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

When we arrived at the Changning side hall, the door was open.

The guards knelt on the ground.

Half an hour ago, someone delivered medicine with an imperial edict, and also said that Sun Ajin was to be moved to another palace to recuperate.

The medicine token is genuine, but the oral instruction was not written on paper.

As soon as the white smoke rose, Qin Shangyi fainted, and Sun Ajin disappeared.

The palace maid who delivered the medicine had already taken poison.

Those who participate in the accounting committee always seem to have a way out in their mouths.

When Physician Song revived Lady Qin, I placed the false confession found in the west courtyard of the Prince's Mansion in front of her.

"They only lack Aunt Sun's handprint."

Qin Shangyi's face turned pale instantly.

"Old canal".

Gu Xingzhi had already turned around.

"Wait a moment."

Gu Xingzhi stopped.

He disliked being made to wait, especially when a prisoner had just been abducted. He turned to look at me, his eyes seeming to ask if I was planning to use nonsense to collect Sun Ajin's body.

I picked up the medicine box from the ground.

The box was a black lacquered wooden box commonly used in the inner court, but the bottom was covered with a layer of wet mud. Mixed in with the mud were fine white stone chips and two blackened reed stems.

There are no reeds near the Changning side hall.

It's in the old canal.

I squatted down again to look at the threshold.

The tire tracks outside the gate were shallow, showing only the way in, not the way out. If Sun Ajin had truly been loaded onto a cart and sent away, there would have been a lot of tire tracks left behind.

"The person did not leave through the main entrance."

Gu Xingzhi said, "Therefore, we followed the old canal."

"Yes. But they won't keep using the old canal."

The old canal was narrow and shallow, and in many places one could only pass by bending over. Carrying an unconscious old man, one could not go very far.

Moreover, Sun Ajin was no ordinary survivor.

They wanted her handprint, not her body.

One must first live, at least until the false offering is over.

I opened the medicine box and found only an empty porcelain bottle inside. The mouth of the bottle had a sweet smell of benzoin and acacia, but at the bottom there was still some extremely bitter dregs.

Physician Song only took one sniff.

"Awakening Powder"

Qin Shangyi suddenly looked up.

I asked, "Should we make someone faint first, then use a stimulant to wake them up?"

Physician Song said coldly, "We can't let a dead person put their own handprint on it."

The room became even quieter.

Ah Liu's face turned pale. He looked at the false confession and then at the porcelain bottle.

"Young master, are they planning to wake Aunt Sun up, massage her, and then..."

He didn't finish speaking.

There's no need to finish speaking.

The fake supply requires the hands of a living person.

Once the confession is given, the living person is no longer of any use.

I handed the empty bottle to Gu Xingzhi.

"They won't do it in the old canal. It's too cramped, there aren't enough lights, and the handprints are easy to make crooked."

Bai Zhi raised her eyes: "The fingerprints on the false confession are drawn very accurately."

"So they need a flat table, a lamp, and someone to hold Aunt Sun's hand."

I looked at Qin Shangyi.

"Where does the old canal lead?"

Qin Shangyi took a couple of breaths.

"To the east lies the old laundry bureau, and to the west is the abandoned gate of the Imperial Clothing Bureau. There is also an old laundry room in between, which was abandoned during the Chengxi era."

"Is there a table?"

"have."

"Where's the light?"

"The old laundry room had no windows. You had to turn on the lights to go in."

I got up.

Then there are not three paths.

There is only one.

When Madam Wang left a false testimony, she even calculated the direction of her fingerprints. The person responsible for pressing the fingerprints wouldn't just randomly pick a rock from the mud.

They would go to the old laundry.

It wasn't far from the Changning Side Hall, and the body could be transported out through the Shangyi Bureau's scrap yard. After the fingerprints were pressed, if the person was dead, they would be stuffed into the old clothes cart, and the next day they could be sent out of the palace as a deceased former palace servant.

There are rules for every step.

No one needs to admit to killing anyone at any step.

Gu Xingzhi did not ask any further questions.

He raised his hand and pointed to two bodyguards.

