Chapter 65

The ghostly shadow drifted past the window, then hovered at the door, its wails coming in fits and starts, drawing ever closer. Anyone with less courage would have already fainted in terror.

Tao Chuyi slowly approached and pushed open the window. There was nothing outside.

“Chuyi, come back here.”

Fearing for her safety, Nangong Yunshang hurriedly got out of bed and pulled her away, not letting her go out.

“Leave it to the guards to chase it down.”

At that moment, however, Tao Chuyi paid no attention to her words. Her ears pricked in all directions, her eyes scanning everywhere, her full focus on that spectral figure.

Just then, a ghastly pale face suddenly dropped into view outside the window. Nangong Yunshang’s breath caught, but upon closer inspection, she realized it was made of sewn cloth.

Someone was playing tricks with ghosts, trying to drive them away.

Tao Chuyi grabbed the cloth puppet and yanked it down, spotting strings attached to the oversized face. The lines were nearly invisible in the darkness of night, visible only upon careful scrutiny.

She looked upward, then leaped out the window.

“Chuyi!”

Nangong Yunshang clung to the windowsill and watched as Tao Chuyi swiftly climbed onto the roof in just a few bounds.

“Guards! Come quickly!”

Tao Chuyi landed on the ridgeline and spotted a shadow darting across the rooftops. She gave immediate chase.

The “ghost” wore a hood and a mask with a green face and fangs. Its steps faltered like a clumsy drunkard; it clearly knew no martial arts.

Rushing too hastily, the “ghost” tripped and sprawled flat, sending several roof tiles crashing down.

Tao Chuyi seized the “ghost” by the collar from behind, yanked off the hood, and revealed a human face—it was the inn waiter.

“Mercy, young master! Mercy! It was all the innkeeper’s orders—he made me do it.”

The waiter begged frantically for his life. If he hadn’t been held fast, he would have dropped to his knees and kowtowed.

Tao Chuyi’s gaze swept toward the eaves, where a tall ladder stood propped at the corner. The waiter wore a white robe, and his pockets bulged with strings and fabric.

The guards burst into the guest room, while Yinghong and Zishan hurried to shield Nangong Yunshang.

“Go out there quickly—the prince consort is outside!”

Nangong Yunshang urged them anxiously. She had no idea who was behind this ghost charade and feared Chuyi might come to harm.

Just as Zishan was about to lead the guards out in pursuit, Tao Chuyi leaped back through the window, hauling a bulky figure. She flung it forward, sending the waiter crashing to the floor.

“Chuyi.”

Nangong Yunshang looked her up and down, confirming she was unharmed.

“You scared me to death.”

The cold glint in Tao Chuyi’s eyes softened into her usual clear, foolish innocence, and she threw herself into Nangong Yunshang’s arms.

“Chuyi was scared.”

Nangong Yunshang held her close, soothing her. “There, there. Don’t be afraid. It’s all over now.”

The captured waiter stared at them in disbelief, as if to say that he should be the one who was afraid.

But no one gave him the chance. Zishan stomped down on him, pinning him to the ground.

“Talk! Did you kill the bride? Why dress up as a ghost?”

The waiter cried his innocence. He stammered that the innkeeper had ordered him to play ghost and scare them off so they wouldn’t disrupt the inn’s business.

“I really didn’t kill anyone!”

Nangong Yunshang shot Zishan a look, and the maid immediately dragged the waiter away.

They would need to interrogate him properly to get to the bottom of it.

After the fright, the two women returned to the bed to rest. Fortunately, neither believed in ghosts, or they couldn’t have stayed in the room another moment.

Tao Chuyi nestled in Nangong Yunshang’s embrace. “Sister, where did the innkeeper go?”

The innkeeper had only shown his face briefly when they checked in and hadn’t been seen since. With such a major incident at the inn, his absence suggested he might have fled in guilt.

