Today, the nanny cooked pumpkin porridge. The porridge was soft, sticky, and sweet. She served it with two small side dishes. Song Xiaozhou took a couple of bites but quickly lost his appetite.
He glanced at Nanny Lin secretly.
Nanny Lin was elderly, with gray hair, cloudy, lifeless eyes, and a blank, rigid expression. Still, her entire demeanor radiated precision and carefulness. Song Xiaozhou couldn’t help but wonder, why was Lu Heng warning him not to trust Nanny Lin?
… Could Nanny Lin be involved in Lu Heng’s death?
At that thought, Song Xiaozhou gasped, and his face turned pale. The porridge in his mouth choked him, and he started coughing uncontrollably.
Nanny Lin sluggishly looked up at him and poured a cup of tea.
Song Xiaozhou hurriedly drank a whole glass of water before calming down. He looked at Nanny Lin with complicated eyes, but the old woman seemed unaware. She blankly said, “Young Madam, take your time.”
Each word was slow and deliberate, like a puppet.
Song Xiaozhou came back to his senses and mumbled a reply. If she really had killed Lu Heng, why would Lu Heng have let her off… What really happened to Lu Heng’s death?
Suddenly, he realized something. He had been thinking about how to leave Jing’an Court, but now he was wondering who had killed Lu Heng.
After eating, the nanny tidied the table as usual. Song Xiaozhou watched her slow but practiced movements absentmindedly, then suddenly called out, “Nanny.”
Nanny Lin looked up.
Song Xiaozhou showed a bright smile, it was sweet and charming. “When Eldest Young Master was seriously ill before, were you the one who took care of him?”
Nanny Lin stared at Song Xiaozhou for a moment, nodded, and slowly said, “The madam passed away early, the master was always occupied, and it was only this old servant who looked after him.”
Song Xiaozhou paused, thinking: If she had truly been responsible for Lu Heng’s death, the suffering he endured must have been immense. Yet, seeing Nanny Lin now, she didn’t appear to be the type to wish him any harm.
Song Xiaozhou cautiously asked, “Do you still remember what happened back then?”
Nanny Lin’s gaze fell on Song Xiaozhou’s face, showing a hint of panic. Her hand trembled, and she knocked over the bowl and chopsticks, startling Song Xiaozhou. He quickly reached out to catch them, and their hands accidentally touched. Song Xiaozhou froze.
Nanny Lin’s hand was icy cold, just like Lu Heng’s, they were completely without warmth.
They were a pair of ghosts’ hands.
Song Xiaozhou stared at Nanny Lin in fear, but she seemed lost in her own world. She sometimes muttered “Young Master,” then cursed “bastard” angrily, and at times denied it was her; it was mad, strange, and terrifying.
Even after stepping into the sunlight, his back still felt cold. He remembered when he was a child traveling in the mountains with his parents. The Lingnan region had many hunters and traps. A deer was very unlucky to step into a trap circle, with danger lurking at every step.
Yet it still couldn’t find a way out.
Feeling frustrated, Song Xiaozhou crouched down. The rustling at his ear turned out to be a ghostly servant in a blue robe sweeping the floor. Perhaps because he was still shaken, Song Xiaozhou wasn’t afraid anymore. Tilting his head to look, the ghost’s face was pale blue-white, mouth open, tongue gouged out, dripping with fresh blood.
Strangely, Song Xiaozhou thought, even ghosts have their own appearances, some good, some bad. And someone like Lu Heng… was undeniably quite handsome. Thinking of Lu Heng, he glanced around. Lu Heng still hadn’t come back, which made him a bit upset. Usually, only Lu Heng would come looking for him. He didn’t know where Lu Heng was.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Song Xiaozhou found courage, stood up, and said to the ghost, “Stop sweeping here. You should go out.”
The ghost slowly lifted its head and looked at Song Xiaozhou.
Holding onto Lu Heng’s words, Song Xiaozhou’s face was calm and silent, meeting the ghost’s gaze without fear. After a while, the ghost surprisingly obeyed, bowed stiffly, and dragged the broom as it left.
Song Xiaozhou watched in surprise, involuntarily recalling Lu Heng’s words: “You’re half the master of Jing’an Courtyard; we’re already married.” His ears flushed, and his eyes flickered nervously.
Lu Heng hadn’t appeared all day. At night, Song Xiaozhou lay tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep. He went over to the table to snuff out the candle, then lit it again, repeating this several times until he grew somewhat tired.
Half asleep and half awake, he suddenly heard faint noises.
Alert, Song Xiaozhou opened his eyes. The window was half-open; the moonlight was clear. He vaguely saw two extra figures inside the room. They were dressed like wanderers, each carrying a gleaming knife, rifling through drawers, searching for something.
Song Xiaozhou didn’t dare make a sound. He lay stiffly in bed with his eyes half-closed, but quietly reached under his pillow for a dagger.
One of them stood by the bed, his eyes were cold and fierce, he raised his knife to strike. Song Xiaozhou suddenly sprang up and struck first, skillfully stabbing the man’s chest with the dagger. Barefoot and leaving his shoes behind, he grabbed the man’s knife and lunged at the other assailant.
At the first clash, Song Xiaozhou knew he wasn’t a match, it had only been the element of surprise that had helped before.
Feigning a move, he broke away and ran for the door. Outside Jing’an Courtyard, the Lu family guards were posted; if he made enough noise, maybe they’d come. Biting his lip, he escaped and only then realized there were more than two. There were at least ten people.
Like a sheep walking into a tiger’s den.
Song Xiaozhou gripped the knife tightly; the handle was soaked with sticky blood. The summer night wind was dry and heavy, sighing softly. In Jing’an Courtyard, a few scattered candle flames flickered. Wearing only his undergarments and barefoot, Song Xiaozhou stood in the yard, disheveled and stained with blood from the fight.
He looked around inside this ghostly house, if he didn’t fall into a ghost’s hand, he would surely die by a human’s. So it seemed ghosts weren’t necessarily more terrifying than people.
One of the men said, “Kill him.” Song Xiaozhou glanced over and immediately recognized him, it was Steward Zheng of the Lu family.
Swallowing hard, Song Xiaozhou tightened his grip on the knife and called out, “Lu Heng!”
Steward Zheng stared at him fiercely.
Strangely, those two words gave Song Xiaozhou some strength. He raised his voice, “Lu Heng! If you still don’t show yourself, I’ll be killed!”
Steward Zheng sneered, “Playing ghost and spirit tricks!”
Song Xiaozhou clenched his teeth, ready to shout again, when a sudden chill ran down his back. From behind, Lu Heng’s arms snaked around him, his voice playful, accompanied by a teasing smile: “Miss me?”
Song Xiaozhou let out a sigh of relief, grinding his teeth as he exclaimed, “I missed you, I missed you so much!”
Lu Heng smiled, his gaze falling on the men. His eyes flickered with a faint but terrifying red glow, his expression showing the greed and ferocity of a ravenous demon. It was chilling. As a vengeful spirit, the more people he killed, the heavier and fiercer his malevolence became. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say he fed on the living.
He hadn’t killed anyone for quite some time already.
Lu Heng softly said, “Xiaozhou, close your eyes.”
