"The Ink Scroll Remains" is set in the Jiangnan imperial examination center during the Chongzhen period. Li Molin, a failed scholar, sold his examination papers to bookseller Shen Shu due to embarrassment, and was compiled into the "Remaining Pearl Collection" which contains frustrated articles. From this, he could see that Shen Shu, in the name of collecting articles, was actually preserving concealed folk history. When dynasties changed and the "History of the Ming Dynasty" was compiled by the new dynasty, the fragments of "Collection of Relics" guarded by Li Molin became the only key to inquire about the truth of history, and faced the struggle for "truth" between the temple and the rivers and lakes.
