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

When they arrived at the princess's villa, it was still dark.

All the lights in the courtyard were on.

The wind blew through the corridor, making the lamplight tremble like a row of eyes that were about to burst open.

Qiu Tang waited at the door, her face very pale.

As soon as she saw us, she whispered, "Hurry up."

My heart sank.

When someone says "hurry up," they usually mean that if you're even a step slower, you'll end up as just a line of text on a file.

Ji Qing lay on the couch in the west wing.

He looked more like a dead person than when I left.

Granny Qin and two imperial physicians were present.

One person held his pulse, while another forced him to take medicine. Granny Qin held a silver needle in her hand, her face so cold it seemed she could send someone back to the mortal world.

Xiao Lingyi stood by the couch.

She did not sit.

He didn't say anything.

But her cuffs were clenched so tightly they were wrinkled.

Gu Xingzhi stood by the window, his gaze fixed on Ji Qing's face.

No one in the house asked me why I was so slow to arrive.

Because everyone knows I wasn't sleeping the whole way.

I walked to the tatami mat.

Ji Qing's eyes were half-open, her pupils slightly dilated.

The black blood at the corner of his mouth had been wiped away, but his lips were still dark.

Granny Qin said, "The poison has entered the lungs and internal organs; he will be conscious for at most half a moment."

I asked, "Can you still write?"

Whether he can move his hand depends on whether he wants to move it.

That's really in the style of a physician from the princess's residence.

Even when life is coming to an end, the first thing to ask is whether one has lived up to expectations.

I placed the dead man's tent from the Guiyi Shop in front of Ji Qing.

"Season Six".

His eyelids twitched.

Not obvious.

But it moved.

I know this name will be useful to him.

"Your book of the dead is still in my hands. If you don't recognize the address, then the book will be kept according to what they wrote."

Ji Qing let out a broken hissing sound.

I continued, "Ji Qing, male, thirty-six years old, left hand crippled, no relatives, died suddenly from a pre-existing condition."

With each sentence I read, his breathing became more erratic.

"Would you like to die like this?"

His lips moved.

There was no sound.

Granny Qin inserted the needle.

Ji Qing took a deep breath, as if he had been pulled up from the bottom of a well.

"orchid……"

I bent down.

"Lan Bugui hasn't seen you yet."

His eyes widened in surprise.

I know that this sentence is more effective than any medicine.

"She made me do three things. First, get Qian Rong to confess. Qian Rong has already confessed that he hid the book and tore out the missing pages. Second, get Ji Liu to identify the door."

I looked at him.

"Ji Liu is you."

Ji Qing's eyes were slightly red.

It might hurt.

Maybe not.

Xiao Lingyi stepped forward, her voice frighteningly calm.

"Ji Qing, which door did you open eleven years ago?"

Ji Qing looked at her.

After a long silence, he finally managed a hoarse voice: "Old...laundry department...night gate..."

Zhao Guanlan was not present.

However, the princess's residence kept a record of the incident.

Qiu Tang immediately picked up a pen.

Gu Xingzhi also had the guards record it.

I told Yan Xiaoyi to stand guard outside the door and not let anyone near.

Then he continued, "What did you use to open the door?"

Ji Qing gasped for breath.

"Wei character... old plaque..."

"Where did the old brand come from?"

His face showed a pained expression.

It's not poisonous pain.

It's an old pain.

"Season Six".

I lowered my voice, "If you don't speak up, the old Wei-character plaque will be accused of being stolen by you. Aunt Lan's scapegoat scheme will be seen as something you fabricated. The accounts that the late Empress investigated will also be sent back to the palace."

Ji Qing let out a low laugh.

"You...you really know how to push people..."

"What I learned recently."

He closed his eyes.

"The old card... wasn't stolen."

"Who gave it to you?"

"Former Zhongshu Ren..."

"name."

His lips trembled, but he remained silent for a long time.

Granny Qin looked at me.

"If we delay any longer, he'll say he can't."

I took out the broken corner of the old Wei-character plaque and placed it in front of Ji Qing.

"Wei Qingping is still alive."

Upon hearing this, Gu Xingzhi's gaze shifted slightly.

Xiao Lingyi also looked at me.

Ji Qing's eyes widened suddenly.

"Wei... is he still alive?"

"To live."

"Lan...she..."

"Lan Bugui is still alive."

A little moisture slowly trickled down Ji Qing's cheeks.

This man has blood on his hands. He helped Qian Rong settle accounts, forced Feng Baoquan, killed people, and harmed others.

But when he heard that these two damned but not-yet-dead people were still alive, he seemed to finally breathe a sigh of relief.

People are really complicated.

It's so complicated it's annoying.

I said, "If you still owe her, then acknowledge the door."

Ji Qing used all his strength to raise his right hand.

Qiutang immediately handed over a charcoal pencil and a wooden board.

His hands were shaking violently.

The handwriting is crooked.

But it's still visible.

Winter of the eleventh year of Chengxi.

Ji Liu held the old plaque with the character "Wei".

Open the old laundry room at night.

They sent Lan's shroud out.

Shi Feilan.

The gatekeeper's token comes from the old Zhongshu (Secretariat).

The card is a Wei.

The king is destined.

When the last three words were spoken, the room was so quiet it was as if no one was breathing.

The king is destined.

king.

The word that Qian Rong didn't finish saying earlier.

Ji Qing also wrote it.

Xiao Lingyi stared at those three words.

"Who is the king?"

Ji Qing dropped the charcoal pencil from his hand.

I grabbed his wrist.

"Ji Liu, who is the king?"

