Chapter 38
Chapter 38
Cheng Miao had expected the Second Madam to refuse. The two players were effectively imprisoned in her courtyard.
None of that mattered for the moment. Cheng Miao suspected Li Cheng’s mission targeted Madam Chang, while the two physicians’ mission targeted the Second Madam. Her own mission was the most deeply concealed. Young Master Chang was perfectly safe in Madam Chang’s room, so why did he need saving?
After a few more pleasantries, Cheng Miao glanced at Master Chang, who had been suspiciously quiet all day, and was about to excuse herself when Madam Chang suddenly addressed Lin Zhu.
“Mu’er, you don’t look well. Did you have a nightmare?”
Lin Zhu nodded stiffly. “A little, but it’s nothing. I’ll feel better after resting in my room.”
Madam Chang continued smiling. “Yes, you should rest well.”
Lin Zhu felt a chill. Was it just him, or did her words carry another meaning?
Cheng Miao did not return to her room immediately. Instead, she walked through the garden again. The dense expanse of peonies looked especially alarming now.
“Can peonies really grow on stones?” Lin Zhu moved closer. He had not examined them carefully last time. The two most conspicuous peony plants seemed to emerge directly from a bed of white pebbles.
Cheng Miao found it strange as well and leaned in. The stones were white and roughly the same size…
No. They were exactly the same size. Even their curves and thicknesses were identical. A chill climbed Cheng Miao’s back as she stared at them.
“Hey… what are you looking at?” a man’s voice asked behind her.
Recognizing the steward, Cheng Miao answered without turning. “These two peonies. Steward, why were these two planted in a bed of stones?”
“Hey… what are you looking at?”
“I just told…” Cheng Miao began impatiently, only to realize something was wrong. Lin Zhu was already drenched in sweat, his face gray as he clutched her hand. His grip was so tight that Cheng Miao thought her bones might crack.
An undeniable instinct suddenly surged through her mind. The thing behind her was not human.
The certainty came too fiercely to question. Cheng Miao knew her Friend of Ghosts buff had activated.
The steward was different from Madam Chang. He was not a demon, but a dead soul…
Cheng Miao swallowed and tugged at her hand, but failed to free it from Lin Zhu’s claws. She turned around. The steward stood an arm’s length behind her, wearing the same stare he had fixed on Lin Zhu that morning.
Only the target had changed. He stared motionlessly at Cheng Miao. His face had turned blue-purple, and the skin sagged from it.
Supporting Lin Zhu, who had become a human pendant hanging from her arm, Cheng Miao hissed under her breath, “Don’t squeeze so hard. I thought you weren’t afraid of ghosts!”
Lin Zhu gave her an apologetic look but did not loosen his grip at all. “I’m not afraid of ghosts, but he looks more like a corpse. I’m afraid of corpses!”
Cheng Miao could not argue with that logic.
She looked at the steward still blocking their path. She was not as terrified as the first time she had encountered a ghost and quickly steadied herself. “We were just passing through. We weren’t looking at anything.”
Beside her, Lin Zhu nodded frantically, his face bloodless. Sweat flew from his forehead onto Cheng Miao’s hand.
Perhaps he had received the answer he wanted. The steward slowly moved aside, face rigid. Cheng Miao led Lin Zhu down the path and even nodded politely to the steward, who no longer looked human.
After they had gone several steps, Lin Zhu finally relaxed and stopped digging his fingers into Cheng Miao’s arm. He kept glancing back. Then he suddenly lowered his voice and cried, “Sister Miaomiao, there’s… there’s someone on his back!”
Cheng Miao’s scalp prickled. She slowly turned her head. The Steward still stood with his back to them, frozen in the same position.
The faint image of an old woman’s face surfaced on the back of his head. Deep wrinkles carved her skin. She stretched her mouth into a silent grin at them, revealing a row of shriveled, toothless gums.
“Hey… what are you looking at?”
The old woman’s lips moved, and the Steward spoke like a marionette tugged by strings. Still facing away from Cheng Miao and Lin Zhu, his entire body raced backward toward them.
Cheng Miao gritted her teeth. “Use the snap poppers!”
As she spoke, she reached into her clothes, pulled out a small ball reeking of gunpowder, and hurled it against the ground.
Bang!
The report rang deafeningly through the garden. Lin Zhu reacted quickly, following her lead and throwing several in rapid succession.
Thick sulfur flooded the garden. Yellow smoke curled around the Steward. Startled by the explosions, the ghost riding his body manipulated him into fleeing backward at tremendous speed. He disappeared into the depths of the garden.
By the time Cheng Miao and Lin Zhu returned to their room, sweat had soaked through both their clothes. After changing, Lin Zhu sat beneath the bed with his knees drawn to his chest, back against the window and head tilted toward the canopy.
“The Steward was terrifying. He looked perfectly normal a few days ago, and suddenly he wasn’t human anymore.”
Cheng Miao sat on a round stool and took out the musk wrapped in oiled paper. “That must have been Granny Sang. I thought this instance had removed her from the story.”
Lin Zhu had heard Cheng Miao recount Gejin. “Granny Sang appeared twice. Once when she discovered the firecrackers in my bundle, and once when we examined the peonies…”
Cheng Miao poured herself tea and let him brainstorm without interruption.
“So Granny Sang appears whenever we encounter something she fears or a secret she needs to protect!”
Lin Zhu scratched his head, one hand resting on his bent knee as he unconsciously bit a finger. “Those peonies must be hiding something. But the Steward is always guarding them. Both times we passed through the garden, he was there.”
“Granny Sang fears firecrackers, but not enough to do more than run. If we touch the peonies, she might fight us despite her fear.”
Cheng Miao set down her teacup and nodded at Lin Zhu, whose eyes carried the childish pride of a student who had answered correctly. “Exactly. That’s why we need a way to restrain a ghost.”
Lin Zhu practically preened at the praise. “Do you have something like that, Sister Miaomiao?”
Cheng Miao smiled like a fox. “I don’t, but there are two perfectly good Taoist priests right here. They certainly do.”
Lin Zhu marveled at how different Cheng Miao became once she grew familiar with someone. Her suggestion opened his thoughts as well. “They just entered the Chang Residence and need our intelligence. We can trade resources.”
Before Cheng Miao could answer, shadows moved chaotically outside. Maids and servants shoved past one another as they fled, trembling. Many still had terrified tears streaking their faces.
What happened? Had Madam Chang revealed her true form already?
As Cheng Miao and Lin Zhu quietly observed and prepared to draw their Items, the unmistakable sound of a blade piercing flesh came from the side gate. A man’s rough, slightly hoarse voice followed.
“Damn, why’d you run? You threw yourself onto my blade. Serves you right!”
“Everyone inside who wants to live, get out here! This is a robbery!”
Cheng Miao and Lin Zhu exchanged a look.
Well. An old acquaintance had finally arrived.