An unexpected collapse of an archaeological site caused Lin Wei, a graduate student in the 21st century history department, to travel to Taiyuan City during the Guangxu period. By chance, she stepped into the Qiao family compound with gray bricks and gray tiles as the "distant niece of the Qiao family", where the secrets of centuries-old business were hidden.
When she first arrived, she encountered a crisis in the Qiao family - the business was burned, the Cao Gang made things difficult, the foreign businessman Andre colluded with the government to frame "smuggling arms", and the century-old Shanxi business foundation was on the verge of collapse. At the critical moment, Lin Wei relied on modern historical knowledge and chemical detection skills to expose the grain adulteration conspiracy, used fireworks to disrupt the foreign gun team's position, and even used a "Secret Record of Water Transport in the Late Qing Dynasty" to clear the grievances of Qiao Yu, the young master of the Qiao family.
Qiao Yu, a leader of Shanxi merchants who has the mission of "protecting the Qiao family", has superb swordsmanship but is trapped in the whirlpool of intrigue. At first, he had doubts about this "niece" with "weird words and deeds", but he was moved by her calm resourcefulness and tenacity in life and death: in the bloody battle at the pier, she used abacus beads as a hidden weapon to protect him; in the casino breakout, she disguised herself as a beggar to follow the clues; in the Canglang Valley exploration, she cracked the thousand-year rune and opened the secret room. The two hearts transcended the barriers of time and space, and gradually changed from "cooperating to break the situation" to "depending on each other for life and death."
But the crisis is far from over. Behind the frame-up of the Qiao family, there is a bigger conspiracy: the key-shaped jade pendant on the waist of the mysterious man, the red circle mark on the defense map, the Kangxi seal hidden in the jade tripod, the restoration ambitions of a branch of the royal family... When the secret of the "Jade Seal" comes to light, the Qiao family is no longer just a pawn in the chess game of the business war, but also involved in the huge wave of imperial power changes.
