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

The inner prison was colder than when I last came.

It's not the weather.

The people imprisoned inside have changed.

Before his death, Zheng Huaien was only the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

After Wang Song went inside, even the jailers at the gate walked more quietly.

Even when former officials appointed by the emperor were imprisoned, they still took up more space than ordinary prisoners.

Gu Xingzhi did not accompany me inside.

He said Wang Song only saw me.

Xiao Lingyi did not insist.

She simply handed me the sheath.

"Weapons are not allowed in the inner prison."

"I know."

"Then why give it to me?"

"So that you'll remember."

"Remember what?"

"You don't have to believe everything you hear."

Wang Song was locked up at the very back.

Wang Song changed out of his court robes and into a gray outfit.

Without the official seal around his waist, he finally looked like an ordinary old man.

"The Grand Secretary is looking for me?"

"Wang Song has already handed over the seal of office."

"There are no Grand Secretaries here."

"Is it Lord Wang who is looking for me?"

"If you'd like, you can call him Uncle Wang."

"Lord Wang, claiming kinship within the inner prison will not reduce the punishment."

"Your father did call me uncle when he was young."

My father never mentioned Wang Song.

"That letter from the fourteenth year of the Chengxi reign?"

"Shen Lie was unaware that the letter had entered the capital."

"So who took the screenshot?"

"Whom does Du Cheng work for?"

In the fourteenth year of Chengxi's reign, the late Empress inspected the old accounts of the Imperial Treasury.

If she wanted to investigate military pay, she would naturally contact the people in the Southwest Grain Transport Commission.

"Was Du Cheng a man of the late Empress?"

Wang Song said, "He is Bai Song's man."

Bai Zhi's father is Bai Song.

Now there is also the Qingxia Tent.

I asked, "Why did Bai Song intercept Shen Lie's letter?"

"It was Shen Lie who sent Du Cheng to the capital."

"The letter says, however, that he was unaware the letter had reached the capital."

"That line of text was written by me later."

I looked at Wang Song.

Why?

"So that those who see it will think that Shen Lie has no direct contact with the capital."

"Cover him up?"

"To cover up for the court."

This answer is very Wang Song-like.

Sealing the tent is a way to stabilize the court.

Whether to hide a letter for the rebel leader or to stabilize the court.

I asked, "To whom was the letter originally intended?"

"What is the content?"

"You've already seen half of it."

"What about your other half?"

"If Lord Wang only wants me to guess, I can go back to Pei Shen."

"At least he'll hand over a key after he guesses."

"You are more patient than Shen Lie."

"When he heard this, he had already drawn his sword."

"Where was it pulled out?"

"The East Study of the Prince's Mansion".

"I didn't kill you?"

"He still needed me then."

"And then?"

"Later, I also needed him."

"You've worked with Shen Lie before."

We've collaborated once.

"When?"

"The fourteenth year of Chengxi."

"What are you doing?"

Wang Song got up and walked to the railing.

"The Southwest region experienced a shortage of funds for four months that year."

"There has been a mutiny among the border troops."

"The imperial court's official accounts have no silver."

"There is silver in the inner treasury, but it is locked away by old treasuries."

"The late Empress discovered that the relief funds for Jiangbei and the military pay for the southwest came from the same source, and she wanted to open an imperial treasury to supplement the pay."

"His Majesty hesitates."

"You're stopping us."

"Because once the imperial tent is opened, it will expose more than just embezzled funds."

"There were also three secret transfers of funds during the reign of the late emperor, two instances of relatives borrowing from the treasury, and fictitious quotas for border troops."

"If this had been made public at the time, chaos would have ensued simultaneously in the North, Southwest, and Jiangbei."

"So you'd rather let the southwest run out of food?"

"I have found other sources of food."

"Qingxia Grain Route?"

"Where did you come from?"

Wang Song looked at me.

"Disaster relief grain in Jiangbei".

The Southwest Army did not starve to death.

It's because someone transferred the disaster victims' food supplies there.

Why do disaster victims have three tents per person?

Why are the granaries empty?

Why does Ci'en Temple accept donations from the dead?

