Shadow Puppetry, Season One

People say that Shen Jinghong, seventh-generation inheritor of the Shen family's shadow puppetry, has a pair of hands that can entrance the soul.

Behind the screen, in the shifting lamplight, those hands command armies and perform every joy and sorrow, every parting and reunion.

Lu Zheng first met Shen Jinghong late one night in an old theater. Facing an empty audience, the man performed a scene from The Peony Pavilion, his water sleeves fluttering and his eyes sparkling, as though the seats below were full.

Only later did Lu Zheng discover that the theater was haunted. Shen Jinghong wasn't putting on a show. He was guiding spirits across.

One is a retired special police officer who believes in fists, not ghosts. The other is an eccentric performer who seems gentle but is actually distant.

At first, Lu Zheng asked, "Can you make any money doing this?"

Shen Jinghong smiled. "It keeps me alive."

Then one day, Lu Zheng found a vicious claw mark had appeared on his chest for no reason, just like the talons of the evil spirits in shadow plays. Seeing the wound, Shen Jinghong's fingers trembled. For the first time, he lost his composure.

"Twelve years ago, I lost someone in a fire. The birthmark on your back is exactly like his."

Behind the screen, what is human and what is ghost? What is play and what is real?

The threads of a marionette stretch from one end to the past life, and from the other, they bind the present.