In Shanghai in 1927, the aftermath of the Northern Expedition was still lingering. The concessions and the Chinese border were intertwined. Gangs, foreign envoys, underground parties, Kuomintang agents and other forces were entrenched here. Old and new ideas collided, and rumors and secrets were bred in the alleys and western-style buildings.
Su Manqing, 24 years old, graduated from St. John's University in natural history. Her father was a former Qing Dynasty scholar who later went to Shanghai to run an ancient books bookstore. She died mysteriously in the backyard of the bookstore three months ago. The police determined that it was an accidental slip. However, she discovered that the half-piece of bronze talisman held by her father before his death was not an accident, so she gave up her study abroad plan and stayed in Shanghai to investigate the truth.
The father's death is related to the bronze talisman. This talisman seems to be related to the "Jiangnan Gongyuan Murder Case" twenty years ago - twelve candidates disappeared mysteriously in the Gongyuan. The files were later sealed, and my father happened to teach near Jiangnan Gongyuan when he was young. As the investigation progresses, Su Manqing discovers that everyone around her seems to be hiding secrets: the mysterious man in a long gown who always visits the bookstore late at night, the patrol captain who dodges the talismans, and even his father's most trusted apprentice during his lifetime are all vaguely related to this old case.
