The Brocade Mystery Files
At the height of the Great Chu dynasty, the realm appears peaceful and prosperous, but beneath the surface, undercurrents churn. Su Yu, a renowned investigator in the capital, is a peerless swordsman with a keen mind. A bizarre murder draws him into a shocking conspiracy.
The Vice Minister of Rites suddenly dies at home in a grisly manner. Strange purple marks cover his body. It looks like poisoning, yet there are no signs of any known toxin. The only clue at the scene is an exquisitely embroidered handkerchief, with a mysterious pattern stitched in one corner, seemingly some kind of secret mark. Su Yu is assigned to investigate, and his inquiries uncover all manner of sordid affairs within the vice minister's household: wives and concubines vying for favor, and advisers scheming for personal gain. Everyone is a suspect, yet there is not enough evidence to accuse anyone.
As the investigation deepens, more similar murders occur in the homes of powerful nobles. The victims are all people of consequence, and each is connected to the mysterious handkerchief. Along the way, Su Yu meets Lin Wan, an intelligent and quick-witted woman skilled in medicine and embroidery. She can decipher unusual clues from the victims' subtle symptoms and the patterns on the handkerchiefs. Working together, they gradually uncover a mysterious force using embroidery as its mark to link people throughout the court, apparently plotting to overthrow the court and control the realm's political affairs.
Their pursuit takes them from the capital's narrow alleys to the Jiangnan region, where embroidery workshops abound. They discover that many workshops have been drawn into the scheme, secretly producing special embroidered pieces to pass along messages. More alarming still, a neighboring nation's forces have been quietly infiltrating the realm, hoping to exploit the chaos surrounding the mysterious embroidery cases and undermine Great Chu's foundations. Su Yu and Lin Wan must survive the pressure of the powerful and the pursuit of martial-world assassins while unraveling the mystery stitch by stitch. At the last possible moment, during the imperial sacrificial ceremony, they expose the conspiracy and bring the mastermind to justice, restoring integrity to the Great Chu court. Through hardship and danger, the two also fall in love and pledge themselves to one another.
