Even having imagined a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand ways Lu Shi might meet them, no one had anticipated it would be like this.

A dignified second-rank minister, feared by all civil and military officials, the most incorruptible censor in the Hua Kingdom’s officialdom—

A fifty-five-year-old aged man, actually dressed in theater robes, wearing stage makeup, playing a young scholar?

This, this, this…

Young Master Pei’s breath caught, his body leaned back, and he fell backward in his chair, sprawled on all fours.

Opposite him.

Xie Zhifei’s hands gripped the table edge with force, eyes staring fixedly at the scholar on stage. His eyes grew sore but he still hadn’t recovered from the shock.

“Yan Sanhe.”

Young Master Pei struggled up from the floor.

“This young master wasn’t scared to death by ghosts, but nearly scared to death by a person. What, what, what is he trying to do?”

Yan Sanhe couldn’t speak a word.

In so many instances of念化解魔, never had her mind been such a tangled mess, unable to find the key thread.

Never before had the incense-lighter appeared before her in such a manner.

Almost all incense-lighters knelt before her crying, repenting, suffering.

“I don’t know.”

Yan Sanhe pinched the bridge of her nose hard, trying to calm herself. “I don’t know anything.”

Xie Zhifei recovered: “Then what do we do now?”

“I don’t know either.”

Yan Sanhe’s mind was blank.

Stage.

Scholar.

Lu Shi.

Lu Sheng.

Scholar.

Stage.

Yan Sanhe murmured: “For whom is he performing?”

“Miss Yan.”

Zhu Qing’s voice jerked Yan Sanhe’s soul back. “Someone is here.”

Yan Sanhe turned to see the visitor and abruptly stood up.

Lu Da stepped forward, voice lowered: “My master told me to inform Miss Yan that once the performance begins, she may perform念化解魔.”

What?

Yan Sanhe’s heart pounded like thunder.

What?

Third Master Xie was terrified beyond measure.

What?

Young Master Pei was completely dumbfounded.

“Steward Lu,念化解魔requires preparing an altar table, three plates of fruit, two candlesticks, and an incense burner. Your master needs to bathe and change clothes, then personally light the incense.”

The darkness in Yan Sanhe’s eyes suddenly turned to sharp glints, piercing hearts.

“Also, your master must clearly know—what is her heart demon?”

After listening, Lu Da frowned and said coldly: “I’m merely a messenger.”

“Miss, miss…”

Just then, Li Buyan rushed into the box like mad, quickly untying the bundle from her body and throwing it on the table, jumping around: “So hot, so hot, so hot!”

How could the bundle be hot?

There was nothing hot inside.

Yan Sanhe’s expression was like seeing a ghost, but it lasted only an instant.

Suddenly, as if understanding something, she said nothing and unwrapped the bundle, taking out a stick of incense.

The tip of this incense showed a spark—it had lit itself.

Young Master Pei’s face turned deathly pale. With a crash, he fell to the ground again, his voice trembling uncontrollably: “This, this… are there ghosts?”

“What’s happening, Yan Sanhe?” Xie Zhifei was also panicked, his voice shaking.

Father had tried to light the incense—left side wouldn’t light, right side wouldn’t light. How did it light itself here? Too damn eerie.

Yan Sanhe didn’t hear either of them.

She stared fixedly at the incense in her hand, her black pupils contracting to tiny points.

It lit.

You lit it yourself, didn’t you?

You couldn’t wait any longer, could you?

Yan Sanhe’s five internal organs felt like they’d been violently struck, so much that she had another sentence she hadn’t managed to say:

Romance of the West Chamber—he’s performing it for you, isn’t he?

A long while passed.

Yan Sanhe spoke in an extremely calm yet low tone to Li Buyan: “At the theater entrance, there seems to be an altar for Guan Er Ye. Go fetch the incense burner.”

Though Li Buyan didn’t understand why, she rushed out upon hearing.

Zhu Qing looked at that stick of incense, his scalp tingling: “Miss Yan, what do you need me to do?”

Yan Sanhe was quiet for a moment, recalling her first visit to Lu Shi’s room, and said softly: “Go to the garden and pick two branches of osmanthus flowers.”

“Yes!”

Yan Sanhe slowly looked at Lu Da, her expression containing a strange sense of resignation.

“Tell your master that the resolution of Jingchen’s heart demon has already begun.”

Lu Da showed no expression and turned to leave.

Young Master Pei scrambled up from the floor, his face despairing.

“How has it already begun? We don’t even know what Jingchen’s heart demon is!”

“Yan Sanhe, what the hell, what the hell is going on??”

Xie Zhifei’s expression could only be described as flustered.

Even though he himself had soul-traveled into Third Master Xie’s body and could no longer fear ghosts and spirits, he was still endlessly shocked.

This heart demon’s resolution was completely different from the previous two.

Completely different!

Yan Sanhe looked into Xie Zhifei’s eyes and smiled at him without warning.

Xie Zhifei felt the world spin. His hands gripping the table edge unconsciously released, a tingling spreading through his heart.

After a while, he found his voice and asked with difficulty: “Yan Sanhe, what are you smiling about?”

“I think I’ve found that thread.”

“What thread?”

Yan Sanhe didn’t speak again, staring at that stick of incense in another daze.

“Miss, miss, the incense burner is here.” Li Buyan rushed in.

Yan Sanhe took the incense burner, placed it at the front of the square table, flicked her wrist, and inserted the incense.

Just then, Zhu Qing and Huang Qi returned.

Zhu Qing carried two sprigs of osmanthus.

Yan Sanhe placed the osmanthus beside the incense burner. “Everyone sit down for now.”

Everyone carefully sat down. The last to arrive, Huang Qi, was about to ask “why did we light incense?” when his mouth barely opened before Zhu Qing beside him covered it.

“Don’t speak.”

Six heads slowly leaned forward, then further forward.

If someone entered the box now, they would see this hair-raising scene—

The six people in the box weren’t looking at the stage but staring fixedly at an incense burner.

“Look carefully.”

Yan Sanhe pointed at the curling white smoke, using her breath to say: “Where is the smoke drifting?”

Huang Qi frowned: “It’s not drifting anywhere.”

Zhu Qing shook his head. “No, it’s gathering bit by bit above the incense burner.”

Li Buyan’s heart pounded. “Its, its shape looks like a woman’s eyes.”

Third Master said in a deep voice: “Gazing tenderly at the stage.”

Young Master Pei said tremulously: “This incense… actually… understands human nature.”

“Jingchen’s heart demon should be that man on the stage.”

Yan Sanhe’s eyes held a tenderness even she didn’t perceive.

“She just couldn’t wait any longer and lit the incense herself.”

After a pause, she added softly:

“Eight years plus eighteen years—perhaps they haven’t seen each other for far too long.”