Fifteen years ago, disaster-relief silver went missing in Luochuan, and the entire Ji family was convicted.
Everyone said Ji Huaizhang had stolen the money meant to save lives. Only his young daughter, Ji Tangning, survived. She changed her name to Wen Zhaoheng, hid herself in a trading house, and learned to keep accounts, set traps, and conceal a knife.
Fifteen years later, she returned to Cheng’an with half a ledger.
At first, all she wanted was to clear her father’s name.
But the deeper she dug, the more she discovered: the relief silver had not gone into private coffers. It had funded the Qingqi iron mine, unmarked military crossbows, and defective weapons on the border, ultimately leading to a private army hidden beneath the imperial capital.
The powerful throughout the court wanted her silenced.
The Investigations Bureau sought to lock her in the Southern Prison, the Minister of Revenue wanted to destroy the ledgers, and the Empress Dowager wanted to replace the emperor. Even the old case of the deposed crown prince was reopened.
And yet Xiao Wenche, the deposed crown prince’s son who had been under house arrest for years, opened the gates of Qingwu Courtyard with his own hands and stood by her side.
“I won’t fight for the throne, and I won’t let them use my father’s name to kill people.”
“Then I’ll keep working through this ledger until dawn.”
When the old accounts were laid bare, the imperial capital was thrown into turmoil.
The convicted minister’s daughter reclaimed her name, the deposed crown prince was cleared of his wrongful accusations, the new ruler emerged from the inner palace, and the powerful throughout the court paid their debts one by one.
What she wanted in the end was neither a reward nor an official title.
Only a travel permit, and someone who could leave the capital by her side.
