Chapter 33 The Haunted Yunshao Girls' School Incident (Part 1)...

Shen Lingyue immediately perked up her little ears.

Is Yunshao Girls' School haunted? What's going on?

Princess Tong'an frowned and spoke a few more words to the female official before standing up and saying to the two of them, "I cannot entertain you today; I must go out for a while."

Shen Lingyue blinked: "Princess, is there some kind of problem at Yunshao Girls' School?"

Princess Tong'an didn't intend to hide it and nodded, "That's right. There have been rumors circulating in the girls' school these past few days, saying it's haunted, and some students have even seen ghostly figures wandering outside in the middle of the night."

She snorted coldly, "I don't believe in these superstitious things. There must be someone causing trouble to corrupt the atmosphere of girls' schools and shake people's hearts."

Princess Tong'an was about to set off to the girls' school to investigate when she said to her husband, "Ah Shao, please entertain Huai Zhou and the others for me..."

"Princess, please let us go with you."

Shen Lingyue eagerly raised her hand and quickly came up with a brilliant reason: "My eldest sister's daughter just entered Yunshao Girls' School this year. She's only six years old. I wonder if she'll be frightened by these ghost rumors. I want to go see her... and maybe I can even help you find out who's pretending to be a ghost?"

Princess Tong'an, seeing her clever expression, thought for a moment and readily agreed, "Alright, you can come with me."

Ever since that banquet at Qiyun Mountain, she had been very interested in Shen Lingyue and was just worried about not having more opportunities to get to know her.

Shen Lingyue quickly pulled Yan Yi along to follow.

Pei Jinghuai called out from behind, "Hey, hey, what about me? What am I supposed to do?"

Wei Shao smiled and comforted him, "Yun Shao Girls' School forbids outsiders from entering. Even I can't go there. Huai Zhou, you can stay and keep me company."

Shen Lingyue was busy watching the commotion, and waved her hand at her own big dog's pitiful appearance, "That's right, listen to the prince consort, I'll come and pick you up when I'm done with my work."

Along with them went Princess Tong'an's teasing: "Huaizhou is such a grown man, he knows how to go home on his own, why does he need you to pick him up?"

Pei Jinghuai: ...Why does it seem like I've been abandoned again?

He snorted angrily and asked Wei Shao, "Brother-in-law, does the princess often leave you like this?"

Wei Shao remained calm. "Your Highness is a person who does great things. All we can do is not cause them any trouble. They will go home eventually when they are done with their work."

After pouring Pei Jinghuai a cup of tea, he said meaningfully, "Huaizhou, you should find yourself a proper job."

It's not proper for him to cling to his wife every day like that.

*

Yunshao Girls' School is located in the west of the city and was converted from a former royal palace.

After the establishment of the Great Ye Kingdom, this royal palace was, as was customary, allocated to the princes who were granted the title of king in each dynasty. As a result, it was as if it were cursed. Every prince who lived in this royal palace either participated in treason or died young in an accident.

After changing hands four times, the royal family members were terrified and no one dared to set foot in this ominous place again; they all wanted to live a few more years.

As a result, the palace fell into disrepair.

Until three years ago, Princess Tong'an petitioned Emperor Qingxi to establish Yunshao Girls' School and specifically requested that this palace be used as the school.

At that time, there was also an imperial censor who was used to refuting everything. He said that the abandoned prince's mansion was already full of yin energy, and if a group of women were brought in to study, wouldn't that be adding yin energy to yin energy?

Princess Tong'an immediately retorted: "Fine, the Imperial Academy is all men, and men have more yang energy, so let's move the Imperial Academy there and make room for me to use the original Imperial Academy buildings?"

Many of the officials' sons and nephews were still studying at the Imperial Academy; who would dare let their own child live there?

It's just an abandoned royal palace. If Princess Tong'an wants it, just give it to her. Why are you meddling in this?

The censor was attacked by the crowd and only then did he behave himself.

Yunshao Girls' School has been operating for three years without incident, and even the ominous curse that once shrouded the abandoned royal mansion has been gradually forgotten.

Now, rumors of ghosts have suddenly spread. If this is not handled properly, the censors will inevitably impeach her again, causing trouble for this hard-won female scholar. That's why Princess Tong'an is both angry and anxious.

