Midnight, the first quarter of the zi hour.

Lu Ying opened her eyes.

She was an extremely disciplined person. Having arranged with Wang Daxia to take shifts, with her guarding the second half of the night, she had deliberately drunk half a pot of water before sleep to ensure she’d wake up for the second half. This way, without Wang Daxia needing to wake her, she’d be roused by her bladder.

Lu Ying felt under her pillow for a Western pocket watch and looked at the time against the snowy light from the window. She was a quarter-hour late past the agreed-upon zi hour.

Lu Ying immediately got up, washed her face with cold water, and instantly became alert. She picked up her blade and walked out of Ding Wu’s room to change shifts with Wang Daxia.

But the candle in the main hall had burned down to its end, barely clinging to life. The eight-treasure snack box filled with dried fruits and treats sat on the desk.

There was no one on the heated brick bed. Since the brick bed was always warm, the bedding was naturally also hot, so she couldn’t judge how long Wang Daxia had been away from here.

Had he gone to the toilet?

At that time, there was a pair of Wang Daxia’s cowhide boots under the brick bed. With snow falling outside and the north wind howling, he couldn’t possibly have gone out barefoot.

Something must have happened!

Recalling how Military Officer Zhou had once kidnapped Wei Caiwei here and fought viciously with Wang Daxia, Lu Ying became fully alert.

The candle in the main hall was dying, and the hall only had walls and front and back doors, no windows, so no snowy light came in—only dim, flickering candlelight that was about to be extinguished.

Fortunately, there were two candlesticks placed in front of the memorial tablet for “The Spirit of Deceased Husband Wang Erlang” on the incense altar, both with fresh candles.

Lu Ying picked up the nearly extinguished stub from the desk to light the two new candles.

But as the candlelight moved to the incense altar, Lu Ying had the illusion that the moon cakes offered before the memorial tablet were moving by themselves!

In the dead of night, this was truly eerie.

Lu Ying’s heart was clear and upright—she refused to believe in supernatural phenomena. She picked up the moon cake, smelled it, and knocked on it. It made a clanging sound and was hard as stone, with nothing unusual about it.

Perhaps she had been seeing things just now. Lu Ying put down the stone-like moon cake and continued holding the stub to light the candles.

But during the time she spent examining the moon cake, the candle burned out completely. The new candles weren’t lit, a wisp of blue smoke rose, and the flame died.

The hall was plunged into darkness.

Lu Ying remembered there was a flint on the desk in Ding Wu’s room. She set down the candlestick, planning to feel her way back to Ding Wu’s room in the dark.

Just then, a sound of something cutting through air came at her. Not good—an assassin! No wonder Wang Daxia was missing!

Years of combat instinct had given Lu Ying the skill of identifying positions by sound. She dodged aside and, relying on memory, grabbed the moon cakes offered before the spirit altar and threw them toward the direction of the attack.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Seven stones flew over, clattering on the stairs. One made the muffled thud of hitting flesh, followed by a suppressed cry of pain and the sound of a body rolling down the stairs.

Direct hit!

Doctor Wei’s cooking skills weren’t good, but her skill at making improvised weapons wasn’t bad. Lu Ying was delighted, then immediately drew the thin throwing knives hidden in her boot shaft and hurled them toward the stairway!

The assassin should have rolled to the foot of the stairs by now.

Thunk thunk thunk!

This was the sound of blades embedding in the wooden floor—she’d missed.

Strange, hadn’t the assassin rolled down yet?

As she pondered, another whooshing sound came at her, striking directly at Lu Ying’s face. Lu Ying crouched down, and the object smashed into the memorial tablet, falling to the ground along with the tablet in a clattering crash.

When the projectile hit the ground, there was also a rolling sound—it should be the stone moon cake she’d thrown, returned by her opponent.

The hidden weapons in her boots were used up. Lu Ying, concerned about Wei Caiwei’s safety on the second floor, drew her sword and attacked toward the stairs in the darkness despite the danger.

Just as she stepped onto the stairs, the door to the second-floor bedroom opened, and a sliver of light slanted out from the door crack.

Lu Ying cried out in alarm, “Don’t come out!”

