A Piece of Luoyang

On the eve of Yongjia, the order in Luoyang was still there, but only the "shell of procedures" remained. Chen Ke, a ghostwriter from a poor family, made a living by writing for others. A light-ink comment on a commendation order pushed him into the mutual suspicion between Prince Zhao's palace and the Cui family: there was a 20% difference between the "actual receipts" in the account book and the book value. Everyone claimed that they were innocent, and everyone was eager to find an answer that could crucify the person. The person who forced him to serve was Acen, a slave girl. She doesn't talk about benevolence and righteousness, but only about price: an official post is exchanged for a sentence that can live, and a rule is exchanged for a chance not to be killed. The evidence is transferred by the game, the paper can be turned over, flattened, and rewritten; the reply may exist, but it may not be shown to you. Prince Zhao's Mansion used book checking, city gate registration, handing in papers three times, and one paper every day to measure Chen Ke from a "writer" to "available evidence", and then used him as bait to throw him between negotiations and killings. When "compliance" becomes a weapon and the blame-shifting chain is signed layer by layer, the only thing Chen Ke can grasp is one thing: make every word count.