Chen Yuan, who was the young leader of the merchant gang in the Northern Song Dynasty, was burned down overnight, and when he opened his eyes again, he became the useless son-in-law of the Lin family, a wealthy family in Jiangcheng.
He accepted his mother-in-law's meanness and his sister-in-law's sarcasm with humility.
Until at a family banquet, relatives of the Lin family forced him to kneel down and feed his pet dog in public.
He meekly obeyed, but his fingertips drew the secret symbols of the Northern Song Dynasty on the cold tiles.
That night, he found a Song Dynasty chilong jade pendant with burnt black edges and cracks like spider webs in an old wooden box in the corner of his study.
The moment his fingertips touched the scorch marks, he seemed to be in that all-devouring fire again.
