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

The old woman did not close the door.

They didn't urge me to go in anymore.

She stood inside the doorway, holding a lamp.

The mountain wind blew the lights to one side repeatedly.

I first had someone send Cao Shun and his eight men to the dock warehouse.

Do not associate with those who wear military uniforms.

Each person will be issued a new temporary certificate.

Most of the original reinstatement certificates have been taken away.

However, Qingfeng, Qingzhou, and Yong'an each have their own copies.

As long as a person is alive, paper can be written on again.

The scarred man was tied to the flagpole.

Two months ago, someone gave him a wooden plaque for the Transport Office, instructing him to be in charge of welcoming the Yimin Army.

"Who gave it to you?"

"A woman."

"Madam Wang?"

"have no idea."

Missing little finger?

When people are on their own turf, their mouths are usually harder than their bones.

He'll soften up once he sees that the territory isn't his.

The gate of the Shen residence was still open.

The old woman whispered, "It's windy outside."

"Let's talk inside."

I asked, "What's your name?"

"Sister Gui".

"What's your last name?"

"I don't remember anymore."

"Whom do you work for?"

"Formerly served the lady."

"Which lady?"

"Your mother."

"What's her name?"

"You even need to ask your mother's name?"

"When I ask others, I always ask them all the questions."

The father rarely mentioned the mother's name.

Her old comrades in the military called her Madam Shen.

The mother's own name seemed unimportant.

But if someone had truly served her, they wouldn't just know the title "Madam."

"Gu Qinghe".

You might have heard of it, but you were too young to remember.

Remembering doesn't prove it's true.

I let Ah Liu go in first.

Ah Liu's face turned pale.

"Young master, why are you called 'minor'?"

"You're afraid of dying."

"Is that even a reason?"

"Those who are afraid of death are meticulous in their guarding."

Ah Liu thought about it.

He picked up a long bamboo pole from the ground, first probed the threshold, then the eaves, and then banged on the back of the door twice with a stone.

Yan Xiaoyi followed behind.

Angelica dahurica wrapped in a tent.

I was the last to enter.

The three people in front of me were better suited to operating the mechanisms than I was.

To the west are the kitchen and the accounting room.

When Sister Gui saw me looking at it, her eyes reddened again.

"This is the one you rode when you were a child."

You fell down from there when you were three years old.

"The lady scolded the carpenter for three days."

Bai Zhi squatted down and looked at the bottom of the rocking horse.

"The wood is over ten years old."

Bai Zhi continued, "The iron nails at the bottom were replaced in the last six months."

"The muddy ground in the courtyard is damp."

"If the Trojan horse is left here, the bottom will rot."

"It was moved here from elsewhere not long ago."

She said, "Old things always need to be repaired."

"Can."

Bai Zhi stood up.

"The person who repaired the wooden horse used Qingzhou round cap nails."

"Eleven years ago, carpenters in Qingxia often used square nails."

"Someone brought the old wooden horse from Qingzhou in the last six months and reinstalled it here."

Ah Liu called out from the well, "Young Master!"

Behind each line, the character "安" (peace/safety) is engraved.

Ah Liu compared them.

"Is the young master so short at five years old?"

"How tall are you at five years old?"

"have no idea."

"Then what are you surprised about?"

"Looks like it."

The three bottom carvings have been eaten into the stone by moss.

Bai Zhi scraped off a little stone powder with her fingernail.

"The first three dishes are old."

"The last two are new."

"Arrived no more than a month ago."

If they are all fake, they are actually easier to dismantle.

Add a little fake stuff next to the real thing.

This is a procedure that the clearing committee likes to do the most.

True seal.

You're saying I lived here until I was five years old?

"I've stayed there."

"How long have you stayed?"

"I come every summer."

Why?

"Madam manages Qingxia Granary."

Where is General Shen?

"Sometimes I come."

Were I afraid of water when I was a child?

"Afraid."

"How scared are you?"

"Never near a river."

"Wrong."

I said, "I wasn't afraid of water when I was a child."

I don't know if I was afraid when I was a child.

She whispered, "You weren't afraid before."

"Later, I fell into the salt river."

"The lady herself jumped in to save you."

"I'll only be afraid then."

