Of Smoke and Silk

In the final years before an empire’s fall, Lu Xiaomei, the only daughter of a powerful merchant family, is expected to inherit her father’s vast trading empire. But she longs for something beyond ledgers and alliances. By night, she disguises herself and slips into the city’s underworld—a labyrinth of steam, silk, and shadow ruled by gamblers, spies, and syndicates. There, she meets Jiang Shuren, an enigmatic broker known for selling secrets to the highest bidder and never owing anyone a debt. When he leaves her a calling card bearing only her name, Xiaomei is drawn into a quiet game of power that reaches from the city’s gutters to its gilded halls. As war with Japan threatens to engulf the nation, she must decide whether to uphold her family’s legacy or risk everything for the truth—and the dangerous man who already seems to know it.