Three years ago, Gu Yan, a gifted forensic pathologist, was framed and forced to resign in disgrace. He went into hiding on an old street and became a restorer of ancient books. He possesses a unique psychic ability that lets him empathize with old objects. By touching yellowed books and worn keepsakes, he can glimpse the sealed-away secrets and unresolved regrets from their owners' lives.
This ability is no miraculous shortcut. It comes at a bone-deep cost. Every time he traces an object's past through empathy, Gu Yan must personally endure the pain and despair of those involved. Years of this have left him trapped in a cycle of inner turmoil, shutting away his heart and refusing to face the past.
One commission to restore an old book after another, one human tragedy after another: these seemingly scattered sorrows from the past all conceal traces of deliberate cover-ups and altered case files. When a client named Lin Zhixia comes to him with her mother's incomplete, water-damaged suicide note, she shatters the quiet life Gu Yan has built in seclusion.
To uncover the lies buried in the past and clear his own name, Gu Yan joins forces with policewoman Su Qiao to dig into sealed case files that have lain untouched for years. He uses ancient books as mirrors to reveal the truth about human nature, and old objects as evidence to pierce layer after layer of mystery.
He spends half a lifetime restoring fragmented texts and easing the regrets of the living. After redeeming countless people trapped by their pasts, he finally breaks free of his own obsessions, confronts the old wrongful case, and finds redemption for himself, preserving justice in the world and the clarity of his own heart.
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