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

When Yao the Deaf was carried into the Censorate, A-Liu was already numb.

He stood at the door, looking at the old man on the stretcher, then at me.

"Young master, yet another one?"

I nodded.

"A living testimonial for the former laundry bureau."

Ah Liu sighed.

"Shouldn't our Censorate put up a sign?"

"Hang what?"

"Those who are about to die, please use the back door."

I almost burst out laughing.

I didn't manage to laugh.

Even smiling is tiring.

Xu Shen and He Buyi were both summoned.

These two people standing together look very discordant.

Xu Shen came from the Imperial Medical Academy. Although he was talkative, he was methodical.

Why not treat someone who looks like they've just been pulled out of a wine jar, seeing everyone as a corpse?

The two immediately started to dislike each other upon meeting.

Xu Shen asked, "Why are you here too?"

He Bu Yidao said, "You can't treat living people, let's see when he dies."

Xu Shen was so angry that his face turned pale.

I immediately said, "You two, he'd better not die."

He Buyi glanced at Yao the Deaf.

"Then let's see if Physician Xu has the ability."

Xu Shen sneered: "At least you're better at prescribing medicine than I am."

Despite their argument, the two didn't slow down their work.

Xu Shen administered acupuncture and resuscitation, why not examine the external injuries?

After being tossed and turned for half an hour, Yao the Deaf finally woke up again.

His eyes were very bright.

He was so bright he didn't look like someone who was about to die.

I sat down on the tatami mat.

"What's your name?"

He looked at me.

"Yao Deaf."

"Real name?"

"I forgot."

He Bu Yi, standing nearby, said, "Is he deaf?"

I glanced at him.

Yao the Deaf coughed and laughed: "I used to pretend to be deaf, and after a while, people started calling me that."

"Are you from the old laundry department?"

"The well-guard."

"Old clothes well?"

"Um."

He raised his hand.

The old scars from the three holes on the palm of Chenglan are very obvious.

"Who gave you that injection?"

"Aunt Lan."

Why?

"Recognizing people."

Yao the Deaf took a few breaths.

"In the old laundry department, some things couldn't be written down. Some people couldn't be named. Aunt Lan would prick three holes in the palm of a trusted person, feel the pain, and remember it for a lifetime."

My heart stirred slightly.

Aunt Lan is more cautious than I thought.

Three holes are punched in the letter paper.

There were three holes in the shroud.

There are also three holes in the palm of a person's hand.

It was as if she was using a needle to string together everything that could be replaced, erased, or killed into a hidden thread.

What happened eleven years ago at Jiuyijing?

Yao the Deaf closed his eyes.

"It was very windy that night."

I didn't rush them.

Old stories often begin with a seemingly trivial remark.

He said, "The laundry room was originally sealed at night, and only the old clothes well could still be used to transport dirty items. That night, someone brought an old plaque with the character 'Wei' on it, saying that they wanted to send a body garment out of the palace."

"Who takes the cards?"

"Ji Qing".

Was his name Ji Qing back then?

Deaf Yao shook his head.

"No, he was called Ji Liu back then."

Season Six.

Six fingers on the left hand.

The name is quite straightforward.

Why does he have an old plaque with the character "Wei" on it?

"have no idea."

"Who did he bring?"

"Two palace servants, one former official of the Secretariat, and one person covered with a cloth."

"A person covered with a cloth?"

"Like a dead person, yet also like a living person."

My heart skipped a beat.

"Aunt Lan?"

"no."

Deaf Yao slowly said, "Aunt Lan wasn't by the well that night."

"Whose shroud is that?"

"Nominally, it's Aunt Lan."

"What's the reality?"

"The scapegoat."

The room fell silent.

Although we had guessed it, it was still different to hear him say it himself.

"Who will die in her place?"

Deaf Yao shook his head.

"I don't know. Her face is bruised, and her hands are wrong too. Granny Han saw her, so she knows that the corpse shroud is without orchids."

"Where is the real Aunt Lan?"

"They were sent away."

"From where?"

"Old clothes well."

I frowned.

"You just said the corpse clothes came out of the Old Clothes Well, and now you're saying Aunt Lan also came out of the Old Clothes Well?"

