Shen Zhaowan, a modern forensic examination assistant, unexpectedly came to Dasheng, an imaginary dynasty, and became a widower in Chengjiang County Yamen who was not an official official and only received money as a handyman. She found the body of a female who had been hastily registered as an unknown refugee. The food remaining in her stomach was inconsistent with the place of death and the official examination report. In order to find the people who had been in contact with the deceased, she used the night food stall in front of the residence to get in among the washerwomen, foot shop maids, midwives, boat ladies and privately hired watchmen who were still working after the curfew. She restored the ingredients, cooking conditions, regional habits and purchasing routes of the deceased's last meal to confirm her identity. Case after case gradually points to the "registration chain" covering household registration, marriage contracts, dental and guild guarantees: women who have lost their legal status are hired under borrowed names, resold work contracts, and are written off as non-existent persons after their death. As the food stall changes from a means of livelihood to a stronghold of mutual aid, Shen Zhaowan must choose between retaining his working qualifications, protecting witnesses, and disclosing institutional evidence of crimes, and promotes those women who are used as accessories to confessions to become people who can leave their names, deeds, and joint testimony.
Purpose: Shen Zhaowan, a female widow who was regarded as a handyman by the government, used a night food stall to contact the invisible workers after the curfew, and used the method of restoring the last meal of the deceased to find out the identity of the unknown woman. As the food stall turned into a stronghold for mutual aid, she began to challenge the layers of barriers to women's livelihoods imposed by household registration, marriage contracts, and guild rules.