At the same time as her voice, the assassin’s voice also rang out, saying the same thing: “Don’t come out!”

Upon hearing this, Lu Ying realized—wasn’t this Wang Daxia’s voice? Could it be…

Lu Ying sheathed her sword. Though she still couldn’t see clearly, her opponent also recognized her voice. “Lu… Commander Lu?”

Hearing both their voices, the awakened Wei Caiwei held up a lantern and opened her door to see Lu Ying standing guard at the stairs with a blade, while Wang Daxia crouched on the middle of the stairs like a monkey, holding two moon cakes in his hands.

It turned out to be a case of the flood washing away the Dragon King’s temple—family not recognizing family.

In the first half of the night, Wei Caiwei had given Wang Daxia his birthday gift and, in her excitement, revealed her background to him. All her long-suppressed emotions burst forth—she cried while talking, and Wang Daxia held her, comforting her like a mature man for the first time.

Having found security, Wei Caiwei vented thoroughly, crying until she’d soaked half of Wang Daxia’s shoulder, finally falling asleep from exhaustion.

Wang Daxia carried her from the study to the bedroom and, by the snowy light from the window, quietly watched her sleeping face. Since he had to keep night watch to protect her and couldn’t sleep anyway, he might as well guard by her side.

She was more refreshing than strong tea, sweeter than preserved fruit—she was the antidote to his troubles, and he couldn’t leave her.

He listened until he faintly heard the drum tower west strike the third watch—it was past zi hour, time to change shifts with Lu Ying.

But Wang Daxia couldn’t bear to leave Wei Caiwei. He’d rather sit by her bedside all night than return to sleep on the warm, comfortable heated brick bed.

Wang Daxia thought: Commander Lu has also been very tired lately and in a bad mood—truly physically and mentally exhausted. Let her sleep until dawn. I’ve heard that staying up late makes girls age faster, and Lu Ying doesn’t know when she’ll be able to marry, so she needs to take good care of herself.

So Wang Daxia decided to continue the night watch and didn’t go down to wake Lu Ying.

However, before long, Wang Daxia heard movement downstairs. In his view, zi hour was when people slept most soundly—thunder wouldn’t wake them. Moreover, Lu Ying had reminded him before sleep to wake her at zi hour, so it shouldn’t be Lu Ying.

Then it must be an assassin!

Wang Daxia was only wearing woolen socks, so his footsteps made no sound. He grabbed the short knife Wei Caiwei kept for self-defense and quietly left the room. There was dim light downstairs, and he could vaguely see a figure by the incense altar.

Just as he was about to look more carefully, the candle suddenly went out.

Last time there had been movement here first, and he’d thought it was a ghost, but it turned out to be a mouse. Now he saw a figure, and as soon as he came out, this figure extinguished the candle—it must be an assassin!

Wang Daxia remembered the figure’s position and threw the short knife in his hand, hitting the target in one strike.

But the assassin was skilled, dodging aside and throwing disc-like projectiles at him. One hit his leg, and he fell in pain, rolling down. Fortunately, halfway down he grabbed the stair railing, preventing himself from rolling to the bottom.

The sound of projectiles piercing the wooden floor came from the foot of the stairs. Wang Daxia broke out in cold sweat—if he hadn’t grabbed the railing, those projectiles would probably have pierced his body by now.

His bottom happened to be pressed against an iron disc. He grabbed it and threw it toward the incense altar, but unfortunately missed. He heard his opponent draw a blade and could hear footsteps. He felt around and grabbed two iron discs, about to throw them hard at his opponent when the awakened Wei Caiwei came out with a lantern, revealing that it was one of their own fighting their own.

After confirming through eye contact that this was his direct superior, he realized what he held weren’t iron discs, but moon cakes.

Wang Daxia immediately dropped the moon cakes and hugged his thigh, crying out in pain. “Commander Lu, why did you sneak out in the dark without a word in the middle of the night? I thought an assassin had infiltrated!”

Lu Ying sheathed her sword. “I didn’t mean to be in the dark—the candle just happened to burn out. Why weren’t you standing guard downstairs? Why did you run up to Doctor Wei’s bedroom in the middle of the night? When my shift came and I saw you weren’t on the brick bed, without even your shoes on, I thought something had happened to you.”

