Her father died fifteen years ago. The report called it an "accident." The people who signed it now occupy the highest seats in the city.
Her name is Meng Tiange. To identify a signature, she married into that family, using her enemy's surname to get what she wanted.
Mrs. Pei. She used that title for two years. In those two years, she learned one thing: a borrowed title can only be used once, and every use closes off another path.
Later, she borrowed the Xie family's name, then the palace's, then the position of someone who could lay down the rules. At every step, someone kept count for her: every last bit was entered into the ledger.
Eventually, she took that seat. Only after sitting in it did she understand that the most expensive thing wasn't something you couldn't borrow, but something you couldn't repay.
A borrowed title will always run out. She still has one thing left: her own name.
