My father ordered me to kill the emperor, but His Majesty bestowed a princess upon me instead.

After Qiu Tang left, the red box in the courtyard was still there.

One half-finished wedding dress was also left behind.

The bright red fabric was draped on the wooden frame, with the narrow cuffs hanging down like two roads that had been sewn shut.

I sat in my study, looking at the three things on my desk.

Qinghe Yicang rice bag cover.

Fragments of blue cloth.

The revised edition of the Ministry of Rites' Wedding Ceremony Records.

The three things don't match at all when placed together.

One is the dirty seal on the grain bag.

One is a piece of cloth torn from someone's sleeve.

One is the wedding gift book.

But they all point to the same place.

Ministry of Rites.

Ah Liu stood to the side, his voice very low.

"Young master, is that Du Heng really the blue cloth vendor from the soup kitchen?"

I didn't answer immediately.

Yan Xiaoyi threw the piece of blue cloth onto the table.

"Like stitches."

Ah Liu stared at it for a long time.

"How are they the same?"

Yan Xiaoyi glanced at him.

"You can tell that the embroiderer should change careers."

Ah Liu was unconvinced and looked down again.

I picked up the blue cloth.

The fabric is ordinary, but the cuffs are finished with extremely fine stitches. Ordinary people wouldn't sew like this; it would be too laborious. It's more likely that someone from the Ministry of Rites' Ceremonial Office would do it, because they deal with formal attire, sashes, and insignia every day, and their attention to detail in fabric and stitching is far more refined than that of ordinary people.

When Yan Xiaoyi chased after Mr. Blue Cloth outside the West Congee Stall, he only managed to tear off a small piece of his sleeve.

Du Heng, who was next to Zhou Xian just now, had a new seam on the inside of his right sleeve.

Not obvious.

But I happened to see him putting away the measuring tape.

The newly sewn part matched the piece of blue cloth that Yan Xiaoyi had torn off perfectly.

I asked Yan Xiaoyi, "Did you see him just now?"

"I saw it."

"Is it the person from the soup kitchen?"

"Eighty percent."

"What about the remaining 20%?"

Yan Xiaoyi leaned against the bookshelf and said lazily, "The remaining 20% ​​is because he has an unlucky brother who looks exactly like him, wears the same clothes, and has a mole on his eyebrow."

Ah Liu whispered, "It's not impossible."

Yan Xiaoyi glanced at him.

Ah Liu immediately changed his tune.

"It must be him."

I tapped the tabletop lightly with my fingertips.

Du Heng was transferred to the Ministry of Rites' Ceremonial Affairs Office three days ago.

This morning, I appeared at the West Soup Dishes Shelter, which led to a disturbance from the disaster victims in front of me.

That evening, I followed Zhou Xian to Chengpingfang to try on my wedding dress and measure my cuffs.

This person is very busy.

They were busy handing me evidence.

They were also busy checking my knife.

Ah Liu said, "Young master, why is he pushing the disaster victims onto you? If he's from the Clearing House, shouldn't he be hiding them?"

"It might not be to help me."

I picked up the Qinghe Yicang cover.

"Putting the disaster victims in front of me has two advantages. First, it allows me to investigate the Ministry of Revenue. Second, it lets the Ministry of Revenue know that I'm being led by the nose."

Ah Liu frowned.

"I don't understand."

"Simply put, someone wants to use me to bite Zheng Huaien. But at the same time, they also want to see where I'll bite."

Yan Xiaoyi chimed in, "There's meat on the hook. The fish eats the meat and also bites the hook."

Ah Liu understood, and his face turned even uglier.

"So, young master, have you taken a bite yet?"

I sighed.

"If I don't bite, the disaster victims will starve to death. If I do bite, I might get caught in a trap."

Ah Liu paused for a moment, then whispered, "Being a fish is too hard."

"So I usually pretend to be a dead fish."

Yan Xiaoyi scoffed.

"You're not convincing."

I can't be bothered with him.

There was another knock on the door.

This time it's the gatekeeper of Chengpingfang.

"Young master, Miss Qiutang left a note saying she would give it to you after the Ministry of Rites leaves."

I took the note.