"East mouth of the old canal".

Two more people were selected.

"The Scrap Material Gate of the Imperial Clothing Bureau"

The rest of the men followed him down into the ditch.

Yan Xiaoyi did not move.

I asked, "Aren't you going?"

"Go to the old canal, no one will watch over the land."

As he spoke, he bent down and picked up a small piece of red thread from the threshold.

The red thread was stained with wet mud, and one end was still wrapped with extremely fine gray cloth fibers.

It's not the hem of a palace maid's skirt.

It's more like the coarse cloth used to wrap boxes when moving old clothes.

Yan Xiaoyi handed me the red thread.

"They brought more than just men."

"And a trunk."

I understand.

If Sun Ajin refused to comply, they could put her in a trunk and send her directly to the Imperial Clothing Bureau's scrap yard. As long as the trunk was covered with the words "Sick Clothes Awaiting Incineration," no one along the way would open it.

It was used to avoid bad luck and was the most useful lock in the palace.

"Ah Liu."

"exist."

"Go to the Imperial Wardrobe and find all the hospital gown packing slips for today."

Ah Liu's legs started to tremble.

"Young master, am I alone?"

Bai Zhi closed the ledger.

"I'll go with him."

Ah Liu immediately stopped shaking.

Bai Zhi glanced at him.

"What are you so happy about?"

"Having someone with you makes dying less lonely."

Bai Zhi ignored him, picked up the fake confession, and walked out.

I looked at Gu Xingzhi.

He was already standing at the entrance of the old canal, half of his body submerged in darkness.

"Shen An".

"exist."

"What if the person has already pressed it?"

I gripped the red thread tightly.

"Then let's bring them back."

"Bring the offerings back as well."

"They want a living person to speak for the dead."

I walked to the old canal.

"Today, let the real living people come to the palace and speak for themselves." The members of the Clearing House spoke as if they were wholesaling poison pills.

I went into the side room.

A faint smell of white smoke still lingered in the room.

It's not Albizia julibrissin or Benzoin.

It's a sleeping gas.

Qin Shangyi was lying on the couch, having already been revived by the Song physician.

Physician Song was also present.

When he saw me, his face immediately darkened.

"Lord Shen, you are bleeding again."

I really want to say, Dr. Song, your focus is really stable.

But I don't have the strength.

"How is Qin Shangyi?"

"He inhaled sleeping powder, not seriously. He's awake."

Qin Shangyi leaned against the couch, her face pale and her eyes filled with fear.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Xiao Lingyi hadn't come, but then she saw me and immediately said, "Aunt Sun has been taken away!"

"Who took it?"

"Suque."

I frowned.

"Suque is dead."

Qin Shangyi's voice trembled: "That person was wearing Su Que's clothes, and his face looked just like hers."

Easy?

No.

The "Green Rice", "Green Apricot", and "White Sparrow" in the palace are all the same batch of stand-ins.

As long as the clothes, waist tag, and body shape are similar, it's enough to fool people in a hurry.

I asked, "What did she say?"

Qin Shangyi closed her eyes.

She said, "Sun Ajin should go back to her clothes."

"Which way?"

"Behind the screen."

Behind the screen was a wall.

I went over and saw an old cabinet by the wall.

The cabinet was moved aside, revealing a narrow door behind it.

The alleyway leading to the side hall of Changning.

Gu Xingzhi's face was very cold.

"Does anyone know about this door?"

Qin Shangyi said in a low voice, "An old friend from Changning."

The alleyway left behind when the late empress was alive.

Aunt Zhaoyue carrying the clothes box out of the palace probably took a similar route.

The Qingzhang Society has thoroughly investigated the Changning Palace.

I crouched down to look at the ground.

There are drag marks.

Aunt Sun was old, and after being drugged by the sleeping gas, she was probably dragged away.

A small piece of cloth lay on the ground.

Grayish-blue.

Old materials from the Imperial Clothing Bureau.

I picked it up and smelled it.

It has a fishy smell.

It's not well water.

Like a culvert.

"Where does the alleyway lead?"

