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

Ji Qing lay in the coffin.

If it weren't for the slight rise and fall of his chest, he would have looked like a dead man.

Her blue robe was stained with blood, and her left hand was hastily bandaged, the cloth at the severed finger already soaked with blood.

His face was quite ordinary.

Even lying in a coffin, he would look as ordinary as any unfortunate passerby.

But this ordinary person has too many extraordinary debts tied to him.

The old document plaque of the Central Secretariat.

Golden-lined crane.

Guangchumen.

Internal warehouse receipt.

Qian Rong.

Aunt Lan.

The palace gates eleven years ago.

I reached out to check his breath.

very weak.

The old man said in a hoarse voice, "He climbed here himself."

"When?"

"Half an hour ago."

"What did you say?"

"He said that if anyone brings orchid leaves before 11 PM, hand him over. If no one comes, send him away as if he were a dead man."

"Where to send it?"

The old man shook his head.

"I don't know. Someone will come to collect the coffin."

My heart sank.

Some wanted Ji Qing dead, while others left him a way out.

Ji Qing herself seemed to know that someone would come looking for her.

He was waiting for Lan Ye.

It wasn't me.

She is Aunt Lan's person.

I put the antidote pill that Xu Shen gave me into Ji Qing's mouth.

Yan Xiaoyi looked at me.

"When did you get this again?"

"I learned my lesson after almost being poisoned to death last time."

"Will it work?"

"have no idea."

"Then why are you still feeding it?"

"It's better than watching him die."

Ji Qing's throat moved, and he swallowed the medicine.

Just then, the sound of wheels came from outside the clothing shop.

The old man's face turned pale.

"The coffin collectors have arrived."

Yan Xiaoyi walked to the door and listened intently.

"Three. They carry knives."

I said, "Gray clothes?"

"almost."

The old man hurriedly said, "You can go through the back door."

Yan Xiaoyi shook his head.

"There are people at the back door too."

it is good.

The coffin was collected at the front door, and the road was blocked at the back door.

This is not a funeral.

They came to confirm whether enough people had died.

I had the old man and the woman in the back room hide in the dark, and then Yan Xiaoyi and I worked together to close the coffin lid halfway back up.

Ji Qing is still inside.

The list of the dead was displayed on the counter.

The clothing store was restored to its previous state.

However, I stood behind the funeral shroud.

This place is very convenient for people to hide.

It's just bad luck.

The shop door was pushed open.

Three men in gray clothes entered.

The leader wore a straw hat and spoke in a low voice.

"Is Ji Qingyi ready?"

The old man said in a trembling voice from the dark room, "It's ready."

The man in gray glanced around the shop.

"Why does it sound so bureaucratic?"

My heart skipped a beat.

This person has a nose that's even more sensitive than a dog's.

Yan Xiaoyi walked out from beside the coffin and said lazily, "Because your grandfather is here."

Before he finished speaking, he had already moved.

The short stick swept horizontally, striking the knee of the person in front.

I wasn't idle either.

They pushed a shroud onto another person.

A white cloth was thrown over his head, the short knife pierced him but missed and embedded itself in the wooden frame.

The third person went straight to the coffin.

with a clear purpose.

Kill Ji Qing.

I pulled out some lime powder from my sleeve and threw it over his head.

The man reacted quickly, raising his sleeve to cover his eyes, but tripped over the coffin lid.

I seized the opportunity to pounce on it and pressed down hard on the coffin lid.

He swung his sword.

The blade grazed the back of my hand, and the pain almost made me curse.

Yan Xiaoyi arrived and struck the man on the back of the neck with a stick.

The person collapsed.

But the man in the straw hat who was in the lead had already reached the edge of the coffin, and a thin needle slipped out from his sleeve.

It's not a knife.

It's a needle.

It looks very similar to the stitch in Grandma Han's neck.

My heart sank.

"Keep them alive!"

Yan Xiaoyi pressed down on his wrist with a short stick.

The man in the straw hat twisted his hand and flung out a second needle from his sleeve.

I raised my hand and used the burial shroud to cover myself.

The needle pierced the fabric.

The fabric quickly turned black.

poisonous.

Seeing that he couldn't kill Ji Qing, the man in the straw hat immediately bit open the poison sac in his mouth.

It was too late for Yan Xiaoyi to dislocate his jaw.

The person collapsed and quickly stopped breathing.

It broke again.

I am no longer surprised to see these people die.

It's just annoying.

Ji Qing suddenly coughed inside the coffin.

It's very light.

Like a broken bellows.

I immediately lifted the coffin lid.

His eyes were half-open, his gaze unfocused, yet he still recognized me.

"Shen... An..."

I squatted down.

"Ji Qing, speak up if you want to live."

His lips twitched slightly.

"live?"

He thought he'd heard a joke.

