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

Shen Lie's letter was placed on the table.

No one is demolishing it.

It's not out of politeness.

This is because the emperor just issued an order yesterday that all evidence related to the southwest must be jointly opened by the Censorate, the Imperial Guard, and the Princess's residence.

I can't watch it alone.

I proposed this rule myself.

At the time, I thought it was very fair.

Now we realize that the greatest function of rules is to remind you of what you said yesterday when you are most tempted to break them.

Xiao Lingyi sat opposite me.

Gu Xingzhi stood by the door.

Bai Zhi sat further away.

She had no interest in the private messages between the father and son.

But I am very interested in letter paper, wax seals, ink, and creases.

Doctor Song was originally there.

Hearing that it was just a letter, not poison, he turned and left.

He left a message before he left.

"Don't call me to open the mail."

"Scream if you're poisoned."

I think his understanding of the responsibilities of a doctor is becoming more and more flexible.

Ah Liu has already left the capital with Yan Xiaoyi.

The room was suddenly quiet because there was one less person in the house who was constantly afraid of dying. It was so quiet that I felt a little uneasy.

Gu Xingzhi first inspected the seal.

Tiger head seal.

It matches the old seal of Shen Lie preserved by the Ministry of War.

But private seals can be forged.

Bai Zhi removed a bit of sealing wax.

"Southwest China Pine Resin"

"It can also be bought in Beijing."

"But it's mixed with Qingxia black sand."

"Black sand does not melt when heated, and fine spots will appear on the printing surface."

"Shen Liejun used this kind of wax to prevent the roads from being sealed off again."

She held the sealing wax up to the light.

There are three tiny black dots on the right eye of the tiger head seal.

My father's private messages have always been sealed like this.

When he was a child, he also used this kind of wax when the army's food rations were urgently needed.

Gu Xingzhi cut open the seal.

There was only one piece of paper inside.

Every finishing touch feels like a knife wound.

It is also Shen Lie's courtesy name.

I didn't look at the content immediately.

My father always folded the letters he wrote to me from left to right, and then folded them upwards.

He said that military documents should be able to be unfolded with one hand.

Xiao Lingyi looked at me.

"Is it true?"

"picture."

"Look at the content."

Wang Song has been eliminated.

My father's command remains unchanged; I await your guidance to pave the way through Qingxia.

They didn't even ask me how I was doing.

He looks a lot like his father.

If he were to write "Is my son well?", I would suspect that someone was holding a knife to his throat.

Gu Xingzhi asked, "What does 'opening a road through Qingxia' mean?"

Because Wang Song had said that before he was taken away.

The Southwest is missing more than just a knife.

We still lack a route for grain to reach Beijing.

Now, my father wrote in his own hand:

We await your guidance in opening the road through Qingxia.

If this letter were delivered to the imperial court, the joint petition signed by the nineteen people would appear to demonstrate great foresight.

I investigated Wang Song.

I investigated the Wang family's grain supply route.

I am about to go to Yong'an and Qingxia.

My father was waiting for me in the southwest to clear the way.

Everything can be pieced together to form a complete map of treason.

It was so complete, it looked like it had been drawn in advance.

Xiao Lingyi took the letter.

There's a problem.

"where?"

"Wang Song has been eliminated."

"Wang Song only handed over the seal yesterday."

When will the letter be sent?

Gu Xingzhi checked the messenger's records.

"The gatekeeper said it was delivered by a charcoal seller from the south of the city in the evening."

The charcoal seller has left.

"The envelope had creases from an express mail service."

Bai Zhi said, "We've traveled at least two hundred li."

If Shen Lie were in the southwest, two hundred li would be far from enough.

Unless the letter has already been sent from the southwest and is just waiting outside the capital.

But Wang Song only collapsed yesterday.

It's impossible for the father to have known the accurate result several days in advance.

It's not entirely impossible.

If he shared the news with Madam Wang and Lan Gu, he might receive the arrangements in advance.

But the letter said "removed".

It is not "to remove".

These four words are too certain.

It's as if the person writing the letter already knew that Wang Song would definitely hand over the seal.

I asked, "How long will it take?"

I tested the water sample taken from Angelica dahurica.

Two days ago.

Wang Song is still being tried in the palace.

My identity has been made public in the south of the city, but I have not yet been tried in the Golden Hall.

The letter writer already knew that Wang Song would fall.

Was it the father's accurate prediction?

