A shattered glass lamp, a century old, illuminates two fated lives stained with blood.
Modern artifact restorer Shen Yanqing was born with six fingers. Whenever her fingertips touch an antiquity, she sees visions. While restoring a glass lamp that records an arson case at a Republican-era opera troupe, she sees the reflection of Shen Huansha, a sword-wielding female performer whose face was horribly disfigured in 1935. As the lamp flame flickers, two eras quietly overlap: antidepressants become porcelain vials of wound medicine, and bloodstains beneath a microscope correspond to secret messages embroidered with glowing butterfly dust.
Opera troupe owner Lu Zhao transforms into the cold-blooded killer Second Master Lu on the night of the full moon. Security consultant Lu Chen hides a violent personality beneath his gentle exterior. When museum artifacts spontaneously combust, they point to a series of long-buried murders. Meanwhile, the warlord Cheng Hongzhen's “lamp oil” narcotics spread through the shadows, turning the opera stage into a battlefield of spies. Love and suspicion across a century intertwine in the lamplight: Lu Chen's grandfather's diary contains a baby photo of Shen Yanqing, while Lu Zhao's gun is aimed at Shen Huansha's brow.
The blood-red lamp ritual begins, and the barriers between eras shatter. An old scar on deputy curator Cheng Shiyao's palm begins to burn as the memories of a century-old warlord surge back to life. The catastrophe binding the twin timelines, it turns out, stems from the same greedy soul. Shen Yanqing crosses back through the sea of flames and merges with Shen Huansha's spirit; Lu Chen and Lu Zhao stand shoulder to shoulder across time. When the authentic lamp melts away, a love letter that has endured for a century appears in the embers: “Lend me thirty years, and I'll give you half a lifetime of love.”
Amid the cracks in ancient artifacts and the smoke of war over the opera stage, this is a love story across time, fighting destiny for the ones they cherish.
