The Silver Hairpin Cipher

Su Wei, an ancient-text restorer in the Great Yong dynasty, discovers a silver hairpin engraved with mysterious patterns while restoring a damaged manuscript. The moment her fingertips touch it, she “reads” fragments of memories from the sea of stars. The hairpin is a “key to civilization” left behind by an interstellar civilization a thousand years ago.

When mysterious men in black raid the Antique Studio in the dead of night, and the wandering physician Shen Qingci arrives bearing the identity of a “descendant of Xingyan,” Su Wei finally understands: behind the silver hairpin lies a technological legacy capable of overturning the dynasty, and it has become the target of those who covet it. Forced onto a journey to track down its secrets, she unlocks layer upon layer of the hairpin’s codes in ancient wells in Jiangnan’s waterside towns, among the dunes of the northwestern Gobi, and in the shadows of the imperial tombs.

The shimmering light of bronze mirrors, the trembling of jade cong, the thunderous roar of the core... In this ancient world, these technological artifacts from across the stars take the form of mechanical devices, farming techniques, and innovations for everyday life. With the meticulous skill of an ancient-text restorer, Su Wei unravels the truth of civilization. With a woman’s resilience, she writes her own “principles of restoration” amid the tangle of political schemes and interstellar secrets. This time, what she must restore is not only an ancient artifact, but also a forgotten civilization and women’s freedom to choose their own paths.