The interior was furnished as if someone had lived there.

When I saw the cloth bag, I slowed my pace a little.

It looks a lot like the one I remember sitting next to my pillow.

Aunt Gui said, "Madam sewed it herself."

She said you always put cookies under your pillow.

Ah Liu reached out to take it.

First, use a ruler to block out the angelica root.

"Don't touch it."

Bai Zhi used a ruler to lift the cloth bag.

A very thin copper wire was visible behind the bag.

Copper wires passed through the bed curtains and connected to the roof beams.

A small porcelain bottle was placed on top of the roof beam.

The porcelain vase will tip over as soon as someone reaches out to pull the cloth bag.

There's no need to smell what's inside.

"Sister Gui".

I asked, "Was this also left by my mother?"

"I have no idea."

"You live here every day."

"There's a new line by the bedside, didn't you notice?"

"I don't live in the main room."

Who lives there?

"The people from the Lan Yi Fang."

Yan Xiaoyi had already climbed onto the roof beam.

He took the porcelain vase down and placed it outside the window.

The medicines from this place are best given to Physician Song.

But the Song physician was far away in Yong'an.

"My job is just to open the door."

"They told me to call you Little Biscuit tonight."

"Let me show you the rocking horse, the well rim, and the cloth bag."

"I really don't know anything else."

"Who told you to open the door?"

"Missing finger, Lan Gu".

Where is she?

"have no idea."

"If you don't speak, it's useless."

Yan Xiaoyi said this very calmly.

"Lan Yi Fang" (Blue Clothing Room).

"She's checking the last batch of people in the blue-clothes room tonight."

"How do I get there?"

"There is an old way in the west courtyard tent."

Since the Shen residence is right next to the Qingxia General Warehouse and was the residence of Shen's mother in the past, it is unlikely that the main entrance is the only way to enter and exit.

"Did you really serve Gu Qinghe?"

"I served him for two years."

Why do I work for them?

"My son is on the list."

"What list?"

"Qingxia Clothing Change Book"

She looked up, her eyes bloodshot.

He died fifteen years ago.

"But they said that if I disobeyed, they would let him live again."

Ah Liu was stunned.

How can the dead be brought back to life?

Bai Zhi said, "Find a living person to wear his identity."

If Gui Sao's son were to reappear with someone else's face and body, he could become a thief, join the army, or commit murder.

In the end, all the blame will be placed on a person who has actually been dead for fifteen years.

Sister Gui is not afraid of her son living.

She feared her son's name would turn into a knife.

I asked, "How long have you been standing guard here?"

Nine years.

"After the Wang family took over?"

"Yes."

What did Gu Qinghe leave behind?

"Tent wall".

The west wing was originally the accounting office.

Bai Zhi flipped through two books.

These are all miscellaneous accounts related to salt tax.

The wooden frame has twelve compartments.

The color behind the seventh square is lighter than the color next to it.

There is no hidden door behind the wall.

There was only one brick blackened by smoke.

A very thin hemp thread was stuck in the crack between the bricks.

Ah Liu said, "Young master, you have improved."

"What do you mean?"

"You've already had diarrhea before."

"Shut up."

After checking, Yan Xiaoyi confirmed that there was no connection to the mechanism.

A thin piece of wood was tied to the other end of the hemp thread.

When pulled out, it brought out a tightly rolled old ledger page.

The account paper has turned yellow.

The front side shows the grain receipt record from the Qingxia granary in the fourteenth year of the Chengxi reign.

Two thousand four hundred shi of grain were transferred from Yong'an.

Qingfeng transferred 1,600 shi of grain.

Urgent supplies of grain were sent to the southwest.

It was mentioned in my father's military orders.

It was also on the secret letter he gave me before I went to the capital to kill the emperor.

Like a knife that refuses to be completely retracted.

Bai Zhi did not immediately confirm whether it was true or false.

The characters "烈" on the two pieces of paper are from many years apart.

However, it is difficult to completely change one's writing habits.

"The old pledge must be genuine."

She said, "But that only proves that Shen Lie received this batch of grain."

"It cannot be proven that he knew where the grain came from at the time."

There are words on the back of the ledger pages.

