The Yi Zhuang of Jinjiang was originally located in a remote part of the city. After entering Beiliang and traveling a bit further, they would reach it.

And speaking of that Yi Zhuang, it was a dark stain on Jingrong’s life!

Thinking of how this woman in his arms had once left him to sleep overnight in the Yi Zhuang, he wanted to cry but had no tears!

The corner of his eye twitched slightly!

Ji Yunshu looked at the sky with its torrential downpour and said worriedly, “In the current situation, the rain will only get heavier. If flooding occurs or there’s a landslide, the consequences will be unimaginable. We should hurry to the Yi Zhuang ahead first.”

Jingrong deliberated!

Those guards were still continuously pushing the carriage stuck in the mud. Although they were all exerting every ounce of strength, they still couldn’t push the wheel out.

That yellow earth-like water was like rolling, churning mud, rushing down from the upslope, washing down many strange small objects and some scattered tree branches!

It showed every sign of forming a flood!

Jingrong looked at the woman in his embrace, seeing that the clothes on her left shoulder had been completely drenched by the heavy rain, and both her feet were submerged in yellow muddy water, becoming mud soup.

So—

Jingrong immediately ordered, “Leave a few people here to continue pushing the carriage. This prince will take Master Ji to the Yi Zhuang ahead first. You all follow behind later.”

“Yes!”

Lang Bo responded, instructing several guards to remain.

When Jingrong and the others were about to board the carriage behind—

Ji Yunshu suddenly remembered, “Wait, there’s still a painting in the carriage. I need to bring it.”

“Don’t move. I’ll get it.”

After Jingrong spoke, he was already holding an umbrella and going to the carriage to retrieve that rolled-up painting. After handing it to her, he boarded the rear carriage.

As soon as he entered the carriage, a strong scent of alcohol assaulted his nose.

Muruo lay inside like a corpse, surrounded by toppled wine bottles scattered everywhere.

Puzzled!

How much alcohol had this fellow hidden away?

Jingrong’s face showed complete disgust!

He pushed him to the side.

Ji Yunshu held that already dampened painting, using her relatively dry sleeve to wipe it.

Very protectively!

Wei Yi blinked his eyes and asked her, “Shu’er, what is this?”

“A portrait!”

“Whose portrait is it?”

“A dead person’s.”

Wei Yi’s eyes narrowed, but his expression was very indifferent. His gaze still stared at it intently.

The wet, disheveled hair on his forehead was dripping water, falling onto his long eyelashes and that delicate face.

Only when it obscured his vision did he raise his sleeve to wipe it away.

Jingrong also leaned his head over to look, curious. “Who is depicted in this portrait?”

The vinegar jar was about to tip over again!

She gently replied, “Remember I told you about that strange skeleton in the ‘Linjing Case’?”

“I remember!”

“These past days, I’ve been piecing together the portrait from that skeleton. In the last couple of days, it’s taken shape.”

“Mm.”

He nodded lightly and casually.

At this moment, Tang Si, who had originally gotten off the carriage to be a spectator, also climbed aboard.

The pancake in her hand was still unfinished.

She plopped down beside Muruo, casting a disdainful glance. “What a wine barrel. And he had the nerve to brag about holding a thousand cups without falling. He only drank a few jars with me and he’s already collapsed.”

She snorted.

And kicked his thigh.

Then her gaze wandered over the people opposite, asking, “By the way, what’s this Yi Zhuang you were talking about just now? Is it like your Central Plains inns?”

“Yes.” Ji Yunshu nodded.

“Great! After traveling for so long, we can finally rest properly.”

“That’s not a place for the living to rest.”

Hm?

She frowned in confusion. “Not for the living to rest? Is it for the dead then?”

Ji Yunshu smiled slightly without responding.

The entire atmosphere in the carriage became cold to the extreme!

Tang Si’s entire face contorted as if she had realized something.

She looked at the half-eaten pancake still in her hand, completely losing her appetite, and directly threw it out the carriage window.

Soon, the carriage bypassed the one deeply stuck in the mud ahead, entered the Beiliang territory, and headed toward the Yi Zhuang.

After more than half an hour, they finally arrived at the Yi Zhuang.

The Yi Zhuang in the heavy rain appeared extremely eerie.

The two red lanterns hanging outside the door swayed back and forth, one of them blown by the wind until even the paper covering it was torn to shreds.

Lang Bo dismounted and brought a guard to knock on the Yi Zhuang’s main gate.

Perhaps because the sound of rain was too loud, combined with Fu Bo’s already poor hearing, they knocked for quite a while before that dilapidated gate slowly opened.

Fu Bo held a worn, yellowed oiled paper umbrella, opening only half the door and poking half his body out from inside.

That weathered gaze looked at the two people outside.

“You two are?”

Lang Bo was just about to speak—

“Fu Bo!”

Ji Yunshu’s voice came from the carriage. She dismounted with an umbrella, lifting her soaked robes as she walked over.

The moment he saw her, Fu Bo was utterly shocked!

“Master Ji?”

As his words fell, he immediately opened the other half of the door, asking in astonishment, “Master Ji, didn’t you go to the capital?”

Ji Yunshu smiled warmly. “Recently there have been some matters. I’m passing through here.”

“Oh, I see. You’ve finally returned. You left for several months. Without you coming by, this place has become much lonelier.”

This…

What did he mean by this?

The corner of Ji Yunshu’s mouth twitched!

At this moment, Jingrong and the others also got off the carriage.

Muruo truly woke up as soon as he reached the ground, but he groggily squinted as he descended from the carriage. If Tang Si hadn’t kindly supported him, he probably would have fallen to the ground by now.

Fu Bo looked toward the group. Seeing everyone’s bodies were wet, he quickly said, “Why come in such heavy rain? Come, come, come, quickly come inside. It’s raining so hard outside. Come in quickly.”

With the tone of an elder!

He welcomed everyone inside.

But when Wei Yi entered through the gate and passed in front of Fu Bo, he clearly froze for a moment. Those weathered, weak eyes suddenly widened dramatically in an instant.

The oiled paper umbrella in his hand trembled violently!

Just so—

Ji Yunshu caught it with her eyes!

But she didn’t take it to heart.

After the group hurriedly entered, squeezing from the doorway into the courtyard, they left a ground full of messy, mud-stained footprints. And as the main gate opened, strong winds howled in, bringing with them a burst of rain-scented air.

The incense paper in the courtyard was also swept up by that gust of wind, all swirling up from the ground and flying chaotically around the courtyard!

Accompanied by the curling rise of white smoke from incense candles, the entire Yi Zhuang was eerily sinister.

Fu Bo led everyone into the main hall. Inside, besides being filled with the scent of incense candles, there was also a strong smell of atractylodes!

On the far left, many coffins were neatly arranged!

There were also several bodies that hadn’t been placed in coffins, laid directly on cold slabs and covered with white cloth.

As soon as Tang Si entered, her eyeballs nearly popped out.

One hand clutched Muruo’s clothes while she moved closer to Ji Yunshu’s side, asking, “A’Ji, what kind of ghost place is this?”

She replied indifferently, “Didn’t I say? It’s a place for the dead to rest.”

“This… really is a place for the dead to rest.”

Although she feared neither heaven nor earth, she had never stayed with dead people in this manner before.

So, instinctively, she shrank in Ji Yunshu’s direction.