Su Fuyi, seventeen, a refugee from Suzhou.
So poor she can barely scrape by, she is sold by her uncle into the Gu household in Yongling as a wet nurse.
On the day she signs the death contract, the housekeeper hands her three things:
a contract, a fountain pen, and a blood-drawing needle.
"Anyone caring for the young madam must have compatible blood."
Su Fuyi: ???
The young madam is called Liu Xiyin. She has lain motionless in bed for twelve years.
Her skin is like wax, gold threads are hidden in her joints, and she is kept "alive" each day with drops of medicine.
Everyone in the household calls her the "Puppet Madam," the object of the eldest Gu master's deranged obsession.
Su Fuyi thought so too.
Until...
As she feeds Liu Xiyin medicine with a silver spoon, a warm tear slips from the corner of Liu Xiyin's eye.
On night watch, Liu Xiyin taps the Su family code on the blanket with her knuckles:
Two short, one long, two short = "Are you one of the Su family?"
Then Su Fuyi discovers that she has the same brand on the back of her neck.
And the eldest Gu master, who combs Liu Xiyin's hair every day,
has a needle stuck into his brain every seven days by someone else:
"This injection will keep your wife alive for another month."
At last, Su Fuyi understands that in this Gu household,
not a single person is alive.
Including herself.
She has to tear away this waxen facade.
The price: she may become a puppet herself.
"Your mother gave her life so you could grow up. Your father spent twelve years bringing you back. Your aunt poisoned herself with puppet venom to keep you alive."
"So don't cry. If you do, all their sacrifices will have been for nothing."
Theme: Substitutes, disguises, control, and redemption. A nanny uses a bronze hairpin and silver needles to stitch a family together.
