Above the Dust

Su Chen, a low-level clerk in the Ministry of Punishment, has been buried in piles of old papers all year round, making a living by transcribing files, and taking care of his younger sister who suffers from lung disease alone. When sorting out old cases, he discovered that there were inconsistencies in the records of the silk merchant's drowning on Wednesday. He followed the clues to find special parts of the Gewuyuan, which involved a power struggle between the "Mo Ju" and "Zheng Shuo" factions in the court. Prince Jing's faction wanted to silence him, and Su Chen was trapped in a prison. He was rescued by Lu Ji, the head of the Gewu Academy, and used his sister's life-saving medicinal materials as a bargaining chip to be used as a secret chess piece. He dealt with Zhou Jing, the Minister of Justice, and Xie Yunchi, the legitimate daughter of the Xie family, to trace the shady story of disaster relief corruption and water transportation, and unexpectedly uncovered the blood feud that caused the floods in his hometown many years ago. A small official, as tiny as dust, is trapped in a multi-faceted chess game. While seeking life for his relatives, he is exploring the many truths hidden in the files in the whirlpool of power. He is struggling to survive in the darkness, waiting for an opportunity to overturn the huge web of interests entrenched in the court. This novel and its characters are purely fictitious. Any similarity is purely coincidental and should not be imitated.