I said, "Aunt Lan is still alive."

Upon hearing this, his eyes widened in shock.

In that instant, I knew I had made the right bet.

Ji Qing's greatest fear, or perhaps his greatest concern, was indeed Aunt Lan.

He made a hoarse sound in his throat.

"She...shouldn't have come back..."

Where is she?

Ji Qing closed his eyes.

"I can't say."

"If you don't talk, you'll die."

"I should have died long ago."

"Then why did you climb all the way to Guiyi Shop? Why were you waiting for Lan Ye?"

He was silent.

I took out the orchid leaf.

"Ji Qing, the score for Ji Qing's death has been settled. If you really wanted to die, you should have had them give you another injection just now."

His eye twitched slightly.

I continued, "You don't want to die. At least you still have one thing to say."

He opened his eyes and looked at me.

"What...right do you have to investigate her?"

"Because she is connected to the late Empress's old case."

"not enough."

"I have missing pages of the Southwest Army's payroll."

His breathing became erratic.

"Did you get it?"

Two pages.

"What about the last page?"

"I'm looking for it too."

Ji Qing smiled.

His smile looked worse than his tears.

"Can't find it."

"Who has it?"

"In the hands of the dead."

This statement, like "Death of Ji Qing," should not be taken literally.

I asked, "Which dead person?"

He did not answer.

I changed the question.

"Eleven years ago, you opened the palace gates?"

Ji Qing's eyes gradually darkened.

After a long pause, he said, "It's been driven."

My heart sank suddenly.

at last.

Which palace gate?

He shut up.

I asked, "The gate of the late Empress's palace?"

His finger twitched.

That's not the answer.

But that's enough for me to know that this question hits the nail on the head.

I continued, "Did Aunt Lan let you drive it?"

Ji Qing suddenly opened his eyes, his voice hoarse:

"It's not her!"

That sound was almost entirely delivered with all his might.

The old man beside him trembled with fright.

I stared at Ji Qing.

"Who is that?"

Ji Qing was breathing heavily.

"It was me... I drove it..."

Why?

"Old literary tablets..."

"Who gave you the old calligraphy tablet?"

His lips moved.

No sound.

I moved closer.

He said two words in a very low voice.

"Wei..."

My heart skipped a beat.

Wei?

Wei Zhi?

impossible.

Or someone else with the surname Wei?

Just as I was about to ask further questions, Ji Qing suddenly coughed violently, and black blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

The poison has taken effect.

I immediately shouted, "Yan Xiaoyi, take him away!"

Yan Xiaoyi frowned.

"Where to?"

"The Censorate is not safe, and neither is the palace."

"Where to?"

I looked at the shopkeeper of Guiyi Shop.

The old man immediately shook his head.

"It's even less safe here!"

indeed.

My mind raced.

Ji Qing cannot die.

The emperor also said that if only one of Qian Rong and Ji Qing could be saved, Ji Qing should be saved first.

That leaves only one place.

"The Princess's Residence Villa".

Yan Xiaoyi looked at me.

"You're really good at causing trouble."

"Stop talking nonsense and get them moving."

We lifted Ji Qing out of the coffin and put him in a wooden box containing his burial clothes.

This method is very unethical.

But Guiyi Shop lacks this kind of thing.

The old man handed me a book of dead people.

"Take it."

I was taken aback.

Why?

"Don't leave Ji Qing's story here."

He pointed to the ledger pages.

"The account is gone, and the person is gone too. I didn't see him at the clothing shop tonight."

I looked at the old man.

"Shopkeeper, is this considered helping out?"

"I'm not helping you," he said. "I'm paying off Aunt Lan's debt."

I accepted the book of the dead.

Before I left, the young woman in the back room suddenly handed me a gray cloth cloak.

"Cover him up. It's cold outside."

I took it.

Her voice was very soft.

"My mother said that when Aunt Lan saved people, she never asked if they would turn bad later."

These words made me pause.

Ji Qing was once saved by Aunt Lan.

However, the palace gates were later opened, which may have harmed her and many others involved in the late empress's old case.

Saving people doesn't mean worrying about whether they'll turn bad later.

These words sound compassionate, but they also sound cruel.

We left Guiyi Shop through the back alley.

Yan Xiaoyi carried the wooden box.

I'm holding the book of the dead.

It was very cold outside the alley.

it's getting dark.

Ji Qing coughed inside the box.

It's very light.

But I heard it.

The sound means he is still alive.

Just live.

Those who are alive can speak.

Even the dead can speak.

I looked down at the line of words on the list of the dead.

Ji Qing. Male. Thirty-six years old. Left hand disabled. No relatives to care for him.

I pressed my fingertip against the words "Cause of death: sudden death from a pre-existing illness" and suddenly smiled.

"Excuse me."

"I won't settle this dead man's debt yet."