In the mid-Ming Dynasty, the Yangzhou section of the canal.
Su Zhuoying, a small official in Chaoguan, found a copy of "Chu Ci" handwritten when he was a child in a seized private salt boat. In the blank space of the book page, someone used alum water to secretly write a message - when it is dry, it will be invisible, but when it is wet, it will be visible. That was the first message left to him by an old friend who had been missing for ten years.
Xie Canglang, the daughter of Yan Xiao, jumped into the river at the age of twelve and disappeared. Ten years later, he returned under the pseudonym "Zhuolang" and became the largest private salt gang owner in the lower reaches of the canal.
An official and a bandit. Old feelings are unresolved, but new hatreds have been established.
He investigated her, but she avoided him; he seized all her salt ships, but she accused him of being an accomplice in court. The two faced each other tit for tat in the courtroom, and tried to argue in the dark alley. On the canal, the sails are like knives; in the prison, old dreams are like tides. However, what is more unpredictable than the strife in the officialdom is the people's hearts; what is more turbulent than the undercurrent of private affairs is the old oath.
Wash your tassel when it is clear and wash your feet when it is turbid. Some words have been kept in my heart for ten years, and some people have been with me for half their lives once they met.
"The water in Canglang is clear, so I can wash my tassel; the water in Canglang is turbid, so I can wash my feet."
But the purity and turbidity in this world are never limited to water.
