Shen Yan, a clerk in the county yamen’s criminal division, was dull-witted and unambitious. All he wanted was to muddle through each day’s work and enjoy a bowl of hot mutton soup.
No one knew he had already lived through the collapse of the realm twenty-six times.
An old grain storehouse file, sealed for ten years, was suddenly reopened for review. A single replaced page pushed the cycle of fate before him once more.
He had planned to turn a deaf ear and keep his head down, but he could not bear to watch the lowly common folk suffer the same fate again.
With an old file and the life of a petty official, he sought neither fame nor advancement. He only wished to break the cycle’s relentless repetition and protect the ordinary warmth of life in the streets.