When Shen Lingyue and Yan Yi entered Yunshao Girls' School, they couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"This place is really big."

After all, it was once a large mansion built according to the regulations of a royal palace. Princess Tong'an also paid for its renovation and transformation, preserving the original garden landscape while adding many classrooms, dormitories, dining halls and other facilities.

Princess Tong'an was the nominal headmistress of Yunshao Girls' School, but the actual management was handled by a female official named Taoli.

Tao Li explained to the two: "Yun Shao Girls' School only admits female students aged six to sixteen. They are divided into three classes—beginner, intermediate, and advanced—according to age and academic progress. As long as students want to continue their studies, they can study here for up to ten years, during which time room and board are free."

Yan Yi seemed to be deep in thought, and asked, "The school system here seems to be different from that of the Imperial Academy?"

Princess Tong'an explained, "Indeed, the idea of ​​girls' schools was proposed by my ancestor and recorded in the 'Veritable Records' for future generations to refer to."

The Taizu Emperor intended to establish a girls' school, but at that time the dynasty had just been established and everything in the country was in disarray. The most important thing was to recuperate, increase the population, and restore the economy. Establishing a girls' school was seen by officials at the time as a thankless task and an "unnecessary expenditure," so it was shelved.

The emperors who succeeded to the throne mostly had their own development policies, and whether they intended it or not, none of them ever took charge of this matter.

Three years ago, Princess Tong'an petitioned to establish a girls' school. Initially, there was a lot of opposition, which forced her to bring up the "Veritable Records" and promise that she would be responsible for all expenses without spending the national treasury. Only then did she shut up the officials.

—The princess is paying for it herself? Then it's alright.

Shen Lingyue nodded repeatedly, while whispering to Yan Yi, "I knew the Great Ancestor was from our hometown, wasn't he? This is our primary, junior high, and senior high school!"

We are a major country in education, so it would be absolutely advanced to simply adopt our existing systems.

As the group walked in, they could gradually hear the girls chattering. Tao Li pointed to an open space in the distance and said, "That's the training ground. It must be where some class of students is having a martial arts lesson."

Shen Lingyue was surprised: "There are martial arts classes too?"

"Naturally. The Veritable Records states that a healthy mother produces strong children. If women are all confined to their homes and weak and frail, how can they give birth to healthy children?"

Tao Li added, "The martial arts classes in girls' schools are not as strenuous and tiring as those for boys; they are designed to strengthen the body and improve physical fitness."

Shen Lingyue understood; it was just a physical education class.

In fact, the separation of men and women in the Great Ye Dynasty was not so strict. It was not uncommon for women to go out shopping or ride horses. This was probably influenced by the atmosphere at the beginning of the founding of the dynasty.

However, some women believe that chastity and virtue are the epitome of a lady's virtue. For example, her second sister, Shen Songyi, who is always holding a book, is even more delicate than the Princess and the Pea. She eats less than a cat, and it would be as if the sky were falling if her waistline were even half an inch wider.

There are quite a few people like this, but it's hard to change their minds—you can't force everyone to come out and participate, can you?

After walking a little further, the sound of children reading aloud came from a room. Tao Li said to Shen Lingyue, "That's the classroom of Class C in the primary school. Your niece Han Yiheng is inside."

Shen Lingyue's eyes lit up. She called Yan Yi, and the two of them tiptoed to the window and peeked inside.

"Look, the third one in the middle row is my daughter Heng."

The little girl, dressed in a blue and white school uniform, was blinking her big eyes and earnestly reading along with the teacher, swaying her head as she did so; she was incredibly cute.

Shen Lingyue noticed that all the girls in the school wore the same clothes and had the same hairstyle of two buns. She guessed this was to avoid comparisons caused by different family backgrounds and to allow them to focus more on their studies.

The two only peeked for a short while before hurrying back, as they had important business to attend to.

Taoli led them to the schoolhouse behind the intermediate classroom, pointed to a room in the far corner and said, "The schoolhouse was the first to be rumored to be haunted."

After thinking for a moment, Shen Lingyue said to Princess Tong'an, "Your Highness is of noble status. If you investigate personally, it will inevitably alert the person behind the scenes. Why don't you find a place to rest for a while, and let my sister-in-law and I go with Lady Tao to investigate? We will report back to you once we have any clues."

