218 BC
Years pass. The library grows, a forest of stone steles. But Jie's health withers with his conscience. The burning is now not just of duplicates, but of entire categories. A decree is issued: only Qin history is valid. All other state histories are to be destroyed.
Jie is ordered to inscribe the official Qin chronicle of the conquest of Qi. It omits the massacre at Jimo. That night, Lin finds him staring at a hidden bamboo strip—the true account, written by a Qi historian now dead. "The stone will lie," she whispers. "What will you do?"