On the first day when Shen Qichi entered the palace, he wrote in his daily note: "The emperor has a cold temperament and is suspected of being irritable."
Everyone in the court knew that the new emperor Xiao Xuanheng was ruthless and decisive in killing. Three years ago, he was accused of "killing his brother and usurping the throne" because of the old Xuanwu Gate case. Everyone is afraid of him, everyone avoids him, except the new little historian Shen Qichi, who is holding a book of daily life notes, trembling but unwilling to write less.
She remembered that he refused to take medicine, that he had a tough mouth, that he secretly left sweet-scented osmanthus cakes for her, and that he also remembered the old wounds behind his silence.
An old palace case that had been suppressed for three years revealed the real edict, the fake edict, Shou'an Palace, the Qing Lantern Club, the old box, the original pen and the tampered history books. In order to clear the grievances of his father Shen Huaiqing and to complete the missing truth of the old Taiping case, Shen Qichi walked step by step into the green lanterns of the Imperial Ancestral Temple, the lightless place in the black pine forest, the famous prison wall of Shima Station and the old tower of Ci'en Temple.
She originally thought that what she wanted to investigate was the emperor's crime.
Later I realized that Shi was not exonerating others, nor was he exonerating others.
History is about putting the blame where it belongs.
As a historian, she interrogated Shou'an Palace, revealed the original pen of the false edict, opened the old box, sealed the old case, and wrote back the names of the people obscured by the false history on the paper one by one. Xiao Xuanheng, the cold-faced emperor who never explained or defended, finally learned to admit pain, private anger, and happiness.
"I am pleased with you."
"I am also pleased with you."
The queen doesn't need to be a courtier.
But Shen Qichi couldn't lose his pen.
This is a story about the cold-faced emperor and the little historian who tested each other and then walked side by side.
It is also a story about truth, memory, system and love.
Under the snow-falling lamp, the ebony box is still there, the double locks on the outer box are still there, and the lamp of the history museum is still there.
The pen is there.
People are there too.
He's there too.
