Chapter Five: The Unpriced Thing

“Su Wanqing needed a legal death before joining the Long Table. Her sister died in her place. Su continued under the dead woman's name.” Gu produced Protocol Zero. Twelve people had signed its final page. Seat Eleven belonged to Zhou Junchuan; Seat Twelve had been blacked out. Every six years they voted on whether Su's identity would remain erased. One dissenting vote could restore her existence. “Why did no one dissent in eighteen years?” Zhou Lin asked. Jiming answered. “Because she has always held Seat Twelve. Every time, she votes yes.” His mother was extending her own disappearance. Gu gave him a photograph of Su in a windowless archive room, dated three days earlier. “The next vote occurs at the Zhou succession banquet.