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

The tent is inside the dead man's belly.

When I heard those words, my first reaction wasn't fear.

It's disgusting.

It's not because of dead people.

It's because someone actually managed to go to such lengths to manage the accounts.

Bai Zhi stood at the cave entrance, her face pale, her fingers tightly gripping the abacus beads.

She usually had a sharp tongue, and was more energetic than seeing her own father when she saw account books. But now, staring at the dark underground entrance, she couldn't utter a second word for a long time.

Ah Liu is not here.

That's a good thing.

If he were here, upon hearing the words "dead man's stomach," he would probably confess on the spot to the half-bowl of water he had just drunk.

I looked at Bai Zhi: "Are you sure?"

Bai Zhi nodded, her voice low: "The accountant uses a secret signal by knocking on the counter. Three short knocks followed by a pause mean 'hidden in the account.' Three more knocks mean 'dead man.'"

I looked down at the ground.

Dampness rose from the cave entrance, carrying with it the smells of blood and moldy grain.

On the ground of Qinghe Charity Granary were sandbags, moldy rice, donation books, and old clothes.

What's underground?

I suddenly felt that this granary was not like a granary at all.

It looks like a man-eating belly.

It swallows silver above and people below.

Zheng Huaien stood to the side, his expression cold.

He didn't ask.

There was no rush.

This makes me even more uneasy.

A person who is truly afraid of being exposed underground shouldn't have such a composed expression.

Unless he knows what's underground.

Or perhaps he knew it was too late to save those underground.

Xiao Lingyi looked at me: "I'll go downstairs."

"no."

I spoke almost immediately.

She looked at me.

I added, "It's narrow down there, smelly, there are dead bodies, and there might be an ambush. Your Highness is up there, keeping order outside."

Xiao Lingyi said coldly, "You can get down, but I can't?"

"I'm rather unlucky; I'm better suited to scout ahead."

Her expression darkened.

I know this sounds harsh, but it's the truth.

If there really is an assassin underground, Yan Xiaoyi can stop him.

If there is poison underground, I have antidote pills on me, and Physician Song is also on his way.

If any improper or unseemly conduct occurs underground, Xiao Lingyi could go down there and the Ministry of Rites could write a whole cartload of memorials the next day, claiming that the princess's nighttime intrusion into the secret storehouse was improper.

Of course, they might not dare to say it to Xiao Lingyi's face.

But they will write.

A civil official's mouth can sometimes be longer than a knife, stabbing people without drawing blood.

Xiao Lingyi did not respond immediately.

I lowered my voice: "His Highness is up there, Zheng Huai'en wouldn't dare to make any rash moves. If you go down, he can use that against you from up there."

She looked at Zheng Huaien.

Zheng Huaien lowered his eyes, as if he hadn't heard anything.

Xiao Lingyi finally said, "Yan Xiaoyi will go down with you."

"certainly."

Yan Xiaoyi had already stood at the cave entrance, his knife half-drawn from its sheath.

"I'll go first."

He had barely finished speaking when he went down the stone steps.

A faint echo came from underground.

I'll be the second one down.

Bai Zhi wanted to go too, but I stopped her.

"You listen from up there."

She frowned: "You understand the accounting codes?"

"I don't understand."

"Then you'll let me be on top?"

"If you're up there, and I die, someone will still be able to understand the accounts."

Bai Zhi stared at me.

"Shen An, what you said is really unlucky."

"I've always been lucky, that's why I'm still alive."

Before she could say anything more, Xiao Lingyi spoke up: "Bai Zhi, stay."

Bai Zhi had no choice but to grit her teeth and take a half-step back.

I walked down the path, holding a torch.

The stone steps were narrow, the walls on both sides were damp, and there was moss in the cracks of the walls.

The deeper you go, the stronger the smell of blood becomes.

Upon reaching the last step, the view suddenly opened up.

The underground warehouse wasn't large, but it went deeper than I had imagined.

Old rice sacks, empty medicine jars, and broken wooden boxes were piled up all around. In the middle stood several wooden pillars, with broken ropes tied to them.

A few people were sitting in the corner.

No, you can't say "sitting".

They were tied to the corner of the wall, leaning against it, their heads hanging down.

The firelight illuminated their tattered clothes and chapped lips.

Disaster victims.

There are still people alive.

A tall, thin man was the first to look up.

His right eye was so swollen he couldn't open it, his left hand was tied up, and the knuckles of his right hand were a bloody mess.

The knocking sound just now was probably made by him.

When he saw me, his eyes lit up, but then quickly dimmed again.

"official?"

I squatted down in front of him and cut the rope.

"Shen An of the Censorate."

He paused for a moment, then grabbed my sleeve tightly.

