Blood Rain and Tears in Xijing

When modern-day Zhang Mingyuan opened his eyes, he had become Zhang Bai, the notorious playboy of Xi'an Prefecture in the late Qing Dynasty.

A murder involving a human-skin mask framed him. A female corpse rose in court. Red dots controlled corpses. Bone-piercing coffin nails were driven into a beam. Each case was more sinister than the last. Before he could even plead his innocence, he was swept into an even greater maelstrom: Prefect Su was assassinated, the young master of the Pang family was kidnapped, the weapons released by the Xijing General turned out to be a trap, and a small blue sedan chair followed him like a ghost.

His father, supposedly a "pawnshop owner," had a thousand guards, a security agency, and a "big brother" who commanded a band of men in black.

Zhang Bai did only one thing: If you won't let me live, I'll carve out a way forward myself.

He apprenticed at a pawnshop, learning to appraise antiques, trade stocks, recruit knife-wielding fighters, and recognize extraordinary people. From Xijing to Shanghai, from Weibei swordsmen to Japanese spies, from ancient tomb bronzes to national treasures passed down through the ages.

Laughter hides a blade, and secrets lurk within the blade. The fakes in the pawnshop are real, while the truths in people's hearts are fake.

A playboy's rise, the entrance of a cast of extraordinary characters, and the fortunes of an ancient city.