A Chen, a food delivery driver, has a secret in his life: a crescent-shaped mark on his left temple that grows hot whenever he touches old objects. He also dreams of bizarre, unreal scenes: an old man in Taoist robes, a silhouette embedded in a tree, a token engraved with red patterns...
By chance, he finds half a jade pendant in an old cabinet in his rented room, and from then on, he is drawn into a bond that spans a century. The shadows of the Mirror Realm, fragments of the "Dustbone Tokens" scattered across the human world, the legacy of the Mark Keepers, debts hidden in memories... Clues that seemed unrelated slowly weave into a web, ensnaring the fates of A Chen, his grandfather Chen Xuan, the mysterious old woman Wang Po, and A Wu, a young man in a blue uniform.
From a dry well in a mass grave to the forbidden grounds of Qingyun Temple, from the ghostly blue flames of the Soul-Calming Lantern to the red-thread paper figures beneath the old locust tree, A Chen slowly comes to understand on his search for the truth: the so-called "debts" are never burdens. They are warmth hidden in the passage of time: the money Wang Po never collected for wontons, the extra chili A Wu always adds to grilled kidneys, the concern his grandfather tucked into osmanthus cakes, and the light every ordinary person refuses to let go out.
This is a story about protection and reconciliation. When the red patterns of the Dustbone Tokens illuminate every lingering obsession, you'll discover that the past that once frightened you will eventually become your gentlest memory, accompanying you through the everyday joys of life, year after year.