Or did someone else write the result for him?

Every turning point, every major setback, is the same as my father's.

But precisely because it looks so similar, I feel something is off.

A real person's handwriting doesn't always resemble their own.

Mood, paper, posture, and ink density all change.

Only those who imitate calligraphy will strive to make every stroke conform to the original style.

I placed the letter together with the letter from Shen Liejun during the Chengxi era.

We finally found a place.

The character “父” (father).

When my father writes the character "父" (father), the dot on the right is always very heavy.

Because he injured his right shoulder when he was young, he can't raise his wrist high, and he will press down a bit when he lands.

The "father" in this letter is written with a very light dot.

Bai Zhi asked, "Is this the only difference?"

"besides."

I pointed to "Qingxia".

My father never wrote about Qingxia.

The Southwest Army called the old Qingxia Road "Qingkou".

Qingxia was the name used by the Ministry of Revenue and grain merchants in the capital.

When my father spoke to me, he would not suddenly switch to using place names from the capital city.

Xiao Lingyi said, "The letter is fake."

"The character is a fake."

"The printing, wax, and paper might be genuine."

Gu Xingzhi asked, "Who can obtain Shen Lie's old letters and imitate his handwriting?"

"Xu Sandao".

"Former clerk in the Southwest Army".

"The people around my father."

"And the Wang family."

The old letter from the fourteenth year of Chengxi fell into the hands of Wang Song.

Wang had kept at least one private letter from Shen Lie.

It has an old seal.

There is Qingxia Black Sand Wax.

It's not difficult to forge a letter that would fool the Ministry of War.

The real issue is not whether it's true or false.

Why did it appear at this moment?

First, it proves that my investigation of Wang Song was carried out on my father's orders.

Second, to prove that the Qingxia Grain Transport Route is related to me.

Third, I forced the court to take away my seal of office before I was about to leave the capital.

This letter is not addressed to me.

It was written for tomorrow's morning court session.

I asked Gu Xingzhi, "How many people have seen the gatekeeper?"

"Three people."

What did the messenger say in public?

"It is an urgent message from the southwest; please open it personally, Lord Shen."

"Did anyone nearby hear that?"

"At least a dozen people."

Tomorrow the whole capital will know that Shen Lie sent me a letter.

If we say the letter is false, the courtiers will ask what evidence we have.

I can't very well tell the entire court that my father emphasized the character "father" more when he wrote it.

This evidence convinces me.

I couldn't persuade the person who wanted me to hand over the seal.

Xiao Lingyi said, "Examine it in front of everyone."

"Imitating characters only proves that the characters are questionable."

"The seal is real."

"The sealing wax is genuine."

"The court will say that you deliberately chose the handwriting to cover up for Shen Lie."

Since this letter is addressed to the imperial court, it cannot be opened in the study alone.

The person who wrote the letter should send out the second half of it themselves.

"messenger."

I said, "Let's find the charcoal seller first."

Gu Xingzhi has already sent people to the south of the city.

An hour later, the results came back.

No charcoal sellers have gone missing in the south of the city today.

No one has ever seen anyone who matches the description of a doorman.

But a bag of charcoal was found in the corner outside the gatehouse.

The charcoal came from the Black Stone Kiln on the outskirts of Beijing.

Black Stone Kiln was formerly owned by the Wang family.

It was sealed off yesterday.

The person who could still take out charcoal after it was sealed up was not an ordinary charcoal seller.

Bai Zhi checked the charcoal bag.

The knot at the bag opening is a five-knot broken knot.

Grain line.

Medicine thread.

Door line.

Luo Chenghai said that once the five knots are complete, they should be sent to the old warehouse.

The old warehouse is now empty.

Five charcoal bags appeared at the entrance of the Censorate.

This letter is a general order issued by Lan Gu.

She was telling all the undercover agents:

Shen An is going to Qingxia.

You can take action along the way.

It also tells the imperial court:

Shen Anruo's departure means returning to her father's side.

If we don't go, the seventy-three people of Yong'an will die.

Going there would confirm that they were colluding with the enemy.

This is even more ruthless than the notice from Luo's Grain Shop.

Notices can be removed on the street.

The father-son relationship cannot be broken.

I am indeed Shen Lie's son.

He did indeed obey his father's orders.

Xiao Lingyi asked, "How about tomorrow?"

"Acknowledge first."

"Recognize what?"

"The letter was for me."

