whose eagerness to cultivate Lin leads to favorable loans. Lin requires him to assess the transactions properly 25 28.
• Uncle Li, the Magic City official — Former commander under Lin’s grandfather and fourth-ranking municipal official. He acts against the Ximen family after Lin requests help; he is distinct from Lin’s driver 40.
• Wang Defa — His father’s old classmate and a participant in the loan-guarantee trap. Lin obtains a recording exposing his intention to frame Jianguo 1 4.
• Ding Qiushan — His father’s political rival and a central target of Lin’s interventions. Lin retrieves and selectively distributes evidence to prevent Ding’s previous-life retaliation from recurring 12 15 16 22.
• Ximen Wentian — Attempts to force Penguin into submission by cutting utilities and internet access. Lin’s intervention leads to his apology and a one-million-yuan compensation payment to the company 40 41.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Arc	Lin Chao Ci’s Role	Outcome / Position
Preventing his father’s downfall	Orders surveillance of Wang Defa, exposes the betrayal, and improves the strategy against Ding Qiushan 1 4 12.	The corruption case concludes rapidly, and Lin Jianguo joins the provincial leadership 24 25.
Protecting Li Si Han	Remembers her father’s workplace injury and her subsequent assault-related escape and lasting injuries. Accelerates the Ding investigation and arranges treatment and protection for her family 15 16.	Li later thanks him and joins his company as a secretary 37 44.
Lishui Dam crisis	Warns his father of the coming rainy-season collapse and proposes a transparent public fundraiser when repair money is unavailable 26 27 32.	His father agrees to inspect the dam and approves the fundraising proposal; completed repairs are not documented in the supplied chapters 27 32.
Lin Weiyi’s school transfer	Persuades his parents to move her closer to him, away from the childhood friend who exploited her in his former life 28 31.	She enrolls in Haikou City No. 1 High School, with two family members secretly placed on staff for protection 34 35.
Penguin’s confrontation with the Ximen family	Calls an appropriately ranked family contact rather than escalating unnecessarily 40.	Ximen Wentian apologizes and compensates Penguin, strengthening Brother Ma’s trust in Lin 41.
Provincial worker-placement crisis	Offers his expanding factories as part of a solution for roughly 30,000 laid-off workers, alongside compensation and other placements 46.	Demonstrates enough business scale to employ thousands and astonishes his father with the company’s valuation 47.
New Year homecoming	Reunites with his extended family, supports Lin Huguo’s transfer, and explains his business ambitions 47 48 49 50.	Gains his grandfather’s acceptance of his chosen career and agrees to meet old acquaintances despite recognizing their ulterior motives 50.

Notable Quotes

“This time, I want it all. I'll make them happy and give those women the very best.” 1

“I've gotten a fresh start. There's still time for everything. In this life, I won't let anyone down!” 4

“Even if I get stabbed ten thousand times, I, Lin Chao Ci, will still be that scumbag! I want all five of them!” 18