Crane's Cry Over Heshuo

In the twelfth year of Tianyou, on the twelfth lunar month, Song Yuncheng, a clerk of the Chengde Army, entered Dongjing with a sour plum in his mouth. Ostensibly to celebrate the New Year, secretly he investigated the unjust execution of his father. The same case was also being looked into by Princess An Guo, Li Qingwu—a secret hidden in her mother's posthumous letter. The two met over a game of chess at the Pinshu Bookshop. From aconite to poisoned wine, from lacquer ink to Khitan replies, the truth was peeled back layer by layer, and the people behind it emerged one by one. The case was overturned, the藩镇 abolished, the imperial exams reformed, and wheat grew in Hebei season after season. Years later, he retired and moved back to Pinshu Bookshop with her. On the table was still a chessboard, two jars of plums—one sour, one sweet. He said, 'Qingwu, we're home.'