The impoverished examinee Zhang Ping travels to the capital to sit the metropolitan examination, sharing a dilapidated house in Little Mouse Alley with his friend Chen Chou. Short on money, Zhang Ping sets up a street stall selling noodles. His fellow candidates look down on him, but a misunderstanding leads him to meet Lan Jue, the Vice Minister of Rites overseeing this examination. To escape their difficult circumstances, Chen Chou suggests that Zhang Ping earn money by writing a play for a theatrical troupe. But when the troupe’s owner is suddenly murdered, Zhang Ping and Chen Chou become the prime suspects and are taken to the Ministry of Justice. To clear his and his friend’s names and uncover the truth, Zhang Ping begins helping Wang Yan, a Vice Minister of Justice, solve the case...
After the case is solved, “Super Jinx” Zhang Ping sits the metropolitan examination. Not long after the results are posted, the last-ranked successful candidate, number thirty, is murdered. Zhang Ping, who came in thirty-first and narrowly failed, becomes a suspect again. He investigates the case in secret and encounters the young emperor, who is traveling incognito. Given full authority to investigate, Zhang Ping solves the case before the Ministry of Justice can. When it is over, the young emperor appoints Zhang Ping to take the murdered candidate’s place as the thirtieth successful candidate, and Tao Zhoufeng, Minister of Justice, becomes his teacher. Zhang Ping passes the examination but is sent to the small county of Yiping as an assistant magistrate. Wary of him, the county magistrate assigns him to compile the county gazetteer. While searching through Yiping County’s records, Zhang Ping discovers that a mysterious village called Gu Family Village has vanished without a trace. As he investigates why, he realizes that this tiny village is connected to an enormous conspiracy...
Good article~\(≧▽≦)/~