Episode 1 recap: Guanyu's divine intervention, a drunkard gets hacked.
Gu Yuan (played by Gu Jiacheng), the Chief Inspector of the Central Patrol House in the Shanghai Concession, was kidnapped by a group of thugs one night outside the patrol house and taken to a cemetery. Gu Yuan remained remarkably composed throughout the ordeal. With his face covered, he secretly untied the rope around his hands as soon as he got into the car. He listened attentively to the sounds along the way, trying to determine their destination.
To his surprise, Gu Yuan realized that they were taking him to a place he was familiar with. When they arrived at the cemetery, he even proactively advised the criminals to stop the car. The people in the car were taken aback by Gu Yuan suddenly speaking up and rudely tried to attack him. However, Gu Yuan fought back and engaged in a scuffle with them. While Gu Yuan was fighting four thugs alone in the cemetery, suddenly, not far away, a person was burned alive in front of a grave.
The person who was burned alive was Yin Zhentian, a renowned Feng Shui master in the Concession. The kidnappers who had taken Gu Yuan were members of a gang and intended to bury him alive in the cemetery, but the unexpected incident occurred. After Gu Yuan returned, he interrogated the four people who had kidnapped him. Meanwhile, the forensic doctor and detective Che Suwei (played by Dong Xuan) was performing an autopsy on Yin Zhentian's body and also giving a lesson to her newly recruited intern, Ren Mengyao.
After questioning the gang members, Gu Yuan went to see Che Suwei to inquire about the results of the autopsy. Che Suwei took the opportunity to inform Gu Yuan about recruiting an apprentice. She wanted to alleviate some of the workload as a forensic doctor and help Gu Yuan, who was short-staffed, with some detective work. Gu Yuan told Che Suwei about a clever person in the western market who would be suitable as their informant and suggested that she visit the western market in her spare time to develop this informant.
Accompanied by Ren Mengyao, Che Suwei went to the western market to meet Yan Junjie. They coincidentally encountered Yan Junjie disguised as a merchant from the Western Regions, trying to sell jade artifacts to them. While Che Suwei was examining a jade bracelet and feeling that the price was too high, she decided not to buy it. During the struggle with Yan Junjie over the bracelet, it fell to the ground. With the bracelet fallen, there was evidence of Yan Junjie selling counterfeit goods. Che Suwei then presented her detective credentials and attempted to arrest Yan Junjie.
As soon as Yan Junjie saw the credentials, he immediately fled. Che Suwei could only instruct Ren Mengyao to capture the other accomplice while she pursued Yan Junjie. Thinking he could escape unnoticed by changing his clothes, Yan Junjie was caught off guard when Che Suwei recognized him because of a pair of shoes. In the end, he had no choice but to surrender. In the middle of the night, Wu Yao went to pay respects at the Guan Gong Temple and confessed to committing a disgraceful act that brought shame to his sect. Suddenly, the statue of Guan Gong raised a large knife and hacked him.
Upon hearing about the incident of Guan Gong injuring someone, Che Suwei and Gu Yuan rushed to the hospital to inquire about Wu Yao's condition after he was out of danger. However, Wu Yao insisted that it was the divine intervention of Guan Gong and didn't want the patrol house to get involved. He also mentioned that Guan Gong had recently been punishing those who were in the wrong. After questioning several injured victims of the hacking incident, Gu Yuan and Che Suwei couldn't obtain specific information. They only knew that the perpetrator who used Guan Gong as a cover was extremely skilled in wielding a large knife. Therefore, they sought out the leader of the Wang Family Troupe, who bore the closest resemblance to Guan Gong.
The leader of the Wang Family Troupe was old and had poor hearing, making it impossible for him to answer Gu Yuan and Che Suwei's questions. All he knew was that there was a traitor named Fan Huitang within the Wang Family Troupe.
After Fan Huitang left the Wang Family Troupe, he wandered around and eventually joined the Thunderbolt School of Mixed Elements. So Gu Yuan and the others went to the Thunderbolt School to find him. When they arrived, they encountered many reporters who were there for interviews and got to witness the martial arts of the Thunderbolt School.
After Yang, the headmaster of the Thunderbolt School, finished his performance, Che Suwei asked him about Fan Huitang's whereabouts, but Yang was uncooperative. Seeing Yang's arrogant attitude, Ren Mengyao couldn't help but insult him, angering Yang and forcing them to have a martial arts duel. Che Suwei explained Ren Mengyao's impulsiveness, but Yang refused to accept it, so she had to request the duel herself.
Before the duel, Yang stated that they should follow the hierarchy, and Che Suwei should first compete with his junior sister, Sun Yuanying. Che Suwei and Sun Yuanying fought, and they were evenly matched. However, Che Suwei almost fell off the stage and was nearly injured by a weapon. Sun Yuanying, seeing Che Suwei in danger, caught her and accidentally fell off the stage herself, resulting in her conceding the match.
After Sun Yuanying lost, Yang instructed Che Suwei and the others to go to Fan Huitang's house and ask about his situation. When they went to find Fan Huitang, he was uncooperative, so Che Suwei had to send Ren Mengyao to pretend to use the restroom and search Fan Huitang's house. Ren Mengyao found the storeroom in Fan Huitang's house and threw out Guan Gong's costumes and other related props through the window.
Che Suwei had the costumes tested and found traces of human blood on them. Combined with Fan Huitang's abnormal behavior, she and Gu Yuan suspected that Fan Huitang was highly suspicious, so they decided to arrest him. Just as Gu Yuan was about to arrest Fan Huitang, they discovered that he had committed suicide at home, which made them find it very suspicious. Based on Fan Huitang's injury and other suspicious circumstances, Che Suwei suspected foul play in his suicide.
Unable to find the true reason behind Fan Huitang's suicide, Che Suwei investigated and found the person who had supplied the gun to Fan Huitang. Meanwhile, Yang believed that Fan Huitang's death was related to Zhao Huijun, so he sent Zhao Huijun's account book to the patrol house and asked them to investigate Zhao Huijun. After examining the account book, Che Suwei noticed that two hundred yuan was missing, so she and Gu Yuan went to the streets to find something worth two hundred yuan.
When Che Suwei and Gu Yuan couldn't find anything worth two hundred yuan, they saw a lighter pistol in a shop that was exactly worth two hundred yuan, but it needed to be ordered.
The TV drama incorporates many intriguing anecdotes and phenomena from all walks of life, which makes the overall content more captivating. For instance, the actor playing Guan Gong must "break the face," as not doing so would bring disaster to the performer.
Additionally, elements such as paper dolls summoning spirits, the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, and various types of spells are interwoven into the cases, adding a slightly eerie and irresistible urge to delve into their origins and details!