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

The Qingfeng granary continued to distribute grain as usual, only storing all the old measuring tools in the courtyard. Grain distribution was changed to three sets of unrelated measuring tools: the new copper measuring tool, the measuring tool brought by the people themselves, and the standard measuring tool preserved by He Chengbao. Only when the three did not match would the transaction be stopped. This method was slow, but it allowed us to know much faster than sealing the granary which years were truly short and which years were merely questionable in the accounts.

Some people, upon seeing a nine-liter measure, immediately multiply the difference over eleven years by the highest possible amount. I wasn't certain, so Bai Zhi separated the annual granary records, measure samples, and the people in charge. For years where it could be confirmed that short measures were used, the minimum loss was calculated first; for years where no measure samples were left, only rumors, the highest difference wasn't used for direct multiplication.

The current granary official was thus spared the burden of eleven years' worth of debts. He had only been in office for two years, and the continued use of short measures and the failure to investigate objections during those two years were his responsibility; who made the decisions and who benefited from them in the previous nine years would be investigated separately.

If we pin all the old grievances on him just because he's sitting in the granary today, it's no different from using Wang Heng to settle the case for the entire Wang family. Whichever batch can be proven to have used short measures, that batch counts; those that can't be proven, leave them blank. He Cheng himself must also write down his responsibilities.

After discovering the short bucket, instead of reporting it according to procedure, he secretly switched the buckets in the two warehouses; he also hid Su Musheng's body and the short bucket for eleven years. This preserved some evidence and kept others unaware of what had happened. After reading the responsibility page, He Cheng only asked, "If I had reported it back then, the man would have died."

"Write it in." "Is that still wrong?" "It counts as something you did, and it also counts as what you faced at the time."

Not guilty of murder or disposing of a corpse, He Cheng finished reading. "If I hadn't hidden it..." "The plaque is gone." "I know." "Then why write down the responsibility?" "Su Musheng has been gone for eleven years." He Cheng lowered his head. "Write it." He Xiu stood beside him, not pleading for him. She only asked, "Will He Cheng's name be returned?" "Confirm first." The old man from Nanqiao checked the nursery rhyme, the old carpenter checked the craftsmanship. The Su family checked his relationship with Su Musheng. The old household in Qingfeng checked his age, and there were already many matches. He Cheng's identity can be temporarily restored, not unconditionally restored all property and rights. Only write: He Cheng is alive, the rest of the old deeds will be checked item by item.

He signed it, and Zhen Dou discovered something else. The emperor had previously returned 500 shi (a unit of dry measure) to Jiangbei, and after verifying the weight against the full measure, the amount matched. Cao Shun posted the result on the grain debt plaque. Some people were disappointed, as if the previous accounts would be meaningless if the emperor's entry was correct. The mother simply said, "Write down what's correct too."

"His Majesty didn't lose any?" "This batch isn't missing any." "What about Father's hundred shi?" "The military bags are also weighed." "Rechecked and they match." He nodded. "At least there's one item that doesn't need to be changed." Bai Zhi said, "It still needs to be added to the back of the plaque." "Weight checked and matched." "The 'dou' system wasn't involved." A-Liu looked at her. "Does this also need to be written?" "Write it." The open procedure protects not only the common people. It also protects the Emperor and Father. Some people suspected that the imperial estate used a 'weighing dou' (a type of measuring vessel). After rechecking, it was found that the five hundred shi were sufficient. Therefore, it's not possible to prove that the 'weighing dou' case was serious and insist that the Emperor returned fifty shi less. The real dou can measure out the shortage of grain. It can also measure out the shortage.

A true measuring cup cannot only be used to measure greed, but also to measure the portion without greed. Bai Zhi re-examined the "voluntary short cup" next to Su Musheng's body. The cup was originally a full ten liters, but later a bottom plate was added, the ten-liter line was scraped off, and the word "voluntary" was added. Therefore, Su Musheng did not voluntarily make a small cup.

"That's what you call verification," He Cheng said after reading Yong'an's report. "What about the imperial estate list?" "Continue investigating." "Don't let this be the reason." "Just say the imperial estate never used the 'haodou' (a type of ancient Chinese cooking vessel)." "I know," Bai Zhi said, finally having a moment of peace with He Cheng. That night, all six people who had come to examine Su Musheng's body wall arrived. When the bricks were removed to the third layer, a wooden bucket was revealed. It wasn't a skeleton; the bucket's opening was intact. The inner wall only had nine rising marks; the tenth had been scraped off with a knife. On the bottom of the bucket were written: "Made by Su Musheng, voluntarily." He Cheng's face changed instantly when he saw those four characters. "It's not his handwriting." "Are you sure?" "Yes, I am."

At least this one isn't. The male skeleton's age, old injuries, and records match the Su family's history. Su Xiaochun's page also mentions that her father's right wrist bone was fractured by a dye pot. The skeletons show similar old wounds, making her identity highly certain. The female skeleton, however, doesn't have a name yet. She's missing a joint on her right index finger, has an old fracture on her left shin, and carries a "Qi" plaque. Based on this alone, we can only conclude that she was once connected to Zhou Qi's identity.

