Shen Yanchuan was born in a family of historians in the Southern Liang Dynasty. He inherited his father's business and entered the Secret Pavilion to take charge of compiling the history of the country. However, when compiling "Notes on Living Life", he discovered a shocking gap - the record of the late emperor's "died due to illness" was incompatible with the rumors about the palace. The power of powerful ministers and relatives was using pen and ink to tamper with the past, just like the dilemma of history books when Ban Gu was involved in the Dou Xian case.
Using a broken inkstone as a token, he followed the clues in the pile of old papers: he found secret edicts written in blood in the cracks in the walls of abandoned prisons, uncovered the secrets of military conflicts in the remains of border beacons, and while dealing with spies who coveted historical materials, he glimpsed the decaying texture of the dynasty under its glorious coat. Every scratch made by the pen tip on the bamboo slips is not only evidence to complete the historical facts, but also an edge in the game of power. Just as Fan Ye was demoted to Xuancheng and still persisted in writing the "Book of the Later Han" in a straight line, Shen Yanchuan finally used his life's pen and ink as bait to fish out the truth of the dynasty that was deliberately buried, leaving traces in the history and letting the loyal soul shine.
