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

The day after tomorrow will arrive soon.

It was so fast it felt like someone had pushed me from behind.

Before dawn, Ah Liu woke me up from my bed. He stood by the bed, holding a set of dusty gray clothes in his hands, his expression as solemn as if he had come to deliver my funeral clothes.

I sat up and took a look.

The garment was made of coarse cloth, with an old cloth belt and frayed cuffs. There were two patches on the front, mended very carefully, so carefully that it was obvious at a glance that they were deliberately made for show.

I remained silent for a moment.

"Is this for me?"

Ah Liu nodded.

"Sent from the Princess's residence?"

Ah Liu nodded again.

"Does Your Highness think this outfit suits me best?"

Ah Liu thought for a moment and said, "Miss Qiu Tang's original words were, 'If Lord Shen were to go out in his official robes today, Madam Fang Zhou might not dare to open the door; but if he were to go out in his everyday clothes, those who are watching you would recognize him at a glance.'"

That makes a lot of sense.

But being reasonable doesn't mean it won't hurt people.

I picked up the coarse cloth garment and shook it.

"So, what is my role today?"

"The Princess's entourage's accounting office."

I looked at him.

"The princess is offering incense; will she bring her own tent?"

Ah Liu cleared his throat, as if he had already memorized his lines.

"Miss Qiutang said that Ci'en Temple is holding a religious ceremony for the late Empress today, and all donations for lamps, alms, incense oil, and animal release should be recorded. It is reasonable for the Princess's residence to have an accountant."

I froze for a moment.

Then I have to admit, it fits together quite perfectly.

Whenever I'm involved in accounting, I suddenly seem less suspicious.

I changed my clothes and glanced at myself in the bronze mirror.

The person in the mirror had lost the official air of a seventh-rank censor, and the unfortunate nobility of a princess betrothed to him; instead, he looked weary from years of being owed wages by his employer.

Ah Liu circled around me and nodded in satisfaction.

"Young master, it looks much safer this way."

"Where is safe?"

"Looks poor."

"Is being poor a form of safety?"

"At least he doesn't look like someone of value."

I think he makes a lot of sense.

Sometimes, Ah Liu's greatest strength is that he can use the harshest words to express the most practical truths.

Before leaving, I packed away everything I had prepared the night before.

The first item was a small packet of lime powder.

I didn't buy it from a pharmacy; I scraped it off from the newly patched plaster at the base of the backyard wall, dried it, ground it into a fine powder, and wrapped it in two layers of paper.

When Ah Liu saw it, his expression was complicated.

"Young Master, what are you preparing to do?"

"For self-defense."

"Isn't self-defense about carrying a knife?"

"Carrying a knife is for people who know how to use a knife. For someone like me, carrying a knife would just make it easy for others to benefit from it."

Ah Liu thought about it and realized it made sense.

The second item was several secret notes copied from Fang Yuanshi's old account books.

I found several strange marks in the Ministry of Works' account books. They weren't official markings, but rather checkpoints left privately by the clerks in charge.

For example, some numbers have an extra stroke at the end; the last horizontal stroke of the character "石" in the word "石料" in a certain column is slightly shorter; and in the travel log, there is a place where the character "三" is written like "川".

At first I thought it was because the clerk's hand was shaking.

After repeated comparisons, it was discovered that this "shaky hand" only appeared before and after the page was suspected to have been changed.

If Fang Yuanshi was truly a cautious person, he likely left behind something that only he and his family could recognize.

I can't use fake documents to deceive people.

The government officials have already killed Fang Yuanshi. If I were to use this kind of thing to knock on his widow's door, I would be no different from those corrupt officials.

The third item was a prepared letter to Manager Chen.

If I fail to return to the city today, Ah Liu will deliver the letter to the pharmacy in the south of the city.

It contains all the clues I've found so far.

The materials used in the Yongning River channel are incorrect.

The ledger pages have been replaced.

Fang Yuanshi was silenced.

Fang Zhoushi may be hiding in Zhao Family Village.

Qian Rong was inextricably linked to the Ministry of Works.

Pei Shen at least knew that this pool of water was very deep.

I don't want this letter to be sent.

But I don't want the trail to go cold after I die.

Ah Liu watched as I stuffed the letter into my sleeve pocket, and the smile on his face slowly faded.

"Young Master, is it really that dangerous?"

I glanced at him.

"From the first day I arrived in Beijing, which day wasn't dangerous?"

He opened his mouth, but didn't say anything.

I patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, I may not be good at much else, but I have a real talent for valuing my life."

Ah Liu looked at me, hesitated for a long time, and then said in a low voice, "But every time you say you cherish your life, your actions don't seem to reflect that."

I couldn't refute it.

Because he's right.

Before Chenshi (7-9 AM), I arrived at Beiheng Street.

The princess's carriage was already parked at the alley entrance.

There was no grand display, no lavish entourage. The lead carriage had a plain blue curtain, its body clean, with a small Zhaoning Prefecture emblem embedded in one corner. The two carriages behind it carried incense, candles, prayer flags, offerings of fruit, and rice for distribution.

There were only twelve guards.

But I only glanced at them and knew that these twelve people weren't just for show.

They stood scattered, seemingly casually, yet each person occupied a spot.

Someone is watching the intersection.

Someone is watching the roof ridge.

Someone is watching the end of the alley.

There are two more people here. Look at me.

Qiu Tang walked over from beside the car and bowed slightly.

"Lord Shen."

I looked down at my coarse cloth clothes.

"Let's call him the accountant today."

Qiu Tang glanced at me, as if she was suppressing a laugh.

"Accountant Shen, please get into the second carriage."

I looked in the direction she pointed.

