In the autumn of 1998, Lin Yanqiu enters the Chen family mansion as a private caregiver in order to clear her father's name. In this century-old house in Xiguan, she is drawn into the Chen family's power struggles for the first time, facing off with Su Manqing, He Yusheng, and Xian Huizhen as they size one another up and stay on guard. Lin Yanqiu finds her footing in the mansion, where danger lurks around every corner, and uncovers the first clues to her father's wrongful conviction, laying down all the central foreshadowing for the novel.