Princess Tong'an nodded in agreement and said to Taoli, "If the two young mistresses have any requests, just do as they ask and follow their orders."

"Yes, Your Highness."

After seeing Princess Tong'an off, Shen Lingyue asked Taoli, "How many students lived in that haunted schoolhouse, and what were their identities?"

"There were originally four people living in the school, but now there is only one girl named Guan Xiaocao. She is fourteen years old this year. She was specially recruited by His Highness from a small village hidden in a mountain valley more than seventy miles away from the capital last year."

Yan Yi asked, "Isn't it said that Yunshao Girls' School is very difficult to get into? Is there anything special about Guan Xiaocao?"

Tao Li nodded: "The difficulty of the entrance exam varies from person to person. In the capital, many daughters of officials and wealthy families have received early education, so the exams for them will be more difficult, selecting the best of the best. But in those remote areas and villages, more emphasis is placed on the students' talent in a particular subject."

Although this girl named Guan Xiaocao had never received a proper education, she solved all the math problems on the entrance exam.

The first few basic questions were fine, but the last bonus question was something Princess Tong'an had found in an obscure ancient book, and it was particularly difficult. Guan Xiaocao was the only student recruited last year to solve it.

Therefore, she was exceptionally admitted to Yunshao Girls' School, with free room and board.

If they achieve good results in the ten-day or monthly exams in the future, they can receive a reward.

“…A mathematical genius.” Shen Lingyue gently nudged Yan Yi. “Perhaps you’ve found a kindred spirit.”

Her daughter, Yan Yan, is an all-around genius in math, physics, and chemistry. She was only five points away from a perfect score in the science section of the college entrance exam. She's incredibly talented!

Yan Yi pursed her lips and then asked Tao Li about the situation of her other three roommates.

"The three girls were all locals from Beijing. After the ghost story, they were all terrified and asked for leave to go home. Only Guan Xiaocao had nowhere to go because her home was too far away, so her sister-in-law is now taking care of her."

Tao Li said that it took the Princess's family a lot of effort to take Guan Xiaocao away. The Guan family refused to believe that they were taking their daughter to study in the capital without spending any money. They thought, "Where would you find such a good deal? Could they have tricked her into selling her?"

In the end, it was Guan Xiaocao's sister-in-law who volunteered to accompany her, saying she would only feel at ease after seeing her sister-in-law enroll in school with her own eyes.

She came to Yunshao Girls' School, saw its courtyards and pavilions, and learned that Yunshao Girls' School was founded by Princess Tong'an. Guan Xiaocao would be a disciple of the princess in the future.

Sister Guan found Tao Li and pleaded with her, saying that she was worried about leaving Guan Xiaocao alone here, and that their family was poor and remote, while the girls' school was full of daughters of high-ranking officials and wealthy families. What if they bullied her sister-in-law?

Tao Li then decided to let Sister Guan stay and work as a handyman in the dining hall. She was provided with food and lodging, and received two qian of silver a month as wages, which was quite a lot.

After Tao Li finished explaining the basic situation, he was about to take the two of them into the house to question Guan Xiaocao.

As they approached the door, Shen Lingyue suddenly raised her hand to stop Tao Li, who was about to knock. "Wait."

She heard faint voices coming from inside the room.

Shen Lingyue gave the two a wink, then tiptoed to the window and opened it a crack.

Two people were sitting on the bed diagonally opposite the window: Guan Xiaocao and her sister-in-law, Hu Minniang.

Hu Minniang was holding a bowl of porridge and feeding Guan Xiaocao spoonful by spoonful.

"Damn it, listen to your advice, sister-in-law. This girls' school is haunted, it's too scary. Why don't we just go home?"

Guan Xiaocao was pale and had large dark circles under her eyes, clearly having suffered a great shock. Upon hearing Hu Minniang's words, she shook her head without hesitation: "No, I'm not going back. I want to stay at the girls' school!"

Hu Minniang put down her bowl unhappily, slapped her, and scolded, "What's the use of studying? Your sister-in-law didn't go to school and I'm still alive and well today, aren't I? It's not that I'm trying to stop you, but look at how sick you are! If you stay here any longer, I'm really afraid that female ghost will come and take your soul one day..."