The paper was thin, and the handwriting was Xiao Lingyi's.

It was not written by Qiu Tang.

There are only three lines above.

Zhou Xian asked about the sleeve, and Du Heng asked about the way.

According to old records from the Ministry of Rites' Ceremonial Office, in the eleventh year of the Chengxi reign, the burial clothes of the former Laundry Bureau were included in the register.

Tomorrow at 9:00 AM, in the backyard of Ci'en Temple, I saw orchid leaves and needles.

I stared at the last three words, and my finger paused.

Orchid leaf needles.

Lan will not return.

She's about to move again.

In the first volume, Lan Bugui is always hidden behind the dead man's letter, the old clothes basket, and the secret mark on the orchid leaf.

She doesn't trust the emperor, she doesn't trust Shen Lie, she doesn't trust Xiao Lingyi, and she doesn't trust me either.

She only trusts the books.

Now that the Ministry of Revenue's disaster relief fund case has just begun, Du Heng of the Ministry of Rites has already investigated soup kitchens and wedding ceremonies, and Xiao Lingyi has also discovered that the Ministry of Rites' Ceremonial Office had managed the old laundry bureau's burial clothes in the eleventh year of the Chengxi era.

This is no coincidence.

Eleven years ago, Aunt Lan faked her death, and her body clothes were sent to the old laundry department.

Now, the people from the Ministry of Rites are interfering with the wooden plaques for disaster victims and my cuffs.

The Ministry of Rites has long since touched the clothes of the dead.

Now they want to touch my wedding dress.

Seeing that my expression was off, Ah Liu asked in a low voice, "Young Master, what's wrong?"

I handed him the note.

After he finished reading, his eyes slowly widened.

"Ci'en Temple? Orchid Leaf Needle? Young master, didn't we just come back from the soup kitchen? Are we going to the temple again tomorrow?"

I said, "You don't have to go."

Ah Liu was taken aback.

"real?"

"You shall remain in the manor."

A look of joy had just appeared on his face.

I continued, "Guard the ceremonial robes and the wooden box. If the Ministry of Rites comes again, you will receive them."

Ah Liu's joy died on the spot.

"Young master, I think Ci'en Temple is quite nice. It's a peaceful Buddhist temple, and I'd like to visit it."

Yan Xiaoyi yawned.

"Your prayers to Buddha are useless. Even Buddha would want to shut his door if he saw your young master."

I burned the note on the lamp.

The flames swept over the three characters "orchid leaf needle" and quickly turned to ash.

Some clues cannot be left on paper.

It's enough to leave it in people's hearts.

I asked Yan Xiaoyi, "Where does Du Heng live? Can you find out?"

"able."

"tonight?"

"Aren't you going to let me sleep?"

"Don't you like basking in the moonlight?"

Yan Xiaoyi remained silent for a moment.

"Shen An, you'll die from your loose tongue sooner or later."

"the same as you."

He went out carrying the knife.

Ah Liu watched his retreating figure, feeling both envious and afraid.

"People like Master Yan are really convenient."

Where is it convenient?

"Leave when you want, sleep when you want, kill when you want."

I glanced at him.

You can do it too.

Ah Liu thought about it seriously and shook his head.

"I'd better not take the small one. I get out of breath after running just a few steps, and I'd need to sharpen my knife before I can chop someone up."

I couldn't help but laugh.

After laughing, I realized there was nothing funny about it.

A temporary roster for the West Soup Dishes was spread out on the table.

A total of 71 disaster victims registered today.

Among them, Yong'an County in Jiangbei had 39 counties, Qingping County had 21, and Shimen Prefecture had 11.

Twenty-six people had wooden plaques.

Fourteen people had their wooden signs scraped and altered.

Eight households claimed that their relatives had died but were still receiving grain from their accounts.

This is just a soup kitchen.

The account lists 29,628 disaster victims from the three prefectures north of the Yangtze River.

If every soup kitchen were like this, this case wouldn't be something the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue could handle alone.

There must be someone behind Zheng Huaien.

There must be other accounts behind Qinghe Yicang.

