Suddenly, the unknown yet somewhat familiar voice sounded again from outside the window, "Tianjiao, these past eight years have been so lonely for me. I came back to see you tonight. I imagine you must have been plagued by nightmares and had a hard time these past years."

Upon hearing this, Lu Tianjiao, who was curled up in a ball, hugging his shoulders and trembling, exclaimed excitedly, his teeth chattering, "The Imperial Concubine? It's the Imperial Concubine? Yes, it's the Imperial Concubine! That familiar figure in the crimson palace dress who appeared in the bedchamber just now was the Imperial Concubine! The Imperial Concubine has returned? But wasn't she burned alive in the raging fire at the City God Temple? Eight years ago, at midnight, Tianjiao would never forget that night; it was a nightmare for him for the rest of his life. That night at the City God Temple..." The temple's backyard was eerily silent. Later, when someone suddenly discovered the fire, the flames were already out of control and impossible to extinguish. The Imperial Concubine… how could she still be alive? Besides, before she went to sleep, I personally added a considerable amount of sleeping potion to the lotus seed soup that Granny Zhang had given her. There was no way she could have escaped. So how could she be here now… Could it be… impossible… impossible… there's no such thing as ghosts or gods in this world. Someone must be deliberately playing tricks, it must be!”

Once she had slowly sorted out her thoughts, she hurriedly cried out, "Help! Help!"

At this moment, the two guards who had been waiting outside the door for a long time heard the sound and, with Cheng Liang, who was holding a sword in one hand and crossing his arms in front of his chest with a serious expression, nodded in tacit approval, hurriedly pushed open the door and rushed in.

The guard who had just brought in the flower tea saw Lu Tianjiao huddled at the foot of the table, trembling as if she had been frightened by something. He quickly went over, knelt down, and helped her up, asking with concern, "Miss Lu, Miss Lu, what's wrong?"

Unexpectedly, upon seeing the newcomer, Lu Tianjiao, who had just stood up, swiftly reached out with both hands and tightly grabbed the arm of the guard who was speaking. His pupils widened like copper bells, and he lowered his head, timidly glancing sideways at the spot where the person in the crimson palace dress had just appeared. His teeth were still chattering as he stammered, "Just now, were there any other people entering the hall wearing crimson palace dresses?"

The two guards exchanged bewildered glances. After a moment's thought, the guard being held tightly by Lu Tianjiao said, "Others? Crimson palace attire? Women? No, this is His Highness's bedchamber, Lin Yue Xuan! When the Dowager Consort was alive, she frequented this place, but she has been gone for eight years now. Miss Lu, as the Princess Consort's companion and guest, has been staying in the Prince's residence for quite some time. You should know that our Prince Qin's residence has almost no female servants. Oh, of course, except for the Princess Consort's dowry maids. But after the Princess Consort and His Highness's wedding, she has been living alone in Shao Hua Ge. Without His Highness's summons, she is not allowed to step into Lin Yue Xuan. This time, if His Highness hadn't been so seriously ill and deeply unconscious, we would have had no other choice. Even Zhang Mama wouldn't have been able to get in."

Lu Tianjiao had no doubts what the guard said, because she had been a regular at the Prince Qin's mansion since she was a child.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, she pulled the guard along and walked straight to the window. "Look, all of you come and see. This is the holy water I soaked in that talisman you brought in earlier. But look at what's on top of this water..."

Lu Tianjiao pulled the guard closer to the water basin, but quickly hid behind the guard, seemingly not daring to look at the water basin again. The other guard also followed closely with an incredulous expression.

Unexpectedly, upon seeing the eerie scene floating on the water, the two guards were both momentarily stunned, then looked at each other for a moment before the guard who had been pulled over by Lu Tianjiao spoke first, saying, "This basin of water... there's nothing wrong with it! It's just an ordinary basin of lukewarm water, nothing out of the ordinary. I haven't noticed anything unusual, have I?"

As the guard spoke, he turned to another guard for confirmation. The other guard, equally puzzled, asked Lu Tianjiao in return, "I also haven't noticed anything wrong with this water. May I ask, Miss Lu, what mystery have you discovered?"

Lu Tianjiao was extremely surprised. She quickly stepped out from behind the guards, pointed at the water with one finger, and said incredulously, "How is this possible? Can't any of you see that there is clearly a painting floating on the water?"

The guard feigned suspicion and asked, "A painting? What painting?"

Lu Tianjiao swallowed hard, seemingly both angry and finally mustering his courage, but then hesitated and said, "It's a painting... a painting of a temple engulfed in flames at night, with a noblewoman sleeping soundly inside. Outside the fire, everyone in the courtyard is helpless and powerless to save the situation. Among them is... a little girl timidly hiding behind the crowd..."