Nangong Yunshang patted her back soothingly. “Be good. Let the prefect handle the investigation for now. We’ll wait and see.”

The waiter was handed over to the prefect’s yamen for questioning. Two days later, he mysteriously died in his cell. The prefect presented a confession bearing the waiter’s signed mark to the emperor, declaring the case closed and pinning it all on the waiter alone.

Nangong Yunshang realized then that like father, like son—the prefect was just as adept at muddling through and sweeping things under the rug.

Even Yinghong couldn’t hold back her curses. “That man’s no good at all! What kind of prefect is he? In my opinion, he’s not even as useful as a cicada—at least cicadas chirp to warn folks of the heat.”

“Not a good thing!”

Tao Chuyi parroted her eagerly.

Nangong Yunshang quickly clapped a hand over her mouth. “From now on, don’t use curse words in front of the prince consort. You can’t recite a single line of poetry, but you pick up swearing quick enough.”

Tao Chuyi wriggled her hand away in protest. “I do know poetry!”

“Recite some for me, then?”

Nangong Yunshang settled back comfortably, arching a brow in challenge.

Tao Chuyi stood straight, hands clasped behind her back like a schoolmaster.

“As graceful as a startled swan, as lithe as a wandering dragon!

“A beauty to topple kingdoms, a sight to stun the world.

“One glance back, a hundred charms unfold; the palace ladies pale in comparison.”

Nangong Yunshang listened with furrowed brows. Chuyi did know a few lines, but something felt off.

At that moment, Yinghong voiced the oddity. “Prince Consort, how come you only recite verses praising someone’s looks?”

Tao Chuyi’s ears turned pink with embarrassment.

“I… I asked around. How do you compliment someone’s beauty? I wanted to praise Sister’s beauty.”

Yinghong covered her mouth to stifle a laugh and discreetly withdrew.

“You…”

Nangong Yunshang found herself unexpectedly flattered and felt a touch embarrassed too.

Tao Chuyi grinned. “Here’s another one: Sister, you’re so beautiful.”

Nangong Yunshang tapped her forehead. “That’s not poetry.”

“Oh.”

As if struck by a sudden thought, Tao Chuyi grabbed Nangong Yunshang’s hand and pulled her outside. Before they knew it, they stood before the room where the bride had met her gruesome end.

Perhaps because of the death, the place felt oppressively eerie, sending chills down the spine.

Nangong Yunshang tugged her back. “What are we doing here?”

Tao Chuyi pointed at the bed. “I noticed it moves.”

To demonstrate for Nangong Yunshang, she strode over with the strength of a hero and flipped the bedboard aside in one powerful motion.

Nangong Yunshang approached and froze in shock. Beneath the bed lay a secret passage—explaining how the killer had come and gone without a trace.

Tao Chuyi meant to plunge right in, but Nangong Yunshang stopped her and summoned the guards to go first, with the two of them following behind.

The stench of blood grew thicker in the tunnel, turning stomachs.

Nangong Yunshang pressed a brocade handkerchief to her nose and mouth but still felt queasy.

Suddenly, a shadow flitted across the junction ahead. The guards rushed forward and seized the figure—it was the innkeeper. The passage ended in a hidden chamber, where the clank of chains echoed from within.

Peering inside, they saw a monstrous creature, neither man nor beast, shackled with irons. It had a green face and fangs, resembling those mad folk from the capital city outbreak.

“Kneel!”

The guards forced the innkeeper to his knees before the two women.

Nangong Yunshang’s frown deepened, her discomfort evident. “Who is he to you?”

“He… he’s my younger brother.”

With everything out in the open, the innkeeper had no choice but to confess fully.

Three years prior, his brother had inexplicably turned into this state for some unknown reason. A man from the Southern Frontier told him that sacrificing a bride on the eve of her wedding could cure his brother’s affliction. Unable to target local brides, he had set his sights on those from out of town.

The creature let out a piercing shriek toward the ceiling.

