There are three things you must never do in Linjiang City.
Don't pass the Moonlit Pavilion at night. If you hear someone call out for Hongxiao, don't look back. And if the woman onstage smiles at you, don't answer her.
Because she died a year ago.
Now, strange birds call her name in the human world, civet beasts echo the voices of different people from the darkness, and crimson-black insects lurk in rotten wood, guarding a hidden passage that should not exist.
Evil men die on their knees one after another. The people shut their doors and burn incense, while the authorities go along with the story and leave every explanation to "retribution."
Only Xiao Chengyan senses that something is wrong.
Following the voices, he and Pei Wujiu enter the pavilion. A wisp of fragrance leads them to an apothecary, and a handwritten journal leads them to a wrongful case from a year ago.
But learning how the "ghost play" is staged is only the first step.
The real danger is not the corpse onstage that refuses to rot, but the living man in the courtroom who smiles and tells everyone, "This case is closed."
In this city, strange beasts may not harm people, but those beneath official robes may not have a shred of humanity.
See how an easygoing prince untangles a murder case from the city's ghost stories, one that must never be buried again.
This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.
