Inkstone of Mountains and Rivers: I Join the Prince Regent to Reopen an Old Family Massacre Case

On New Year's Eve in the tenth year of the Yuanqi era, a heavy snowfall buried the entire Shen family, more than three hundred people.

Seven-year-old Shen Shuyan survived in Jiangnan thanks to a loyal servant who gave their life for her.

After ten years in hiding, she returned to the capital disguised as a man under the name Shen Yan, posing as a poor scholar.

Everyone praised the benevolent Grand Tutor Wen Jinglan. Only she knew that he was the butcher who had slaughtered her entire family.

The court was a treacherous place, but she entered the game alone, searching step by step for proof that someone had colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country.

The only person who could counterbalance the treacherous ministers was Regent Lu Shiheng, the one man she could play against.

Each concealed their own intentions. They tested each other from a distance, then forged a mutually beneficial alliance with neither dependent on the other.

She used her wits to dismantle his faction, while he used his military power to steady the court.

But Wen Jinglan had long since seen her as a thorn in his side. Using the young emperor's authority, he laid one deadly trap after another, eager to be rid of her.

Surrounded and hunted in a desperate fight, the two joined forces to gather witnesses and secret documents.

In the Golden Throne Hall, she exposed the bloody injustice of ten years before before everyone, tearing away the Grand Tutor's long-worn mask of benevolence.

With her great vengeance fulfilled, personal grudges gave way at last to the land and its people.

No cloying romance, only two equally matched souls standing together, bound in spirit and guarding peace across the realm.

Theme: Through an orphan's path of vengeance, expose the hypocrisy and dark power games of the court, praise those who uphold justice and care for the people, portray kindred spirits who stand as equals, and affirm that good and evil will ultimately meet their due, while the country and its people matter more than personal revenge.