This stumped Wang Daxia. He couldn’t mention his secret romance with Wei Caiwei, but his mind worked quickly, and lying came as naturally as breathing. “While keeping watch, I heard movement in the study and was suspicious. The stairs make too much noise, so I didn’t put on shoes and just went up in socks. It turned out the study window wasn’t properly closed, and the north wind was blowing the papers on the desk—a false alarm.”

Lu Ying pulled out the leaf-thin blade embedded in the floor and slipped it back into her boot shaft. “It’s fortunate that both our skills and luck were good, or we would have perished together.”

Seeing Wang Daxia clutching his thigh in pain, Wei Caiwei went back to get scissors, cut open his pants leg, and saw it was bruised and purple from the moon cake impact. She felt his thigh. “The bone isn’t injured—it’s just a flesh wound. I’ll get you some medicine.”

Wei Caiwei went to the downstairs pharmacy. Wang Daxia no longer felt the pain in his leg—his mind was full of: Ah! She touched my thigh! She touched and squeezed it! She definitely did it on purpose!

After zi hour, I’m fifteen years old, so this must be the best birthday gift.

Lu Ying looked at him. “What are you smiling about?” Had he been knocked silly by the moon cake?

Wang Daxia found another excuse. “Because today’s my birthday! Having a life-and-death escape at Commander Lu’s hands on my birthday means my luck will be good all year.”

“Your birthday?” Lu Ying said, “After we send Doctor Wei to the Shichahai villa in the morning, I’ll have the servants cook you a bowl of longevity noodles.”

“That’s it?” Wang Daxia pointed to his bruised thigh. “This was Commander Lu’s doing—the boss should compensate somehow.”

Lu Ying looked at her subordinate who was physically disabled but mentally resilient. “Then rest on your birthday—you don’t need to report to the Imperial Guard headquarters today.”

I can spend the day with Caiwei—we can go play ice sports at Shichahai. Wang Daxia was overjoyed. “Thank you for the vacation, Commander Lu!”

Lu Ying ignored him, her gaze falling on the moon cake beside his thigh. “Don’t you think the moon cake is moving?”

She again saw the moon cake writhing on its own—it couldn’t be the same hallucination twice.

“How could it move by itself—” Wang Daxia looked closely and let out a sharp scream, immediately limping downstairs to hide behind Lu Ying. “The moon cake has become a spirit! There’s a monster here! It’s a moon cake demon!”

“There are no ghosts or monsters in this world.” Lu Ying didn’t believe in supernatural phenomena and immediately drew her sword to strike the writhing moon cake.

Her sword was forged from meteoric iron, incredibly sharp, cutting through metal like mud. The blade split the hard moon cake into two halves, creating two semicircles.

Two clusters of white maggots as fine as hair wriggled out from the cut surfaces.

This was a five-nut moon cake. The outer crust was hard as iron, but inside, the walnut kernels, melon seed kernels, and sesame had gaps and oils between them. After sitting for four months, it was full of maggots. Only the outer skin remained hard as iron, but the maggots’ vitality was strong enough that they kept trying to drill outward to break their cocoons and become flies.

Gradually, the crust was drilled thinner and thinner by the maggots. Inside, countless maggots worked day and night, pushing and wriggling, making the moon cake appear to move by itself.

Wei Caiwei came out with medicine and saw this scene, her spine going cold. “Uh, I’ll go outside and build a fire to cremate the moon cakes.”

Wang Daxia pointed to the fallen memorial tablet “Spirit of Deceased Husband Wang Erlang” and said, “Doctor Wei, don’t cook anymore in the future. If you keep cooking, I’ll become like it.”

While the three held a moon cake cremation ceremony in the courtyard, Prince Yu’s mansion also erupted with a “supernatural” incident.

The night guards at the prince’s mansion saw a green light in the snowy night. The green light charged straight at them—a dog-shaped green light. Wasn’t this exactly the legendary black specter? There had just been a black specter incident in the palace that reportedly frightened the beloved consort Shang Zhaoyi into illness!

“It’s the black specter! Run!” The guards fled in panic.

Author’s Note: I bet you can all guess the mystery behind this.