Guan Xiaocao shuddered, screamed, and quickly hid herself under the covers, trembling: "Sister-in-law, please stop talking, I'm scared..."

Hu Minniang stopped talking, bowed twice to the air, and said, "Amitabha, Amitabha."

He then took out a triangular yellow talisman packet from his pocket and stuffed it into Guan Xiaocao's hand.

"This is a talisman I got for you from the temple when I went out of town yesterday. Wear it well, and even the female ghost won't dare to harm you, okay?"

Guan Xiaocao clutched the talisman tightly, her eyes brimming with tears of gratitude, and said, "Thank you, sister-in-law, you're the best to me."

Her sister-in-law and her older brother have been married for two years but haven't had a child yet, so she came to the capital to study with her.

Hu Minniang patted her forehead, "Don't talk nonsense. If your sister-in-law doesn't treat you well, who else will she treat well? If it weren't for you, our family's golden phoenix, how could your sister-in-law have come to the capital and found such a good job, sending money home every month?"

Upon hearing this, Guan Xiaocao remembered something and hurriedly said, "Sister-in-law, I got first place in last month's exam, and the doctor rewarded me with one tael of silver. I don't have to spend any money on food and lodging here. Could you please send the silver home for me?"

"Okay, we little grasses are so smart."

The two women chatted for a few more minutes about everyday things, but Shen Lingyue couldn't find anything useful in their conversation. She then retreated to the door and gestured for Taoli to knock.

"Lady Tao, what brings you here?"

Hu Minniang came to open the door and greeted Taoli. Then she looked at the unfamiliar Shen Lingyue and Yan Yi with a puzzled expression and asked, "Who are these two?"

Taoli cleared her throat and introduced, "They are the new life skills instructors, Instructor Shen and Instructor Zhou. They heard that Xiaocao was frightened and fell ill, so they came to find out what happened."

—This was the story they had just rehearsed outside the door; they couldn't say they were there on the princess's orders to investigate the haunting of the girls' school.

Tao Li then suggested that the two of them pretend to be the new life instructors—the girls ate and lived in the school, and they were not allowed to bring maids in to serve and take care of them. The life instructors would arrange all the trivial matters of their daily lives, and they would also patrol the dormitories every night before lights out to check if there were any conflicts or disputes among the students.

After hearing this, Shen Lingyue chuckled to Yan Yi, "Isn't this my dream job twenty years from now—a dormitory supervisor?"

Seeing that the two women were dressed exquisitely, even more imposing than Tao Li, a lady-in-waiting from the princess's residence, Hu Minniang guessed that they were of considerable status. She quickly put on an even warmer smile, "Please come in, two instructors. Oh, I really didn't expect you to care so much about my little grass..."

She led Shen Lingyue and Yan Yi into the house, and then urged Guan Xiaocao to get up quickly, "Quickly greet the two instructors."

Guan Xiaocao crawled out of bed, still dazed.

Shen Lingyue sat down on the edge of the bed without any hesitation and smiled at her, "Xiao Cao, I heard you were a math genius who was specially recruited last year, that's really amazing."

Guan Xiaocao gave a shy smile. Shen Lingyue's friendly attitude made her feel much more relaxed. She whispered, "Maybe I was just lucky. I just guessed correctly..."

"Hey, you can't say that. In mathematics, it's all about 'one's answer and 'two's answer.' If you know it, you know it; if you don't, you don't. You're the only one who figured it out, so you're really amazing."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Shen Lingyue glanced at Yan Yi and got down to business: "I heard you were the first person in the school to encounter a ghost. Could you tell us about it in detail?"

Upon hearing the word "ghost," Guan Xiaocao, who had just relaxed a little, began to tremble again. Her eyes filled with great fear, and she stammered, "It was a ghost knocking on the window! There really is a ghost! I saw it... At first, they didn't believe me, but later they heard it too!"

About two weeks ago, on a day off, all three of her roommates went home. Guan Xiaocao was sleeping soundly in the middle of the night when she vaguely heard someone knocking on the window.

She asked twice who it was, but there was no response from outside; they just kept knocking persistently.

