Yi writer Zuo Mi returns to her hometown to gather material and uncover the secrets of the Chang family courtyard, but the villagers turn against her. She also clashes over the investigation with Chang Yue, a scholar of ancient architecture who has come to trace his roots using the family genealogy. When candles mysteriously light themselves in the old house at night and anonymous threatening letters begin arriving one after another, the two are forced to work together. While exploring the house, they trigger a mechanism and unexpectedly discover a secret message in Yi script hidden in a crack in the wall, drawing them into a century-old dispute over the family’s rightful heir. They decipher the house’s light-and-shadow mechanism and find a secret chamber, along with Yi embroidery patterns and a partition agreement. They also expose an antiques dealer’s trick of using ultrasound to make a bronze bell ring on its own. As they investigate, their mutual support in a tunnel on a rainy night, the tender moments they share while restoring embroidery in a workshop, and their heartfelt confessions in the face of death bring them from adversaries to lovers. In the end, they set a trap to expose the mastermind, Chang Yue’s academic rival, and help the old house earn recognition as intangible cultural heritage. Combining “restoring the old as it was” with “living heritage,” they breathe new life into the courtyard and pledge themselves to each other in a traditional Yi ceremony. Five years later, the courtyard has become a cultural research center, but a lost ancient text returned from overseas raises a new mystery in their tale of preservation.
