In the seventeenth year of the Republic of China, Jinling is in turmoil. The smoke of the Northern Expedition has yet to clear, and chaos fills the streets. By the Qinhuai River in the south of the city stands an old pawnshop that no one dares to provoke lightly. Its owner has met a mysterious and violent death, and Shen Yanqiu, the young master who disappeared three years ago, returns to the city overnight to take over this century-old establishment, steeped in sinister energy and buried secrets. Rumor has it that Shen Dang Zhai does not accept gold or silver, nor jade artifacts. Instead, it takes as collateral obsessions, memories of the past, human lives, and the threads of cause and effect.