The Hall of Still Water

In the Tenth Year of the Wen Era, three hundred bolts of tribute silk vanish on the canal, and the court looks for the nearest name. It finds Secretary Shen, seventh grade, Ministry of Rites. His daughter Shen Yuelan is only a Lady of the inner court, second of six ranks, with four taels a month and a cousin who carries water. She cannot leave without the Empress's jade seal. She can only listen, and read a stamped roll more carefully than the men who stamped it. But the Empress has a brother, the brother has the Ministry, and when the seal leaves its box, someone will die for it.