In the fourteenth year of Zhaoning, heavy snow blanketed Chang’an.
At Qingdu Temple, a Daoist nun shut herself away and died in meditation. The door was bolted from within, and the snow outside was untouched, yet two trails of ink-black tears ran beneath the dead woman’s eyes. In her hand, she clutched the name of the late Crown Prince. Half a night after her death, the gatekeeper still heard her chanting sutras from the other side of the wall.
Shen Yan, an appraiser with the Court of Judicial Review, was ordered to investigate. Outside the Zhaoxin Pavilion, he came face-to-face with Cui Lingyi, whom he had not seen in three years.
Shen Yan comes from a newly risen military family. Skilled at tracing the truth through cracks, ashes, and lies, he has made a habit of hiding his timidity behind impeccable manners. Cui Lingyi comes from a fallen old clan. As she verifies the Daoist nuns’ registration records for the Grand Princess, she can spot a rewritten life story from a single erroneous character. When they were young, she once asked Shen Yan if he would marry her. He kept silent for too long. By the time he understood his answer, her name had already been put forward as a candidate to become Prince Qin’s wife.
Cui Lingyi refuses to be his belated spring snow again.
Following errors in the ritual registers, the two investigate a robe that weeps blood, a living person whom an entire family pretends not to see, the late Crown Prince returning in a mirror, a Daoist who rises from the dead in a plague-stricken city... Every miracle has a mechanism that can be tested, and every piece of evidence conceals a human heart that is difficult to fathom.
The eight strange cases ultimately point to the great fire at Chenglu Terrace eighteen years ago. That blaze burned away the emperor’s path to power and left countless people guarding a secret for eighteen years.
When the gates of Chang’an are locked once more, the old fire is about to be reenacted. At last, Shen Yan must choose between his father, his future, and Cui Lingyi, a choice he cannot put off until after he has lost her.
Theme: Acknowledge true feelings before it is too late, and accept the cost while you still have a choice.