"Lord Shen... the accounts... we can't let them take the accounts..."

Yan Xiaoyi has already gone to check on the others.

There were seven living people in the underground warehouse: four disaster victims, two warehouse guards, and the accountant in front of us.

More died.

A few straw mats were placed in the corner.

Feet were visible beneath the straw mat.

I didn't rush to lift it.

It's not that I'm afraid.

I need to ask a living person first.

"What's your name?"

"Zhao Ji".

Zhao Ji, the accountant of Qinghe Yicang.

Lu Wenjing mentioned him.

I asked, "Who locked you in here?"

Zhao Ji's throat was extremely dry, and his voice sounded like sandpaper grinding against wood.

"Deng Huai".

It's Deng Huai again.

"A clerk in the Ministry of Revenue's Disaster Relief Office?"

Zhao Ji nodded.

"He came tonight and said he would clean up the ashes at midnight, clearing away old accounts and old people. Lu Wenjing tried to run away but they caught him and brought him back. Later, there was a commotion outside, and before they could finish cleaning up, they killed people first."

Where is Deng Huairen?

"I'm gone."

"Which way?"

Zhao Ji shook his head, panting, and said, "He took away an iron box. Inside were Zheng Fang's medicine vouchers and the total number of grain coupons for the public granary."

Zheng Fang approved the drug sales invoice.

The total amount of rice coupons in the granary.

My heart sank.

really.

What truly sealed Zheng Huaien's fate was not what was out in the open.

He was taken away by Deng Huai.

I asked, "Then what do you mean by the account being inside a dead person's stomach?"

Zhao Ji's face showed a very unpleasant expression.

He pointed to the straw mat in the corner.

"That man was called Old Ding, he worked at the charitable granary. When Deng Huai came to settle accounts, Old Ding secretly swallowed a bottom slip. He said that as long as he swallowed it, no one else could find it. He also said... that since Lord Shen could find the charitable granary, he must be able to find the dead man."

I looked at the straw mat.

The foot peeking out from under the straw mat had curled toes and was covered in mud and grime.

I closed my eyes.

This world is truly absurd.

Some people wrote their accounts in the merit book before the Buddha.

Someone hid the tent in the stitches of an old garment.

Someone stuffed the bill into the patient's medical record.

Finally, some people even swallowed the bill.

It's not because they're smart.

It's because there's nowhere else to hide.

Yan Xiaoyi walked over: "Do you want a C-section?"

That was a very direct question.

It was as straightforward as asking if I wanted the door opened.

I glanced at him.

"Carry the person upstairs first, and let Physician Song come."

Yan Xiaoyi nodded.

I don't want to dissect dead people underground.

It's not about being particular.

The evidence must be clean.

For the examination of the contents of a dead person's stomach, the presence of a physician, the Censorate, the Princess's residence, and the Ministry of Revenue is required.

Otherwise, Zheng Huaien could say tomorrow that I was the one who put it in.

Zheng Huaien is so eloquent.

I must make him see it with his own eyes.

Zhao Ji, however, gripped my sleeve tightly.

"Lord Shen, we cannot wait."

I frowned: "Why?"

He looked in horror to the other side of the underground warehouse.

There's a small door over there.

There was a draft coming through the crack in the door.

Zhao Ji lowered his voice: "Before they left, they said that if there wasn't enough time to clear the water, they should just let it run."

My heart skipped a beat.

What kind of water should I add?

No sooner had the question been asked than a muffled sound came from deep underground.

It was like a wooden gate being pulled open.

Immediately afterwards, a stream of murky water gushed in from under the small door.

Yan Xiaoyi cursed.

"Walk!"

The water came very quickly.

The underground storage area was already low, and when the water rushed in, it instantly covered the feet.

The bound victims screamed in terror.

I immediately shouted, "Save the person first!"

Yan Xiaoyi and the two guards began cutting the rope.

I dragged Zhao Ji toward the stone steps.

His legs were so weak he could barely stand, and he almost fell on top of me.

I was almost overpowered by him, and I cursed under my breath.

I'm definitely not suited for physical labor.

When Zhao Ji reached the straw mat, he suddenly struggled.

"Old Ding! The account book!"

I gritted my teeth and looked at the straw mat.

The water had already reached the edge of the straw mat.

If we don't take it now, once the water rises and the body is submerged, even if we manage to remove the contents of the stomach, they might not be visible anymore.

I shouted to Yan Xiaoyi, "Take the body with you too!"

Yan Xiaoyi yanked off the straw mat, but his expression changed.

There were three corpses under the straw mat.

Which one is Lao Ding?

Zhao Ji cried out, "The one on the far left! The one with the broken toe!"

