In the third year of the Qingli era, autumn rain drizzled over Bianliang, its chill seeping to the bone. Shen Yanwei, daughter of a Suzhou cloth merchant, left home with the secret ability to “know things by examining objects.” She opened a embroidery shop called Splendid Pavilion in the city’s winding lanes, hoping to live quietly among ordinary folk. Instead, a bloodstained, pale-green embroidered handkerchief unexpectedly drew her into a series of murders.
The handkerchief’s disorderly stitches depicting withered lotus leaves, and the dried blood caught in its silk fibers, gave her a glimpse of the bloody past in a woodshed. Gu Yun, the “Young Inspector Gu” of the Judicial Review Office, followed the clues on the handkerchief to her shop, bringing his meticulous investigative skills to bear. One concealed her unusual ability and deduced the truth from the details of fabrics; the other pursued justice and hunted the killer with his experience in criminal cases. Their paths crossed through the case, and from then on they joined forces to pursue the murderer.
From the twin-fish jade pendant mystery sparked by the bloodstained handkerchief, to the conspiracy involving forbidden pigments behind the “life-taking ghost painting,” and then to the hidden power struggle surrounding an old imperial case, danger lurked behind every mystery: a killer who limped on his left foot, a shadow beneath a black veil, “Soul-Enticing Color” that could drive people mad, and the secrets hidden in the painting Night Revels. As the clues intertwined, the cases revealed not only the joys and sorrows of ordinary people, but also the secret power games of noble families.
As she investigated, Shen Yanwei gradually accepted her unusual ability, using the meticulousness she had inherited from a family of cloth merchants to provide vital clues. Gu Yun, steady and impartial as an officer of the Judicial Review Office, protected her and, as they worked together, began to fall for this outwardly gentle but inwardly strong woman from Suzhou. From a well-matched investigative team to a couple who understood each other’s hearts, they uncovered the truth behind one murder after another amid Bianliang’s rain and mist.
