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

Mrs. Qian's courtyard was very quiet.

It was unusually quiet, unlike the front courtyard of the Qian family mansion.

The front yard was an act of refined elegance, with strict rules everywhere, even the servants walked as if they had been measured with a ruler.

It was noticeably cold here.

It's not the weather that's cold, it's the atmosphere that's cold.

Only two lanterns were lit under the eaves. When the wind blew, the light flickered on the wall, making it look like someone was breathing in the dark.

Mrs. Qian walked ahead.

The steward in green wanted to follow, but she stopped him with a single sentence.

"You stay outside."

The steward in blue looked grim.

"Madam, the inner quarters..."

Madam Qian stopped and turned to look at him.

"The inner courtyard is my inner courtyard."

The steward in blue shut his mouth.

I suddenly realized that Mrs. Qian was not weak.

She simply had no reason to draw her sword in the past.

Qian Zhong is now dead.

The knife finally emerged an inch from its sheath.

Yan Xiaoyi followed behind me and whispered, "She's angry."

I glanced at Mrs. Qian.

She remained calm and walked slowly.

"I can't tell."

"The less you can tell, the bigger the fire gets."

That makes sense.

My dad is like that when he gets angry; the less he says, the more it means someone is going to be in trouble.

The inner courtyard was very clean, but there was no one in sight, not even a servant.

Madam Qian led us into the west wing.

The furnishings inside were not luxurious, but they were all old.

An old screen, an old bronze mirror, an old dressing table.

In the corner sat a large, vermilion-lacquered chest.

The surface of the box is somewhat faded, but the clasp is very shiny, indicating that it is frequently wiped.

Mrs. Qian stood in front of the chest, her fingers gently pressing on the lock.

"This is the trunk my father gave me when I got married."

Her voice was very soft.

"After being married into the Qian family for more than 20 years, I thought that what was inside was just a few old clothes, a few family letters, and some jewelry that I couldn't bear to wear in my younger years."

I didn't respond.

In times like these, words of comfort are useless.

Mrs. Qian picked out an old brass key from the keychain and inserted it into the keyhole.

Click.

The lock is open.

When the lid was lifted, a faint scent of camphor wood wafted out.

The box contained clothes, cloth bags, and old boxes.

Mrs. Qian took out the items one by one.

The movements were very steady.

She stopped when she reached the bottom.

There was a layer of red silk at the bottom of the box.

A wooden board was placed under the red silk.

Madam Qian reached out and pressed it, her expression changing.

"This place wasn't like this before."

I crouched down to look.

There are traces of fresh wax sealing on the edges of the wooden board.

It's very well made, but it's not made from the original box wood.

Qian Rong added a hidden compartment to her dowry chest.

I gently pried it open along the edge with a short blade.

Mrs. Qian's fingers gripped the handkerchief tightly.

The wooden planks loosened.

Below is a thin, hidden compartment.

There were no gold or silver jewelry in the hidden compartment.

There was only one oil paper package.

The oil paper package was wrapped with black thread, and there was a little locust flower ash on the knot.

It tastes the same as the stone box at Huaihua Bieyuan.

I didn't disassemble it directly.

Let's look at Mrs. Qian first.

"Madam, this thing could be deadly."

She looked at the oil paper package.

"Qian Zhong is dead."

She paused.

"Even if it's life-threatening, it should be opened."

I unwrapped the oil paper.

Inside were two old pieces of paper.

The paper edges are yellowed, but the tears are neat.

The tear in the last missing page of the Yongning River channel review register matches.

My heart sank little by little.

On the first page, a few lines of text are legible.

In the eleventh year of Chengxi, the military pay for the southwest was merged into the old project fund for river works.

The document is temporarily suspended in the internal treasury and transferred to the Ministry of Works.

The amount of silver received by Shen's army was actually insufficient.

Reviewer: ...

The person who was being re-examined had a patch of ink smudged on their back.

Can't see clearly.

The second page is even more fragmented.

It looks like it has been submerged in water.

But some of the words are still there.

The Empress once checked this account.

The shortage of military funds in the Southwest was not due to the Shen family's army embezzling funds.

Internal treasury transfer silver, deposited...

It stopped there.

What to enter?

Who will it fall into?

The clearing of accounts?

Entering the palace?

Was it deposited into the private treasury of former officials?

I stared at the words "The Empress once investigated this account," and a chill slowly crept down my spine.

First Queen.

Empress Dowager Xiao Lingyi.

She had checked the old accounts of military pay in the Southwest.

This old account proves that the Shen family's army was short of military pay back then, and that it was not due to embezzlement.

The charges against my father, Shen Lie, by the imperial court were very likely fabricated from the very beginning.

What about my mother?

Xu Sandao's note said that this account was related to the death of his wife.

I turned the oil paper package over to the bottom.

There was also a torn letter inside.

The letter paper was very thin, only half of it remained.

The handwriting was neat and beautiful, but it carried a sense of urgency.

Accounts should not be entered into the Secretariat.

If I do not return, I will make friends with the old friends of Zhaoning.

The Shen family of Southwest China cannot be entirely trusted, nor can they be entirely condemned.

The Empress knew that there were people in the Imperial Treasury...

The letter ended there.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw the words "Former People of Zhaoning".

Zhaoning.

Xiao Lingyi.

This letter was likely left by someone close to the late Empress.

Or perhaps it was written by a former subordinate of the late empress to someone.

Mrs. Qian's face grew paler and paler as she looked at the few sheets of paper.

"Is this what the master hid?"

I said, "Yes."

"Does he know what this is?"

"Know."

She closed her eyes.

"So Qian Zhong died because of this too?"

"Most likely."

Mrs. Qian suddenly smiled.

The smile was soft, yet bitter.

"After being married for over twenty years, he hid something deadly in my dowry chest."

I didn't speak.

This is even more ruthless than hiding it in an ancestral hall.

If the ancestral hall is searched, it's the Qian family's business.

If the dowry chest is searched, it is considered an insult to the women of the inner quarters, a major taboo according to etiquette.

Qian Rong used his status as Mrs. Qian to act as a locksmith for over twenty years.

I sealed the missing pages and the tattered letter.

"Madam, I need to take these things with me."

Mrs. Qian nodded.

"take away."

"Madam will also accompany me back to the Censorate to testify."

Hearing this from outside the door, the steward in blue immediately cried out, "Madam, you mustn't!"

Mrs. Qian turned and looked towards the door.

"Why not?"

"You are the mistress of the Qian family."

"Should the mistress of the Qian family be obligated to hide the Qian family's accounts?"

The steward in blue turned pale.

Mrs. Qian withdrew her gaze.

"Lord Shen, I'll go."

Just then, a muffled thud came from outside the courtyard.

It looked like someone had fallen to the ground.

Yan Xiaoyi's expression changed.

"Someone has come in."

I stuffed the oil paper package into my clothes.

"Did you come to wash something?"

"It could also be a bad omen for people."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the paper window suddenly tore open.

A short crossbow bolt shot into the house.

I am not the target.

It's Mrs. Qian.

Yan Xiaoyi pulled her away.

The short crossbow bolt pierced the dressing table, its tail feathers trembling.

Madam Qian's face turned pale instantly.

My heart sank.

They didn't want to kill me.

They want to kill the witness.

Or rather, kill the woman who finally agreed to open the box.

Even the inner quarters of the Qian family mansion were no longer safe.