Guan Xiaocao was woken up by the noise. She got out of bed, opened the window, and saw that there was no one outside—but there was a bloody handprint on the wall!

She was so frightened that she burst into tears and scrambled back to bed, hiding under the covers until dawn. Then she immediately ran out to find her former life coach.

When the instructor returned to the schoolhouse with her, the area around the windows and the walls were clean, with no bloody handprints at all.

The teacher thought she was having nightmares because she was studying too hard, and comforted her that it was all hallucinations and told her to get some rest early that night.

Guan Xiaocao had no evidence and had to give up.

For the next few days, she lived in fear and couldn't sleep at night, but the strange noises in the middle of the night stopped.

Was she really having a nightmare?

Guan Xiaocao believed it to be true, and just as she breathed a sigh of relief and decided to forget about it, that very night, the agonizing knocking on the door came again.

That night, all four of them were in the dormitory. Guan Xiaocao was the first to wake up when she heard the noise. She didn't dare to open the window herself, so she woke up the other three. The four of them cautiously went to open the window together, but—there was still no one there.

But the handprints reappeared, this time not just one, but several, densely packed on the white wall next to the window, a shocking sight.

Several girls immediately screamed, shouting that a ghost was knocking on the door, making a huge commotion.

Yan Yi listened attentively and asked Tao Li, "The earliest reports of the haunting were over half a month ago, so why are you only investigating now?"

Tao Li looked ashamed. "Firstly, we only have the testimonies of a few students, and there is no evidence. Secondly... the teacher in charge of their dormitory was also frightened and fell ill, so we were unable to report it in time."

Hu Minniang hugged Guan Xiaocao to comfort her, and upon hearing this, she quickly said, "Instructors, please don't blame Lady Tao. If you ask me, this matter is really very strange."

She lowered her voice: "Didn't everyone say that this abandoned royal mansion was cursed? It must be the restless spirits of those who died unjustly in the past, trying to find a replacement..."

Guan Xiaocao yelled and quickly shrank into the blankets, "Don't grab me, don't grab me!"

Tao Li frowned and gently scolded, "Hu Minniang, you're not allowed to say such unfounded things. Look how scared your sister-in-law is!"

Hu Minniang felt wronged and indignant. "Lady Tao, how can I not feel sorry for Xiaocao? But look at her now, she can't eat or sleep well, she has nightmares every night, and she's so thin she's just skin and bones. If she continues to suffer here, what if something happens to her? How can I face my parents?"

She tentatively suggested to Taoli, "Do you think it would be possible for us to go home and rest for a while, like the other young ladies?"

Guan Xiaocao's three roommates said they went home to recuperate, but judging from their families, they didn't plan to send their daughter back.

Otherwise, if they were frightened into something serious, would they dare to ask Princess Tong'an to take responsibility?

If you can't afford to offend them, you can at least avoid them.

No sooner had she finished speaking than Guan Xiaocao, who was hiding under the covers, suddenly shouted, "I'm not going back! I'd rather die here!"

Hu Minniang was so angry that she hit her through the quilt, "You stubborn brat, ptooey, ptooey, don't say such unlucky things!"

Yan Yi got up and walked to the north side of the room, then pushed open the window with a creak.

Behind the window stands a tall, old banyan tree, its shade so dense and cool it provides ample shade.

However, when it is late at night and all is quiet, it inevitably seems a bit eerie.

Shen Lingyue also came over and leaned half her body out to look outside. "Could it be that someone is playing a prank, knocking on the door and then turning around and hiding on the roof?"

Anyone skilled in light-body techniques should be able to do this.

"What's the motive?" Yan Yi asked her. "Why is only this schoolhouse haunted? Who exactly is the 'ghost' targeting?"

Shen Lingyue rolled her eyes. "Perhaps... they don't want Yunshao Girls' School to continue? Or maybe someone dislikes Princess Tong'an and is trying to trip her up?"

Once the news of the haunted Yunshao Girls' School spreads, those with ulterior motives will quickly connect it to the past events of its former abandoned royal residence. Most of the students here come from wealthy and noble families; who would be willing to put their daughter/sister in danger?

If the students drop out and go home one by one, then Yunshao Girls' School will naturally cease to exist.

"That is indeed possible."

