On the bank of the Yangtze River, Shen Du, the descendant of the last paper-making shop in Shangzhen, was twenty-six years old, smoked, silent, and did not believe in ghosts and gods. He came back to take over the shop just because he owed his grandfather his life. When he died, my grandfather was sitting behind the counter, as if asleep, with his fingers still in the position of splitting bamboo strips. The old man left a message: "Don't go in until the darkroom door is opened."
The door lock was broken and the door didn't open. He kept it for two years.
Until the dry season. The archaeological team discovered a bluestone well at the bottom of the river. Sitting at the bottom of the well was a girl made of paper, with the same facial expression as Shen Du. The archaeological team leader took a photo and drowned in the tent that night - the water depth was less than fifteen centimeters.
The dark room was forced to open. The nine paper weights on the ancient shelf correspond to the nine ancient wells on the bottom of the river, suppressing the three hundred resentful spirits of a sunken ancient town. Thousands of years ago, the ancestors of the Shen family set up the spirit crossing formation, and only the last person left to stand on the steps to complete the ceremony - he didn't stand. He was afraid. The Shen family has kept this lie for generations, for a thousand years. Now that the nine wells are loose, Shen Du's body has also begun to change: his fingers have turned into mulberry paper inch by inch, and the paper man he has stuck out is living for him - buying soy milk for him, setting up tools for him, imitating him to tap his fingers when he is nervous.
Three people broke into his life. Lin Zhiyu, a water conservancy engineer, came to find his father who disappeared here thirty years ago. Criminal investigation captain Zhou Ye, she doesn't believe in ghosts and gods, but what forensic doctors cut is no longer human tissue, but paper. Mo Changgeng, the chairman of the cultural tourism industry, has stolen forbidden arts but suffered backlash, and his left arm has completely turned into paper. He wants to find the Duling Banner to reverse the paper transformation and become a living person again. He believes that the Shen family hides the secret of "being able to use paper techniques without paying the price."