[Cool and aloof ink-and-bone restorer × lone prince who feigns madness]
[Cross-temporal sensory connection | Messages carried through bone ink | Mutual salvation | A tangled web of court intrigue]
Su Yan is the only “ink-and-bone restorer” in her field, specializing in damaged ink relics. But an ancient ink stick embedded with human bone entangles her fate with that of Xiao Che, the Seventh Prince of the Great Yong. The instant her fingertip blood melts the glue, she feels the agony of him coughing blood as he carves the ink; he, in turn, feels a sudden warmth through the ink.
Xiao Che’s mother consort burned herself to death, and he was exiled as a child. After returning to the palace, he pretends to be mad and foolish, using this “bone ink” to secretly record evidence of crimes. From then on, whenever he is poisoned, her throat burns as if on fire. She draws a sun on the ink, hoping he will be safe and well; he softly thanks her through it. Their “sensory symbiosis” across a hundred years makes her the painkiller fate has given him, and him the longing she can never resolve, preserved in her ink.
When the secret of the bone ink breaks through the barriers of time and space, Su Yan unexpectedly transmigrates from the modern world into the palace of Great Yong. The two who could once only gaze at each other through the ink finally stand on the same side: she uses her modern knowledge to help him unravel the schemes, while he uses his experience of the palace’s treachery to help her find her footing in a turbulent age.
The struggle for the throne is fraught with danger. Not only does a hidden plot capable of overthrowing imperial rule lurk deep within the palace, but the bone ink is also the key to unlocking a thousand-year-old mystery. Why does it connect different eras? When the two defy the taboos of their stations and join forces in the struggle for the throne, they discover that this contest is no simple fight for imperial power. It is a hunt for the truth, spanning a hundred years and bound up in love, hatred, and conspiracy.
What moves the heart most is not comfort sent across the distance, but his carved-in-ink obsession with her safety, and her promise, after transmigrating, to face danger alongside him: “I’ll wait for you to win.” This time, they must save not only each other, but also the thousand-year-old truth buried beneath the bone ink and ambition.