His lips moved.

Granny Qin yelled, "Don't shake him!"

I had no choice but to give up.

Ji Qing struggled to lift his eyes and looked at Xiao Lingyi.

"Your Highness..."

Xiao Lingyi bent down.

"explain."

"The Empress...knows..."

Xiao Lingyi's voice tightened: "What do you know?"

Ji Qing's eyes were unfocused, but he forced himself to utter a few words.

"I know... it wasn't the Shen family... embezzling funds..."

She closed her eyes.

"Anything else?"

"The Empress... requests to see the list..."

Where is the list?

Ji Qing looked at me.

"Lan... will not return..."

"Is the last page in her hands?"

He nodded very slightly.

Gu Xingzhi suddenly asked, "Wang, is it Grand Secretary Wang?"

Ji Qing's eyes narrowed suddenly.

That's the answer.

Gu Xingzhi did not ask any further questions.

He simply said, "I'll write it down."

Qiu Tang paused for a moment, then continued writing.

I looked at Gu Xingzhi.

Why did he ask Grand Secretary Wang directly just now?

he knows.

I had suspected it for a long time.

Xiao Lingyi also looked at Gu Xingzhi.

Gu Xingzhi acted as if nothing had happened and simply stood back by the window.

Ji Qing suddenly coughed up blood again.

This time the blood was even darker.

Granny Qin immediately administered acupuncture.

The imperial physicians were extremely busy.

I took a half step back, my palms were covered in cold sweat.

It's not that I'm afraid Ji Qing will die.

They were afraid that he wouldn't live past tonight, given the confession he had just written.

Xiao Lingyi personally took the wooden board and handed it to Qiu Tang.

"seal up."

"Yes."

I said, "Princess, the title is jointly bestowed by all three parties."

Xiao Lingyi glanced at me.

"You're quite cautious."

"Those who are not careful are almost all dead."

She did not refute it.

The inner guards sealed one layer, the princess's residence sealed another layer, and I also used a private seal from the Censorate to cover one corner.

Gu Xingzhi looked at my seal and suddenly said, "You're starting to look more and more like an imperial censor."

I replied, "I am an imperial censor."

"It wasn't like that before."

"What was it like before?"

Gu Xingzhi said calmly, "Like an assassin who has been driven into the imperial court."

My fingers paused.

The room fell silent for a moment.

Xiao Lingyi looked at me.

Gu Xingzhi's words did not seem unintentional.

It's more like a reminder.

Or a warning.

I bent down and pressed the seal firmly.

"The assassin isn't as good at checking accounts as I am."

Gu Xingzhi glanced at me but said nothing more.

Ji Qing suddenly opened his eyes at this moment.

"Shen An..."

I approached.

"I am here."

"Don't let...Shen Lie...see the blood-stained clothes..."

My heart tightened.

Lan Bugui said he could see it.

Ji Qing shook his head with difficulty.

"If he sees this... he'll go crazy..."

The room grew even colder.

I asked, "Why?"

Ji Qing's lips moved slightly.

The sound was so soft it was almost inaudible.

"That's not...your..."

My mind went blank for a moment.

Not mine?

The blood-stained baby clothes aren't mine?

Whose is that?

He wanted to say something more, but he could no longer make a sound.

Granny Qin shouted angrily, "Enough! Ask again, and he'll die right now!"

I was forced to step back.

Xiao Lingyi looked at me with a deep gaze.

She heard it.

Gu Xingzhi heard it too.

Everyone heard it.

That blood-stained baby clothes are not mine.

But Ji Qing insisted that Shen Lie couldn't see it.

That means that the blood-stained clothes didn't affect me personally, but rather Shen Lie's deeper wounds.

Maybe it's my mother.

Perhaps it's another child.

Perhaps it was a life that was erased from the records of everyone in the old case in Southwest China.

I suddenly felt an even greater chill on my body.

Granny Qin pressed Ji Qing's hand back under the covers.

Whether a person lives or dies depends on fate.

Xiao Lingyi said, "I'm not looking at the sky, I'm looking at you."

Granny Qin gave a cold laugh.

"Your Highness is becoming increasingly difficult for this old servant."

"Learning from Father Emperor."

No one in the room dared to respond to that statement for a moment.

I picked up the sealed confessions from all three parties.

"I will go back to the Censorate to interrogate Qian Rong."

Xiao Lingyi said, "I'll go with you."

I was taken aback.

"Princess?"

She looked at the confession.

"I want to hear Qian Rong say the words 'Grand Secretary Wang' himself."

Gu Xingzhi said, "Your Highness should not enter the Censorate's interrogation room."

Xiao Lingyi looked at him coldly.

"Commander Gu, the Empress Dowager's old case is no longer just about Shen An."

Gu Xingzhi remained silent.

I know he can't stop him.

Perhaps he didn't want to stop him either.

Because once the name "Grand Secretary Wang" came out, the case had already bypassed Qian Rong and reached the edge of the group of former officials who had served as regents.

That's a place even the emperor has to be careful about.

When I walked out of the princess's villa, the sky was already turning white.

Another night has passed.

I've lost count of how many times I've traveled before dawn.

Yan Xiaoyi was beside me.

Did you hear that just now?

"I heard you."

"The blood-stained clothes are not yours."

"Um."

"Are you relieved?"

I looked ahead.

"No."

Why?

"Because it's not mine, it could be worse."

Yan Xiaoyi, unusually, did not refute.

Yes.

Sometimes, the worst thing about auditing accounts isn't finding your own name in the books.

Instead, they discovered there was someone else in the account whom you had never heard of.