However, that time, the grain did not go into the Wang family's private treasury.

I asked, "Does Shen Lie know where the grain comes from?"

"I didn't know at first."

"I found out later."

"So he rebelled?"

"This is just one example."

Wang Song returned to the table and sat down.

"Shen Lie has obtained the grain and stabilized the military camp."

"But along the grain transport route, three counties north of the Yangtze River ran out of food."

"More than two thousand people have died."

"The imperial court recorded their deaths as due to the plague."

"After Bai Song found out, he refused to clear the account."

"Even the late Empress refused."

"Therefore, the imperial tent had to be sealed."

I looked at Wang Song.

"You make it sound like there's no choice in anything."

"What choice?"

"Open the account."

"Then the political situation will collapse on the spot."

"Or seal the tent."

"Let two thousand people die without a name."

In the end, they always chose to kill those who had no right to speak.

Why did Shen Lie continue to cooperate with you later?

"Because there are still 100,000 soldiers and civilians in the southwest."

"He can't let everyone starve to death."

"So we'll collect the grain first."

"Rebel against the court again."

"He's very practical."

Wang Song said, "In this respect, you are like him."

"How do I resemble him?"

"You would save the seventy-three people in front of you first."

"I'm wondering if this path will drag even more people into it."

It could also lead to Xiao Lingyi being implicated in a treason confession.

Because seventy-three people were in the warehouse.

Wang Song looked at me.

"So you will eventually understand me."

"You're already making the same choice."

"What's the difference?"

"I'll leave the bill."

Wang Song's eyes flickered slightly.

I said, "If I harm others in order to save seventy-three people..."

"That pen is also registered in my name."

"It should not be written as a necessary loss."

"It's not about letting others take the blame for me."

"Once the case is closed, those who should be punished will be punished."

Wang Song remained silent for a while.

I said, "At least they died later."

There was no Song physician in the inner prison.

This kind of person won't die anytime soon.

"Who is Qingxia truly waiting for?"

Wang Song stopped coughing.

"Xiao Lingyi".

Why?

"Because you are just the key."

"Zhao Ning is the seal."

"What seal?"

"The first batch of genuine artifacts left by the late Empress, twelve in total."

"Four have already appeared."

"The remaining eight are not in the capital."

"In Qingxia?"

"Six of them are here."

Who keeps it safe?

"The man who guarded the granary in Qingxia back then."

Wang Song looked at me.

"Who?"

"your mother."

My mother died young.

Her father only said that she died of a plague in the southwest.

A blue robe that always carried the smell of grain storage dust.

She also taught me how to write the first character "安" (ān).

She was merely the daughter of a clerk in the southwestern military granary.

This is what my father told me.

Wang Song now claims that she had kept six genuine tablets belonging to the late empress.

When did she meet the late Empress?

How did the cards end up in her hands?

"Bai Song sent it over."

Why give it to her?

"Because she was in charge of the Qingxia Granary."

"Also because Shen Lie believed in her."

I stared at Wang Song.

How did you know?

"I gave the card permission."

He prevented the late empress from opening the imperial tent.

He also secretly sent Bai Song out of the capital with six genuine tokens.

Why?

Wang Song said, "Let's keep a backup plan."

"Old Master Wang likes to keep a backup plan."

"The first hand killed."

"Leave evidence for your next move."

"No matter who wins in the end, you can say that you didn't go too far."

Wang Song did not deny it.

"I certainly didn't go too far."

"So you can still check today."

If he had cleared away all the real cards, white silk, and all the old debts back then, we wouldn't even be able to find the door to open the account today.

A murderer who leaves one survivor does not become a benefactor.

I asked, "What happened to my mother afterward?"

Didn't your father tell you?

"They say she died of the plague."

Wang Song looked at me for a long time.

She did not die from the plague.

In this story, most of the people who died from the epidemic had little to do with it.

"Who killed him?"

No one killed her with their own hands.

"medicine?"

"No food?"

"What is that?"

"She discovered that the grain in Qingxia Granary came from famine relief grain from Jiangbei."

"Refuse to continue issuing new shares."

