“Little girl, where did you come from? How did you end up in this ruined temple?” asked a beggar with a mouth full of yellow teeth.
The foul smell coming from his mouth made Liang Xinxin’s stomach churn. She tried to hold it back, but in the end, she couldn’t.
She threw up on the spot.
It stinks…
It really, really stinks.
The beggar who had spoken looked furious for a moment, but his expression quickly returned to normal.
This little brat actually dares to look down on me? She should take a look at herself first.
Liang Xinxin was dressed in a tattered maid’s uniform. Although these beggars were cleaner than most, they weren’t much better off.
Her hair was a complete mess, and dried blood covered her face and neck.
It was impossible to tell what she actually looked like.
At first, the beggars had thought Liang Xinxin was already dead.
She looked so horrifying that one of them finally gathered the courage to check whether she was still breathing. Only then did they realize she was still alive.
The poor girl was truly pitiful. They had no idea who could be so heartless as to dump someone into a beggars’ den.
She looked only eleven or twelve years old. They guessed she had probably been a maid in the household of some wealthy family.
Perhaps she had done something to offend her master and had been thrown out.
When she had just vomited, they had seen that her tongue had been cut out.
What a tragedy.
It was simply too cruel.
The beggars couldn’t help feeling sorry for the young girl. Compared to them, she seemed to have suffered far more.
But pity couldn’t solve anything. They were only beggars—they couldn’t help anyone.
Liang Xinxin didn’t even need to think about it to know why she had ended up in this ruined temple.
Shen Qingyao had definitely done this.
How could she be so cruel?
She had already admitted her mistake. Couldn’t Shen Qingyao have forgiven her just this once?
She had only been young and ignorant.
Was it really necessary to hold such a grudge against her?
Liang Xinxin knew her life was over.
Although she had no idea where she was, judging from the clothes these beggars wore, this clearly wasn’t her original world.
She was still just a child. She didn’t know how to do anything, and now she had become mute.
How could someone like her possibly survive in such a strange world?
Perhaps death would be a relief.
She staggered to her feet without giving anyone around her so much as a glance.
Like a wandering ghost, she slowly walked out of the ruined temple.
The beggars instinctively stepped aside to make way for her and silently watched her leave.
The main reason was that the girl looked determined to die.
If she wanted to kill herself, she could do it outside. She absolutely must not die in their ruined temple.
They still had to live there.
After leaving the temple, Liang Xinxin looked around.
The area outside was completely deserted.
Looking into the distance, she saw that the ruined temple wasn’t very far from the city.
But by now, she had completely lost the will to live.
Instead of heading toward the towering city gate, she staggered aimlessly in the opposite direction.
She didn’t know where she was going.
Nor did she know where she belonged.
She only knew that she no longer had the strength to keep living.
She wanted to find a place where no one would ever find her…
…and end her life.
The beggars gathered at the entrance of the ruined temple, watching as the little girl slowly disappeared into the distance.
A trace of sympathy flashed through their eyes before quickly fading away.
People like them had no homes and no families.
They weren’t in any position to pity others.
Their greatest concern was simply finding a way to stay alive themselves.
…
In the dead of night, the entire city fell silent.
Shen Qingyao slipped into the Ministry of Revenue and searched room after room for the Household Registration Archive.
After checking several rooms, she finally found the office that stored the household records.
The moment she stepped inside, however, she realized she had been far too optimistic.
Yunjing had an enormous population.
The household registration records filled the room from top to bottom.
Trying to find her own record would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
To keep the original owner from embarrassing the Prime Minister’s Residence, they hadn’t even allowed her name to remain in the same household register as the rest of the family.
They had actually created a separate household register just for her.
That was truly unbelievable.
Looking at stack after stack of registration books lined up on the shelves, Shen Qingyao fell silent.
My heavens…
Why are there so many?
How long would it take to search through all of these?
Her expression remained blank as she stared at the endless piles of household registers.
She suddenly felt terrible.
Finally, she let out a sigh and decided not to waste any more time.
Forget it.
There was no point wasting time searching.
She might as well burn every single household register here.
End it all at once.
Once the registration books were burned, the government would have no choice but to register everyone again.
She could simply register herself under a new identity.
Not only would she be free of the Prime Minister’s Residence, but she could also completely get rid of her old identity.
Killing two birds with one stone.
“Hehe…”
As soon as the idea came to her, she immediately got to work.
Shen Qingyao pushed over every bookshelf in the room.
The household registration books came crashing down, scattering across the floor.
She quickly set fires in every corner of the room and watched as the tiny flames gradually grew into a roaring blaze, consuming the household registers.
A satisfied smile spread across her face.
She flashed back into her Space, grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds, and leisurely watched the fire through the Space as it grew larger and larger.
Shen Qingyao wondered why no one had shown up yet.
She only wanted to burn the household registration books.
She had no intention of burning down the entire building.
After all, most of the buildings here were made of wood. If this building burned down, the surrounding buildings would catch fire as well.
The flames gradually swallowed the entire room.
By the time the guards on duty noticed the fire, more than half of the Household Registration Archive had already been reduced to ashes.
They hurried over, scrambling to put out the fire.
“It’s on fire! Hurry and fetch water!” one of the Ministry of Revenue guards shouted as he hastily threw on his clothes.
