“So you need to be the bigger person!”

Pei Xiao looked earnest. “Don’t be fooled by how this lad seems capable of anything—at the end of the day, he’s just a short-lived ghost.”

“What illness does he have?”

See, see!

Once I throw out “short-lived ghost,” this Yan spirit medium’s curiosity is piqued.

Pei Xiao suppressed his inner satisfaction.

“An illness from the womb—incurable. At age eleven, caught a bit of rain and nearly died—literally one breath away. I cried him back to life.”

Yan Sanhe: “…” You have that ability?

Pei Xiao saw her confused little expression.

“Guess how abnormal his brain got? He didn’t even recognize me and told me to get lost. I was so damn heartbroken!”

Pei Xiao’s face was full of extreme pain.

“But could I hold it against him? Of course not! We’ve been playing together since we wore split-crotch pants…”

Something felt off in the air.

Yan Sanhe looked up to see the man who once wore split-crotch pants leaning lazily against the doorframe with crossed arms, but his eyes held a murderous gaze.

“Hey, you’re not listening to my story properly, what are you looking at…”

Pei Xiao turned his head, yelped, and jumped up. His expression changed several times before he suddenly cursed loudly.

“Xie Fifty, middle of the night pretending to be a ghost, scaring people—I see your brain’s gone abnormal again.”

Xie Fifty: “…”

Pei Xiao tossed the shoes at his chest.

“Properly apologize to the young lady. A grown man meddling like a woman—you think that’s appropriate?”

Xie Fifty: “…”

“What are you pouting about? I’m not hitting you—that’s already out of consideration for our split-crotch pants past.”

Pei Xiao walked to his side and winked at him.

Brother, I’ve built the ladder for you—hurry up and climb down.

Also!

That one’s a spirit medium. We can’t afford to offend her—we need to worship her!

Xie Fifty: Why do I have the complex feeling of wanting both to beat him to death and to call him ancestor?

Ancestor waved his hand and left, leaving two people—one squatting with a cold face, one standing awkwardly.

Xie Zhifei stood for a while, then squatted down and said candidly: “Just now I was wrong. I apologize to you. Mingting was right—my brain isn’t quite right.”

Yan Sanhe kept her eyes lowered, not making a sound.

Xie Zhifei bit his lip, not knowing what else to say.

“This is your honey-smeared mouth?”

“Ah?”

Xie Zhifei first froze, then his expression changed several times. Just as he was racking his brain to coax her with a few more words, he heard Yan Sanhe’s cold voice.

“That last bite—I habitually leave it. This habit formed when I was young. I can’t change it.”

Xie Zhifei looked at her thoughtfully for a long time without speaking.

Yan Sanhe was getting annoyed by his staring again. “I’m already working on changing it. Third Master needn’t worry further.”

“In the future, if you don’t want to eat it, don’t eat it.”

Xie Zhifei’s eyes were gentle. “We’re not lacking that one bite, and we don’t need to force ourselves.”

Yan Sanhe paused.

She didn’t know why, but hearing these words made her heart suddenly ache. She thought of Grandfather.

Also at the dining table, also that last bite of rice—her eyes brimming with tears as she forced herself to eat it.

How could she not eat it? Every grain of rice at home came so hard-earned. Grandfather’s old clothes were nearly washed threadbare, and there was no money to replace them.

“Child.”

Yan Xing rubbed her head. “In this life, how much we eat, how much fortune we enjoy, how much suffering we endure—it’s all predetermined. We don’t force ourselves.”

Could she not force herself?

Racing against time like this, fearless of life and death—besides the reasons of Old Lady Ji and the Ji family, she had a selfish motive of her own.

She wanted to resolve this heart demon quickly, then learn more about the past.

Her hands suddenly felt empty.

Yan Sanhe looked up.

Xie Zhifei waved the brocade shoes in his hand, teasing: “Better not to smear honey on the mouth—smear too much and these shoes will burn.”

None of your business!

Yan Sanhe snatched them back, rolled her eyes at him, and turned her head away.

“Yan Sanhe, you can roll your eyes?” Xie Zhifei laughed heartily, laughing wantonly and impolitely.

“Don’t laugh.”

“Why not?”

“…”

“Because you can resolve heart demons?”

“…”

“Resolving heart demons doesn’t mean people can’t laugh!”

“…”

Xie Zhifei looked down at her, his voice somewhat coaxing: “Yan Sanhe, let’s not be angry anymore. Let’s make up!”

Who was ever angry with you?

You’re the one who was unreasonable, Third Master Xie!

Though Yan Sanhe’s internal retort was lively, she said nothing aloud, only nodded slightly.

With this nod, Third Master Xie’s irritation vanished, and his heart even felt a bit pleased.

He said calmly: “Go check on Hero Li. Leave the shoes there—I’ll roast them.”

“No need, she’s asleep. Have you secured your silver?”

Silver?

Xie Zhifei’s expression changed. He tossed aside the black boots and bolted.

The small bundle was nowhere to be seen on the long bench.

“Pei Mingting!” he shouted.

Lord Pei, half-undressed, opened the door and stuck out half his head. “What is it?”

“Did you take the bundle from the bench?”

“No—wasn’t that what the Yan spirit medium gave you?”

Lord Pei hadn’t realized his slip of tongue. “What, it’s missing?”

Indeed it was missing!

Xie Zhifei was so angry he laughed coldly. The Five Districts Military Commissioner’s primary duty was catching thieves, yet someone dared steal from him?

“Probably some waiter or guest from the inn.”

The Yan spirit medium’s voice sounded behind him: “If they dared make a move, they couldn’t still be at the post station. Most likely they slipped away when no one was paying attention.”

Xie Zhifei’s heart sank heavily. He turned his head stiffly. “Yan Sanhe, what do we do now?”

Saying this, Xie Zhifei himself felt ashamed.

“Find the innkeeper and use extraordinary measures to force him to confirm who’s missing. If a waiter took it, make the innkeeper compensate. If another guest took it, accept the loss.”

Yan Sanhe looked up at the head sticking out of the doorway. “This spirit medium can only help you this far.”

With that, she gathered the clothes and brocade shoes and went upstairs. Under Third Master Xie and Lord Pei’s dumbfounded gazes, she gently closed the door.

Mainly to avoid disturbing Li Buyan—otherwise she would have slammed it thunderously.

Outside the door.

Xie Zhifei collected himself and organized his thoughts: “Mingting, bring down my sword.”

“Coming.” Pei Xiao quickly dressed.

Pleasantries first was impossible now—they’d go straight to imitating Li Buyan by putting a blade to the waiter’s throat.

The waiter tremblingly woke the innkeeper. The two counted the staff—not one missing.

Then they counted the guests…

One was missing.

This left no grounds to demand compensation from the post station—it was their own fault for not securing the silver.

Xie Zhifei didn’t care. He grabbed the innkeeper’s collar.

“This is an official post station. You eat imperial rice. Anyone staying here should be imperial officials. Yet you let in any random cat or dog. If I don’t demand the silver from you, who should I demand it from?”

The innkeeper wailed: “Official sir, that person wasn’t some random cat or dog—he had official documents too!”

“Someone with official documents would be a thief?”

“This…”

The innkeeper panicked. “Official sir, one must be reasonable. If you’d secured your silver properly…”

“Clack!”

A gold hairpin was set heavily on the table.