Qin Shangyi said, "Behind Changning Palace, there is an old drainage ditch that connects to the abandoned lotus pond in the West Garden."

Gu Xingzhi immediately said, "Seale the West Garden."

The guard rushed out the door.

I stood up, and something swayed before my eyes.

Ah Liu quickly helped me up.

"Young master, please rest for a moment!"

I shook my head.

"We can't rest."

Aunt Sun hasn't been gone for half a moment, there's still a chance.

After half an hour, the only option left was to search in the well.

Gu Xingzhi looked at me.

"You stay here."

"No."

"Shen An".

It was the first time he called me by my name directly.

I looked at him.

Gu Xingzhi said, "If you follow now, you'll only slow things down."

He was right.

My shoulder is injured, and after running this far, my body is almost at its limit.

But I can't do nothing.

I looked at Qin Shangyi.

"Is there anything on Aunt Sun that can be used to locate her?"

Qin Shangyi was taken aback.

"What?"

"She was a former palace embroiderer; wouldn't she be used to leaving stitches, threads, and markings?"

Qin Shangyi suddenly looked up.

"meeting!"

She struggled to get up.

"When Aunt Sun walks, she always hides a red thread in her sleeve. If she encounters danger, she will wrap the thread around a sharp point on the road."

Red line.

Old palace needle.

I immediately looked toward the alleyway.

"Find the line!"

Ah Liu was the first to lie down and look.

He's usually afraid of death, but he has excellent eyesight.

Before long, he found a thin, almost invisible red line below the narrow door.

"Young master! Over here!"

A red line hung on the wooden splinter on the threshold, extending intermittently into the depths of the alley.

Aunt Sun is still awake.

I was awake for at least a moment when I was being dragged away.

She's leaving a way out for us.

Gu Xingzhi immediately led his men into the alley.

I gritted my teeth and followed.

He turned to look at me.

I quickly said, "I can see the lines."

Gu Xingzhi remained silent for a moment, then did not stop him.

The alley is very narrow.

The walls on both sides were damp, and the ceiling was very low. Ah Liu walked relatively smoothly, but Gu Xingzhi and I both had to duck a little.

The red line appears and disappears intermittently.

Sometimes it hangs in the cracks of the wall, sometimes it gets caught in nails, and sometimes it leaves only a few fibers on the ground.

It's quite remarkable that Aunt Sun, at her advanced age, was able to leave behind these things after being drugged with incense.

I suddenly felt a sense of admiration for these former palace servants.

They looked delicate, usually keeping their heads down sewing and not saying much.

But when it comes to life and death, he's more reliable than many high-ranking officials in the imperial court.

At the end of the alley, there is a fork in the road.

A path leads to the abandoned lotus pond in Xiyuan.

An old canal leads to Taiye Lake.

The red line breaks here.

Ah Liu cried out in alarm, "Young master, break it!"

I squatted down.

There are two footprints on the ground.

The footprints on the left are messy, as if they were deliberately made.

The watermarks are heavier on the right, while the drag marks are shallower.

I touched the wall.

There is a reddish spot in the right corner of the wall.

It's not a line.

is blood.

Aunt Sun scratched her hand with her fingernail and applied a small dot.

"right."

Gu Xingzhi immediately waved his hand.

We chased after them to the right.

The old canal was very wet, the water was above ankle-deep, and it was bone-chillingly cold.

Not long after they started walking, they heard faint voices ahead.

Gu Xingzhi raised his hand.

Everyone stopped.

I held my breath.

A woman's voice could be heard in the darkness.

"Sun Ajin, I'll ask you one last time: on the night of the sick clothes, what exactly did the late Empress give to Zhaoning?"

Aunt Sun's voice was weak.

"Your Highness was still young then."

"Stop pretending to be confused. The late Empress left something for Zhaoning."

"no."

"If you don't talk, we'll take you to the Golden Palace. You know how to make offerings there."

Aunt Sun suddenly smiled.

Very light, very old.

"You've written so many false accounts, what's one more false statement from me?"

The woman remained silent for a moment.

My heart skipped a beat when I heard that.