The problem now is that I have to go to Ci'en Temple tomorrow, the Ministry of Rites is still watching my sleeves, and Shen Lie is still asking when I will draw my sword.

I picked up my short blade and sheathed it.

The blade was dark and dull, obscuring any human face.

Suddenly, I felt that this knife was becoming less and less like a weapon.

It looks more like a key.

Everyone wanted to know which door it would open.

The emperor wants me to use it to settle old scores.

Shen Lie wants me to use it to open the palace gate.

The princess wondered if it was pointing to her father, the emperor.

The Clearing House might want me to take it to the palace, and then send myself to my death.

I hid the knife again.

Hiding a knife is becoming increasingly difficult.

It's harder than auditing accounts.

Because if there are errors in the accounts, traces can always be found.

But once the knife is exposed, I won't show it a second time.

Around midnight, Yan Xiaoyi returned.

He pushed open the window and came in, without going through the door.

I'm used to it.

Ah Liu was so frightened he almost fell off his chair.

"Mr. Yan, could you please knock next time?"

Yan Xiaoyi looked at him.

"cannot."

Why?

"trouble."

Ah Liu was so angry that he dared not speak.

Yan Xiaoyi threw a small piece of something onto the table.

It is the corner of a wooden plaque.

I picked it up.

The edges are worn and there's a bit of red paint left on them.

It's the same as the wooden sign for disaster victims at the Hexi soup kitchen.

My gaze darkened.

"Where did it come from?"

"Du Heng's residence."

Where are they?

"Not here."

"Not here?"

"The house had been ransacked. He left in a hurry; the tea on the table was still warm, and the trunk was half empty."

I gripped the corner of the wooden sign tightly.

"They ran away?"

"It felt like I was being picked up by someone."

She was picked up by someone else again.

Outside the West Soup Venue, Du Heng was picked up by a carriage.

After trying on the clothes at Chengpingfang, she left her residence overnight.

He was no ordinary clerk in the Ministry of Rites.

Normally, there aren't that many people at the clerk's office.

Yan Xiaoyi continued, "There's also this in the house."

He threw out another piece of burnt paper.

I unfold.

Only half a line of text remains at the top.

Shen An's sleeves were narrow, so there was nowhere for the knife to be used...

The words that followed were burned.

Ah Liu leaned over to take a look and made a gurgling sound.

"Young master, they really came for the knife."

Looking at that half-line of text, I felt reassured.

What I fear is guessing.

Once the guess becomes evidence, the matter can be investigated.

I tucked the corner of the paper under the lamp.

Shen An's sleeves were narrow, so there was nowhere for the knife to be used.

What is nowhere?

There's nowhere to hide.

There's nowhere to get it.

Or is there nowhere to retreat?

I smiled softly.

Their idea is quite good.

First, narrow my cuffs so that the knife has nowhere to hide.

Let me marry into the palace again, so that the knife will have nowhere to retreat.

Finally, perhaps they'll arrange another situation where I have to draw my sword, leaving me with no way to defend myself.

Ah Liu's face turned pale.

"Young master, what should we do?"

I looked at the wedding book on the table.

"I'm going to Ci'en Temple tomorrow."

"Going again?"

"go."

"What about the Ministry of Rites?"

"They want to see my sleeves, so let them see."

Ah Liu was stunned.

I picked up the piece of blue cloth and placed it next to the corner of the wooden sign.

"But before they look at my sleeves, I need to see clearly where their hands are reaching."

A night breeze swept past the window, causing the lamplight to flicker.

In the firelight, the half-line of fragmented characters seemed to come alive for a moment.

Shen An's sleeves were narrow, so there was nowhere for the knife to be used.

I finished the sentence in a low voice.

"Then let's hide somewhere else."

Ah Liu asked in a low voice, "Where to hide it?"

I looked at the bright red dress on the table.

The narrow cuffs of the dress couldn't conceal the knife.

But on our wedding day, besides me, there was one other person who also had to wear a formal suit.

Princess Zhaoning.

I suddenly had a very absurd thought.

In this marriage, the person who can truly hide a knife for me is perhaps not Ah Liu, not Yan Xiaoyi, and not even myself.

It was the princess who distrusted me the least.