She thought for a moment, then wrote down several names on the yellow paper before speaking, “After that, it was the ones you’re all already aware of—Liang Hai, the daughter of Seventh Concubine Liang Meng, who passed away on New Year’s Eve, and just recently, Ninth Young Master Liang Nengwen, the son of Third Concubine Qin. Both drowned in the pond.”

Just then, Liang Nanyin pulled back the bed curtains.

Her usually composed and gentle face showed a rare trace of uncertainty. She placed a soft pillow behind Hua Zhuo to help her sit more comfortably.

Hua Zhuo’s face was pale. She had already regained consciousness earlier, groggily listening to Liang Shanyuan and Xu Ruyi recount what had happened outside.

Hearing Liang Shanyuan mention seeing monkeys performing opera after leaving the forest, Hua Zhuo didn’t expose her lie. The ordeal she had just gone through felt like a nightmare—just thinking about it sent chills through her body.

Seeing her awake, Xu Ruyi and the others hurried to her bedside, but Hua Zhuo looked toward Liang Shanyuan and Liang Nanyin.

“Could you both tell me more about… Liang Baijing?”

“Zhuo’er, do you think there’s something unusual about Liang Baijing?”

Xu Ruyi couldn’t stand the thought of a ghost wearing his face to deceive his loved ones. Hua Zhuo shook her head and said, “Brother, while I was unconscious, I had a dream.”

“What kind of dream?”

Hua Zhuo gazed at Liang Nanyin. “I dreamed of you.”

“Me?” Liang Nanyin froze.

“Yes. I dreamed of you… and the past version of Liang Shanyuan talking together. You were worried about Jingjing being forced to eat a lot of monkey brains, that she was in poor health.”

Liang Nanyin was genuinely startled.

Seeing Hua Zhuo awake, Tinglan finally felt relieved and had the strength to move again. She helped Liang Nanyin sit down, then handed Hua Zhuo some chestnuts she liked, along with a cup of tea.

Liang Nanyin hesitated but eventually sat down beside Liang Shanyuan, lowering her gaze as she peeled a chestnut.

The woman wore a pendant of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. Compared to Liang Shanyuan, who had the cold elegance of a jade Guanyin, her face truly carried a Buddhist serenity—gentle and calm, with kindness etched into her features.

“I used to doubt your abilities,” Liang Nanyin said, eating chestnuts, her expression slightly dazed. “But after today, I have no choice but to believe.”

Outside the room, a white lantern swayed gently, casting a pale glow that blended with the moonlight. The cool, quiet radiance contrasted with the warm flickering of the candles inside. Liang Nanyin’s soft, measured voice echoed in the dimly lit room.

“This happened many years ago. Yang had a son—you’ve all met him by now. That’s Liang Shiqi. Before she married into the Liang family, her father was a local scholar. Yang prided herself on her intelligence. After giving birth to my sixth brother, she thought it would be a waste not to make use of her cleverness. She also hoped to have another son for security. But her plans fell through—she gave birth to a daughter instead.”

Liang Nanyin continued chewing the chestnut, lost in memory.

“That daughter was our Tenth Sister, Liang Baijing. There were already too many daughters in the household. To put it bluntly, some barely counted as people anymore, and Tenth Sister even less so. She was naturally bright and quick-witted, but because of that, Yang hated her even more for not being born a boy. The suffering she endured from childhood… there were too many to count.”

Liang Nanyin’s voice grew hoarse as she spoke.

“My fifth sister and I tried to intervene, but we couldn’t stop Yang’s cruelty. She would shove freshly boiled fatty meat into Tenth Sister’s mouth, prick her fingers with needles, and even burn her skin with fire. My sixth brother had already moved out of Yang’s quarters by then. When he heard what was happening, he was so furious that he threw down his books and took Tenth Sister into his own room to protect her.”

Liang Nanyin’s raspy words left the entire room in silence.

“My sixth brother kept Tenth Sister with him for a while, and for a time, things seemed peaceful. But after a year, rumors started to spread. He had always been a bookish, naive person, without even a maidservant at his side. At first, he didn’t even understand what people were implying. But after some time, Yang asked him directly if Tenth Sister had seduced him. Faced with such an absurd accusation, he was so frightened that he didn’t dare keep her in his room any longer, worried that the gossip would ruin her reputation. He begged my fifth sister and me to watch over her instead.”