On the night of July 19th, the epidemic had already spread. These 6,000 shi (a unit of dry measure) were originally intended as relief grain from the Jiangbei epidemic granary.

Lie Yan said that the border troops had no food for three days, so he should keep half of it and send the other half back.

On July 20th, the Luo family sealed off the granaries.

Grain refunds have not yet been issued.

On July 21, four thousand shi of grain were taken from the southwest.

But Sister Gui had just mentioned the name Gu Qinghe.

Father found out.

By at least the night of July 19th, he already knew that this batch of grain was disaster relief grain from Jiangbei.

In the end, however, he took away four thousand shi (a unit of grain).

Is the army running out of food?

Roche has sealed off its warehouses?

Did someone change his orders?

Or did he ultimately decide that the lives of the Southwest Army were more important than the disaster victims north of the Yangtze River?

One page of the account only answered half the question.

The remaining half is heavier than not answering at all.

Ah Liu didn't dare to speak.

Bai Zhi didn't urge me either.

I laid the ledger pages flat.

"Make three copies."

Bai Zhi glanced at me.

"Really?"

"Um."

"Not keeping some for yourself?"

"Keep one copy."

"The other two?"

"One copy to Yong'an."

"The token was handed over to Xiao Lingyi and sealed separately from the first genuine token."

"The other copy was sent to Qingzhou, where Liang Su and Gu Xingzhi jointly verified it."

"You shall keep the original."

Bai Zhi asked, "Aren't you going to take it?"

"I'm prone to getting into trouble."

Ah Liu whispered, "Young master, you've finally come to your senses."

In the past, if I encountered my father's old grievances, I would probably hide them first.

I want to figure things out myself before deciding who to tell.

But once old debts are in my possession, they become my private debts.

Xiao Lingyi stayed by my mother's side.

I can't have her watch over people for me while I hide things related to my father.

Angelica dahurica is used as a paper liner.

Sister Gui pressed her handprint as a witness.

Yan Xiaoyi also noted.

When it was Ah Liu's turn, he asked, "Is the younger one also considered a witness?"

"You saw it."

"But I can only understand six thousand."

That's enough.

"What if someone asks other questions later?"

"I'm telling you you can't read."

"This small one is ripe."

After the three copies were sealed, a soft sound suddenly came from outside the courtyard.

A short arrow pierced through the half-open window.

Nailed to the doorpost of the accounting office.

Yan Xiaoyi raised his hand and chased after him.

"Let's look at the arrow first."

A small piece of old leather was tied to the arrow shaft.

When Sister Gui saw this, her face turned even paler.

"I'm not fake."

Someone outside the door said, "Whoever you open the door for, you belong to that person."

A lame boatman emerged from the shadows of the courtyard wall.

He was the one who left the short note to the young man from Qingzhou.

Yan Xiaoyi's knife was already at the side of his neck.

There was a faint old arrow mark on the tiger's mouth.

"Let Xu Sandao do it."

"General Shen's men did not open this door."

"They didn't recognize the army outside either."

I asked, "What's your name?"

"Gu Shisan".

"Real name?"

"I've forgotten the name it was before we marched in."

"Then what makes you different from those people outside?"

Gu Shisan was silent for a moment.

"have."

"I know when I handed over my name."

After he finished speaking, he took out a map of the Qingxia Secret Passage from his pocket.

There is a circle drawn with charcoal in the picture.

"One hundred and nine will be killed tonight."

"Eight people are missing, and they've already started sealing off the inside."

"The missing finger is Lan Gu."

"Madam Wang might also be there."

"Did your father ask you to help me?"

"no."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"look."

"What are you looking at?"

"Let's see if you can recruit this army."

"If you accept it."

"Xu Sandao will execute those who disobey his father's orders according to military orders."

"I will also report your withdrawal of troops to General Shen."

That sounds like something a father would say.

He won't save me.

They didn't stop me.

Just keep a pair of eyes in the distance.

When I myself reach a certain point in time to make a choice.

I asked, "What if I don't accept it?"

Gu Shisan said, "The people in Lanyi Room may not be willing to go with you."

"They have no names."

"But there is grain."

"Lord Shen."

"Can you take your clothes off?"

"What can we give them to wear?"