[Two male leads] [Republican Era] [Restoration of ancient books] [The greater good of the nation]
Shanghai’s French Concession, 1940. In a dilapidated book restoration shop, Shen Huaimo spends day after day among damaged pages. Poor and taciturn, he lives among old books, thinking he’ll quietly pass his whole life this way.
Then, on the first day of every month, Gu Yunjing’s secretary begins delivering an ancient book. Gu Yunjing is the uncrowned king of Shanghai’s banking world. He never shows up in person, leaving only a note: “I’d be grateful if you could take care of this, Mr. Shen.”
Shen Huaimo knows Gu Yunjing doesn’t truly care about these books. He’s simply using this arrangement to give him a respectable income. Shen Huaimo keeps this kindness in his heart, copying a Song dynasty poem in tiny calligraphy on a slip of paper tucked into each book, as a hopeless reply.
The political situation changes abruptly, and Gu Yunjing is placed under house arrest by the Japanese puppet regime. He has a trusted aide risk his life to deliver a message: “Tell Mr. Shen there’s a Record of Metal and Stone that urgently needs restoring.” Shen Huaimo understands at once: it’s a code. Drawing on his knowledge of ancient books, he finds a map and a cipher hidden in the volume, then joins the underground resistance in a rescue mission.
On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, after the crisis has passed, Gu Yunjing steps into the bookshop for the first time. He sees all the poems Shen Huaimo has written over the past three years but never sent, and says softly, “Huaimo, from now on, I’ll be the one to receive your letters.”
The most romantic thing is that every book I restore for you holds the one secret I’ve never shared with anyone else. Between the pages lies the only feeling I dare put into words. In these turbulent times, there is only one address I never have to send: the recipient is already standing right in front of me.
