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

Aunt Zhaoyue died in the well behind Ci'en Temple.

This sentence sounds very light.

As light as the many old servants who die in the palace every year, a single note in the account book is enough to turn the page.

But when Xiao Lingyi heard this, her face turned pale for a moment.

It's not that I'm afraid of dead people.

It's because the world has lost another person who remembers the late Empress.

I looked at Gu Xingzhi and asked, "When did he die?"

Gu Xingzhi said, "Within half an hour."

Another half hour passed.

Now, just hearing those four words makes me want to erect a memorial tablet for every half-hour in the capital.

"Who discovered it?"

"Inner Guard".

"What about Bai Song's old grievances?"

Gu Xingzhi looked at me.

"The hem of my clothes was cut open, and the things inside are gone."

Pei Shen stood in the courtyard without saying a word.

Surrounded by guards, the gentle expression on his face finally faded considerably.

I looked at him: "Did Lord Pei arrive a step too late or a step too early?"

Pei Shen asked, "What does Lord Shen mean?"

"Aunt Zhaoyue is dead, her clothes have been torn open, and Bai Song's old account is missing. Lord Pei just happened to come to Zhaoyue Nunnery looking for a page of the old account."

I smiled.

"It's such a coincidence that I'm almost embarrassed to say it wasn't you."

Pei Shen looked at me.

"If Lord Shen has evidence, he may arrest me."

"If I had evidence, I wouldn't have been talking to you just now."

Pei Shen said calmly, "Then be careful what you say."

"I've always been very cautious."

Yan Xiaoyi whispered from behind, "Lord Shen, your Shen is not quite the same as Lord Pei's Shen."

I turned to look at him.

Don't tell jokes at times like this.

Although the delivery was alright.

Xiao Lingyi suddenly spoke up: "Take me there."

Gu Xingzhi looked at her.

"Your Highness, a corpse is not suitable..."

"take me."

Four words.

There was absolutely no room for maneuver.

Gu Xingzhi remained silent for a moment, then stepped aside to make way.

Behind Zhaoyue Nunnery, there is a narrower path that winds through a bamboo grove and leads to the well behind Ci'en Temple.

The well is not in the main courtyard of the temple, but in the mixed forest behind the mountain.

There is an abandoned water room next door, with peeling paint on the walls and moss growing around the well.

If it weren't for the guards protecting it, it would look like a deserted well that no one has visited for many years.

Aunt Zhaoyue's body has been carried out.

She was much older than I had imagined, with gray hair, a thin face, and wearing an old gray woolen coat.

Her right hand was still clenched tightly.

The collar of the garment was cut open by a sharp blade, and the tear was very neat.

It wasn't a hasty tearing.

Someone knew where the item was and simply took it.

Xiao Lingyi stopped in front of the corpse.

She did not squat down immediately.

I just stood there and watched for a long time.

Qiu Tang's eyes were already red.

"Your Highness..."

Xiao Lingyi said in a low voice, "She used to comb the Empress Dowager's hair."

The sound was very flat.

It's so flat it's unsettling.

I looked at Aunt Zhaoyue's hand.

As she died, her right hand was clenched too tightly.

The guards tried to pry it open, but didn't move, clearly waiting for Gu Xingzhi to return.

I squatted down.

"Commander Gu, may I see this?"

Gu Xingzhi nodded.

"look."

I didn't break it directly.

The thing a dead person clutches last is usually something they don't want to let go of.

It might break if you loosen your grip.

Since Physician Song is not here, I have to do it myself.

I gently pried open the gaps between her fingers with a silver needle hidden in my sleeve.

There was no paper in my palm.

There was no account.

There was only a little black powder.

Like ash.

I leaned closer and took a sniff.

It has a burnt smell.

There was also a very faint medicinal fragrance.

Albizia julibrissin.

My heart sank.

Aunt Zhaoyue touched the burned items before she died.

Or perhaps the people she met carried that smell.

Xiao Lingyi also smelled it.

"A calming incense?"

I nodded.

"Um."

Gu Xingzhi said, "She wasn't poisoned to death."

"How did he die?"

"A needle in the back of the neck."

Another needle.

