In Tianjin in 1920, Shen Yanqing, the young owner of the Canal Chamber of Commerce, was high-spirited and had a dream of saving the country through industry, so he made an engagement with Su Wanqing. However, in the chaotic world of warlords, Chamber of Commerce deputy Zhao Huaian, Zhili marshal Lu, and prosecutor Zhou Jingzhi all had their own agendas and tried to frame him by forging "secret letters of collaboration with the enemy."
Shen Yanqing's family was ruined overnight and he was imprisoned in the lower reaches of the Haihe River. When he was desperate, he met Gu Henian, the former Qing military minister who had been wronged, and was able to teach him knowledge. He also learned that the secret of the former dynasty's silver hidden in the top of the Jade Emperor in Taishan.
During the war in Anhui Province, Shen Yanqing escaped from prison, found the treasure based on the "Analects of Confucius" code, and vowed revenge. After that, he transformed into the Nanyang industrialist Lu Mingyuan and the counselor Mr. Mo, and traveled among Tianjin business circles, warlords and Cao Gang: he set up a trap to ruin Zhao Huaian's reputation, exposed Marshal Lu's corruption and led to his sudden death, and turned Zhou Jingzhi into a crazy beggar.
After taking revenge, Shen Yanqing saw the children in the school dying of hunger and starvation during the war, and realized Gu Henian's last words of "saving the people." He entrusted the remaining treasures to others to run schools and provide disaster relief, and left Tianjin by boat. The tide of the Haihe River ebbs and flows, Su Wanqing guards the school, and the sound of children's reading drowns out the guns - in the darkness, hope has already sprouted.
This is a legend of the troubled times in Beiyang. It contains the joy of revenge and the regret of love. It also describes a person's awakening from "for himself" to "for the public", making people remember Shen Yanqing of Tianjin Wei who never lost his conscience.