"Shen Lie wants to protect the army."

"She wants to guarantee the debt."

"The two had their first major falling out."

"and then?"

"Then chaos broke out in Qingxia Warehouse."

"The soldiers scrambled for grain."

She escorted the six genuine cards and the original grain book, and left through the secret passage.

"Then, he disappeared."

"No body?"

Why did Father say she was dead?

"Because living is more troublesome than dying."

"What do you mean?"

"If she is alive, it will prove that Shen Lie took the disaster relief grain from Jiangbei."

"It also proves that the imperial court used the lives of disaster victims to prevent the southwestern border troops from rebelling."

"The accounts she holds are detrimental to both the imperial court and Shen Lie."

"So both sides want her dead?"

"At least I hope she doesn't show up."

I finally understand why Wang Song said that Qingxia was truly waiting for Xiao Lingyi.

The six genuine cards came from the late queen.

My mother is the custodian.

Shen Lie probably wants to get the money.

The person who could truly prove the inscription, meaning, and the late Empress's old decree was Xiao Lingyi.

Once she arrives at Qingxia, the six genuine tokens will transform from old objects into evidence of the late empress's legacy.

It could also become a weapon used to accuse the emperor, Wang Song, and Shen Lie of jointly sacrificing the disaster victims.

"Is my mother still alive?"

"Then what makes you say she's waiting?"

"It wasn't her waiting."

"It's an account, etc."

It also looks very similar to Angelica dahurica.

The difference is that Bai Zhi told Zhang and others that she did so to clear their names.

Wang Song said that the reason he was with Zhang and others was probably because there was a hidden weapon inside that could turn the tide.

"Does Madam Wang know about this?"

"I only know half of it."

Which half?

"She knew that the six genuine cards were in Qingxia."

"She didn't know if Madam Shen was still alive."

"Where is Aunt Lan?"

Wang Song looked towards the prison gate.

"Aunt Lan knows more than she does."

"Because the first Lan Gu was the one who escorted Bai Song out of the capital."

She was the first Lan Gu who "died of illness".

If what Wang Song said is true—

The old man who died of illness while writing in the thirteenth year of Chengxi has lived to this day.

She had seen the tablet made by the late empress.

I've seen Bai Song deliver cards.

I also saw my mother take over Qingxia Warehouse.

She is not the Lan Gu created later by the Clearing House.

She was the first to carry out the "clearing up old scores".

Wang Song called from behind, "Shen An."

"You'll know once you arrive in Qingxia from Zhaoning."

"The Emperor, I, and Shen Lie all owe the same group of people a debt."

"If you open it."

"The Southwest is not just about rebellion."

"The imperial court is not just about loyalty."

"This is nothing new."

"Loyal ministers used disaster victims to pay their bills."

"The rebels used ordinary people to fill their food rations."

"The clothes are different colors."

"The accounting methods are similar."

Wang Song chuckled.

"Therefore, I only trust you."

He deliberately used the emperor's tone.

"Lord Wang."

"His Majesty was at least still sitting on the dragon throne when he said those words."

"You can't imitate it."

Xiao Lingyi stood outside waiting.

She asked, "What did Wang Song say?"

Matters related to the case, the father's orders, and the emperor's safety will no longer be concealed.

He said there were six genuine talismans in Qingxia.

"Is it related to the Empress Dowager?"

"Anything else?"

"My mother is the one who keeps the real cards."

Xiao Lingyi showed no surprise.

The only question asked was: "Is she alive?"

"Shen Lie knows?"

"You should know some of it."

"Are you going to ask him?"

"Inquire about the accounts."

"When are you leaving?"

"After the morning court session tomorrow."

Why not tonight?

"Because Your Highness is right."

I took the knife.

"This time, I'll make sure everyone watches me walk."

Lady Wang wanted to portray me as the young master who fled back to the southwest.

Then I put on my imperial censor's robes, carried the emperor's decree, and went out through the main gate of the capital.

I want every post station, every county government office, and every pair of eyes watching Qingxia to know.

Shen Lie's son has left the capital.

It did not belong to the rebel army.

It's an audit.