In the first year of the Tang Dynasty's Chuzai era, Empress Wu held the first imperial examinations in Luoyang, the Divine Capital, summoning a large number of scholars to take the palace exam. Su Qianxun, son of the governor of Suzhou, traveled to the capital to sit for the exam, escorted by his family retainer, Zhao Guotai.
With the day of the palace exam drawing near, the two reached the eastern outskirts of Luoyang, but torrential rain fell for days on end, and the floodwaters swept away the bridge across the river. They had no choice but to brave the rain and seek shelter at the nearby Lost Manor, perched on a hillside.
As it happened, a bizarre murder had taken place at the manor two days earlier: the eldest son of the master of the estate, Mi Hang, had been killed. The manor's lord, Mi Yuanzheng, asked Su Qianxun to solve the case.
At Lost Manor, Su Qianxun met a woman with whom he fell in love at first sight. Yet she was not only closely connected to the murder, but also Mi Yuanzheng's third wife, Zhang Weiai...
Just as Su Qianxun was piecing together the clues and searching for the murderer, another killing took place at the manor that very night...