"Shen Lie is also my father."

"and then?"

"Open the letter."

"The letter has been opened."

"Open it to the entire court for all to see."

I refolded the three lines of text.

"They want me to explain."

I won't explain.

"I request the court to investigate according to what is stated in the letter."

Gu Xingzhi looked at me.

"Investigate what?"

"Wang Song has been eliminated."

"Investigate when the letter writer learned that Wang Song would fall from grace."

"The former officials in the capital can be cleared."

"Check who has already prepared the next list of former officials."

"Wait for you to clear the way through Qingxia."

"I need to find out which granary, which post station, and which army unit are waiting for me in Qingxia."

A letter used to convict.

If you trace each sentence further down the chain, it will eventually turn into a confession.

Accounts won't speak for good people.

They won't just speak for the bad guys.

It only recognizes who left the traces.

The morning court session the following day was indeed more lively than expected.

Before the letter was even presented, some people had already stepped forward.

It wasn't the same seventeen people as yesterday.

He knelt down and said:

"Your Majesty, Shen Lie sent a secret letter to the Censorate last night."

The letter stated that Wang Song had been removed, the old officials in the capital could be purged, and Shen An was ordered to open the Qingxia grain route.

"Your Majesty, I request that Shen An be detained immediately!"

The news spread very quickly.

It was as fast as if he had been standing outside the gatehouse of the Censorate last night.

The emperor looked at me.

"Where's the letter?"

They didn't just pick the parts that were advantageous to them.

The Vice Minister of Rites exclaimed loudly, "Your Majesty, the evidence is irrefutable!"

I asked, "Has the master read the letter?"

"The news has spread throughout the capital."

"Is the content that has been circulated exactly as it was, word for word?"

"Yes."

"strangeness."

"The letter was opened last night in the presence of three witnesses."

"The gatekeeper only knows about urgent messages from the southwest."

"The content has never been leaked."

"How did the Vice Minister of Rites know those three sentences from the original text?"

The Vice Minister of Rites' face gradually paled.

I walked up to him.

"The person who delivered the letter didn't just want me to receive it."

"I even sent you the copy in advance."

"Where is the copy?"

"I only heard this from someone else!"

"Who?"

"I forgot."

"Forget about last night."

"The officials in the Ministry of Rites remember wedding ceremonies very well, but they remember human lives very quickly."

The emperor said, "Search."

Gu Xingzhi searched the sleeve of the Vice Minister of Rites and found half a sheet of paper.

The paper contained three sentences from a letter.

But it had one more line than the letter I received.

If Shen Anruo does not obey orders, then kill Zhao Ning to prevent future troubles.

Xiao Lingyi's eyes turned cold when she saw the last line.

Finally, they released the second half.

The real Shen Lie might force me to kill the emperor.

It will send me back to the southwest.

But he wouldn't write "kill Zhao Ning" in the letter.

Because if he really wanted to kill me, he wouldn't have told me beforehand.

more importantly--

The ink used for this line is newer than that used for the previous three lines.

The Vice Minister of Rites did not receive a copy of the original letter.

This is the second version with added ingredients.

The letter writer not only wants to prove that I am a traitor.

I also need to first create a rift between Xiao Lingyi and me.

The emperor asked, "Who gave it to you?"

The Vice Minister of Rites knelt on the ground, sweat pouring down his face.

"A palace maid."

"name."

"I don't know."

"men and women?"

"Palace maid."

"appearance?"

"Wearing a veil and a royal robe."

I looked at Qin Shangyi.

She has been taken to the side of the hall to assist in the investigation of the old plaque.

Upon hearing the name of the Imperial Wardrobe Bureau, his expression changed.

"What color is the veil?"

The Vice Minister of Rites said, "Grayish-blue."

Qin Shangyi suddenly looked up.

"That's not a palace maid from the Imperial Wardrobe."

"The gray-blue veil was used by the Qingyi servants of Changning Palace in the fourteenth year of Chengxi."

Who is the man in blue robes?

Her voice was strained.

"A person who specializes in handling hospital gowns, old clothes, and the belongings of the deceased."

"Eleven years ago, there was only one person in charge of deploying them."

I've already guessed the name.

"Feng happy?"

Qin Shangyi shook her head.

"Feng happy is in charge of the gate."

"The man in Qingyi listens to a woman."

"She has no name."

"Everyone in the palace calls her—"

"Aunt Lan".