This novel features tomb raiding, antiques appraisal, and livestreaming.
Beijing's Panjiayuan is home to countless antique secrets, and to a legend named Lin Ye. Known in the trade as "Thousand Hands," he's an expert appraiser who can date and authenticate an object with a touch. In a single "hundred-piece test," he can assess more than a hundred antiques in ten minutes. Even a national-level appraisal team comes especially to watch and learn from him.
But no one knows that two unusual "companions" also dwell inside Lin Ye: the steady Zhang Qiling, who carries the memories of a Warring States clan and can recognize rare ancient patterns at a glance, and the free-spirited Shen Yan, who knows the details of craftsmanship from every era and is the perfect assistant when appraising antiques. The three share one body and work together seamlessly, solving one mystery after another at the appraisal table: from a Han-dynasty bronze jue imitating a Warring States design, to a bronze mirror with nebula patterns concealing a clan totem, to Song-dynasty pottery shards that even archaeologists couldn't date. Behind Lin Ye's "piercing eyes" lies the secret of two souls working in harmony.
He follows the rules of his Three Lives, Good Fortune shop: no dealing in smuggled artifacts and no making money through dishonest means. Yet he keeps getting caught up in one antique-related incident after another. Someone shows up with a Warring States bronze ding to test him; someone else wants him to use an appraisal to legitimize smuggled goods; and a new archaeological discovery uncovers clues about the clans of the spirits within him. At in-person appraisals, he leaves the stalls within five hundred meters of Panjiayuan deserted. During livestreams, millions tune in to watch him expose fakes in seconds. Even archaeology experts bring him unearthed relics for advice. Through it all, he remembers that he's not just an appraiser: he's also the one person the two spirits can rely on as they search for the truth.
Antiques can speak, and spirits have memories. Lin Ye's story is hidden among the blue-gray stone slabs of Panjiayuan.
