The Zheng family had one hundred eighty corpses—not one more, not one less. So who was the corpse that impersonated her?

Where did this person come from?

Xie Zhifei looked at Yan Sanhe in the night, feeling his heart suddenly pounding rapidly again.

He couldn’t hold on and placed his hand on Yan Sanhe’s shoulder.

“Yan Sanhe, you really need to support me. This place is so eerie and ghostly, I’m scared—my legs are weak, can’t stand.”

His voice was the same as usual, carrying a hint of rakish impropriety.

As if this hand didn’t land on Yan Sanhe’s shoulder because he couldn’t stand, but because he deliberately wanted to take liberties with her.

But Yan Sanhe silently shifted her feet toward him, then took out a small porcelain bottle from her robe.

“Hold out your hand.”

“What for?”

Xie Zhifei extended his hand. A black pill appeared in his palm.

“Put it in your mouth.”

“What is it?”

“Poison.”

Xie Zhifei didn’t say another word and tossed it into his mouth.

A sweet and sour taste spread through his mouth, suppressing the bitterness of the alcohol and the uncomfortable tightness and palpitations in his chest.

“People with heart problems shouldn’t run to graveyards in the middle of the night.”

Yan Sanhe looked at that handsome face pale as paper, lecturing him with a stern expression, “Are you tired of living?”

How does she know my heart isn’t good?

It must have been Pei Mingting who told her.

But if she didn’t ask, why would Pei Mingting tell her?

Suddenly, the self-pity that had welled up in Xie Zhifei when he was drinking disappeared all at once.

Why should I feel sorry for myself?

My biological sister on Muli Mountain has a father who dotes on her, a mother who loves her, and San’eryi protecting her like a loyal dog by her side.

My other sister is highly capable, helping people dispel obsessions and resolve demons, with a troublemaker protecting her too.

She and I have no blood relation from before, and now we’re not even remotely connected, so does that mean I…

Does that mean I can…

Does that mean I’m qualified to…

Like her?

Yan Sanhe’s clothes were always thin. The heat from the man’s palm came through, and she frowned slightly—it seemed a bit hot.

“Let’s go back. This place has too much yin energy.”

“Alright.”

“Do you need me to support you?”

Xie Zhifei smiled, “I’m not as weak as you think.”

Acting weak when you’re strong, acting strong when you’re weak—will you die if you don’t pretend?

Yan Sanhe grumbled at him internally, took half a step back, and gestured for him to go first.

Places with heavy resentful energy also have many unclean things. This was the Zheng family graveyard—those things wouldn’t bother her, but they might bother him.

The two walked back one in front of the other.

Yan Sanhe’s gaze inadvertently fell on Old General Zheng’s grave, and her body suddenly stiffened.

“Xie Zhifei, wait a moment.”

Being called by her made Xie Zhifei’s heart tremble. He turned back, “What?”

“Look?”

Xie Zhifei followed her pointing finger. His already bloodless face instantly became deathly pale, then he strode over.

In front of the grave was a patch of black soil.

He squatted down and rubbed it with his finger, “It’s ashes left from burned paper money.”

Yan Sanhe, who had followed over, thought calmly for a moment, “The burning didn’t happen too long ago. It should have been within the past month.”

“A month ago would be the Ghost Festival.”

Xie Zhifei looked up, meeting Yan Sanhe’s downcast eyes: “Someone came to burn paper money for the Zheng family during the Ghost Festival.”

Yan Sanhe also squatted down, frowning, “Who?”

Who?

Xie Zhifei’s ears roared with noise—he was stumped by the question.

“Nine times out of ten, someone related to the Zheng family?”

Yan Sanhe: “Perhaps an in-law of the Zheng family? Perhaps a daughter who married far away? Perhaps… a former subordinate of Old General Zheng?”

Xie Zhifei couldn’t speak. He only nodded.

After a moment, he said in a low voice: “Yan Sanhe, there are still people who remember them.”

“Yes, just like you.”

Who still remember my family.

Yan Sanhe looked at him, for the first time showing a trace of tenderness openly in her eyes.

…

Drinking alcohol, catching a cold wind, staying half the night in a graveyard—as soon as he returned to the side courtyard, the short-lived Third Master Xie immediately fell ill.

Li Buyan had been furious for half the night about that scoundrel Xie abducting Yan Sanhe. Her heart was set on waiting for him to return so she could let him taste her fists the size of sandbags.

Who would have thought she’d be met with a pale invalid?

When she asked and learned the two had gone to the Zheng family graveyard for the purpose of investigating the case, Li Daxia’s aggressive momentum immediately deflated.

When Young Master Pei woke up and discovered his good brother was sick, how could he care about heartbreak? He quickly had Huang Qi fetch his own father.

Imperial Physician Pei came very quickly. As soon as his three fingers touched the pulse, he wanted to curse Xie Zhifei’s head off.

Damn it, I, Grandpa Pei, used every ounce of my strength to nurse you back to looking human, and in just half a month without seeing you, you’ve gone from looking human to looking like a ghost?

He really wanted to feed him some arsenic and poison him to death.

His heart cursed, but his hands didn’t stop—applying needles, prescribing medicine, preparing medicine, brewing it…

Busy and orderly.

After the short-lived invalid drank his medicine and fell into a deep sleep, Grandpa Pei went to the outer room and, in front of Yan Sanhe, scolded his own son until he was bloody.

During the scolding, Yan Sanhe confirmed one thing: the short-lived invalid couldn’t get sick, and especially couldn’t run a fever—it easily triggered heart palpitations.

After Imperial Physician Pei finished scolding his son, he hurriedly left.

Young Master Pei, with a pair of hungover red eyes, looked at Yan Sanhe with great resentment.

“How could you take my brother to a graveyard in the middle of the night? Are you even human?”

“You’re the one who got him drunk!”

Yan Sanhe tossed out this sentence and turned to leave.

With this turn, Young Master Pei confirmed something from her resolute departing back—the falling flower has feelings for the flowing water, but alas, the flowing water has no feelings for the falling flower.

Wake up, Young Master Pei—she’s heartless toward you!

…

Yan Sanhe was heartless toward Young Master Pei, but toward Third Master Xie, there were some visible changes.

Actually, the changes weren’t that great—nothing more than secretly looking up medical texts on how to treat heart palpitations, instructing Tangyuan to make the meals more varied, and telling Zhu Qing and Ding Yi to be more attentive in their care.

Tangyuan, Zhu Qing, and the others didn’t think much of it.

Who was Third Master? The precious treasure of the Xie family—of course he had to be served and cared for well.

Only Li Buyan secretly resented her for not living up to expectations. Mother had said, when a woman softens her heart toward a man, nothing good comes of it.

Actually, looking up medical texts only took up a tiny bit of Yan Sanhe’s time.

After returning from the graveyard, she returned to the state she’d been in when resolving Yan Xing’s heart demon—burying herself in the study and reading through the case files for the second time.

This time, she read very slowly, almost character by character, looking at the case files while cross-referencing the layout map of the Zheng residence.

At night, she and Li Buyan made another trip to the Zheng residence, examining the several wells in detail and marking them on the layout map.

On the second night of Third Master Xie’s fever, Yan Sanhe entered his room.

The man was half-closing his eyes, leaning weakly against the headboard, his eye sockets deeply sunken.

Hearing footsteps, he opened his eyes and gave her a roguish smile: “What, finally willing to come see this short-lived invalid?”

“Shut up.”

Yan Sanhe’s voice was low in her throat, “Say those three words ‘short-lived invalid’ again, and I’ll beat you up, believe it or not.”