I can almost picture the location of that thin needle without even looking at it.

Han Shangfu of the Imperial Clothing Bureau, Xiao Neishi of the Old Clothing Room, the deceased in the secret compartment of the incense ash cart, the granary worker in the underground warehouse, and now Aunt Zhaoyue.

Needles of the same type.

Is this a tactic used by the "Account Settlement Committee" to silence witnesses, or a tactic employed by a specific group?

I asked, "Where's the needle?"

Gu Xingzhi took out a small copper tube.

A thin needle was placed inside the copper tube.

The tip of the needle had a hint of dark blue.

"Poisoning."

I looked at the needle.

"This doesn't seem like the Ministry of Revenue."

Gu Xingzhi said, "It doesn't seem like it."

"Like the inner court?"

He did not answer immediately.

I looked at him.

"Commander Gu, the late Empress mentioned you in her letter."

Gu Xingzhi finally looked up.

Xiao Lingyi looked at him.

Pei Shen also looked at him.

As soon as those words were spoken, even the wind beside the well seemed to stop.

Gu Xingzhi remained expressionless.

"What letter?"

Xiao Lingyi took the letter out of her sleeve, but instead of handing it to him, she unfolded it and showed it to him.

After reading it, Gu Xingzhi's expression changed for the first time.

It's very light.

But there are.

He stared at the line "If no one can be trusted, go to Gu Xingzhi" and remained silent for a long time.

I asked, "Did Commander Gu meet the late Empress back then?"

Gu Xingzhi said, "I have seen him before."

Xiao Lingyi's voice tightened: "Why did Mother send someone to find you?"

Gu Xingzhi looked at the letter.

"Because I once guarded the Changning Side Hall."

Changning Side Hall.

The thread in my heart was pulled tighter again.

Shelter from the wind, keep quiet, and dim the lights.

Calming Tea.

The Queen's hospital gown.

Aunt Zhaoyue.

Gu Xingzhi continued, "In the winter of the fourteenth year of Chengxi, the night before the late Empress fell seriously ill, the Changning side hall was sealed off for half an hour. At that time, I was just an Inner Guard Captain, guarding the outer gate."

I asked, "What did you see?"

"I saw Aunt Zhaoyue come out carrying a clothes box."

"A hospital gown?"

"It should be."

Xiao Lingyi's fingers turned slightly white.

"Why didn't you inform Father Emperor?"

Gu Xingzhi remained silent.

This silence carries more weight than any answer.

After a while, he said, "I have reported it."

Xiao Lingyi's expression changed.

Gu Xingzhi looked at her.

"His Majesty knows."

Beside the well, the bamboo leaves rustled in the wind.

I just felt a chill down my spine.

The emperor knew.

Xiao Lingyi asked this question in the car.

Now, Gu Xingzhi answered in person.

The emperor knew that Aunt Zhaoyue had taken the sick clothes.

Why hasn't he said anything all these years?

Why not investigate?

Why wait until now to use me, this seemingly hopeless piece?

Xiao Lingyi's voice was so soft it sounded like it was about to break.

"Did Father know that Mother left the palace in her sick clothes?"

Gu Xingzhi said, "We knew the clothes box had left the palace, but we didn't know the tent was hidden inside the clothes."

Why didn't he chase after him?

Gu Xingzhi looked at her.

This time, he did not answer immediately.

But I already had a vague idea of ​​the answer.

Because if we had continued to pursue this issue back then, it would have involved something much bigger than a hospital gown.

The old treasury of the Imperial Secretariat.

The Ministry of Revenue distributed grain as payment.

Former ministers who were entrusted with the care of the regent.

It could even threaten the very foundation upon which the emperor himself ascended the throne.

Gu Xingzhi finally said, "The political situation at court cannot be thrown into chaos at that time."

Xiao Lingyi suddenly smiled.

It's very light.

It doesn't look like a smile at all.

"Therefore, the Empress Dowager can die, the tent can be hidden, Zhaoyue can escape, and Bai Song can commit suicide."

Gu Xingzhi lowered his head.

"I have nothing to say in defense."

This is the first time I've heard Gu Xingzhi say something like that.

