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

Before finding Number Three, we re-listed all nineteen people. Not listing tasks, but listing people. This was more difficult than we imagined. Because in the past, all the surviving booklets had a habit of writing "what they can do" after the number. Number One, Awakening Certificate.

Number three: drug test. Number five: female official replacement. Number nine: post road. Number twelve: military order. Number seventeen: family certificate. Number eighteen: body identification. It looked like nineteen tools. Bai Zhi put all of these in the second column. The first column only said: Where is it now?

"Are you alive? What's your name? If you don't know, leave it blank." Ah Liu looked at the row of blank spaces, feeling very uncomfortable. "So many blank spaces, it's like we didn't search." "We didn't find it to begin with," Bai Zhi said. "Didn't we all have names before?" "Most of them belonged to other people."

Shen Lu's old pages once listed Chen Ping. Seventeen also used Lin Ping'an. Ahe even had a page directly listing Xiao Jingheng. The more names there were, the less likely the original person was to be seen. The first one found was number eighteen. The person was dead. At least five times, the accounts showed someone had died.

One entry described a death from the plague. Another described the relocation of the coffin. Another described a female corpse from Jiangbei. Another described a eunuch surnamed Wang. The last entry read, "The unidentified corpse has been burned." The five pages contradicted each other. We didn't choose the one that seemed most authentic. We went to find the corpse first. Finally, we found the skeleton of a young boy in the old abandoned garden of the Imperial Hospital. His age, broken left wrist, and two adjacent teeth matched the early physical records of the 18th.

Not absolutely. But enough to put aside the thought that "he must still be alive." The second person found was number five. Alive. Sewing clothes for someone in the south of the city. Her current name is Wu Yi. When she saw the Censorate officer, her first reaction was to close the door. I stood outside the door and asked, "Don't you want to see him?"

Inside, someone said, "I don't want to." "Then let's go." Ah Liu turned to look at me. "Really going?" "She didn't commit a crime." "But she's a nineteen-year-old virgin." "That's not a crime." We walked half a street, and the door opened from the back. Wu Yi stood in the doorway, her face grim.

"You're not going to arrest me?" "No reason for now." "Then what are you doing here?" "To ask if you're willing to explain your past." "No." "Fine." I turned around. She called me back. "What if I only talk about my own past?"

"Okay." So we sat in her shop for half an hour. She didn't mention Wang Shi, or anyone else, nor did she help us identify number three. She only talked about herself. She entered a windowless room at nine. She started learning how to walk like a lady-in-waiting at ten. She entered the palace for the first time at thirteen using the name of a dead person.

She escaped once at sixteen but was caught and brought back. After twenty, she was responsible for signing off on "still able to work" forms for sick palace maids. She left completely three years ago. "Who let you go?" "Nobody." "Then how did you leave?" "I stole my own autograph."

She pulled a half-burnt piece of paper from the bottom of the cabinet. It read: Number Five, Died of Illness. "They all thought I was dead." "That's why you're alive." "Yeah." She suddenly smiled. "It's ironic." Indeed. To be yourself, you first have to die once in someone else's tent.

Wu Yi knew Number Three. But only from the past. Number Three was the one out of the nineteen who hated bitter medicine the most. Yet, she was assigned to study pharmacy. Every time she tried a medicine, she would vomit. Later, someone taught her that even if she vomited, she should first remember the taste. "What's her name?" "I don't know."

"When was the last time you saw her?" "A year before the late Empress died." "Where?" "Changning Pharmacy." "What did she say?" Wu Yi thought for a long time. "She said someone told her to remember three flavors." "Which three?" "Bitter, numbing, and sweet aftertaste."

Bai Zhi's pen paused. The third dose of the old prescription originally contained a stimulant, initially bitter, then numbing. There was no sweet aftertaste. The one that would leave a sweet aftertaste was black vine. That's a strong medicine for boosting the heart's energy. A very small amount can be used in emergencies. Too much, and the heart can't handle it. "And what happened to her?"

Wu Yi shook her head. "I don't know." This time, no one forced her to fill in the gaps. After returning to the palace, Bai Zhi updated the nineteenth grid. Ahe reported himself alive. Shen Lu reported himself alive. Seventeen reported himself alive. Wu Yi was alive, but unwilling to reveal most of her past.

Eighteen, highly confirmed dead. The remaining fourteen spaces remain blank. The Emperor stared at it for a long time. "I used to hate looking at blank forms the most." "And now?" I asked. "Still hate it." "That's right." "What's right?" "Having trouble doesn't mean you can fill them in randomly."

The Emperor looked at me coldly. "You're becoming more and more like Bai Zhi lately." "I'm also very sad." Bai Zhi happened to be outside the door. "I heard that." "I'm even sadder." A-Liu laughed happily. That night, Zhao Yue sent an old box from the imperial mausoleum.

It's not the nineteenth child's loose-leaf document. It's a letter the late Empress never sent. There are only four words on the envelope: "After the third dose." The first sentence inside is: "If I wake up again, ask me first if I want more."