Just as Lu Tianjiao was speaking with great enthusiasm, as if he were actually there, the window next to the basin suddenly started banging on it repeatedly, as if someone was hitting it.

Lu Tianjiao was so frightened that he staggered backward, crying out in terror, "Listen, listen, can you hear it? Can you hear it now? It must be her coming back, it's her coming back..."

The two guards listened and watched, exchanging bewildered glances, while still saying, "Miss Lu, are you perhaps too tired from staying up late and hallucinating? Where is this painting of a temple on fire? And what sound is there? It's so quiet in the middle of the night..."

Before she could finish speaking, a strange and extremely mournful voice came from outside the window: "Tianjiao, my good child, although you are not my biological child, you were my most beloved child. I know you have always been proud and arrogant. After your mother passed away, fearing that your father, Lu Xian, would be too busy with official duties to discipline you and that you might go astray, I treated you as my own child, cherishing you as much as I do my Han'er. I took you with me wherever I went, and I never let you suffer the slightest grievance in your food, clothing, or shelter. Even Han'er never did that. But... but why did you repay kindness with enmity, putting poison in my bedtime soup? Why? Why?"

The eerie sound was still slowly drifting inside and outside Lin Yuexuan when the window next to the water basin in the hall suddenly started to make intermittent "pat-pat-pat" sounds again.

What she saw was something no one else had seen, and what she heard was something no one else had heard. Lu Tianjiao was terrified and dared not take another step forward. Her face was deathly pale, and her eyes, wide with terror, seemed about to pop out. She could only cower back under the table and cover her ears tightly, but the voice seemed to follow her like a shadow. No matter how hard she tried to hide it, she could not. She could only stammer, "Your Highness, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but Tianjiao had no choice! The fire eight years ago, everything... I didn't want it, I didn't want it..." "But... if I don't do that, they will kill my father and brother, and me. We wouldn't even mind dying, but... but they will also kill Brother Han. Brother Han is the only person Tianjiao has ever truly cherished in this world since childhood; he's even more important than Tianjiao's own life... no... more important than the lives of Tianjiao's entire family. If Brother Han dies, Tianjiao will have no will to live. Tianjiao thinks, since the Empress Dowager is Brother Han's biological mother, surely if you knew someone was using Brother Han's life to blackmail you into death, you would choose to die alone to protect Brother Han, wouldn't you?"

Upon hearing this, the two guards in the hall were stunned.

Suddenly, the figure of a woman dressed in palace attire appeared on the window, her voice filled with sorrow as she cried out, "Who could be so cruel as to want the lives of me, a widow and my child? I, the Dowager Consort, am so wronged! Tianjiao, do you know how much suffering I have endured these past eight years as a wronged ghost?"

"It wasn't me, it wasn't me, it's not my fault, it's not my fault. They only told me it was a medicine that would give me a good dream and wouldn't be life-threatening, but I don't know how the fire happened that night!" Lu Tianjiao desperately covered his ears, shaking his head repeatedly, but said.

"Who is it? Who is it? Who are they? Who gave you the medicine? Who wants to kill my child and me..." The eerie questioning voice outside the window continued to echo in her ears.

As the sound drew ever closer, the tension in Lu Tianjiao's mind was about to snap. Just then, the window, which had been rattling incessantly, suddenly slammed open with a loud crash, as if it had opened on its own.

Startled, Lu Tianjiao abruptly looked up and saw a figure standing outside the window. That familiar figure was none other than the one dressed in a crimson palace gown who had appeared in the hall just moments before.

While his mind was still deeply pondering the identity of the figure, the figure suddenly turned around unexpectedly, revealing a familiar face that terrified Lu Tianjiao. A green light shone on the face, creating an incredibly eerie and terrifying scene in the dark and silent night.

Lu Tianjiao was immediately terrified and screamed, "A ghost..."

Immediately afterward, a thud was heard as she fell heavily to her knees, trembling as she repeatedly bowed and kowtowed towards the window, pleading, "Your Highness, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Your Highness, Tianjiao was wrong, Tianjiao was truly wrong. Please forgive Tianjiao, I beg you, I beg you..."

At this moment, the pale, chillingly stern face coldly said, "Letting you go is not impossible, but you must tell me every single detail of the fire that burned me to death eight years ago, without missing a single word. Otherwise, you will be haunted by my vengeful spirit for the rest of your life, and one day, you will surely suffer the same fate and die with your eyes wide open in disbelief."

"I'll talk, I'll talk, I'll make sure I explain everything clearly..."