In the grass stood an exquisite hexagonal palace lantern. The old woman’s feet happened to be standing in the lamplight, where a full moon appeared on her shoes.

However, this full moon was a good five degrees dimmer than the moon on the embroidered shoes that Jingchen had barely worn.

Young Master Pei was both shocked and uncertain.

How could an old woman who emptied chamber pots possibly afford shoes worth five taels of silver?

While Young Master Pei stood there in a daze, Yan Sanhe had already walked over without hesitation.

“Granny, what’s your name?”

The old woman’s body trembled as she turned around. “You gave me the silver—you can’t take it back, you can’t!”

“Once I gave it to you, it’s yours.”

While watching the old woman’s expression carefully, she tentatively continued, “I’ve seen shoes like the ones on your feet before—also under lamplight where you could see a full moon.”

The old woman looked at Yan Sanhe at a loss, her feet slowly retreating.

Yan Sanhe’s voice suddenly became very soft. “It was at a funeral.”

The wrinkled corners of the old woman’s eyes twitched inexplicably.

Yan Sanhe caught this slight twitch very clearly. Her mind turned several times before she decided to take a real gamble.

“The funeral was at a nunnery. The deceased nun was called Jingchen. Before her death, she said she had once been a courtesan at the Music Bureau, where she stayed for a full nine years.”

Yan Sanhe spoke very slowly, so slowly that Young Master Pei couldn’t help wanting to laugh. Making it up on the spot—Spirit Medium, you can really spin tales!

“She also said that in the entire Music Bureau, she had only one person she could call a good friend. She gave that person a pair of embroidered shoes worth five taels of silver.”

The old woman’s expression changed dramatically, and she began trembling involuntarily.

“Oh yes.”

Yan Sanhe paused. “She also lit an eternal lamp for that friend in the hall of Water Moon Nunnery, blessing her with smooth sailing in all matters and an early escape from the sea of suffering.”

“Thud!”

The chamber pot fell again, a few drops of filth splashing onto Yan Sanhe’s hem. Yan Sanhe neither dodged nor avoided it, her black eyes fixed steadily on the old woman.

The old woman’s two rows of teeth chattered together. After a long moment, she squeezed out from between her teeth, “What, what, what name was written on the eternal lamp?”

“This…”

Yan Sanhe’s lips moved, as if hesitating whether to tell her.

But the old woman couldn’t wait. “Is it Guihua?”

“That’s right—it’s Guihua.”

As the old woman’s pupils contracted, her hands gripped Yan Sanhe’s arm forcefully. “I’m Guihua! I’m Guihua! I am…”

Her grip grew tighter and tighter, her voice increasingly frantic, her eyes looking at Yan Sanhe as if about to shoot out flames.

Just when everyone expected her to continue, she suddenly released her hands, sat down hard on the ground, and inexplicably began wailing.

An old woman’s wailing, like demonic sounds piercing the ears, could lift off one’s skull.

Frightened, Zhu Qing quickly extended his hand to strike her lightly at the back of her neck. The crying ceased abruptly, and the old woman slowly collapsed.

Landing right in a puddle of filth.

What now?

Zhu Qing looked apologetically at Yan Sanhe. “I was afraid of attracting people.”

“It’s fine.” Yan Sanhe turned her head. “Young Master Pei, what now?”

How should I know?

Young Master Pei stared with innocent eyes, but still offered some opinion. “How about… press her philtrum again to wake her up?”

Waking her was possible, but what about after?

In her current state, she didn’t seem like someone who could speak calmly. Would this arouse the Music Bureau’s suspicions?

Yan Sanhe’s face tensed. “Zhu Qing, if I want to take this person out secretly to question her without anyone knowing, is there any way?”

Zhu Qing narrowed his eyes. “Miss Yan, are you certain she’s connected to Jingchen’s heart demon?”

Yan Sanhe replied, “Certain.”

Zhu Qing frowned. “Why?”

“From beginning to end, I never once mentioned Departed Waters’ name. I only mentioned the nunnery, Jingchen, embroidered shoes, courtesan, nine years—these ambiguous pieces of information…”

Yan Sanhe continued, “Yet she couldn’t wait to say she was Guihua, wanting to connect herself with this ambiguous information. Why is that?”

Zhu Qing couldn’t answer, only shaking his head honestly.

“If you and Xie Zhifei were separated by a dozen years and continents, and one day you accidentally heard someone mention Third Master, wouldn’t your heart skip violently, and then you’d rush over to grab that person and demand frantically…”

Yan Sanhe didn’t continue, but Zhu Qing had already understood completely.

Are you talking about the Third Master of the capital?

The Third Master of the capital’s Xie family?

The Third Master of the Five Cities Military Commissioner?

I used to be Third Master’s personal guard!

I handled all of Third Master’s affairs!

This was the bond between old friends!

Though he understood, Zhu Qing still frowned. “Miss Yan, this matter isn’t easy. The Music Bureau isn’t just any place…”

“There’s one method.” Young Master Pei, who’d been silent for a while, suddenly interjected.

Yan Sanhe looked at him. “What method?”

Young Master Pei coughed lightly into his hand. “How about ‘where the heart is most broken, seeing the autumn moon at Guan Mountain’?”

Yan Sanhe’s heart shook violently, her black eyes looking deeply at him. “Are you certain?”

Young Master Pei’s eyes and brows lifted with pride. “If you’re certain, then I’m certain.”

Yan Sanhe asked, “Can you do it?”

Young Master Pei patted his chest. “Look at my surname, won’t you?”

Yan Sanhe replied, “I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about another matter.”

Young Master Pei leaned closer to Yan Sanhe, saying carelessly, “As long as you’re there.”

Yan Sanhe gave Young Master Pei an unstinting shallow smile, making her final decision. “Then let’s go with ‘seeing the autumn moon at Guan Mountain’!”

Young Master Pei swayed unsteadily, looking like he couldn’t catch his breath.

It’s over—she’s stolen my soul again!

To the side, Zhu Qing suddenly felt unprecedented pressure.

Compared to Ding Yi, he was at least a clever person—so why couldn’t he understand a single sentence?

At this moment, he saw Young Master Pei, whose soul had flown halfway into the sky, tremblingly pull out a small porcelain bottle from his robe. Shaking it at Yan Sanhe, he said, “Three hundred taels per pill!”

“Reluctant to part with it?”

“Who says I’m reluctant?”

Young Master Pei poured out one black pill. “Zhu Qing, pry open her mouth and stuff this pill inside.”

Only now did Zhu Qing fully understand:

“Where the heart is most broken, seeing the autumn moon at Guan Mountain” had another meaning for Yan Sanhe and Young Master Pei: death escape.

So their dialogue translated into human speech was:

Yan Sanhe: Can you make this person undergo death escape?

Young Master Pei: I can’t, but my Pei family can.

Yan Sanhe: Did you bring it?

Young Master Pei: It’s on me.

Yan Sanhe: When such people die, nine times out of ten they’re thrown in mass graves. Do you dare go?

Young Master Pei: With you there, what wouldn’t I dare?

Yan Sanhe: Then let’s use death escape!

Zhu Qing pried open the old woman’s mouth, stuffed the pill inside, then stood up and looked to Yan Sanhe for instructions.

Yan Sanhe was silent for a moment. “Go notify Huangqi and Li Buyan. Withdraw.”

“What about my master?”

Yan Sanhe was stumped by this question. In a place others couldn’t see, her eyes began struggling again.

However, this struggle lasted only an instant before she made her decision.

“Go notify him to withdraw together first!”

In the distance, a certain master’s heart burst into unbridled bloom. He slowly emerged from the shadows.