Four essays on justice for strangers, the state's inventory of the jianghu, a daughter ordered to save and kill the same man, and the novel's clearest mind choosing another person's life.
Hu Fei spends much of this novel pursuing a wrong that is not his own. Around him, money, face, rank, kinship, and romance all offer respectable reasons to stop.
The four essays follow people who cannot be easily bought or classified, while keeping sight of the cost when devotion decides on another person's behalf.
Threats, money, sworn brothers, and love all fail to price a stranger's wrong.
Every guest enters voluntarily; every school leaves recorded, ranked, and divided.
Kinship orders her to rescue and kill the same man; her one unassigned act is departure.
Her only decision on another person's behalf is that he will survive her.
四篇从一只从未出现的鹅出发，读朝廷怎样清点江湖、圆性为何既要救父又要杀父，以及全书最聪明的人怎样替另一个人决定活下去。
胡斐用大半部小说追一件与自己没有私人关系的冤案。他周围的钱、面子、名分、血缘与爱情，都提供了看似正当的停手理由。
这四篇追随那些不能被轻易收买或归类的人，同时也不回避：一份自愿的奉献一旦替别人做主，会留下什么代价。