A Cold Inkstone Meets a Playful Young Lord

Gu Yan, a gifted modern history student, transmigrates by chance through a fragment of an ancient text into the fictional dynasty of Zhaoning, where she becomes the legitimate daughter of the Gu family of Yunjing. The original Gu Yan died after falling from a building while entangled in a family secret, and the new Gu Yan is driven from her home under the slanderous label of “kin-killer.” Cold and aloof, she unexpectedly becomes bound to Xie Zhao, a traveling merchant who seems carefree but is actually perceptive. From mutual disdain, they come to work together to unravel the mystery of the Gu family’s blood curse. The original Gu Yan’s cousin, Zhou Chengli, has lived in her shadow since childhood and been sidelined for the sake of the family’s interests. Gradually turning from a gentle young man into a villain, he sets a trap that draws the pair into the maelstrom of a dynastic upheaval, ultimately meeting destruction amid love and hatred. Told in the first person, the story uses clues from the ancient text fragments to link individual fates with the political game shaping the realm. There is no golden finger: everything comes down to wit and the struggle of human nature.