During the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty, bizarre murders occurred frequently in Shuntian Prefecture in the capital. The deceased were buried in strange postures, and a silver rouge button engraved with "Tangled Lotus" must be left beside them. Shen Yanqing, a new academician, joins the Ministry of Criminal Justice with a "Sherlock Holmes-style" dream of solving crimes. However, he repeatedly encounters obstacles because he does not understand the rules of officialdom, until he meets Su Wanqing, a widower who carries a secret. Su Wanqing became Shen Yanqing's "strongest assistant" by virtue of her "forensic-level" autopsy skills and familiarity with the three religions and schools in the capital. The two went from being "workplace enemies" who disliked each other to becoming "criminal partners" who worked together to solve the case. In the process of solving a series of strange cases such as the "Rouge Button Serial Case", "Shadow Puppet Murder Case" and "Gongcha Poisoning Case", they not only had to fight against the huge interest groups behind them, but also had to deal with the hindrance of their "pig teammates" colleagues and the unwarranted impeachment of the "keyboard warrior" censor. When all the clues pointed to an old case twenty years ago, the two discovered that each other's life experiences were closely connected to the case, and every step of their investigation pushed them into a more dangerous abyss...
