The old emperor feigns illness to lure his prey. The crown prince and the third prince are locked in a bloody struggle for the throne, a border mutiny is imminent, and undercurrents churn through the court.
And at the heart of it all is Shen Wujiu, who has just placed first in the imperial examinations, only to be thrown into the death-row prison by his own beloved mentor.
A cup of poison, served as his last drink, sets a world-shaking game in motion.
An orphaned son of a disgraced family condemned to execution? A pawn exploited by four factions at once?
His gentle wife of ten years, who has shared his bed, is a deeply embedded secret agent lying in wait;
The court mentor who has supported him with all his might is the nemesis who signed the order to exterminate his family and killed his father;
The sinister little eunuch assigned to watch him becomes the only confidant to whom he can entrust his life and death;
The alluring queen of the Grand Canal gang trades half of Jiangnan for his chance at survival.
Everyone wants him dead. Everyone wants to use him as a blade.
Shen Wujiu lifts the wine bowl, then wipes his name from the list of top scholars. Taking on the identity of a dead man, he infiltrates the Tingxue Office.
"The world is a game, you are the players, and I... am here to flip the table."
Three pieces of irrefutable evidence, two ledgers full of lies, and a blood-written letter from twenty years ago.
Watch as a condemned top scholar makes himself a pawn, turns the game against his enemies, and fights his way to survival amid a court full of treachery!