Yan Xiaoyi immediately dragged up the corpse on the far left.

The body was very heavy.

The dead are heavier than the living.

Especially the dead bodies that were killed and then submerged in water, which sank like a bag of wet sand.

The water was already up to my calves.

Two oil lamps in the underground warehouse were extinguished by water, and darkness suddenly descended.

I dragged Zhao Ji along, my legs getting increasingly choked by the water.

The stone steps are just ahead.

But just as I stepped onto the first step, I suddenly heard a whooshing sound behind me.

Yan Xiaoyi turned around abruptly and blocked the attack with his sword.

A ding sound.

A thin needle fell into the water.

It's a fine needle again.

There is someone in the darkness.

My heart tightened.

Yan Xiaoyi said coldly, "Let's go first."

I dragged Zhao Ji up.

But then the second needle came.

This time it was Chong Zhaoji.

I almost instinctively pulled Zhao Ji to the side.

The needle grazed my sleeve and embedded itself in the stone steps.

Zhao Ji was so frightened he almost lost his mind.

"They're still here! They're still here!"

nonsense.

I know they're still here.

Someone took advantage of the water to come in through the underground door and silenced them.

These people are very honest and efficient.

If the fire doesn't clean it completely, it will be flooded.

If the water doesn't completely drain the area, then kill it with a needle.

I pushed Zhao Ji to the inner guards who were extending down from above.

"Pull him up!"

Xiao Lingyi's voice came from the cave entrance: "Shen An!"

"fine!"

Even I don't believe what I'm saying.

Yan Xiaoyi dragged the corpse in front of me.

In the darkness, the man fired a few more needles, but they were all blocked by the corpse.

Old Ding swallowed a tent in life and blocked a needle after death.

I suddenly realized that this was the true loyal minister of the Great Liang.

Unfortunately, he wasn't an official.

Yan Xiaoyi and I retreated one after the other.

The water was already up to my knees.

From deep within the underground warehouse came the sound of wooden frames collapsing. Several medicine jars that hadn't been moved yet floated up, crashed into the wall, and shattered on the ground.

The last guard, carrying the child on his back, slipped and nearly fell back into the water.

I reached out to pull him.

Just then, the person in the darkness finally lunged out.

She was not a palace maid.

Not Cang Ding.

It was a man wearing gray clothes.

His hands are very steady, he has a scar on the back of his hand, and his thumb and index finger are thick.

One of the people Liu Cheng mentioned who wrote the register of families has died.

There's one more here.

He held a short syringe in his hand and stabbed Zhao Ji directly.

Yan Xiaoyi was blocked by the corpse and didn't have time to retaliate.

I can only draw my sword and return to its sheath.

The short blade and the syringe collided.

My wrist went numb, and I almost lost my grip.

This person is much stronger than me.

I'm definitely not cut out for fighting.

But I'm good at saving my life.

I raised my foot and kicked him hard in the knee.

Missed.

He dodged away.

well.

Master.

Then there's no need to talk about martial ethics.

I took out lime powder from my pocket with my left hand and sprinkled it out.

The man in gray clearly hadn't expected an official of the imperial court to be so shameless.

He groaned softly, his eyes glazed over.

Yan Xiaoyi finally freed his hand and struck him on the back of the neck with the back of his knife.

The man fell into the water.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

Yan Xiaoyi looked at me.

"You're very skilled at this trick."

I coughed once: "A scholar's self-defense."

He dragged the man in gray upstairs.

"Scholars are so dirty."

I didn't have the energy to argue with him.

When the last body was dragged to the ground, the groundwater had already reached halfway up the stone steps.

If we waited even a cup of tea longer, all the witnesses, the corpses, and the accounts would have been ruined.

I crawled out of the cave, soaked to the bone, looking more like a disheveled accountant pulled from a ditch than a newlywed prince consort.

Ah Liu returned at some point, and when he saw me like this, he almost pounced on me.

"Young master! You've gone into the water again!"

I sat on the ground, panting heavily.

"It's not a river."

"Wells won't work, and neither will groundwater!"

Xiao Lingyi stood in front of me.

She looked down at me, her face even colder than before.

I looked up, wanting to say something lighthearted.

"Your Highness, I am still alive."

She did not speak.

They just threw a cloak at me.

The movements were very heavy.

But the cloak is warm.

I wrapped my cloak around myself and looked at Zhao Ji, the gray-clad assassin, and the corpse with its toes missing, who had been dragged out.

Zheng Huaien is also watching.

His expression finally changed.

It wasn't because Zhao Ji was alive.

It was because Lao Ding's body had been brought up.

I smiled.

"Minister Zheng."

"Shall we take a look at what's going on inside a dead man's stomach?"