The Soul-Testing Lantern

Three years ago, Shen Zhaoye, a female coroner, uncovered the secret of how the Duke of Zhenguo’s household used poor girls to take calamities in the place of the privileged. Soon afterward, the archives room at the Court of Judicial Review went up in flames. The authorities concluded that she had altered the records and set herself on fire to avoid punishment. Xie Wujiu, a junior minister at the Court, personally signed the case’s closing document.

Three years later, on the night of the Cold Food Festival, Shen Zhaoye awakens inside an “unidentified female corpse” at a charity burial ground west of the city. She has no heartbeat, no household registration, and only fragmentary memories. All she has left are her skills as a coroner and an ancient blue lamp that still recognizes her. Examining the corpse, Shen Zhaoye finds a golden birth-date slip belonging to Qin Lingyi, the Duke of Zhenguo’s legitimate daughter. She realizes the dead woman was no ordinary maid: someone killed her in Qin Lingyi’s place, making her suffer a death that was meant for the young lady. As the investigation proceeds, Shen Zhaoye discovers that the deceased was Su He, Qin Lingyi’s personal maid. Unwilling to let anyone else die in her place, Qin Lingyi ordered Su He to steal the soul-inspection lamp and rescue Shen Zhaoye, who had been asleep for three years in a secret chamber of the duke’s residence. Once the old case is cleared, Shen Zhaoye awakens from the lamp with a real heartbeat for the first time, and regains the name and identity that are rightfully hers.