Reborn on a rainy night, Su Qin feels the jade brush growing warm in her hand. The poisoned wine that burned its way down her throat in her previous life still sears her memory, yet in this life she has to smile at Li Bing, the “savior” offering her an umbrella. What rolls from the plane tree leaves on the art academy campus: raindrops, or the tears of babies switched at birth twenty years ago?
When the Nine Horses Galloping painting reappears in the campus competition, the plagiarist Lin Miaomiao has no idea that the lettering conceals a secret code for the Li Group's smuggling of cultural relics. As Su Qin copies the Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains in the intangible cultural heritage restoration studio, she uncovers the astonishing truth that her best friend is her half-sister.
When the young Zhao Quanzhi approaches with fragments of Ming-dynasty blue-and-white porcelain, the nanocamera hidden in a wedding ring is recording the arc of poisoned wine being poured. The moment a cave-in strikes the Dunhuang mural restoration site, the ancient jade at his neck glows faintly. As it shields them from falling rocks, it also illuminates the face of Su Qin's mother, growing hazy in her memories.
From the Ming dynasty to the present day, this thousand-year struggle to protect intangible cultural heritage finally reaches its end with the reconstruction of Along the River During the Qingming Festival. When Zhao Quanzhi's white hair tangles with the jade brush, Su Qin finally understands the unfinished words her mother spoke on her deathbed: “The ninth step in the kingfisher-feather craft is...”