“Yang did seem to restrain herself for a while. But then, during that time, Third Uncle heard some nonsense somewhere—saying that eating monkey brains could make a person smarter. So he brought a bunch of monkeys into the household… Yang, for some unknown reason, started forcing Tenth Sister to eat monkey brains every day. Tenth Sister had always been terrified of such things, but no matter how she tried to hide, Yang would force-feed her. She was so scared that she wandered around in a daze all day…”

“At that time, I happened to be traveling with a physician, learning medicine. When I returned… I heard that Tenth Sister had already jumped into the lake and drowned. They said she was chasing a kite, and the servants didn’t watch her properly, so it was an accident.”

“That lake…” Hua Zhuo’s chest felt tight with sorrow. “Was it the one in the forest?”

Liang Nanyin was momentarily stunned. “Yes, the lake in the forest behind Liang Manor.”

Could it have been Liang Baijing who disguised herself as Xu Ruyi to lure her into the forest?

“Has anything else happened in that lake?”

Meng Qiuci hurriedly asked. At that moment, Liang Shanyuan rose from the carved wooden chair and sat beside Hua Zhuo.

Even though Hua Zhuo was unwell, she still took her duty seriously. The moment she saw Liang Shanyuan, she shot her a glare.

Liang Shanyuan smiled faintly, unfazed, and settled into the chair at the bedside. She waved a hand at Hua Zhuo.

The room was dimly lit by a single candle, casting flickering shadows.

Hua Zhuo hesitated, wary. “What do you want?”

“It’s a secret,” Liang Shanyuan murmured, her black eyes gleaming.

Hua Zhuo hesitated before leaning slightly closer to the bed, thinking to herself that this ghost really had a condescending attitude. If she wanted to share a secret, why couldn’t she come closer herself? Why make Hua Zhuo move instead? What a show-off.

“Why are you so arrogant? It’d better be something important since you dared to order me around–”

Hua Zhuo just leaned against the bed when Liang Shanyuan’s cold hand touched the back of her hand.

Cold.

Hua Zhuo paused, not knowing why Liang Shanyuan liked to touch her so much. Just as she was about to scold her, Liang Shanyuan whispered in her ear,

“How many people are there in the room?”

How many people?

What do you mean?

This inexplicable question scared Hua Zhuo. When she looked up, Liang Shanyuan’s face was as white as paper, her pupils were dark, and her eyes were curved.

What did she mean? Did she suddenly go crazy and reveal that she wasn’t a human?

Hua Zhuo was frightened, but she heard her say, “Don’t make a fuss, don’t stare at it, and don’t talk about it anymore.”

Hua Zhuo’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and she turned her head with a chill all over her body. Through Liang Shanyuan’s cover, she lowered her head and counted the feet in the room.

One person and another person.

The candlelight flickered dimly.

One, two, three, four, five…

One, two, three, four, five…

Xu Ruyi was dressed in white today, wearing his usual dark blue shoes.

Meng Qiuci was also dressed in white, but the corners of her robe were embroidered with peach blossoms.

Tinglan wore her usual light blue dress.

Liang Nanyin sat in a twisted-branch wooden chair, wearing a coarse linen robe and a pair of white embroidered shoes.

But what about the extra “person”?

Hua Zhuo could never quite catch sight of them, but no matter how she counted, there was always one more person. But in her daze, she suddenly noticed a pair of red embroidered shoes standing by the bed—right behind Liang Shanyuan.

Cold sweat drenched Hua Zhuo.

Don’t make a sound.

Don’t stare at it.

Don’t talk about it anymore.

Don’t talk about it anymore!

“Miss Ba, I still wanted to ask, on New Year’s Eve, did Liang Hai—”

“Ahhh!” Hua Zhuo suddenly screamed with her head lowered. Then she shouted, “Enough! Stop talking about it!”

Everyone was startled by her sudden outburst, and the conversation came to an abrupt halt. Liang Shanyuan instinctively took her hand and stepped back slightly.

This young lady was small in stature, but her voice was anything but. He had come to understand that well.