"There are two things."

Yao the deaf was breathing heavily.

Xu Shen tried to stop me, but I raised my hand and told him to wait and ask again.

Deaf Yao said, "First send the shroud to the outside world for them to see. Then send the living person and let the dead person's name be recorded."

"Lan won't return?"

He nodded.

"After Aunt Lan left the palace, she could no longer be called Aunt Lan, nor could she be called by her original name. She entered the Book of the Dead, and her name became Lan Bugui."

I took out the death registration card.

"this?"

When Yao the Deaf saw the death register, his finger trembled slightly.

"Yes."

Why is it called "No Return"?

He smiled.

"She chose it herself."

"Does that mean you're not going back to the palace?"

"more than."

Deaf Yao looked out the window.

She said she would not return until the truth was revealed, until the old scores were settled, and until the Empress could rest in peace.

The room fell silent.

I wonder how Xiao Lingyi would react if she heard those words.

She waited eleven years.

But her mother's former lover may have been waiting outside for eleven years.

One waited inside the palace walls, the other waited in the tent of the dead.

I asked, "Is the missing last page in Lan Bugui's possession?"

Deaf Yao shook his head.

"have no idea."

I frowned.

"you do not know?"

"All I know is that Aunt Lan took three things with her when she left."

"Which three?"

"A single page of account book, an old tag, a child's garment."

Children's clothes?

What is this?

"What children's clothes?"

"Very small, like a baby's blouse. It was stained with blood and was wrapped in her arms."

My heart skipped a beat.

Bloodstained baby clothes.

The old camp in the southwest, the Shen family army, the late empress, Shen An's mother.

These threads suddenly wrapped around me again.

I kept my voice down.

"Whose shirt is that?"

Yao the Deaf looked at me.

"I have no idea."

He said he didn't know.

But his eyes didn't seem to indicate that he knew nothing at all.

At least he suspected it.

I didn't ask any further questions.

This problem is too dangerous.

There were too many people inside.

Zhao Guanlan, A Liu, Xu Shen, He Buyi, Yan Xiaoyi, and the guards outside the gate.

There are some things I can't ask right now.

I changed the question.

Where is Lan Bugui now?

Deaf Yao laughed.

"If I had known, I would have been dead long ago."

That makes a lot of sense.

I asked again, "Who hid you under the well with the old clothes?"

"Nobody's here."

"You hid it yourself?"

"I was already stationed there."

"Eleven years?"

"Not every day," he said. "Someone comes to exchange food and medicine. Lately, no one has come, and I knew something was wrong."

Who delivers your food?

He shut up.

"Yao Deaf."

He looked at me.

"Lord Shen, please don't force me. I've said everything I could. If I've said what I shouldn't have said, Aunt Lan will truly have no way out."

I looked at him.

Do you believe me?

He shook his head.

"I don't believe it."

"Then why are you saying so much?"

He raised the three-hole scar on his palm.

"Because you're holding an orchid leaf."

I remained silent.

He doesn't believe me.

He believed the secret mark left by Aunt Lan.

I also believe that this thread, hidden for eleven years, should finally move forward.

At this moment, footsteps were heard outside the door.

Qian Rong was brought over.

I had someone bring him here, not so that he would hear the whole story.

It was to see his reaction.

When Qian Rong entered, his face was still somewhat ashen.

But when he saw Yao the Deaf and that Lan Bugui Death Registration Card, his eyes finally changed.

Not surprised.

Yes, it's confirmed.

I placed the death certificate in front of him.

"Minister Qian, do you recognize him?"

Qian Rong stared at it for a long time.

"Lan will not return."

"You know this name."

"Know."

"Why didn't you say so sooner?"

"If you had said so earlier, I wouldn't be alive today."

"Even if I say it now, I might not live long."

Qian Rong smiled.

"At least Lord Shen would want me to live a little longer."

That's an annoying thing to say.

But it's true.

I asked, "Where is the last page missing?"

Qian Rong looked at the death register.

"If Ruolan doesn't return and is still alive, she's most likely in her hands."

Are you sure?