The small container inside the well wall wasn't taken out immediately. First, according to the diagram, there were nine rising marks. The tenth scratch revealed the six characters on the bottom: "Made by Su Musheng, voluntarily." The characters "voluntarily" were the deepest, as if afraid no one would see them. Bai Zhi said, "The more important the character, the more likely it was added later." He Cheng stood outside the wall, his face remaining calm. "Su Musheng couldn't write 'voluntarily.'" "Why?" "He didn't recognize the character 'willing.'" "Even a carpenter can learn." "He wrote IOUs for timber." "The character 'willing' is always missing a stroke." "What about this one?" The characters were complete. He Xiu also said, "Zhou Qi taught me to imitate it." "It's the 'willing' missing a stroke." "Why is the bottom of the container complete?"

He Xiu finally spoke: "Her name might be Qiao Su."

"Possibly?" "Someone from Wang's Pharmacy. I've never seen her face, only her hands." "Why didn't you say so before?" "We thought she died of the plague."

Another dead page. Bai Zhi didn't ask any further questions and put "Qiao Su" into the candidate column. On Su Musheng's side, however, an old copy of an edict fell out from the wall of corpses. It was the emperor's grain disaster edict from back then. The text was not bad: local measuring tools could be used temporarily in case of emergency, but a report had to be submitted within three days and the official measuring tools had to be replaced within ten days.

"Wear gloves." "What did you say?" "Make Su Musheng admit it." "He did the haggle voluntarily." "Su Musheng refused." "And then?" "She gave him three days." "The third day." "Su Musheng died." He Cheng was hiding in the empty wall of the south warehouse at the time and heard the two arguing. He didn't see their faces clearly, only that the woman's left foot dragged slightly when she walked. Her cuffs were grayish-blue, and the right index finger of her glove was shorter than the others. Matching the female skeleton, she might be another seal-keeper of the Wang family's Yitang. She might have also used Zhou Qi's identity, not necessarily the one before He Xiu. "Why was she with Su Musheng at the well wall?" He Cheng didn't know.

The later copy, however, was missing two sentences, leaving only four words: "for cheap use." He Cheng said that short buckets began to appear on a large scale after these four words. After reading the report, the emperor remained silent for a long time.

He Xiu said, "It's a mistake." "What do you mean?" "Su Musheng refuses to admit it was voluntary." "That's a misrepresentation." "The woman knows the origin of the small container." "That's another way of saying it." "Put the two people together." "Write voluntary on the bottom of the container." "Later, open the wall." "Then you can say they conspired in secret." A man and a woman, a small container. A seal, a statement that Su Musheng was voluntary. If we don't examine them separately, it's easy to piece together one thing: Wang Yitang Zhou Qi and the carpenter Su Musheng jointly made the small container. Later, they couldn't divide the spoils equally and both died in the well. He Cheng stole the container and fled, and all the responsibility fell on the two dead men.

"The original decree was approved by me." "Yes." "The deleted words were not mine." "It doesn't appear so at present."

Later, someone raised the base and scraped off the tenth line. It wasn't that Su Musheng voluntarily made it smaller; someone altered the size of the genuine bamboo slip he made. The "voluntarily" on the bottom of the slip seems more like an addition. He Xiu asked, "Who could alter it?" He Cheng said, "Many people can make bamboo slips." "Who can imitate Su Musheng's handwriting?" He Xiu remained silent; she could. Zhou Qi could too, and the accountants of Wang's Yitang might have all learned it. We can't simply assume it was written by He Xiu just because she admitted to learning it. I asked, "When did you see this bamboo slip?" He Xiu approached but didn't touch it. She only looked at the wood grain. "August of the fourteenth year of Chengxi." "Wang's Yitang." "How big was it then?" "Ten liters."

"Then I bear no responsibility?"

"Where's the bottom character?" "Only Su Musheng created it." "No one did it voluntarily." "Who brought it?" "A person named Zhou Qi." "Which one?" "I don't know." "Face?" "Around forty." "Left lame?" "No." "Right hand?" "Complete." This isn't the female skeleton from the well; at least the right index finger is missing. She continued, "She told me to find the wrong one." "I found the tenth line was too shallow." "She said it would be easily scraped off later." "What did she say?" "She said she would scrape it off." He Xiu closed her eyes briefly. "I thought she was joking." "And then?" "I didn't see Dou again." "Why wasn't it written?"

I showed him the top sentence of the original order.

—Can be used cheaply in emergencies.

"I can assist." With the male skeleton's status elevated, Su Musheng could return the name first. It wasn't the final closing; the page said: "Highly Confirmed." Su Muliang pressed his fingerprint in the witness section and wrote another sentence: "My brother is lazy. He drinks, he curses officials. He won't shortchange anyone by a liter of grain; this isn't an official document." He kept it too; the female skeleton remained nameless. Su Muliang saw it and asked, "She died with my brother." "Was she the murderer?" "I don't know." "Maybe she saved him?" "I don't know." "Then what should I write?" "Write she was also in the well." "A joint is missing from her right index finger." "Her left leg was previously broken." "There's a silk seal beside her."

No one deleted that sentence; the loophole was there all along. It's just that later someone stripped away all the restrictions, leaving only the most convenient layer. The emperor didn't ask any further questions and wrote his name on the old grain ration order's responsibility page. That evening, an old register was delivered from the North Inner Gate. A man named Feng Xi had died eleven years earlier.

But until last month, they were still receiving their paychecks.