The late Empress's letter was very short. The shorter, the less legible. If I were to wake again, she would first ask if I wanted more. If I could not answer, she was not to answer for me. If I said to stop, the third dose would be stopped. The letter paper was her own. The ink was correct. She recognized the characters by moonlight, verified the paper with angelica, and the old records of the Imperial Clan Court matched the number of papers issued that year.

But I still had the words "true letter" suppressed for now. The emperor asked, "What else needs to be verified?" "When was it written?" "Isn't the authenticity of the words enough?" "Your Majesty's seal was just lost." The emperor fell silent. This phrase is very useful now.

The three old files ultimately place the date as the day after the late Empress received her first dose of the third medicine. By then, she had already woken up once. And the first dose of the third medicine was at her own request. This is very important. After the late Empress became seriously ill, she often only woke up for one or two hours a day. She discovered that the palace was beginning to "understand" her intentions.

She said she wanted to see Zhao Ning, and some people would embellish it as "summon Zhao Ning to serve as an attendant." She said the tents shouldn't be sealed, and some people would write "all palace tents should be opened immediately." Once, she was so angry that she threw her pen down. Then she did something very bold. She borrowed the emperor's voice.

It wasn't a false imperial edict. It was borrowing the imperial mouthpiece. At the time, the emperor was discussing matters with a border general. She sent Zhaoyue with a piece of paper to the emperor, saying she only needed to borrow it for a moment. The emperor asked what she needed. She replied, "I need to borrow the tone that will prevent anyone from altering my original words."

Hearing this, A-Liu whispered, "The late Empress was quite eloquent." Xiao Lingyi didn't laugh. Zhaoyue continued. The Emperor really did pass away in the end. Through the screen, the late Empress spoke a sentence, and the Emperor repeated it. It wasn't an order issued in the Emperor's name. It was simply so that all those recording would hear two people saying the same thing at the same time.

First sentence: The nineteen children who are still alive must not be written as dead. The Emperor repeated. Second sentence: Those who wish to leave may leave. The Emperor repeated. Third sentence: Using someone else's name does not mean one must continue to use it. The Emperor repeated again.

The fourth sentence: "Today, only remember my own meaning; do not add 'Your Majesty's original intention' to it for future generations." At this point, Zhaoyue stopped. The Emperor's face was grim. "Did I say that?" "Yes." "Why don't I remember?" "It's been eleven years."

"Anything else?" Zhaoyue nodded. "The last sentence was spoken by the Empress while she was looking at you." "What?" "If I die in the future, don't continue speaking for me." The outer hall was quiet. The Emperor didn't move for a long time. I suddenly understood why there was a "certificate of awakening" later.

The late Empress didn't intend for someone to speak on her behalf. She actually wanted to leave a way for others to know which words she truly said and which were later added under her name. But this whole system was ultimately used in the wrong way. "Why was the third dose used the first time?" I asked.

Zhaoyue took out another old page. The late Empress had written: "I need to wake up for a moment. Hand over the nineteen children's loose-leaf pages, the page for recognizing one's voice, and the instructions for opening the bed." The physician Fan Ji believed the original prescription wouldn't be enough to wake him, and Qiao Su suggested adding a very small amount of black vine. The heart-protecting medicine was kept.

Only once. The risks are clearly stated. The late Empress signed it. The Emperor also signed to acknowledge knowledge. This time, no one needs to bail anyone out. She knows the danger. She needs to wake up herself. The first third-party responsibility is to act within the scope of her explicit consent.

"How long did she stay awake after that?" "Less than a quarter of an hour." "What did she do then?" "She closed the loose-leaf book, went to see Zhao Ning, and handed over the sound box." Xiao Lingyi finally spoke: "What did she say to me?" Zhao Yue looked at her. "She told you to go back to sleep." Xiao Lingyi's eyes reddened instantly.

Ah Liu lowered her head. No one asked her how old she was then. Some questions didn't need to be written in the general ledger. "And then?" I asked. "The Empress said stop." "Who heard?" "Me. Qiao Su. Fan Ji. And the certificate behind the screen." "Number one?"

Zhaoyue shook her head. "It's not this current number one. Back then, the awakening certificates were rotated, and the number was just a position." This is another layer of trouble. We've started to get used to treating numbers as people. But sometimes numbers are just positions. After the late Empress said to stop, Zhaoyue sent the discontinuation prescription to the pharmacy.

The pharmacy returned a receipt. The next day, however, they prescribed a third dose. "Why?" the emperor asked. Zhaoyue offered no explanation for anyone. "I don't know." "You didn't try to stop them?" "I did." "And the result?" "The door was closed."

"Who locked her up?" "The imperial physician said His Majesty gave an order." The emperor looked up abruptly. "Me?" Zhaoyue took out an old copy from the bottom of the box. It read: "His Majesty's oral decree: The Empress is delirious; continue with the established treatment plan." There was no imperial signature. Nor was there any imperial seal.

The only record on the certificate reads: "Known to the Emperor." Ah-he stood by the door, and upon seeing those four words, her face paled slightly. Eleven years ago, the late Empress had borrowed the Emperor's voice once, so that no one would alter her words.

The next day, someone used the emperor's voice to suppress her own "stop" statement. That time, the emperor himself probably didn't even say anything.