In the winter of the thirty-fourth year of Beiqing, Song Qixuan, the legitimate daughter of the capital’s Assistant Minister Song, died in a ruined temple west of the city. Beneath her skirt was a note: She has come to fulfill a wish.
When she opened her eyes again, her soul had taken refuge in the body of Lan Xier, the daughter of an assistant prefect in Yuhuai County, a thousand miles away. Three years earlier, the original girl had caught her father conspiring with rebels. She had lost her mind and endured endless humiliation.
She thought she had merely returned to life in another body, but then discovered that her death in her previous life, her survival in this one, the dry well beneath Jinci Temple, and the mysterious deaths of women over the years were all tied to a single Soul-Returning Pearl.
The pearl had swallowed countless lives and drawn her across a thousand miles to meet one person.
A world-shaking game was unfolding in secret. She, he, four dead souls, and an ancient tomb’s spirit pearl were all pieces on the board.
Someone in the shadows waited patiently to close the net.
Whose wish, exactly, had she come to fulfill?
This book is a story that I developed bit by bit. From the characters' smiles to the layers of conspiracy, I tried my best to write with tension and warmth. The protagonist has weaknesses as well as strengths. He is not stupid and sweet, nor does he forcefully cheat. He relies on his mind and forbearance to break through the game step by step. The plot contains the pull of house fighting, the undercurrent of conspiracy, and the emotional thread hidden in the details. I prefer to bury the foreshadowing in daily life, so that the reversal is reasonable and unexpected, without adding water or procrastination. Each paragraph paves the way for the overall situation that follows. When writing it, what I cared about most was that the characters stood up, the logic made sense, and the emotions were real. Some people see it as fun, some see it as deep love, and some see it as step-by-step calculation. No matter what kind of reader you are, I hope you can read a little bit of heartbeat, a little bit of tension, and a little bit of unfinished meaning in this story. It's not a perfect book, but it's honest enough. I hope you have something to look forward to when you open the book and feel it was worth it when you close it.