Yan Yi nodded slightly, then asked Tao Li, "After discovering the ghost, didn't you send anyone out to keep watch? Didn't you find any suspicious people?"

Tao Li was afraid that the two would misunderstand her for not doing a good job, so she quickly said, "I did send people. I arranged for people to guard outside the school all night, but no suspicious people came near."

Forget about suspicious people, there wasn't a soul in sight outside, yet you could still hear banging and knocking inside... What else could this be but a ghost?

Despite Tao Li's best efforts to stop the spread of rumors, several maids and servants who were assigned to guard the area were terrified. When they returned, they told the stories in great detail, and it was impossible to stop them.

She had no choice but to report to Princess Tong'an and ask her to make a decision, as she could no longer control herself.

Yan Yi glanced back and saw that Guan Xiaocao had been coaxed out of bed by Hu Minniang and was nestled in her arms like a little rabbit, managing to drink a few more mouthfuls of porridge.

Hu Minniang patted her back gently. The young woman in her early twenties looked capable and efficient, and the affection between the two sisters-in-law seemed genuine. She was very concerned and worried.

"Let the little grass rest well, we'll head back now."

Yan Yi spoke, and the three of them left the schoolhouse to meet Princess Tong'an.

"How's the investigation going?" Princess Tong'an asked immediately upon seeing Shen Lingyue and Yan Yi. "Could it really be the work of ghosts?"

"It's not certain yet." Yan Yi shook her head, then said to Princess Tong'an, "Your Highness, could you allow us to stay tonight and keep watch outside the haunted schoolhouse?"

"Of course I'm willing, but wouldn't that be unfair to you?"

Princess Tong'an said, "There's no shortage of manpower here. Just tell them what you want to do."

Yan Yi shook her head and insisted, "I have some guesses that I need to verify myself. I'm afraid others can't help me."

Shen Lingyue understood her meaning and nodded in agreement, "That's right, let me and my sister-in-law do it ourselves."

If there's anything that only the two of them could do, it's that neither of them believed in ghosts.

Because they don't believe, they are fearless and can get closer to the truth.

“Very well, the future of Yunshao Girls’ School is entrusted to you two.” Princess Tong’an said solemnly, “The matter of the haunting must be thoroughly investigated and resolved quickly.”

She asked Taoli to prepare a clean room for the two of them to rest and recharge.

After leaving the house, Yan Yi asked Tao Li, "How much do you know about Guan Xiaocao's sister-in-law?"

"Hu Minniang? I didn't have much contact with her. I only helped Guan Xiaocao when she enrolled. Anyway, the school cafeteria always needed to hire workers. Later, we also arranged for the families of several other students from other places to work at the girls' school, which was a kind of subsidy."

Tao Li recalled: "She did a pretty good job in the dining hall. She was quite clever, knew how to read people's expressions, and got along well with everyone. I heard that the chefs in the dining hall were even interested in training her to be a kitchen helper and wanted to teach her cooking skills."

Being a kitchen helper is different from being a general laborer; learning cooking skills can also be a way to make a living.

Yan Yi nodded and asked, "I think she's not very old. She's only been married into the Guan family for a few years, right? She just left her husband and came to the capital with Guan Xiaocao. Doesn't her family have any objections?"

Tao Li shrugged. "Both she and Guan Xiaocao have room and board provided. They save up their wages for a few months and then send them back home through someone. What could their families possibly object to?"

She had never been to the Guan family's home, but according to other people who went out to recruit students, the village where Guan Xiaocao lived was so poor and remote that they might not have been able to find it if they hadn't gotten lost while wandering in the mountains.

Needless to say, the Guan family was dirt poor. With more than a dozen mouths to feed, they could barely feed themselves on a few acres of meager land. They probably hadn't even seen what silver looked like all year round.

Therefore, Tao Li couldn't understand why the Guan family had stopped Guan Xiaocao from going to the capital—they had two fewer people to feed, but they had an extra source of income. Wasn't that a net gain?

Yan Yi seemed to be deep in thought.

When the two arrived at the door of the side room, Taoli said, "This room was originally an empty schoolhouse. It is very clean. Please rest for a while, and we can talk about anything else tonight."

Yan Yi stopped her and whispered a few instructions, "Go to the dining hall..."

