Quietly approaching Meixue’s room, they listened carefully and could faintly hear someone talking inside—it was Jiang Caiping’s voice. Strange, Meixue was clearly already dead, so who was Jiang Caiping talking to? Could it be… she had seen Meixue’s corpse and couldn’t handle the shock, so she had gone mad? Or perhaps there was someone else in the room?

Just as they were speculating, the door suddenly opened. When they saw clearly who had opened the door, Chunxiu was immediately frightened out of her wits and screamed, “Ghost! There’s a ghost!” While screaming, she hid behind Jirong, her body trembling like chaff in a sieve!

The person who opened the door was none other than Meixue, who should have been long dead. Not to mention Chunxiu, even Jirong was so frightened that her face turned pale and she stood there with her legs going weak.

Jiang Caiping came over and looked around in confusion, saying, “Ghost? Where is there a ghost?”

Chunxiu tremblingly stretched out her hand, pointing at Meixue and stammering, “Isn’t… isn’t she… right there?”

Hearing this, Jiang Caiping immediately pulled a long face and put her hands on her hips, saying, “Feng Chunxiu, don’t go too far! First you falsely accuse my sister of being an accomplice of assassins, and now you’re saying she’s a ghost. When will you stop?”

“No, she… she really is a ghost!” Chunxiu didn’t dare poke her head out, so frightened that even her voice had changed.

Jiang Caiping was both angry and amused, pointing at Meixue and saying, “Look carefully! My sister is a living, breathing person. She has a chin, she has a shadow—how is she like a ghost at all?”

Jirong looked carefully and found that indeed, as Jiang Caiping said, Meixue had a long shadow behind her. Apart from looking a bit pale, there was nothing else unusual about her. Could it be… she really wasn’t a ghost?

Thinking of this, she forced a smile and said, “Sister Caiping, don’t be angry. Chunxiu was just… joking with you. How could Meixue possibly be a ghost?”

Hearing this, Chunxiu, who was hiding behind her, urgently tugged at her clothes and said in panic, “Sister Jirong, Meixue clearly already…” Before she could finish, Jirong had already reached back and forcefully pulled her hand, smiling, “Alright, come out quickly. Stop making a scene.”

Chunxiu shook her head vigorously, refusing to come out no matter what. At this moment, Meixue walked around to behind Jirong and looked at Chunxiu, who was avoiding her like a snake or scorpion and didn’t even dare look at her directly. The corners of her lips curved up in an ambiguous smile as she said, “What were you just trying to say I clearly already was?”

“I…” Chunxiu had only said one word when Jirong took over, saying, “Nothing. She just heard me say you weren’t feeling well and thought you would be lying down.” Then she whispered in Chunxiu’s ear, “Look carefully—Meixue has a shadow. She really didn’t die!”

Hearing this, Chunxiu looked up with half-belief and indeed saw a shadow trailing behind Meixue. Since ghosts don’t have shadows, this meant that the Meixue standing before them was a living person and not a ghost?

Thinking of this, Chunxiu breathed a long sigh of relief, but then doubts arose in her heart. She had clearly checked Meixue’s breathing earlier and confirmed she was dead. Why did she now seem perfectly fine, as if nothing had happened? This… was truly unreasonable. She tentatively asked, “Are you… alright?”

Meixue smiled and said, “Of course I’m fine. Do you think something should be wrong with me, Chunxiu?”

Chunxiu forced out a smile and said, “No, I was just asking casually.”

Jirong took over the conversation, saying, “Could we go inside and sit for a while?”

Jiang Caiping was about to refuse when Meixue said, “Of course. The kitchen matron gave Caiping two extra apples. Come in and we can eat them together.”

After they went inside, Jiang Caiping tugged at Meixue’s sleeve and said in a low voice, “Sister, why are you being so nice to them? Have you forgotten how they treated you before? They’ve been the same way for all these years—I don’t believe they would suddenly repent.”

Meixue patted her hand and said, “I know what I’m doing. Let’s go over there.”

As soon as Chunxiu entered the room, she hurriedly looked toward the corner of the cabinet and the floor. She remembered that Meixue had bled profusely at the time, getting blood all over the cabinet corner and floor—quite frightening. But now, there wasn’t a trace of blood visible on the cabinet corner, and the floor was completely clean. This whole affair was truly bizarre.

“What are you looking at?” Meixue’s voice startled Chunxiu greatly, and she said frantically, “Nothing, I just think the furnishings here are quite nice, and… this cabinet is also very distinctive.”

“Aren’t all the rooms furnished the same way?” Meixue said while placing sliced apples in front of the two of them. “By the way, what brings you here so late? Is there something you need?”

Jirong quickly said, “Nothing really. I just heard earlier that your wound was hurting, and I was worried, so I came to check on you. But were you about to go out when you suddenly opened the door?”

Jiang Caiping took over, saying, “No, my sister said there was someone outside. I thought she was joking at the time because I hadn’t heard any knocking, but when I opened the door, there you two were.”

“Your ears are really sharp.” While they were talking, Chunxiu kept secretly observing the cabinet, unable to figure it out no matter how hard she tried.

Meixue noticed this behavior and said, “Chunxiu, why do you keep looking at the cabinet? Don’t tell me that even at this point, you still think I’m in league with Shen Yunyi and that I’m even hiding her in the cabinet? Would you like me to open the cabinet and show you?”

Chunxiu felt extremely uncomfortable under her words and laughed awkwardly, saying, “We grew up in the same village—how could I not trust you? Those things I said before were all nonsense. Don’t take them seriously.”

“Really?” For some reason, Meixue’s smile looked somewhat cold. “Earlier, when I was lying in bed resting, I drowsily had a dream. I dreamed that you rushed into my room shouting about looking for an assassin. When I wouldn’t agree, you forcefully pushed me against the cabinet, causing me to hit my head on the cabinet corner and die.” With that, she pointed to the cabinet that Chunxiu had been secretly observing and said, “There, that one!”

Chunxiu felt chilled to the bone by her words and tightly wrung her hands, saying, “How could you have such an absurd dream? How… how could I treat you that way?”

Meixue stared at her and said, “I also think it’s absurd, but that dream was so terrifyingly realistic that even now, I still remember how I looked covered in blood—that blood flowing all the way to your feet!”

“Ah!” Chunxiu screamed. Seeing this, Jirong quickly said, “Such a frightening dream—it’s scary just to hear about it. Let’s not talk about it anymore.”

Jiang Caiping nodded in rare agreement, saying, “Exactly! They say dreams are the opposite of reality—the worse the dream, the better things will be in real life. So sister, you’ll definitely be safe and sound!”

While speaking, Jirong stood up and said, “Since you’re perfectly fine, we can rest easy. It’s getting late, so we won’t disturb your rest. We’ll chat again another day.”

Meixue smiled and said, “Alright, I’ll see you out.”