The others were still wearing only their undergarments. They didn’t even bother getting dressed. Grabbing buckets, they rushed to draw water.
Fortunately, the Ministry of Revenue had its own well, and it happened to be right beside the building where the household registers were stored.
The man giving orders was the captain of the guard squad.
Looking at the household registers that had nearly been burned to nothing, his head throbbed.
Can someone please tell me what happened?
Everything was perfectly fine. How did it suddenly catch fire?
Was it an accident… or was someone behind it?
Every household record in Yunjing was stored here.
How was he supposed to explain this to his superiors?
The thought that he might end up in prison made his legs go weak, and he collapsed onto the ground.
“It’s over… My good days are finished…”
He stared blankly at the burning household registers, muttering to himself.
His heart was filled with despair.
The other guards returned carrying buckets of water.
They didn’t have time to worry about their captain, who was still sitting on the ground. Instead, they immediately threw the water onto the burning wooden shelves.
The moment the water hit the flames, loud hissing sounds filled the room.
With so many people working together, the fire was soon extinguished.
The entire room was left in complete chaos.
By then, every household register had already been burned to ashes.
The shelves themselves had been scorched black.
Everyone slumped onto the floor, staring blankly at the wrecked room, not knowing what to do next.
The building had survived…
But not a single household register remained.
Everything had been burned completely clean.
This was their failure in duty.
As the guards responsible for protecting the archive, none of them would escape punishment.
“Captain! The household registers have all been destroyed. What are we supposed to do now?” one of the guards asked anxiously.
“You’re asking me? How should I know?” the captain replied as he continued lying on the ground without getting up. “Things have already reached this point. All we can do is wait for our superiors to decide our punishment.”
He irritably grabbed at his hair, staring blankly at the devastated room.
His heart had sunk to the bottom.
…
Early the next morning, the Ministry of Revenue Director, Shen Yunqi, arrived at work.
The moment he saw the burned archive room, his mind went blank.
How had things ended up like this?
Everything had been perfectly fine when he left yesterday.
How had every household register been destroyed after just one night?
“Who can tell me what happened here?”
Shen Yunqi’s face was stern as he looked at the guards, all of whom stood with their heads lowered.
His head was already pounding.
Ever since his home had been robbed, he hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep for several days.
He had been exhausted and absent-minded.
Who would have thought that the moment he arrived at work this morning, he would be greeted by such a shocking surprise?
Having his home robbed was bad enough.
Now even his work had been ruined.
Every household registration record in Yunjing had been stored here.
Now that they had all been burned, every resident of Yunjing would have to register again.
Heavens!
This was an enormous undertaking.
Wouldn’t his workload increase tens of thousands of times over?
Before this, his duties had simply involved making occasional changes to people’s Household Registration records or adding new family members.
Altogether, he only spent about two hours working each day.
It had been an incredibly easy position.
But now that all these household registers had been destroyed…
Wouldn’t he have to work from dawn until night every single day?
The guard captain stepped forward with his head lowered and honestly reported the situation.
“This subordinate does not know what happened either. Last night, the archive building suddenly caught fire. By the time we arrived, half of the household registers had already burned. We immediately fetched water without delay and only managed to save the building itself.”
To be fair, it really wasn’t their fault.
Paper burned far too quickly.
There simply hadn’t been enough time to stop it.
After hearing the report, Shen Yunqi’s face darkened like ink.
“You don’t know what happened? Then go investigate!” he snapped. “I refuse to believe the archive simply caught fire on its own. Someone must have deliberately set it ablaze. Find the culprit and arrest them. I want them thrown into prison!”
He refused to believe the archive could have caught fire for no reason.
Everything stored here was highly flammable, and everyone was always extremely careful.
Unless someone had deliberately started the fire, the archive could never have burned.
“This subordinate will find a way to investigate,” the guard captain replied in a subdued voice.
In truth, he had no idea where to begin.
After putting out the fire, he had already searched the entire building.
He had inspected every door, every window, and every corner of the room.
He hadn’t found a single clue.
The footprints outside were a complete mess as well.
There was no way to tell whether anyone from outside had come.
Anyone with common sense knew the archive had definitely been set on fire intentionally.
But he had absolutely no leads.
There was nowhere to start investigating.
He said those words only to placate Shen Yunqi for the moment.
As for actually finding the culprit…
There was no need to think about it.
He knew it would be impossible.
The fire had been far too strange.
Shen Yunqi was still consumed by anger and failed to notice the captain’s perfunctory response.
He nodded instinctively.
“Then find the culprit as soon as possible. I want to see who dared to burn down the Household Registration Archive. They truly have the audacity of heaven.”
There was still a difficult battle ahead.
Now that every household registration record had been destroyed, everyone in Yunjing would have to register their Household Registration all over again.
Returning to his desk, Shen Yunqi picked up his brush and quickly wrote an official notice.
In just a few swift strokes, the notice was finished.
He handed it to the guard captain.
“Post this outside and inform everyone that they must come to re-register their Household Registration,” Shen Yunqi said with a stern expression.
“Yes, Director. I’ll take care of it immediately.”
The guard captain respectfully accepted the notice from Shen Yunqi before bowing and leaving.