A Letter from Huai River

In the second year of Xiande, the Zhou army advanced on Shouzhou. At Baibai Ferry, a dying wounded man pressed seven letters into the hands of Shen Zhiwei, a letter writer, leaving her with just one instruction: “Don't give them to anyone.” The first letter was addressed to the officer inspecting boats. The seventh was in the hand of her brother, who had been missing for over two years. The others pointed to a lost ship that had “carried no grain” and a debt of sixty shi of grain falsely charged to a boatman's account. Shen Zhiwei usually writes “Everyone at home is well” for other people. This time, she must find out who is using someone else's name to acknowledge a debt, and why her brother entrusted the letters to her.