In Republican-era Beiping, the antiques trade hides blades beneath its polished surface. Shen Qingci, an orphan from Jiangnan, returns carrying half of a coded jade fragment. Under an assumed name, she approaches Fu Yanzhi, the “Jade-Faced Yama” who rules Beiping’s antiques world, and the “son of her enemy” on her list of those to avenge.
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She advances step by step, relying on her talent for appraising antiques, while he hides his indulgence of her behind a cold facade. Their contests over authenticity at the appraisal table become a tug-of-war over their hearts.
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When a blood feud between families collides with the secrets of their birth, and the blade of revenge is swept into the torrents of a world at war, they finally understand that this calculated approach has long since made each other the most precious treasure in their lives. When the two halves of the jade fragment are reunited, they reveal not only a list of national treasures, but also the rekindled warmth of two souls who go from clashing at every turn to standing by each other through life and death amid turbulent times.
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From a hunt for treasure in Tokyo to an adventure at a Jiangnan kiln, from rallying allies in northern Jiangsu to rebuilding in Beiping, the two lead scattered artisans, including Master Zhang, an inheritor of the Su-style ceramic kintsugi tradition, and Luo Amei, a Yunnan purple-clay potter. With carving knives as blades and kiln fire as armor, they piece together shattered relics amid a hail of bullets, while also mending the threads of civilization torn apart by war.
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After the war, Yuheng Studio becomes a hub for reviving cultural traditions. A Yi youth, A Yi Gu, carries on the story of Han-Yi cultural exchange through purple pottery. Gu Wang, a student returned from overseas, brings laser technology together with traditional kintsugi. A young girl, A Liu, blends industrial slag into the glazes of antique porcelain, giving old crafts new wings. From restoring the “Harmony” porcelain panel with kintsugi to uncovering historical truths through the “Seeing the Truth” panel, from an internationally collaborative restoration of a Yongle blue-and-white bowl to a “time capsule” buried underground,
