Genre: Historical Suspense Machiavellian
Era: Eleventh year of Shaoxing, Southern Song Dynasty (1141)
Location: Lin'an Prefecture (now Hangzhou)
The story begins in the autumn of the eleventh year of Shaoxing, when there was a heavy rain in Lin'an City. Su Waner, the proprietress of Qinghefang Silk and Satin Shop, was found dead in a secret room with the doors and windows locked. Her face was gray, as if she had taken poison. She clutched half a jade pendant engraved with the character "Zhang" in her hand, but hidden in her sleeve was a note written in red ink that said "Save Yue Shuai". What's even weirder is that the soles of her shoes are stained with the red mud of the Imperial City that shouldn't be present in the north of the city. Shen, the prosecutor of Dali Temple, investigated the case in the rain at night. Amidst the rustle of the rain hitting the sycamore trees, he discovered that this was not only a poisoning in a secret room, but also a carefully buried political code. When the deceased's eyes suddenly opened in the lightning and looked straight at him, Shen Ye understood that once the case was revealed, there would be no way out. . .
