Shen Yan, an ancient book restorer, has been most obsessed with the unexplained secrets in the fragments of his life. While repairing the Song Dynasty's only copy of "Star Orbit Divination" late at night, he cut his fingertip on the ice-cracked copper bookmark hidden in the page. The moment blood seeped into the indentation of the star map, star orbits resonated and time and space folded.
When he opened his eyes again, he had fallen into the Xining period of the Northern Song Dynasty and became a poor bookstore apprentice in Bianjing City. The copper bookmark around his waist circulates with the stars, allowing him to "see" the incomplete words in ancient books, and even touch the author's creative obsession thousands of years ago.
At this time, the new law was implemented, the court was in chaos, the book industry was withering, and counterfeit books were rampant. Shen Yan relied on modern restoration techniques and the extraordinary power of copper bookmarks. He first repaired a damaged volume of the "Tea Book" and shocked Bianliang with his "bringing back to life" book repairing skills.
What he restored was not only the original copy, but also the truth that had been buried by the years: he glimpsed the hidden dangers of the reform from the secret files of the palace, found clues to the conspiracy from the folk tales, worked side by side with the craftsmen in the movable type printing workshop, and debated scriptures with the great Confucians in Chongwen Academy.
A copper sign connects the past and present; a star map determines the universe. Shen Yan used paper as the blade and ink as the edge, and wrote a legend of his own in the Song Dynasty, when the literary rule was at its peak.