"uncertain."

"Minister Qian, are you still playing coy at a time like this?"

Qian Rong looked up at me.

"I only have two pages. The last page fell into the hands of the accountant back then. If anyone in the world can still hide that page, it can only be Lan Bugui."

"What's written on that page?"

Qian Rong remained silent.

I looked at him.

"The Shen family of Southwest China?"

He did not answer.

"First Queen?"

Still no answer.

"Internal storage?"

He closed his eyes.

"Shen An, the last page is not evidence."

I frowned.

"What is that?"

Qian Rong slowly said, "It's a list."

The room fell silent again.

"What list?"

"In the eleventh year of Chengxi, he knew the truth about the old accounts of the military pay in the southwest and participated in suppressing the accounts."

My heart sank little by little.

List.

This is more dangerous than a single piece of evidence.

Once evidence is presented, only one case can be closed.

With the list, you can pull out the whole net.

What the accounting committee was truly afraid of was not the shortage of military pay in the southwest.

Who knew back then? Who suppressed it? Who took action? Who remained silent?

I asked, "Who's on the list?"

Qian Rong looked at me.

"I haven't seen the last page."

"Then how did you know it was a list?"

"Because everyone is looking for it."

He whispered, "Ji Qing is looking for it, Aunt Lan is hiding it, the accounting committee is clearing it up, His Majesty and others are waiting, and Shen Lie also wants it."

"Your Majesty and the others?"

Qian Rong smiled.

"Otherwise, why do you think His Majesty would have ordered you to investigate the Yongning River case?"

I didn't speak.

I've thought about this sentence many times.

Hearing Qian Rong say it now still sends chills down my spine.

I asked, "Did the emperor know that the last page was in Lan Bugui's hands?"

"Maybe they know, maybe they're just guessing."

Qian Rong said, "Your Majesty's greatest strength is not knowing the answer."

"What is it?"

"He's having someone else find the answer for him."

I looked at Qian Rong.

He was looking at me too.

This statement is certainly provocative.

But it may not be a lie.

I was the one the emperor released to find the answer.

It's still a seemingly useful dead move.

Ah Liu stood by the door and whispered, "Young Master..."

I raised my hand, signaling him to be quiet.

I asked Yao the Deaf, "Can you contact Lan Bugui?"

He closed his eyes.

After a long pause, he said, "No."

"But can anyone do it?"

He did not answer.

I took out the orchid leaf that Meng Gu had given me.

Yao the Deaf glanced at it and finally said, "When the orchid leaves bloom, the dead return. If she wants to see you, she will come looking for you."

"What if she doesn't want to?"

You can't find her.

Qian Rong suddenly said, "She will be willing to see me."

I looked at him.

Why?

Qian Rong's voice was very soft.

"Because Shen Lie can't hold back any longer."

My heart sank.

"Lan Bugui has waited eleven years; she won't just stand by and watch Shen Lie shatter the old scores with a single blow."

Just then, Manager Chen hurriedly entered through the side door.

He looked extremely pale.

"Young Master."

Many people in the room looked at him.

He realized he had misspoke and immediately corrected himself.

"Lord Shen."

My scalp tingled.

Fortunately, there were already quite a few people in the house who knew or suspected it.

Those who didn't know, like Ah Liu, started to look around nervously, pretending they hadn't heard.

I asked in a deep voice, "What is it?"

Manager Chen whispered, "Urgent news from the southwest."

He handed over a letter sealed with wax.

I opened it.

There are only a few lines of text.

Three days is too long.

The missing pages in the southwest must be delivered within two days.

Otherwise, Xu Sandao would not return, and Shen Lie would personally head north.

I closed my eyes.

Qian Rong said softly, "You see, she'll come."

I gripped the letter tightly.

Why?

Qian Rong looked at me.

"Because if the last page doesn't appear in the world, Shen Lie will lead his troops to write the ending for everyone."

The sky outside the window was turning white.

I didn't sleep all night again.

I suddenly felt like I was standing on a piece of paper that was about to catch fire.

One end of the paper is the emperor.

On the other end was Shen Lie.

A name is written in the middle.

Lan will not return.