Lu Zhiheng frowned, glanced at the jade pendant on his waist, and fixed his gaze on the Night Cry Ghost. “This jade pendant is only possessed by imperial relatives. You have one too?”
This Night Cry Ghost, also known as the Little Child Ghost, was formed from the spirits of children who died young. In recent years, there had been quite a few such premature deaths among the imperial family. For a child to become a Night Cry Ghost, the resentment must have been extremely intense.
Lu Zhiheng looked at Su Tan, his eyes clearly questioning. The origin of this Little Child Ghost was likely known only to her.
Su Tan pursed her lips, her gaze falling on the Night Cry Ghost that liked to bare its teeth. After a pause, she said, “You calling Princess Zhaoyang your sister isn’t wrong.”
The Night Cry Ghost gnashed its teeth, “She is my sister!”
“I’ve seen my sister before!”
“I saw her when she was still in our mother’s belly!”
Lu Zhiheng completely wiped the expression from his face. There hadn’t been many people who saw Zhaoyang’s mother when she was pregnant.
Except—Lu Zhiheng’s face darkened like ink. “Your mother is Yuwang Consort.”
When Zhaoyang was still in the womb, she had only been close to Yuwang Consort.
Yuwang Consort had a gentle and kind nature, treating everyone with warmth. She and Yu Wang had once been a harmonious couple.
But now, her survival was uncertain from day to day.
Upon hearing its mother’s name, the Night Cry Ghost immediately tried to leap forward, but unfortunately, Su Tan’s Body Freezing Spell kept it pinned in place like a wooden stake.
“Waaah!”
A sharp, mournful cry pierced their eardrums as the Night Cry Ghost’s blood-red eyes streamed with bloody tears. “They bullied my mother!”
“They all bullied my mother!”
Lu Zhiheng turned his daughter’s face toward his chest, covering her ears. Sending her away with someone else now would be unsettling; only holding her himself felt safe.
At the same time, he looked at the Night Cry Ghost, never imagining that this Little Child Ghost, which had nearly cost Zhaoyang her life, was actually his nephew.
Lu Zhiheng narrowed his dark eyes, a trace of mockery curling at the corners of his lips. Yu Wang had been making quite a stir in the court recently, yet he couldn’t even manage his own household, nearly implicating his Zhaoyang. “Little nephew, if you’ve suffered any grievances, you can tell your Ninth Uncle. Ninth Uncle will see justice done for you.”
Lu Zhiheng was the ninth son, like the Crown Prince, both born of Empress Yuan. But now the Crown Prince was at death’s door, a veritable medicine pot.
The other princes’ ambitions had begun to stir.
And Yu Wang was recently the most active among them.
The Night Cry Ghost shivered. Ninth Uncle’s smile was somewhat frightening, but back when it was still in its mother’s belly, its mother had said that Ninth Uncle was a good person, and Ninth Aunt was too.
The Night Cry Ghost tilted its head, its mouth puckering. Despite its terrifying appearance, it now looked as pitiful and wronged as an ordinary child. “The bad woman… the bad woman had someone smother me to death when Mother was giving birth…”
“They said Mother gave birth to a stillborn, that she was a calamity!”
“My mother isn’t a calamity! She’s the best mother in the world!”
When Su Tan heard this, her expression faltered momentarily, a complex emotion flashing in her eyes. She twitched the corner of her mouth but ultimately said nothing.
Lu Zhiheng looked past the Night Cry Ghost to her, his eyes questioning the truth of the ghost’s words. Seeing her nod, the mockery on his face deepened.
“Back then, Fourth Sister-in-law gave birth to twins. The male infant was cyanotic and died immediately after birth. A passing Taoist declared it an evil fetus. Since then, Fourth Sister-in-law has been regarded as a calamity, suffering harsh treatment in Yuwang Manor.”
“So, my poor little nephew was smothered to death by the concubine?”
