Shen Qingyuan curled her lips, silently stepped off the bed, and hid in the shadows behind the window.
Outside the wall, two people lowered their voices to converse.
"Madam said that Prince Jing likely won't wake up, so as long as that wretched maid can get into the bridal sedan chair, it'll be fine."
"It's just that both of them have been in the countryside for so many years; I wonder if they're any good?"
"That little maid Nanny Liu had us deal with last time tasted pretty good."
Shen Qingyuan tilted her head and watched.
The sky was already dark, and the luck of these two people outside was pitch black.
At first, she hadn't truly noticed it.
It seems these are the people who handle the dirty work for Concubine Liu and the others.
The two didn't even need to climb the wall; they just stuck to the base of the wall and walked right in during the dead of night.
It is evident that Concubine Liu gave the keys to Minglan Courtyard to these two.
This is the one downside to living in the Shen Mansion.
Since it has been occupied by Scum Father for too long, they can get in regardless of whether the door is locked or not.
If Mother were living here and she herself had to go out,
and there were no capable people by her side, this would indeed be quite troublesome.
Tomorrow, she must go and see if there are any maids who know martial arts.
However, a loyal maid who also knows martial arts is hard to find.
For now, buying a new lock for the courtyard gate is feasible.
Shen Qingyuan thought to herself.
Those two servants had already crept to the window outside where she and her mother were.
These two were not stupid; they knew they couldn't beat Shen Qingyuan.
They didn't rashly enter.
Instead, they extended a bamboo tube through the window, presumably containing knockout incense.
Shen Qingyuan reached out and gently pressed her hand over the opening of the tube.
The man blew a few times to no avail.
The person beside him asked, "Why are you dawdling?"
The man yielded his position to his companion, "The bamboo you picked is blocked."
The companion took the bamboo tube and blew, but it wouldn't budge either.
Just as he intended to take a deep breath and blow again,
Shen Qingyuan let go, and the entire tube of knockout smoke was inhaled by the man's companion.
"Cough... cough!"
The servant who inhaled the smoke hurriedly covered his throat, trying to cough it out.
However, the dosage was too strong; he only coughed twice before passing out.
The remaining man cursed under his breath.
But given how abnormal the situation was, the remaining man didn't intend to give up.
He even planned to push the door open and go in by himself.
After all, before coming here, they had drunk a little wine to enjoy the night.
Although it wasn't much, it was enough to make them act without thinking.
Though, even if they hadn't been drinking, they didn't have much brainpower to begin with.
Shen Qingyuan raised an eyebrow and took out a Talisman.
But just as she took it out, she put it back.
Outside, someone else had arrived.
No, to be precise, a ghost had arrived.
Shen Qingyuan pushed the door open and kicked the servant at the doorway in the chest.
She didn't use much force, intending only to kick him further away so he wouldn't dirty her courtyard.
Unexpectedly, although the servant was a man,
he was addicted to wine and women, and his steps were unsteady.
After being kicked by Shen Qingyuan, he stumbled and fell onto the ghostly shadow behind him.
To be precise, he passed right through it.
Then, with a 'thump', he fell to the ground.
Because the ghostly shadow was a thin woman, slightly shorter than the man,
but as he passed through the Yin Energy, the two flames on the servant's shoulders flickered and went out.
Shen Qingyuan shrugged; let it be said first, she didn't pat them out.
It was his own bad luck that he encountered a ghost of Karma.
The female ghost seemed uncomfortable with a living person passing through her body, and her form wavered.
The ghostly shadow seemed to fade a little.
Seeing this, Shen Qingyuan pressed her thumbs together and formed a Taiji seal with her hands.
"Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth, gather in my body; condense the soul and gather the qi, stabilize its form."
The ghost body, which had been somewhat muddled, gradually solidified a bit.
It then followed the Resentful Qi of Karma and looked toward the man on the ground.
The servant fell to the ground, feeling some pain.
His drunkenness faded a little, and regardless of the location, he began to curse loudly.
"You slut, how dare you..."
But before he could finish his sentence, his words were stuck in his throat.
