The Great Song Dynasty's Elegant Treasure Appraiser

The impoverished scholar Shen Mo bears a blood feud. To uncover the truth behind his father’s wrongful conviction, he is forced into Bianjing, a vast arena of power and profit. By chance, he awakens the gift of “a finger attuned to the spirit”: anything he touches reveals the emotional memories and secret marks it carries.

What others see as “refined bribery” is an open secret to him. What others cannot fathom of the emperor’s heart, he reads plainly in tribute porcelain. From a minor antiques appraiser to an “invisible broker” stirring up both the official and commercial worlds of the Great Song, Shen Mo uses porcelain as his blade and emotion as his game, advancing carefully at every step.

He meets two women: one is an incomparable songstress who seems worldly and clear-eyed, yet hides the deepest secrets and the purest heart; the other is a noble-born daughter of a military family who wants only to serve her country, but sees in him the very embodiment of evil.

When everyone thinks he is a crooked merchant who toys with people’s hearts, only he knows that every time he “CPU’s” an opponent, he is risking his life on a knife’s edge. As fragments of the truth shatter like celadon, what they reveal is the coming end of the Great Song. Will he become a rare, legendary piece of Ru ware, its sky-blue glaze prized for generations, or a broken shard fit only to prop up a table?