During the Xuanhe period of the Northern Song Dynasty, after the Lantern Festival Lantern Festival in Bianjing City, bizarre murders of old officials from the previous dynasty occurred one after another. Half of the ink jade engraved with fragments of Song poems were left on the sides of the deceased. The circumstances of death were consistent with a century-old unsolved case.
Protagonist duo:
• Official Su Yan: He was demoted because he offended the powerful with his outspoken words. Although he was as sharp as a god in solving cases, he suffered from heart palpitations and difficulty breathing due to mood swings.
• Lu Xun, a secret guard: He was originally a secret guard of the Forbidden Army. His family was destroyed due to the betrayal of his colleagues. He is good at disguise and stealth and psychological games. However, he has post-traumatic stress disorder and loses control at the sight of fire.
Core conflict:
Su Yan and Lu Xun became connected because of the case, and they went from testing each other to joining forces. They discovered that the murder case was related to the "Jing'an Relics" - the relics contained a military merit fraud case from the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, which implicated the members of the imperial master of the dynasty. During the investigation, the two need to fight against the official siege, the killer's pursuit, and crack the Song Ci code, hook-bar secret room and other mysteries. At the same time, they have to overcome the crisis caused by their own shortcomings.
Climax and ending:
The climax is at the Taishi's birthday party. The two sneak into the study where the remains are hidden and trigger a series of mechanisms. Su Yan relies on palpitations to support his final reasoning. Lu Xun suppresses his stress reaction by self-mutilation and finally obtains the remains. The ending is revealed: the grand master created a series of cases to cover up the family's stain, and the unsolved case a hundred years ago was exactly what the founding emperor set up to stabilize his regime. The two men made the evidence public, the Grand Master fell, and the fog in Bianjing gradually lifted. The two men, carrying scars, continued to guard the truth in troubled times.