The second carriage was filled with incense, candles, and offerings, leaving only a small corner for people.

Ah Liu peeked out and his face scrunched up.

"Can people even sit in this?"

Qiu Tang calmly replied, "There's room for one person."

Ah Liu asked, "And what about me?"

Qiu Tang looked at him.

"You will disguise yourself as a servant and travel with the carriage."

Ah Liu was stunned.

"Walk?"

"Um."

"How do I get to Ci'en Temple from here?"

"Um."

Ah Liu turned to look at me, his eyes conveying four words.

She bullied me.

I patted him on the shoulder.

"Walk more to keep your body healthy."

"Young Master, don't you feel guilty saying this while sitting in the carriage?"

I climbed into the second car and thought about it carefully.

I don't think so.

Ah Liu fell silent.

The carriage slowly began to move.

The wheels rolled over the bluestone slabs with a soft, steady sound. The car was filled with the strong scent of incense, sandalwood, paper money, offerings, and prayer flags; after a while, it made one want to sneeze.

I lifted a corner of the carriage curtain and looked out.

Ah Liu walked beside the car, his face showing great difficulty.

Further ahead was the princess's carriage.

The carriage curtains were drawn, so the people inside could not be seen.

But I know that Xiao Lingyi must be sitting there.

On the surface, she is going to Ci'en Temple to offer incense on behalf of the late Empress.

Secretly, she used this carriage to send me out of the city to find Fang Yuanshi's widow.

A princess, an imperial censor, and an account left behind by a dead man.

It sounds like a serious matter.

But if you also consider the bag of lime powder in my arms, Xu Sandao, whom my father sent to the capital, and the emperor's words, "Of all the officials in the court, I only trust you," then this matter is not so right.

The carriage arrived at the city gate.

The soldiers guarding the city saw the insignia of the princess's residence from afar and immediately made way, not daring to even glance at the carriage curtain.

This is the benefit of power.

That's also an advantage of cages.

When others see this car, they will first think of Princess Zhaoning, and will not think that there is someone in the car who was originally supposed to kill the emperor.

After leaving the city, the road became bumpy.

The second car was full of offerings, and every time I bumped around, my knee would hit the incense and candle boxes.

On the fourth impact, I finally reached out and pressed it down.

Just then, Ah Liu outside the carriage suddenly whispered, "Young Master."

I lifted the curtain: "What's wrong?"

He didn't look at me; his eyes glanced behind him.

"There's someone following behind."

A thought struck me.

"several?"

"Two riders. Not too far, not too close, they've been following for almost a mile."

I peered back through the gap in the carriage curtain.

There were indeed two horses in the dust in the distance.

They are very far apart.

They were so far away that ordinary people wouldn't even realize they were following a car.

But this distance looks so familiar.

The day I went to the Yongning River, two other people followed me.

Neither get close nor leave.

It just hung there.

It's like it's specifically letting me know: you're being watched.

I lowered the carriage curtain.

Ah Liu asked in a low voice, "Are they Lord Gu's men?"

"have no idea."

"Are they from the Ministry of Works?"

"have no idea."

"What should we do then?"

"Pretend you don't know."

Ah Liu's face fell slightly: "Young Master, isn't your method too simplistic?"

"The simpler the method, the less likely it is to go wrong."

Actually, I wasn't sure either.

These two riders could be Gu Xingzhi's men, or they could be from the Ministry of Works, or they could be someone I haven't seen yet.

The advantage of Beijing is that there are many roads.

The downside is that there might be eyes on every road.

When the carriage reached Shili Pavilion in the southern suburbs, it stopped ahead.

Qiu Tang's voice came from outside.

"Your Highness, please alight from the carriage and rest."

The guards dispersed.

A maid helped Xiao Lingyi out of the carriage.

I also climbed out of the second car, dusted off the incense ash on my clothes, and stood respectfully to the side with my head bowed.

Today, Xiao Lingyi wore a plain white dress with a light gray cloak over it. Her hair was adorned with no gold hairpins or pearl ornaments, only a white jade hairpin.

She stood by the pavilion, gazing at the mountain shadows to the south.

At this moment, she was not like the princess who coldly asked me, "Have you ever met my father before?"

She was more like a daughter offering incense to her deceased mother.

I walked over and bowed a few steps away.

"Your Highness."

She didn't turn around.

"There are people behind us."

I'm not surprised at all.

"I saw it too."

"Who do you think it is?"

"I hope it is Gu Xingzhi."

She then turned her head and glanced at me.

Why?

"If it's Gu Xingzhi, it at least means His Majesty still wants me to live. If it's someone from the Ministry of Works, they probably want me to die outside the city."

She was silent for a moment.

"You're quite optimistic."

"There's no use in trying to figure it out. We can't just jump out of the car now, kneel down behind them, and ask which lord sent them."

She glanced at me, as if she thought what I said was stupid, but not stupid enough that she needed to correct me.

After a while, she said, "Ci'en Temple is five li ahead. Zhao Family Village is on a small road southwest of the temple. The carriage will stop at the temple for an hour."

I understand what she means.

One hour.

I must leave through the back gate of Ci'en Temple within this hour, go around to Zhao Family Village, find Fang Zhoushi, and then rush back.

If you can't find it, you can't force it.

If something goes wrong, the princess's residence should not be implicated.

She handed me a small wooden plaque.

The wooden plaque is engraved with the markings used by pilgrims of Ci'en Temple.

"There's a path leading out from the release pond behind the temple. Qiutang will take you there."

I took the wooden sign.

"Thank you, Your Highness."

"Shen An".

I looked up.

She finally turned to look at me, her voice very soft.

"I'm lending you my car, not my life."