Chapter 145 Horror in the Cold Palace

Despite its name, the Zhuxuan Palace was actually just a dilapidated side hall on the west side of the palace.

The clamor of the banquet was kept out by the heavy palace walls.

Here, only the mournful sound of the wind adds to the desolation.

Under the cover of night, following the route provided by the Crown Prince, Shen Yiqiu avoided the main patrol routes and quietly arrived outside the palace.

Outside the palace gate, weeds grew rampant, and the place was desolate and dilapidated. Strangely, a barely noticeable path had been trodden out of the knee-high weeds by the patrolling guards.

Why would someone be assigned to guard a place far from the vortex of power?

Just as she was about to step forward, a low growl sounded from behind her:

"Halt! Who dares to approach this place?"

An armored guard emerged from the shadows, his hand warily resting on the hilt of his sword, scrutinizing her with suspicion.

Shen Yiqiu was taken aback for a moment, but quickly composed herself, turned to face the guard, and deliberately feigned displeasure at being disturbed:

"I am Shen Yiqiu, Marquis of Yongjia. I was passing by just now when I accidentally dropped an important hairpin, so I came here to look for it."

Upon hearing that she was the newly ennobled Marquis of Yongjia, currently enjoying great influence, and also the future Crown Princess, the guards immediately became much more respectful, clasping their hands in a salute.

"So it is the Marquis of Yongjia. Forgive my poor eyesight. But..."

He looked troubled.

"This place is under strict guard by His Majesty, and is patrolled all year round. It is really inconvenient for us to stay here for long. Your Excellency, please return and do not make things difficult for me."

Shen Yiqiu frowned slightly, feigning ignorance:

Why is this place so heavily guarded?

The guard lowered his voice, as if afraid of breaking a taboo:

"My lord, you may not know this, but this Zhuxuan Palace is... very eerie, often haunted! No one in the palace dares to go near it, for fear of getting tainted by its bad luck."

"Haunted?"

Shen Yiqiu raised an eyebrow slightly; she never believed in such superstitious and bizarre tales.

In her view, the human heart is far more terrifying than the realm of ghosts.

Seeing that she didn't believe him, the guard explained further:

"To be honest, my lord, a large number of people died in this palace before the New Year. It is said that there was a plague outbreak, and the bodies were taken out and burned in cartloads."

"Nowadays, no one dares to set foot here. Everyone says it's an ominous place, and that... perhaps someone with an extremely unlucky fate lives there, disrupting the feng shui."

"I advise you, it's just a hairpin, if you lose it, you lose it, but you must not let it get tainted by anything unclean."

Plague? Shen Yiqiu's doubts deepened.

Without making a sound, she took out some silver coins and slipped them to the guard.

"I see, thank you for letting me know. I don't want to put you in a difficult position. Please use this money to buy me a pot of good wine to warm me up. I will leave as soon as I find the hairpin."

Having received the reward money and seeing her noble status, the guard dared not obstruct her any further, and instructed her, "My lord, please be careful and return quickly."

He then left with the other arriving guards.

Shen Yiqiu watched the guard walk away, but did not actually go looking for any hairpin.

She observed her surroundings, found a more secluded alleyway to hide herself, and waited until the guard's figure completely disappeared before quietly circling back to the front of the Zhuxuan Palace.

Squeak!

She forcefully pushed open the heavy, rust-covered vermilion palace gate.

The door hinges creaked as they turned, the sound particularly jarring in the quiet night.

The scene inside the palace was even more dilapidated and desolate than it appeared from the outside.

Spiderwebs covered the beams and pillars, and the air was filled with a strong smell of dampness and mildew, mixed with a pungent stench of decay.

The wind howled through the dilapidated window sill, sounding eerie and mournful. Upon closer listening, it truly resembled a woman's low weeping, sending chills down one's spine.

The most shocking sight was at the entrance, where two skeletons lay prostrate on the ground, their arms stretched out forward with their jagged fingers gripping the door panel tightly.

The heavy wooden door was covered with countless deep scratches, as if it was desperately trying to escape this place even in its last moments.

Even though Shen Yiqiu was used to seeing mountains of corpses and seas of blood on the frontier, he couldn't help but shiver at this moment and subconsciously covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve.

She crouched down, removed the silver hairpin from her hair, and carefully moved one of the skeletons.

The bones did not show any of the specific lesions commonly seen in plague patients, and...

A glance at the corner of the palace wall revealed several medicinal herbs that were quite effective in treating the plague. If it were a true outbreak of plague, would the palace allow such life-saving herbs to grow there?

This claim about the plague is indeed full of loopholes.

Just as she was engrossed in examining the skeleton, a piercing scream suddenly came from behind her.

Startled, Shen Yiqiu jumped up and turned around instantly, the dagger already held defensively in front of her chest.

A disheveled, ragged figure lunged forward like a madwoman, but her target was not Shen Yiqiu; instead, she rushed straight for the skeleton in front of her.

The woman threw herself onto the skeleton and wept, her hands trembling as she stroked the white bones, muttering incoherently:

"They're all dead...they're all dead...they died so tragically..."

Shen Yiqiu stood quietly to one side, holding a dagger, observing intently.

The woman suddenly raised her head, and the face revealed through her disheveled hair stunned even the well-traveled Shen Yiqiu.

A huge cross was slashed across her face from left to right with a sharp blade. The wound had long since scabbed over and fallen off, leaving a hideous scar that had completely disfigured her.

However, one could vaguely tell from her facial features that she was not very old and was definitely not the old nanny the Crown Prince was looking for.

The disfigured woman suddenly grabbed Shen Yiqiu's wrist, as if grasping at a lifeline:

"Are you here to take me out? You've finally come! I've been waiting for you here for so, so long!"

Shen Yiqiu knew she was disoriented, so she softened her voice and gently coaxed her:

"Yes, I'm here to take you away. But I need to verify your identity first. Who are you?"

The words had barely left her lips when they provoked the woman. She abruptly shook off Shen Yiqiu's hand, pointed at her, and burst into maniacal laughter:

"It's fake! You're fake! You didn't come to pick me up!"

She immediately covered her head and shrank into a corner in terror:

"You're here to kill me! It's him! He hired you to kill me, didn't he?"

Shen Yiqiu was anxious. In the distance, the light of torches and the sound of footsteps were approaching, and the patrol team was about to arrive.

If we let her scream like that, we'll inevitably be exposed.

"I won't hurt you, I really came to get you out of here!"

Shen Yiqiu tried to calm her down, but the woman was too frightened to communicate and her cries became increasingly shrill.

The torchlight drew closer, and Shen Yiqiu's forehead broke out in a fine sweat.

At this critical moment, from deep within the hall, an aged voice resounded:

"Sister Niu, Sister Niu...come in, come in quickly..."