Because as the servant looked up, he was met with a pale, bloated woman's face.
This terrifying scene instantly scared all the drunkenness out of him.
The man's eyes widened as he recognized familiar features on the bloated woman's face.
It was Chuntao, whom he had strangled and dumped after playing with her last month!
"Chuntao!"
A shrill, distorted scream had just escaped his lips.
Shen Qingyuan cast a Silence Talisman at him.
"Don't disturb my mother's sleep."
The female ghost was a New Ghost; yes, although she had been dead for nearly a month,
she had only just condensed her soul body and followed her instincts back to the Shen Mansion.
She was still confused about her own name and how she had died.
When the servant called out her name, her memories finally began to return.
The female ghost, her Resentful Qi rising, was just about to pounce and take revenge.
When she saw a Yellow Talisman with Cinnabar stuck on the servant.
Although Chuntao couldn't recognize what kind of Talisman it was,
the aura on it made the ghost afraid to get close.
Chuntao could only look at the person using the Talisman, her hollow eyes filled with resentment.
Even though she didn't speak, Shen Qingyuan somehow understood.
Whose side are you on, anyway?
Shen Qingyuan coughed awkwardly.
She then raised her hand and stuck a Silence Talisman on her mother's bedroom door.
Then, she formed a seal with both hands to recall the original Silence Talisman.
"My Talisman, obey my command, return quickly."
Originally, it would have been easiest to just walk over and peel it off.
But this ghost looked very weak.
If she got too close, the ghost might think she was there to capture her and get scared away, what then?
Seeing the Talisman leave, resentment ignited in Chuntao's hollow eyes, and she pounced straight at the servant.
"Don't come over here!"
The servant realized he could speak again.
Before he could even breathe a sigh of relief,
he saw the female ghost's hands accurately grab his neck!
Instantly, goosebumps caused by terror crawled up the servant's back.
Terrified out of his wits, he scrambled backward using his hands and feet.
Whatever he begged for, he couldn't hide a single secret.
"Chuntao, Chuntao, every debt has its debtor. It really wasn't me who wanted to kill you; it was Madam who wanted you dead!"
Chuntao didn't speak, only extending her blue-purple hands to grab the servant's ankles.
The man shrieked and continued to tremble.
"Chuntao, let me go! If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being a slut. You seduced the Master into liking you, and Madam wouldn't let the Master take you as a concubine, so she had us kill you."
If you have the ability, go find Madam!
The servant couldn't manage to shout this sentence out.
Because Chuntao had already wrapped her entire ghostly form around him.
Her hair wound around the servant's neck.
Her limbs also tightly bound the man's hands and feet.
Actually, ghosts generally cannot touch physical objects.
Especially a newly dead ghost with no cultivation like this one.
But this ghost was killed by the servant himself, and now she had extinguished his Shoulder Lamp.
The servant's eyes bulged, his mouth wide open, but he couldn't make a sound.
Only a wheezing, leaking sound came from his throat.
He clearly felt his life slipping away bit by bit with those cold ghostly hands, and his vision began to blacken.
"Tao, Chuntao... spare me..."
The servant squeezed out a breathy sound with his last bit of strength, his face covered in tears and snot.
In Chuntao's hollow eyes, only Resentful Qi surged.
From the moment her hands touched the man, fragments of past memories began to surface.
Seduced the Master? She was merely a cleaning maid for Madam.
Chuntao had never even seen the Master in the mansion.
It was clearly that day when the Master had encountered something unpleasant outside and had said a few words to Madam.
Madam, feeling slighted, walked out and saw her sweeping the floor outside.
Some dust flew up, and Madam raised her hand and slapped Chuntao.
After hitting her, she pinched her chin.
And said: "Truly young, so tender indeed."
Afterward, Madam gifted Chuntao to this servant right here!
As the time spent choking her enemy lengthened, Chuntao's memories became clearer and clearer.
The dim woodshed, the ferocious sneering face, the struggle, the suffocation, the cold well water.
She remembered every feeling of her death.
Chuntao's hands tightened further and further.
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