When Di Renjie first takes office as magistrate of Changping County, a string of murders strikes the small town!
News arrives from the Liulidun Inn that a merchant from Huzhou has been killed. The innkeeper, Kong Wande, cries out that he is innocent, while the local headman, Hu De, refuses to let him go.
But when Di Renjie investigates, the evidence points straight to Hu De himself!
In Huanghua Town, a woman named Zhou discovers that her son, Bi Shun, has died at home. Her behavior is strange, and her granddaughter has even been cruelly struck mute.
Zhou does everything she can to obstruct the investigation. Is she hiding a deeper secret?
Just then, a woman named Chou arrives from Liulidun to plead her case, while Hua Guoxiang accuses the scholar Hu Zuobin of poisoning his daughter-in-law...
The cases gradually converge, revealing Zhou's affair with the young men Chen Ruipeng and Xu Detai, a hidden conspiracy, and even the crimes of Wu Zetian's favorite Zhang Changzong and Xue Huaiyi, abbot of the White Horse Temple...
Duke Di follows every clue to its source, pressing forward through layers of political intrigue and peril to uncover a shocking mystery spanning both the imperial court and the common people!
