What is the martial world?
Some say it is blades. Some say it is wine. Others say it is women and old grudges.
Shen Wangshu says the martial world is a table, a wooden clapper, and a cup of tea that has gone cold and been reheated.
He is the storyteller at Tingyun House. In a pale moon-white robe, his hair bound with a wooden hairpin, he speaks faster than any blade. He tells the story of a salt merchant who beats his wife until the man turns himself in. He tells how a forced marriage is doomed to fail until the wedding is called off. He travels the martial world without weapons, carrying only a wooden clapper carved with the character “Verdict” against his chest: to settle right and wrong, resolve old grudges, and put an end to evil intentions.
He does not kill. Never.
But he is surrounded by people who give him no peace: Su Yin, leader of the greatest gang in the north, is a drunk who cannot sleep unless he downs eight jin of liquor a day; Tang Nian, the second daughter of the Tang Clan, claims to have killed many people, but all she can do is poison them into unconsciousness; A Nuan, a teahouse server, is forever wiping the same bowl and forever waiting for him to return; and Jiu’er, a young cook at Spring Breeze House, has dimples when she smiles, and her osmanthus cakes can make people weep.
Now Su Yin’s Thunderclap Gang is in trouble. Someone has torn down their escort flag, and someone else is secretly using money to fund their rivals. The entire martial world of the north is on the verge of upheaval.
Shen Wangshu puts away his clapper. He is going to Cangzhou to meet a man named Meng Tieyi.
This time, there is someone who does not want to hear his story.
But he will tell it anyway.
Until that man listens.
It's a bit like the Legend of Chu Liuxiang, look at it again haha