A Lifetime's Guide

The thirty-fourth year of the Republic of China, during the plum rain season.

A red sandalwood box is quietly delivered to the entrance of Buque Studio. Inside is a fragment of the Song-Yuan text Questions and Answers on Immortality, a secret manual on eternal life that has become the subject of fevered rumors. But the most important page at the end of the volume has been cut out with a straight blade. The cut is fresh, and the page is missing.

Ren Pingsheng, the female book restorer at the studio, recognizes the old marks on the box. It is the book her mother, Shen Zhiyan, stopped restoring at a crucial point and never returned to.

She only wants to restore the fragment to what it was meant to be.

Qin Xuheng, returned from studying overseas, follows the clues to her. He wants to complete it; she refuses to let him. He understands the precision of her blade, and she recognizes the obsession in his eyes. Amid the scent of paper and the shadow of ink, affection quietly takes root.

Half a ruined book draws two generations into its tangled story.

In a turbulent age, some desperately seek immortality, while others stake their lives on proving it false. She only wants to protect one true book.

To restore a book, first restore the heart. Fill in the words, not the life.

The lineage of three generations of book restorers and a restrained encounter are all contained within this ruined volume.