Aunt Sun is still alive.

Gu Xingzhi gave hand signals to the inner guards.

With Yan Xiaoyi absent, we can only rely on Commander Gu at this time.

He moved very quickly.

It was so fast that I only saw a dark shadow dart away.

The sounds of fighting suddenly erupted from the depths of the old canal.

When Ah Liu and I rushed over, the two fake palace maids had already been held down by the imperial guards.

One had his arm dislocated by Gu Xingzhi, and the other was twisted to the ground.

Aunt Sun collapsed against the wall, blood at the corner of her mouth, but her eyes were still clear.

I quickly squatted down.

"Aunt Sun."

She saw me, Aunt Sun.

She looked like she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Lord Shen."

Hang in there.

She smiled.

"This old servant isn't so easily eliminated."

Hearing that made my heart ache.

Since Physician Song wasn't there, I could only have Ah Liu help her up first.

Gu Xingzhi brought the fake palace maid over.

Half of her makeup was washed off by the water, revealing an unfamiliar face.

It's not a white sparrow.

But their eyes look very similar.

I asked, "Are you one of Aunt Lan's people?"

She didn't answer.

Gu Xingzhi raised his hand.

She immediately replied, "Yes!"

well.

Commander Gu's hands are more effective than my mouth.

I asked, "Who gave you permission to arrest Sun Ajin?"

"Aunt Lan".

"Lan Gu has just been arrested, how are you supposed to take orders?"

The woman's expression changed.

I sneered: "So it's not Aunt Lan."

She shut up.

I looked at Gu Xingzhi.

Gu Xingzhi said, "Take him back for questioning."

Aunt Sun suddenly grabbed my sleeve.

"Lord Shen, don't just interrogate her."

"Does your aunt know who it is?"

Aunt Sun gasped for breath twice.

"I just heard them say that the old confession has been written, and it is only missing my fingerprint."

My heart sank.

"Where is it supplied?"

"They said, send it...send it to the west courtyard of the Prince's Mansion."

West Courtyard of the Prince's Mansion.

The residence of Lady Wang, the Grand Secretary.

Wang Fu said that the Wang family's private seal was chosen by his wife.

Incense burner, genuine plaque, fake offering—the shadow of Madam Wang is everywhere.

Wang Song has been arrested.

But Madam Wang was still outside.

Moreover, she may have a pre-written false statement.

Gu Xingzhi immediately sent someone to the west courtyard of the Prince's Mansion.

I asked Aunt Sun, "What did the old confession say?"

Aunt Sun's face turned deathly pale.

"It is said that the late Empress settled accounts with her former subordinates before her death, and instructed Princess Zhaoning to bring Shen Lie's son to the capital in the future to purge the court of corrupt officials."

Ah Liu cursed aloud.

"How can they dare to write anything!"

I want to curse too.

If this false confession were produced and Aunt Sun's handprint were added, all the filth could be sewn back into a garment.

The late empress was the instigator.

Xiao Lingyi is the successor.

I am an inside agent for the anti-Japanese forces in the southwest.

The clearing of accounts will turn them into the former subordinates of the late empress.

Wang Song, on the contrary, became a respected minister who prevented the rebellion.

This is their final reckoning.

Sun Ajin leaned against the wall, her breath weak, but her fingers gripped my sleeve tightly.

"Lord Shen."

"This old servant doesn't know how to press it."

I nodded.

"Auntie doesn't need to pay anyone's bill anymore."

Gu Xingzhi ordered his men to take away the two fake palace maids.

One of them pulled an old imperial court plaque from his sleeve.

A name is engraved on the back of the card.

Feng happy.

The head of the inner court when the Changning side hall was sealed in the fourteenth year of Chengxi.

This name has finally moved from the old files to a living person.

I stood up, leaning against the wall.

"Take Aunt Grandson back to the palace."

Ah Liu asked, "Still going to the palace?"

"superior."

The false confession has already been written; the real confession cannot be delayed any longer.

Tonight, we must get the living to speak.

We must also make it clear to everyone that what the late empress left behind was to settle old scores, not to rebel.