Tao Li's eyes flickered slightly, revealing a look of surprise. "Do you suspect it's her? How could that be?"

She instinctively shook her head in denial.

Yan Yi: "Whether it is or not, we need to investigate first."

Perhaps it was her cool voice and composed expression that quickly calmed Tao Li down. She came to her senses and nodded in agreement, "Okay, I'll send someone to make arrangements in a bit, and I'll make sure we don't alert them."

Yan Yi bowed slightly to her: "Thank you for your trouble."

Tao Li quickly stepped aside, saying, "Young Madam, you flatter me. It's all my fault for not handling things properly, which is why Your Highness and the two of you have been disturbed..."

"Well, Lady Tao has to manage such a large girls' school, and there are so many complicated matters to attend to. She must be very hardworking and capable."

Shen Lingyue stepped forward to smooth things over, smiling and saying, "The princess trusts your abilities, which is why she entrusted the girls' school to you."

Tao Li forced a smile, hoping to resolve the ghost incident as soon as possible and not betray His Highness's trust.

After she left, Shen Lingyue and Yan Yi entered the schoolhouse.

"Wow, it feels like I'm back in my college dorm, but this place is much bigger than ours, and it even has a single desk and a single bed."

Shen Lingyue walked around the room, looking at things with curiosity and touching them here and there. Finally, she chose the bed by the window, lay down, and said with a smile, "This is it. I've done some calculations, and this bed has good feng shui. It will definitely help us exorcise demons!"

Yan Yi shook her head with amusement and sat down on the bed opposite her.

It wasn't that the two didn't want to share a bed, but the single bed was simply too narrow for two adults to fit.

Shen Lingyue turned over, propped her chin on her hand, and looked at her: "You already have someone you suspect?"

There were no outsiders present, and Yan Yi didn't keep them in suspense. "Yes. Next, we just need to wait for the results from Lady Tao's side, and whether the 'ghost' will come again tonight."

Only by catching the perpetrator red-handed can you truly convince the other party.

Shen Lingyue stretched and said happily, "I knew bringing you was the right thing to do! Anyway, I'm too lazy to think, so I'll just do my physical work. I'll do whatever you ask me to do tonight."

"I'm asking you to catch ghosts?" Yan Yi teased her deliberately.

"Then I will..." Shen Lingyue raised two fingers together to form a sword, and waved them twice in the air, "May the Goddess Xuan Nu protect me, may my command be swiftly granted! Heh ha!"

...

The two ate a simple meal that evening and then went to bed for a nap. Around 11 p.m., Taoli came to wake them up.

"The previous ghost stories all occurred between the end of midnight and the hour of Chou (1-3 AM)."

Tao Li led the two along a small path they hadn't taken during the day, to an empty room behind Guan Xiaocao's schoolhouse. The front door faced the window that had been knocked on by the ghost.

Tao Li said that she had previously sent people to stake out this location all night, but to no avail.

Shen Lingyue raised the lantern to shine the light and couldn't help but complain, "It's so dark, what can we see?"

However, the night is clear tonight, with stars and the moon clearly visible, which does provide some natural light.

Tao Li brewed a pot of strong tea for the two of them to refresh themselves. She wanted to stay and wait with them, but Yan Yi said it wasn't necessary, as she and Shen Lingyue were enough to stay here.

Before leaving, she whispered to Yan Yi, "Hu Minniang stayed with Guan Xiaocao in her room all day. She went back to the dining hall to help wash and prepare the vegetables, serve food to the other students, and then washed some dishes. Only after everyone persuaded her did she go back to stay with Guan Xiaocao."

Everyone in the dining hall knows that her sister-in-law has been quite frightened lately and can't be left alone.

Tao Li had someone keep an eye on Hu Minniang for an entire afternoon and evening, but her behavior was perfectly normal, and there was nothing unusual about her.

She didn't understand why Yan Yi would suspect Hu Minniang, and she didn't believe that Hu Minniang would scare her sister-in-law. What was she after?

If it weren't for Guan Xiaocao, she would still be farming in the mountains, struggling to make a living. She wouldn't have such an easy and comfortable life now.

Yan Yi noticed her confusion and said softly, "No rush, let's take another look."

Tao Li left, completely bewildered.

