At midnight, Qingyan forced himself to drink a pot of coffee from his spatial storage. Dressed in black night clothes, he and Fei Yanggu and others prepared to go to Liangjia Village. To avoid disturbing the disaster victims, the group did not use a carriage but walked there.

Fortunately, before leaving the capital, Yin had given her a pair of platform shoes to save face, and the rest of her shoes were replaced with soft-soled boots. The dark night sky gave the country lanes a terrifying atmosphere.

Ever since Qingyan heard what Liang Shi said, she had been feeling scared. Yin Ban pulled her forward, and his palms were sweating. She looked up and saw no trace of Guangdong or Guangxi.

The villagers have always gone to bed early and gotten up early, adjusting their schedules according to the length of the sun and the sunset, which helps save on candlelight.

"Four...Four..." Qingyan's voice trembled; she had never walked such a dark road in either of her two lives.

"Little darling, don't be afraid, come behind me!" Yin turned his head and saw that Qingyan's face was pale and her eyes were filled with fear, which worried him. He made her wrap her arms around his waist, close her eyes and hide behind him. His heart was pounding.

Chang Ning swallowed hard. Yin shouldn't have said so much to him, even if it was just his opinion, it would only add to their burden.

"Fourth brother, are you sure the village chief said the child was lost at night?" As soon as Chang Ning and his group entered the village, he felt something was wrong. Besides the excessive tranquility, he also had the illusion that someone was watching him.

As if someone was lying in ambush nearby, Qingyan sensed it and immediately used the spatial system to vigilantly survey her surroundings. She couldn't be sure where those staring gazes were coming from.

"Fourth Brother, someone is following us." Qingyan lowered his voice and spoke to Yin, as very few people here could speak Manchu.

Therefore, with Qingyan's reminder, Fei Yanggu could finally rest assured.

"Little darling, you often come here to buy things, have you noticed any suspicious people?" Chang Ning's identity was too sensitive, and Geng Shi had already clung to Chang Ning's back, not daring to show her face.

Qingyan turned her head to look at Changning, but Changning's blood-red eyes from the side made Qingyan's eyes widen.

Ah~~~~~

Qingyan's voice rose eight octaves, and she was pulled into Yin's arms, her body going limp. The moment Yin turned around, the red color disappeared.

She trembled as she pointed to the spot where the red eyes had appeared, then clung to him in terror.

"Little darling, it's alright, don't be afraid!" Yin gave Su Peisheng a look, signaling him to send his shadow guards to investigate.

Chang Ning noticed the direction Qing Yan was looking, and a chill ran down his spine; his intuition was right.

There were pairs of alert eyes watching them at all times.

"Su Peisheng, light a campfire here!" Yin refused to believe in superstitions and insisted on calming Xiao Guai down completely, as they would need her help ahead.

"Red eyes...blood red!" That unsettling gaze kept replaying in Qingyan's mind, blood red...

An ominous eye!

Besides Qingyan, these four words came to everyone's mind. Back then, many people said that when the Qing Dynasty entered the pass, the killing was too heavy. When the descendants of Aisin Gioro were on official business in Jiangnan, they would often find pairs of red eyes watching their every word and action.

The late emperor called such eyes ominous!

"Little darling, come here to Ah Hun." E Shuo didn't feel comfortable leaving her with anyone else, so he decided to let her stay by his side.

Only descendants of the Aisin Gioro clan can discover this; Xiao Guai will see it—this is...

“Qingyan is a daughter-in-law of the Aisin Gioro family, so she’s probably considered part of the family!” Changning explained.

The guards lit a bonfire, illuminating the surroundings. Qingyan quietly lifted her little head from Yin's arms and looked at the scene of the incident. Apart from some bushes, there was no one breathing, let alone a person.

"Little darling, we'll understand in a bit!" Yin firmly believed that it was just a rumor spread by many people here.

Qingyan smiled awkwardly. If it weren't for her loud voice, everyone would probably have already left this place.

The shadow guard emerged from the dense forest, carrying a mask in his hand; his eyes were red.

Immediately, Qingyan felt relieved. Everyone agreed that the rumors were probably just hearsay, and many people had not come to the South because they were afraid of these rumors.

"Sisi, once we catch this damned person, we must scare her." Qingyan was terrified and wanted to make this person experience the fear she had suffered.

Chang Ning smiled. The little guy was still soft-hearted and actually thought of scaring people first.

"He should be beaten to death!" Chang Ning said in a sinister tone, which frightened both Geng women and Qingyan.

Beaten to death!?

This was merely the easiest form of punishment from their masters, and Qingyan was terrified.

"Sixth Uncle, you're making baseless and unproven claims. You'll only scare Xiao Guai!" Yin firmly refused, and a series of hissing sounds came from the dense forest.

After her initial fear subsided, she no longer had so many thoughts on her mind.

"Fourth Master, this servant has failed in his duty and failed to capture the real culprit!" The masked guard quickly apologized. They were all from the Shadow Guard Training Camp and were basically real devils.

They are very familiar with the practices of shadow guards and would likely believe it was done by a fellow professional.

"What did you find?" Qingyan noticed Yin's furrowed brow and quickly pressed down to ask before he could, not wanting these people to be punished.

"Similar to the methods of the Shadow Guards, leaving no trace, this mask is probably a warning to Prince Cai Gong and you!" the guard respectfully reported.

Yin's method of disaster relief was not well-regarded by outsiders. If the ministers in the court heard the news, they would probably try to obstruct it. Yin was giving their money to the people.

If Emperor Kangxi saw the results of Yinzhen's work, he would surely make all regions follow suit, and then they would lose a huge amount of silver.

Thinking of this, Qingyan's eyes widened. These people only cared about themselves and didn't care about the lives of the common people.

"Arrest them." Qingyan leaned on Yin's shoulder, wanting to cover her ears first, ignoring the corrupt officials' demands.

"Princess, have some water first!" Seeing that Qingyan looked a little weak, Yin quickly gave Sulan a wink, urging Qingyan to replenish her energy.

They certainly couldn't leave the village before dawn. If they could find those missing children, it would make the villagers understand that only humans can truly become ghosts.

Qingyan took a sip of milk tea, and the cold sweat began to subside slowly.

She looked up at the sky; tonight was a perfect time to steal, there wasn't even a single star to provide light.

"Tomorrow will probably be a cloudy day!" Yin patted her little head and said something unrelated.

Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at Chang Ning. Sure enough, Chang Ning was holding Geng Shi, giving her the strength to overcome everything. (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for it on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)