The protagonist starts off as a "falsely accused examinee", but the golden finger is not a shortcut to redress grievances and revenge, but the limited protection brought by the "Prince's Waist Card" and the opportunity to enter the border whirlpool of Liangzhou. Liangzhou was the western gate of the empire, a place where Chinese and foreigners were mixed, military towns were separated, and trade routes crisscrossed it. The protagonist started out as a teacher in a government school. While teaching, he secretly investigated the real mastermind of the fraud case. At the same time, his knowledge of classics and principles and governance practices were forced out of their true value in the frontier. What he taught was not dead books, but how to measure land, calculate military rations, and use laws to mediate disputes between Han and Hu. Three years later, he returned to Beijing for scientific examination with a "recommendation for marginal merit". However, those in the court who framed him had already laid a dragnet waiting for him to fall into the trap.