The innkeeper looked up, his eyes bloodshot.

“I only wanted to save my brother. What did I do wrong?”

Zishan kicked him again. “And what wrong did those brides commit, to suffer such undeserved calamity?”

Nangong Yunshang waved him off in disgust, and the guards knocked out the brothers and hauled them away.

Tao Chuyi quickly supported her back to the room for fresh air. It took a long while before she recovered.

The prefect’s yamen slunk back with the brothers in tow to give the people an accounting.

In the aftermath, the Second Princess fell ill from fright. The emperor then ordered everyone to leave the inn at once and return to the pleasure barge. Meanwhile, the yamen sealed the establishment, forbidding any further business there.

Nangong Yunshang had hoped the prefect would look into any Southern Frontier folk blending into the Central Plains, but he proved too incompetent. Better to send her own people to investigate discreetly.

Back on the pleasure barge, life felt freer. Tao Chuyi roamed the decks without restraint.

A gentle breeze blew as Nangong Yunshang sat on the upper deck, the wind teasing a lock of her dark hair—a picturesque scene of a beauty on the water.

Tao Chuyi crept up behind her, eyes twinkling with mischief as she plotted some prank.

“Sister!”

The sudden shout startled Nangong Yunshang. Embraced from behind, she swatted at the offending hands in lingering alarm.

“Keep that up, and I’ll toss you overboard to play with the fish.”

Tao Chuyi blinked innocently. Fish were indeed swimming alongside the barge in the river. Without a word, she started tugging off her shoes to join them.

“I was joking—don’t you dare go in.”

To keep Tao Chuyi from actually jumping in, she let herself serve as bait, enduring the embrace.

From afar came the lilting strains of music, drawing crowds along the riverbank to gaze at the boats.

Tao Chuyi craned her neck forward and saw a pleasure boat passing under a bridge, heading their way.

Aboard it, performers beat drums and played lively tunes while women in red danced with abandon—a riot of festivity.

Tao Chuyi tilted her head. “Who are they?”

Zishan spoke up from behind. “They’re probably Hangzhou’s singing and dancing girls. I’ve heard their boats often set out at dusk, boarding vessels with out-of-town guests to perform.”

As she spoke, the dancers indeed boarded the lead pleasure barge. At the same time, an imperial eunuch crossed over with a message, inviting the princess and prince consort to enjoy the show.

Seeing Tao Chuyi’s interest piqued, Nangong Yunshang agreed.

At the gathering, the emperor occupied the seat of honor, eyes glued to the dancers’ fiery whirling steps. The two slipped in quietly and took their seats without disturbing anyone.

Aside from the emperor and a few ministers, the princesses and princes seemed utterly bored, clearly eager to retire.

The music shifted from one melody to the next, and the dancers performed three pieces in succession, drawing wave after wave of applause from the crowd.

Once the three dances concluded, the Emperor ordered lavish rewards for them. The musicians all dropped to their knees in gratitude. Among them, the most beautiful dancer knelt right up front, still clutching her pipa to half-hide her face.

The Emperor nodded in approval. “Come closer.”

The expressions of the others shifted at that, and Nangong Yunshang realized her own Father Emperor might be old in body, but his heart was anything but.

“What’s your name?”

The dancer gracefully bowed low. “This servant is named Xin Niang.”

The Emperor paused in thought. “Would you be willing to stay the night aboard the ship?”

Tao Chuyi tilted her head to peer at the Emperor, deciding his gaze on Xin Niang was downright lecherous.

“Isn’t this what they call a dirty old man?”

Nangong Yunshang hurriedly clapped a hand over her mouth. “Don’t spout nonsense.”

Just as Xin Niang stepped forward and knelt to kowtow, she drew out a written grievance and presented it before the throne.

“Your Majesty, this common woman has a grievance to report!”

The situation flipped in an instant. The Emperor’s interest in the beauty evaporated, and in a cold voice, he commanded, “Seize her.”