Introduction to the novel
During the Jiayou period of the Northern Song Dynasty, water transportation was busy and Bianjing was like a dream. Ye Zhiqiu, a scholar from Jiangxi Province, went to Beijing to take the exam with his family's expectations on his back. He only read the books of sages and sages, believing that knowledge can help the world. On the banks of the Ezhou River, he accidentally met Jiang Yan, a cunning and wise son of the Jianghu whose origins are a mystery. A strange "Beauty Pa" incident tied the fate of the two people together and they went to the capital together.
The prosperous Bianjing is not only the pinnacle of civilization, but also a whirlpool of desires and secrets. The strange "loss" of grain at the wharf, the secret clues of aristocratic women's embroidered handkerchiefs, the subtle intrigues among the imperial examination scholars, the vague fluctuations in the direction of the court... The idealistic scholar and the sophisticated "jianghu consultant" were forced to form a strange partnership.
Ye Zhiqiu seeks order in classic principles, while Jiang Yan discerns the truth in market rules. From the Caohe scandal to the mysterious trace of the embroidered handkerchief, from becoming famous in the imperial examination to the undercurrent, they wander between the study and the market, rules and reason. Under the prosperity of the prosperous age, clues lead to a larger chess game. While climbing the imperial examination ladder, the two gradually approached a secret related to the government and themselves.
This is a slowly unfolding "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" style scroll of Bianjing style. It is also a pair of contrasting partners exploring the "official career" of the Northern Song Dynasty. See how the simple scholar and his companions in the world find their own way forward in their own way, between ideals and reality, human relationships and rules, and try to solve the real mysteries under the light and shadow of the prosperous age.
