The Son-in-Law’s Ledger

The Heavenly Dao is flawed, and rules can kill. Zhao Ping has been a live-in son-in-law of the Shen family for three years, chopping wood, hauling water, and fixing chairs. Everyone thinks he’s a useless son-in-law. No one knows he keeps accounts on the wall: when each member of the Shen family leaves, when they return, and what their faces look like when they do. And no one knows he can see the Flaws of Heaven. Flaws of Heaven are cracks in the laws of the Heavenly Dao. Cultivators avoid them at all costs, for touching one brings heavenly retribution. But some people exploit them to stage “rule-related accidents,” making someone die by “the punishment of the Heavenly Dao” when it is actually murder. Three years ago, Zhao Ping’s older sister died in a “rule-related accident.” He married into the Shen family to uncover the truth. The first name he found was Zhang Mian of the Rules Department of the Tianshu Bureau. The second was Shen Chong, head of the Shen family. He hasn’t found the third name yet. He has no cultivation. His only weapons are his wits, his patience, and a group of people who, like him, have been trampled underfoot by the System: a blind night watchman, a lost-out-of-his-way spy, a stingy cook, and a socially anxious person who can see who has “killed before.” Rules can kill, but rules can also be turned against their killers.