When Shen Zhiwei wakes, the groom is dead beneath her bed. The red wedding candles are still burning, but the groom lies dead in the bridal chamber. The guests’ sobs have barely faded when she is accused of murdering her husband.
A modern graduate of a top science and engineering university, she understands physics, recognizes mechanisms, and knows how to reason things out. Yet she transmigrates into the body of a powerless concubine-born daughter of a disgraced official in a fictional ancient dynasty. To protect herself, she has no choice but to start with a wine cup, a brazier, and a sealed window, and uncover the truth behind the wedding-night murder with her own hands.
He is a refined, elegant clerk in the county yamen, dressed in white, and a modern humanities graduate like her. Well versed in history and the laws and institutions of the past, he excels at finding weaknesses in people’s hearts and the balance of power.
She uses science and engineering to verify the truth; he uses history to see through people.
One trusts evidence, the other understands human nature. One dares to examine corpses and investigate cases; the other is skilled at planning and strategy. They only mean to survive in a troubled era, but their investigations lead from a small-town murder to a secret case in the capital, from a wronged woman’s case to an old conspiracy hidden deep within the palace.
Behind every seemingly isolated murder lies the same invisible thread. Shen Zhiwei thinks that if she can clear her name, she’ll be able to live in peace. Then she discovers that their transmigration was no accident, and that a secret capable of overturning the world lies at the heart of this fictional dynasty.
Xie Linyuan once tells her with a smile, “Miss Shen, I’m working with you only because we’re useful to each other.”
Later, amid flashing blades and locked palace gates, he steps in front of her and says softly,
“Until the truth is clear, I’ll be your blade.”
This is an encounter that begins with a murder, and a love that takes the world as its chessboard.
A case reveals the human heart; a game of intrigue reveals the depth of love.
