The carriage arrived at the estate. Everyone disembarked.

Stepping over the threshold, they saw Lu Da wearing old clothes, holding a lantern, waiting anxiously by the door.

The loyal servant of the old Censor could stand openly by Yan Sanhe’s side within this acre of the estate, but outside the estate, he still had to be mindful of appearances.

Yan Sanhe’s heart warmed. She stepped forward: “I’m home now. Go sleep quickly.”

Lu Da thrust the lantern into Li Buyan’s hands. Just as he was about to turn around, Li Buyan grabbed him.

“Miss and I need to investigate the case. With no one watching Lanchuan, she practices martial arts three days and slacks off two days. From now on, you be her master.”

Lu Da said bluntly: “I can’t teach.”

Li Buyan raised an eyebrow at Yan Sanhe: Your turn.

Yan Sanhe knew Li Buyan wanted to give Lu Da something to do to pass the time, so she said gently:

“Try it. That child is quite good, and her background is pitiful.”

When the young mistress spoke, Lu Da answered without thinking: “Alright!”

Just when everyone thought he would turn to leave, Lu Da suddenly remembered something. “Young Mistress, the incense.”

His words were vague. Yan Sanhe frowned: “What incense?”

Lu Da: “The incense in your room.”

Yan Sanhe’s heart tightened: “What about the incense?”

“After you all left, the ash was falling somewhat quickly.”

The incense ash fell silently—yet he could actually hear it?

Yan Sanhe: “How did you hear it?”

“I heard it while patrolling Miss’s courtyard.”

A shadow guard’s duty was security.

Lu Da was accustomed to patrolling the entire estate once each night, and the young mistress’s courtyard required especially careful inspection.

Yesterday when patrolling, he hadn’t heard the sound of incense ash falling. Today he did.

Lu Da found it very strange—who burns incense in a bedroom?

“I’ll go look.”

Yan Sanhe dropped these words and rushed straight inside.

Xie Zhifei and Pei Xiao exchanged glances and immediately followed.

Into the courtyard, into the room, light the lamps.

Li Buyan brought the lamp close to the incense. Everyone’s eyes widened in disbelief.

The incense had already burned down to halfway.

“When I looked at noon, it had only burned a quarter!” Li Buyan cried out.

Xie Zhifei: “Then… why did it suddenly start burning faster?”

Pei Xiao: “Right, why?”

Yan Sanhe shook her head, indicating she didn’t know either.

Li Buyan’s scalp tingled. “No good—I need to move this incense outside. It’s too creepy.”

“Don’t move it. Leave it there.”

Yan Sanhe looked up at Xie Zhifei and Pei Xiao: “One thing is certain—we don’t have much time left.”

Pei Xiao’s heart leapt at her words: “Then let’s sleep two hours. After two hours, we set out immediately. Xie Wushi, what do you think?”

Xie Zhifei nodded and called out to Zhu Qing outside the window:

“Tell Bu Liu—in three hours, have him gather all those who were once part of the Zheng Family Army. Not one can be missing.”

“Yes!”

…

No one could truly sleep.

Especially Xie Zhifei. He extinguished the lamp and lay in bed—his eyes were asleep, but his mind remained awake, filled with too many things.

What exactly was that eerie incense counting down to?

Where was Xue Zhao now?

How would Tang Jianxi react upon learning this news?

Could Grandfather’s death really be as Yan Sanhe said—either suicide or murder?

Tomorrow, would Bu Liu and the Bu Family Army actually be able to discover any information?

He turned over and discovered Pei Xiao on the bamboo couch also wasn’t sleeping, hands pillowing his head, eyes wide open.

“What are you thinking about?”

In the darkness, Pei Xiao exhaled.

“Feeling grateful my father is an Imperial Physician. Even if I anger my mother into an illness, Father will be there to help treat her.”

“You little…”

Xie Zhifei didn’t know what to say to him.

“You really won’t even care about your mother’s life or death?”

“Xie Wushi, if I care about her, I have to wrong myself. Life is only a few decades. I can’t consider her in everything and wrong myself, can I?”

Hearing these words, Xie Zhifei could only exhale deeply.

Because Mingting had no talent for medicine, his mother would cry in front of him every few days, forcing Mingting to listen to her in everything.

If he didn’t listen, it was unfilial.

If he didn’t listen, his mother would say to him: “I’ve endured all the cold looks and grievances for you. Why can’t you give Mother some peace of mind? Mother does this all for you.”

When Mingting raised cats, his mother said men who raise cats lose their ambition in frivolous pursuits, and had someone kill the cat.

When Mingting raised birds, his mother said men who raise birds are idle wastrels, and opened the cage to release the bird.

Mingting liked listening to Buddhist scriptures—the Rebirth Mantra, the Great Compassion Mantra, the Diamond Sutra… Once he heard them, he could remember them all.

His mother feared he had deep Buddhist affinity and shallow worldly ties, so in his early years she wouldn’t even let him go to temples.

On one hand, this wasn’t allowed, that wasn’t allowed. On the other hand was doting affection calling him “son this” and “son that.” Over time, this raised Mingting into his current state—

Both dissolute and cowardly, both lazy and timid.

At this age, Mingting still had to listen to his mother about what color clothes to wear, how to arrange his room, how to lay out his study.

“Xie Wushi, Li Buyan isn’t even afraid of death, yet I don’t dare even raise a cat. I feel there’s no point in living.”

Pei Xiao’s voice was three degrees heavier than the night wind outside the window.

“Yan Sanhe knows her own identity is dangerous, yet insists on investigating the Zheng family’s injustice to the end. I still have to ask my mother before hanging a bead curtain in my study… What’s the point of me living?”

He was silent for a long while, then said softly:

“Deep in my bones I also have fierce things. I can’t spend my whole life being a turtle pulling in its head. Otherwise when I’m old and close my eyes, I’ll have inner demons too.”

Xie Zhifei narrowed his eyes and smiled. “Pei Mingting, you’ve made me see you in a new light.”

“Don’t.”

Pei Xiao closed his eyes and said quietly: “I just want to live with some human flavor.”

…

There were many things to say, but the night was short.

Two hours passed in a flash.

After a simple breakfast, seven people on seven horses headed straight for the Bu Family Army outside the city.

When they reached the military camp, the sky had finally grown completely light.

Bu Liu had been waiting at the entrance early. Seeing the group arrive, his gaze immediately sought out Yan Sanhe.

If Zhu Qing hadn’t told him personally, he never would have imagined that such a young girl could actually resolve the念 and dissolve the魔 for the dead.

The seven dismounted. Bu Liu came forward—a towering seven-foot man with a voice as low as a woman’s.

“Miss Yan, everyone’s assembled. How do you want to question them?”

“Thank you for your trouble, General Bu.”

Yan Sanhe turned her head. Just as she was about to make arrangements, Xie Zhifei volunteered: “Ding Yi and I will be one group.”

Pei Xiao: “Huang Qi and I will be one group.”

Li Buyan smiled: “I don’t get to choose. Zhu Qing, you’ll have to bear with it.”

Yan Sanhe really couldn’t hold back and smiled silently.

“General Bu, please clear three camp tents for us, then divide the people into three groups. One person comes out, one person goes in.”

“Yes!”

After Bu Liu answered, he suddenly felt something wasn’t right. “Then… what will Miss Yan do?”

Yan Sanhe stepped forward and looked directly into Bu Liu’s eyes.

“I’m responsible for questioning you!”

Bu Liu’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.