“You don’t care about me at all! I’m sick! I’ve been terrified so many times! And yet you’re still here talking about things that will scare me! You’re all awful!”

Hua Zhuo yelled and pointed angrily. “And you! Tinglan! Why is there only one candle lit in the room? What are you trying to do—frighten me to death?! Hurry up and light all the candle stands!”

“Ah? But, Miss… Wasn’t it you who said too many candles hurt your eyes…”

“Do as I say! Why do you have so much to say?!”

Tinglan immediately shrank like a quail and rushed to light the rest of the candle stands. Meanwhile, Hua Zhuo, drenched in cold sweat as if she had just been pulled from water, hurriedly retreated into Liang Shanyuan’s shadow and discreetly counted the people in the room again.

This time, it was right.

She let out a long sigh of relief. Just as a pang of guilt crept in and she was wondering whether to compensate everyone with treasures and gold, someone came running in from outside.

“Eight Miss! Something terrible has happened! A disaster!”

Liang Nanyin stood up in shock. “What’s wrong? Speak slowly; don’t panic.”

She gently patted the young maid’s back, but the girl was so anxious her face was flushed red. She clutched Liang Nanyin’s arm tightly.

“You! You must go to Lady Yang’s residence right away! Look—look at Sixth Young Master! Sixth Young Master! He drowned—he jumped into the lake! He drowned!”

Everyone gasped in unison. Without hesitation, Liang Nanyin grabbed her medicine box and rushed toward Yang’s residence.

“Senior Brother—”

The room fell into a heavy silence. Meng Qiuci’s expression was grim. “We can’t delay any longer. This ghost must bear a deep hatred toward the Liang family.”

“Agreed.”

Xu Ruyi nodded solemnly.

Hua Zhuo wanted to follow, but both Xu Ruyi and Meng Qiuci stopped her. Before leaving, they handed her a stack of freshly drawn talismans.

She also insisted that they set up an additional sealing barrier outside the door for reinforcement. Even as she watched them leave, unease still gnawed at her.

“How about I stay and sleep here with you tonight, Miss Hua Zhuo?”

Hua Zhuo turned to see Liang Shanyuan’s ghostly pale face and, without hesitation, shook her head.

Afraid of ghosts, and yet she needed another ghost to keep her company? She wasn’t crazy.

They were all ghosts, but Liang Shanyuan was even fiercer than the rest—of course she was scared of her!

“Go back to wherever you came from. Who do you think you are? You’re not even worthy of sharing a bedchamber with me.”

The moment she finished speaking, a soft chime echoed in her mind—Merit +20. Hua Zhuo lifted her chin arrogantly and curled up like a cat on the bed, completely oblivious to the shadow beyond the bed curtains. Liang Shanyuan’s gaze narrowed slightly as he watched her hazy silhouette.

**

One disaster after another.

By the time Xu Ruyi and Meng Qiuci arrived, they were already late. Liang Nanyin, her face pale and dazed, emerged from Lady Yang’s courtyard, where the entire Liang family had gathered. Her medicine box was slung over her shoulder, and she seemed ready to leave.

“Eight Miss…”

Xu Ruyi stepped forward, but Liang Nanyin only shook her head at them.

From inside, the heart-wrenching wails of Lady Yang echoed through the brightly lit main hall.

Even from a distance, it was clear—Liang Shiqi’s corpse lay on the floor of the main hall, water pooling around it. His body was swollen from being submerged.

“Another drowning?”

Liang Nanyin still seemed dazed, standing at the edge of the crowd. It took her a long moment to respond, finally nodding as tears began to fall.

“He always liked to walk by the lake to clear his mind. We had already warned him—during the seventh lunar month, it’s best not to go out at night… But Sixth Brother said he was going back to his room, only to take a detour and end up at the forest lake. By the time he was found, he had already drowned.”

Her tears fell like a broken string of pearls. Meng Qiuci, quick to react, caught her arm before she collapsed.

“You Taoists!”

A furious voice rang out from the crowded courtyard. Liang Shanren, leading several enraged Liang family men, stormed forward.

“We invited you here to exorcise ghosts! Yet after all these days, not only have you failed, but another member of our family has been killed by this vengeful spirit! What kind of exorcism are you performing?!”