He usually looks like a bronze mirror.

A bronze mirror neither admits its mistakes nor offers explanations.

But now, he says he has nothing to say in his defense.

Xiao Lingyi slowly put the letter away.

There was no crying or anger on her face.

But I felt she was colder than ever.

Pei Shen suddenly spoke up: "Your Highness, the events of that year cannot be explained simply by who knows and who doesn't. The late Empress's old case is too deeply involved, and Your Majesty also has your own difficulties."

Xiao Lingyi turned to look at him.

"So you knew too?"

Pei Shen remained silent.

well.

Another one who knows.

Looking at this group of people, I suddenly felt like a little thief who had accidentally wandered into an old treasury.

I initially thought the investigation was about Zheng Huaien embezzling relief funds.

When they opened the account books, they found that the emperor knew, Gu Xingzhi knew, Pei Shen knew, and Grand Secretary Wang probably knew as well.

Everyone in the old-timers in Beijing knows this.

Only the dead cannot speak.

Looking at Aunt Zhaoyue's corpse, Xiao Lingyi asked Gu Xingzhi, "Who killed her?"

Gu Xingzhi said, "We're pursuing them."

I want answers.

"Yes, there will be."

"When?"

Gu Xingzhi remained silent.

I squatted down beside Aunt Zhaoyue's body, my gaze falling on her left sleeve.

There was a tiny, barely noticeable loose thread on the cuff.

red.

Very fine.

I used a silver needle to pick it out.

Hidden beneath the thread was a small, extremely thin piece of fabric.

The piece of cloth was small, only as wide as a fingernail, and two characters were embroidered on it with an old palace needle.

It's not ink.

It's a needle.

Yongfeng.

I gasped for breath.

Yongfeng Bank.

Before her death, Aunt Zhaoyue was unable to leave behind the old debts of Bai Song.

But she left behind two words.

Yongfeng.

The Qian Rong case involved the Yongfeng Three Counters' silver notes.

The medicine sold at the South Pharmacy is a tranquilizer; the bottom copy is from the Yongfeng Bank.

Now that Bai Song's old account has been taken away, Aunt Zhaoyue has left "Yongfeng" in her sleeve.

This road is finally straight.

It points to silver.

I handed the piece of cloth to Xiao Lingyi.

After she finished reading it, her eyes darkened.

Pei Shen also saw it.

His brow furrowed slightly.

I looked at him: "Lord Pei, it seems you don't have the old scores to settle."

Pei Shen said, "I didn't take it in the first place."

"Then at Yongfeng Bank?"

"It's also possible that someone wants you to go to Yongfeng."

"I know."

I stood up.

"But Aunt Zhaoyue left behind only this before she died."

Pei Shen looked at me.

"Lord Shen, Yongfeng Bank is not Qinghe Granary."

I smiled.

"I know."

"There are many people standing behind it."

"Then let them step forward."

Pei Shen sighed softly.

"Do you really think you can keep opening positions all the way to E.Sun Securities?"

I shook my head.

"cannot."

He looked at me.

I said, "That's why I'm not opening a position."

"Then what will you do?"

I looked at Gu Xingzhi.

"Please appoint Commander Gu as the commander of Feng Yongfeng."

Gu Xingzhi said, "We need His Majesty's verbal instruction."

"Then go and invite them."

Gu Xingzhi glanced at me.

"You want to use the late Empress's letter?"

I looked at Xiao Lingyi.

She gripped the letter tightly.

After a moment, she said, "Use it."

Gu Xingzhi nodded and turned to give instructions to the guards.

Pei Shen suddenly said, "Your Highness, once the letter is presented to His Majesty, it cannot be taken back."

Xiao Lingyi looked at him.

"I had no intention of accepting it."

Pei Shen remained silent.

Xiao Lingyi said coldly, "I want to see for myself what the Empress Dowager doesn't believe."

I stood beside her without saying a word.

This is no longer a simple disaster relief fund case.

Because relief funds are a dangerous commodity.

The late empress's old case involved the hilt of a knife.

Yongfeng Bank is like the treasury of the hand holding the knife.

But money doesn't lie.

It will only change owners.