In the second year of the Chongning era, an old warehouse in Bianjing is being dismantled and sold off. To save a pillar that seems dangerously unstable, the draughtsman Yu Xun spends six strings of cash to buy the entire warehouse. Instead, the chisel marks on the wood reveal the name of his father, Yu Changgeng, from four years ago. The official verdict on the West Dike Warehouse collapse said his father had mistakenly removed a temporary support. But the survivors remembered that the proper timber never arrived.
The newly issued Building Standards can specify the dimensions of beams and pillars, but they cannot say who recorded undersized timber as proper material back then, nor can they testify on behalf of the living. Together with paper shop owner Bo Qingxiang and carpenter Wu Shoucheng, Yu Xun examines business ledgers, work slips, duplicate delivery records, blueprints, and marks on old timber to distinguish, piece by piece, between what happened and what was written down. Each clue illuminates only one corner: his father wasn't blameless by nature, and the ledgers may not be lying. The truth lies among several records, each incomplete in its own way.