Shen Lingyue and Yan Yi sat at the door, drinking strong tea to refresh themselves and chatting to pass the time.

At midnight, the clapper sounded, and someone opened the window across the street; it was Hu Minniang.

She leaned halfway out to look around, her hands clasped together as if she were praying to Buddha, moving them left and right with great devotion.

Shen Lingyue crouched low and jogged closer, hearing Hu Minniang muttering, "Heavenly spirits, earthly spirits, every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt its debtor, female ghost, please leave quickly, my little grass has done nothing to provoke you..."

"Quite superstitious." Shen Lingyue covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

Hu Minniang performed a series of haphazard prayers, then turned to Guan Xiaocao and comforted her, "Don't be afraid. With the amulet protecting you, the female ghost definitely won't come tonight. You should get some sleep."

He then closed the window, and soon the lights in the room went out, plunging the room into darkness.

Shen Lingyue crawled back and described the scene to Yan Yi, saying, "They've already gone to sleep."

The two continued to wait.

About half an hour later, Shen Lingyue was already getting sleepy and kept nodding like a chick pecking at rice.

Bang, bang, bang...

In the stillness of the night, when all was quiet, a few soft tapping sounds could be heard.

Shen Lingyue's eyes widened in surprise, and she excitedly grabbed Yan Yi's hand, "They're here!"

She quickly raised the candlestick, trying to illuminate the window opposite. "Where's the ghost? I can't see it!"

Yan Yi gestured for her to raise the glass a little higher, "Don't shine the light on the window, shine it on the canopy of that big banyan tree."

Shen Lingyue didn't understand, but she did as she was told, staring intently at the vast, dark, and lush canopy of trees.

Then she saw a dark thing fly out from among the branches and leaves, crash into the window with a thud, and then flutter back to the tree.

"This is... a bat?!"

Shen Lingyue had a flash of inspiration and suddenly realized the truth.

"I've seen this plot before, it's a classic! — Smear eel blood on the door, and in the middle of the night, bats will come and crash into the door. When the door is opened, the bats will be startled and fly away, leaving no one outside. Anyone who doesn't know the story will think that a ghost is knocking on the door!"

Yan Yi smiled and nodded, reminding her, "Have you forgotten? When we were in elementary school, the school organized us to watch anti-cult propaganda films. That's a classic trick used by charlatans to pretend to be supernatural."

Shen Lingyue scratched her head. She only remembered the messy domestic drama novels she had read; she had absolutely no recollection of the promotional video…

"And that bloody handprint that disappears at dawn, is that also a lie?"

"The phenolphthalein experiment, do you remember?"

With her conjecture confirmed, Yan Yi smiled and said, "Chemistry is not a modern discipline; the ancients had already figured out many of its secrets."

However, most of them are used by charlatans to perform supernatural feats, and few are used for anything worthwhile.

Shen Lingyue's eyes shone brightly, "The only person who could obtain eel blood without Guan Xiaocao's suspicion and clean up the traces in time is... her sister-in-law, Hu Minniang!"

Yan Yi nodded, "I had Tao Li find the menu from the dining hall for the past two weeks. On every day that was haunted, the dining hall made the dish 'Sizzling Eel Strips'."

When she opened the window to check in the afternoon, she noticed a faint fishy smell above the window. She guessed that although Hu Minniang had cleaned up the eel blood, there was still a slight lingering smell.

Shen Lingyue looked equally puzzled, "But why would Hu Minniang do this? What good would it do her to frighten Guan Xiaocao into illness? Or is she acting under orders from outsiders, using the ghost rumors to attack Yunshao Girls' School?"

"We'll have to investigate to find out."

Just as Yan Yi was about to go to Tao Li to tell her that she could arrest the person, a heart-wrenching scream suddenly erupted from Guan Xiaocao's room.

"Don't come any closer, don't kill me—"

-----------------------

Author's Note: Pei Jinghuai waited and waited at the princess's residence until dark... Why hasn't my wife come to take me home yet? [crying emoji]

Pei Jingyi, who went straight home after work: Where is my wife?

//[Let me see][Let me see] The answer will be revealed tomorrow~ And while I'm at it, I'll find Xiao Pei a job (just kidding).

Are there a lot of exams these past few days? It seems like there are fewer people around. [pity][pity]