Lu Zhiheng spoke each word slowly, his expression harmless as if merely discussing an ordinary matter.
Yet precisely because of his deliberate pace, an inexplicable chill seemed to permeate his words.
Lu Zhiheng turned his gaze to the Night Cry Ghost. “Do you know the name of the wicked woman who harmed your mother?”
The Night Cry Ghost showed a hint of confusion on its face. “Uncle Nine, are you going to kill the bad woman to avenge my mother?”
Lu Zhiheng neither confirmed nor denied.
He simply watched it calmly. “First tell me whether you know her name.”
Children’s words cannot be trusted, and the words of a Little Child Ghost may not be reliable either.
But who could have expected that Su Tan would be standing beside this Little Child Ghost.
From beginning to end, Su Tan had shown no intention of correcting the Little Child Ghost’s statements.
This clearly indicated the hidden truth that nobody had known two years ago.
“I know!” The Night Cry Ghost lowered its head, still struggling against its restraints like a writhing insect, emitting a shrill cry. “Her surname is Bai!”
“I’ve heard people call her Yangyang!”
The Night Cry Ghost gritted its teeth fiercely. “She had someone set up a Suppression Formation in my home! I can’t go back, wuwuwu… She bullied Mother, bullied Little Sister. I really want to bite her to death!”
“But it hurts whenever I get close to her…”
Hearing this, Su Tan sighed softly, a ripple of emotion stirring in his eyes as he explained on its behalf. “Consort Bai wears a Talisman. It cannot approach her – it gets burned whenever it tries.”
The Night Cry Ghost glanced at Su Tan and pouted. “Mmm…”
After wrestling with itself for a moment, the Night Cry Ghost suddenly raised its eyes and said in a childish voice, “You don’t seem like a bad woman either~”
In its world, beautiful women who forcibly separated it from its sister were bad women.
Those who wore Talismans were bad women.
Su Tan wanted to separate the Night Cry Ghost from Princess Zhaoyang, yet not only was he exceptionally handsome, but he could also draw talismans himself. In the Night Cry Ghost’s eyes, he should have been the worst of bad women.
Lu Zhiheng, holding his daughter in his arms, smiled at Su Tan. “Grandmaster Su, might you have any ritual implement that could allow my poor nephew to properly return home?”
“This pitiful child probably never even got to meet his father before being murdered by that villain.”
Su Tan: “…”
Su Tan remained silent for a moment, then finally retrieved a smooth, dark-colored bead from his pouch.
“Have someone thread it with a red cord and put it around its neck. This will allow it to move freely within Yuwang Manor.”
Pausing briefly, Su Tan’s gaze fell upon Princess Zhaoyang in Lu Zhiheng’s arms.
“Junzhu has a delicate constitution and easily attracts unclean things. Your Highness should minimize her exposure to strangers. Once she safely passes five years of age, she will be fine.”
Lu Zhiheng frowned. From Su Tan’s meaning, it seemed that before reaching five, Zhaoyang would remain vulnerable to encounters with beings like the Little Child Ghost, just as today.
Lu Zhiheng’s expression immediately turned grave.
“Would Grandmaster Su be willing to create a Talisman? You’ve witnessed today’s situation yourself.”
Even with constant vigilance against thieves, there will always be oversights. For instance, who could have imagined that Zhaoyang’s prolonged illness was actually caused by encountering a ghost.
To be precise, when Lu Zhiheng had summoned Su Tan to the capital, he had truly been desperate, trying every possible remedy without success, and had called for him with a trial-and-error mindset.
Thinking back now, this was perhaps the silver lining in the misfortune. Lu Zhiheng felt immensely relieved about the decision he had made.
Otherwise, if anything had truly happened to Zhaoyang, how could he ever face his old friend again?
A ripple of emotion stirred in Su Tan’s eyes. Her fingers paused briefly before she finally retrieved from the sachet a jade pendant tied with a red string, adorned with an exquisitely carved little tiger.