Chapter 16 Little did they know, within their bodies…

Little did they know, behind them lay...

The closed door to the clean room opened silently by itself.

A long figure slowly walked towards them from the dimly lit corridor. It was Lu Hun, who was holding a bamboo-ribbed paper umbrella. Upon seeing the scene before him, he stopped and stared at it quietly.

Hearing the noise, Azhu turned around in a daze. When she saw it was him, her hand gripping Wei Yin's neck trembled slightly, but she quickly went back to her madness.

"Don't think you can control me just because you have that thing. Get lost!"

Lu Hun simply looked at her indifferently, as if he couldn't see Ah Zhu's ferocity and madness at all. He lowered his eyes, expressionless, and called out.

"Po Jun".

Then, the gray-green bamboo-ribbed umbrella in his hand began to tremble violently. Starting from the handle, it emitted a dazzling green light little by little. When the green light dissipated, the umbrella had transformed into a long sword held by Lu Hun, reaching as high as his chest. The long sword was rusty and faintly green. This sword seemed to be its true form.

Then, the rusty sword called "Po Jun" suddenly unleashed an extremely powerful killing intent and pressure.

Ah Zhu, who was just moments ago in a daze and acting fiercely.

At this moment, she began to tremble all over. She was now fully awake and didn't care about anything else. All she knew was to shake off Wei Yin and run towards the high window...

But Lu Hun had no intention of letting her go. He casually tossed the sword into the room, and with a "whoosh," the sword seemed to have eyes and blocked the high window.

Ah Zhu saw this.

They had no choice but to retreat step by step.

But soon she noticed a bathtub nearby, so she immediately headed straight for it.

Lu Hun realized her thoughts and quickly said, "Po Jun, stop her."

It was too late; the Po Jun sword was too long and the clean room too narrow, so it had to turn the sword tip around.

Ah Zhu had already plunged into the water.

It disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving only the sound of water lingering there.

Lu Hun stood by the bathtub and glanced inside.

Only the rusty sword remained floating on top.

He reached out and pulled the sword out of the water.

Wei Yin stared blankly at the long sword in his hand. Even from a distance, he could feel the sword's murderous aura, as if it had drunk the blood of countless lives. Lu Hun ignored him and wiped the water stains off the sword with his sleeve. Then, he uttered a low "Po Jun" and the sword transformed back into the gray-green bamboo umbrella that he always carried.

Wei Yin slumped limply to the ground, too lazy to even get up, and simply remained kneeling there, not moving. "A-Zhu, she..."

“She ran away.” He said in a hoarse voice. After a while, as if afraid that she would not understand, he explained, “A-Zhu is a water spirit. If she comes into contact with water, her ghostly energy will be greatly amplified in a short period of time, making it very easy for her to escape.”

Wei Yin nodded blankly, her voice sounding weak.

"I only saved Afu, and she's so vengeful that she's even come all the way here..."

At this moment, Lu Hun finally turned around and looked at her. Because she was going to take a bath, Wei Yin had taken off her outer skirt and was now only wearing a silk dress underneath. Due to the previous commotion, two of the ribbons on the soft silk dress had come undone, revealing a large area of ​​fair skin from her neck to her collarbone. Upon seeing this, he quickly turned his head away.

"You... put on your clothes before you come out."

As he spoke, he stepped out first.

Wei Yin didn't notice whether her clothes were loose or not. Her mind was full of the frightening experience just now. When she heard this, she remembered that she was still covered in sweat. She couldn't stand it. Although she was a little scared, she still gritted her teeth and washed herself while the water in the bath was still hot. Then, she quickly put on the clean clothes that the maid had prepared and went out.

At this moment, all the candles in the room had been extinguished, and the moonlight had also disappeared, making the entire clean room so dark that one could hardly see their hand in front of their face.

Looking around at the pitch blackness, and unable to discern the path beneath her feet, she glanced towards what seemed to be the doorway. The door appeared to be partially closed by Lu Hun, making it even darker. But she dared not say anything to a ghost, so she could only grope her way out.

The path outside the clean room was also pitch black.

I stumbled and bumped my knees on something several times, I don’t even know what it was.

As I was walking, I suddenly noticed something soft and long sticking out in front of my face.

She paused for a moment, then heard Lu Hun's soft voice coming from half a step in front of her: "Lead this one."

Wei Yin tried to touch it and realized that it was a ribbon from the back of Lu Hun's handkerchief. The ribbon was long enough to reach below his waist. Wei Yin understood that he had realized she couldn't see the road, and that he wanted her to hold onto his ribbon to get out.

A strange feeling arose in her heart.

He wrapped the ribbon around his wrist twice.

The ribbons on the handkerchief were made of rough, stiff linen, which chafed her skin.

Wei Yin was looking down at the ribbons when, unexpectedly, she heard a soft chirping sound, somewhat like the sparks flying when two swords clashed together. Almost instinctively, she stopped in her tracks: "Lu Lu Lu Lu Lu Lu Hun!"

Lu Hun: "Hmm?"

"Did you hear anything?"

The footsteps in front stopped, and after a moment, the boy's soft voice explained, "It's nothing, it's Po Jun calling."

Wei Yin let out a sound of surprise.

"Po Jun appeared today, and I was quite happy, so I made a bit of a fuss."

"Po Jun?"

The boy paused for a moment before continuing, "Shortly after my death, His Majesty returned to the capital from his northern expedition and happened to pass by my grave. At that time, the northern barbarians had been almost pacified. His Majesty felt that he had been too bloodthirsty with Po Jun for the past ten years and should not commit further killings in his later years. He also heard about my sudden death back then, so he simply buried Po Jun next to my grave, so that if there was any injustice, I could use Po Jun to clear my name."

Wei Yin then suddenly remembered that she had indeed heard her father say that the Emperor once had a personal sword called "Po Jun" that accompanied him on his campaigns in the south and north for many years. However, he did not know where it went. He thought it had been put into the inner palace and sealed away. It turned out that the Emperor had buried it in Lu Hun Tomb.

As Lu Hun said before, becoming a ghost after death requires a certain opportunity. It was because the emperor buried the Po Jun sword in Lu Hun's grave that Lu Hun was able to become a ghost by taking advantage of the situation. The Po Jun sword was a precious sword that followed the emperor in his conquests day and night, drinking its fill of blood and becoming covered in the evil aura of the dead.

However, upon hearing Lu Hun's last words, her heart skipped a beat.

To clear one's name?

Could it be that what Granny Lu said about being murdered was actually true?

But Wei Yin didn't dare to ask, and only muttered to herself.

“Because both Po Jun and your amulet belong to the Emperor, the amulet has no effect on me.” Lu Hun seemed to lower his head, his voice sounding as calm as death: “Po Jun has been with the Emperor for many years, possessing a deep-seated killing intent; ordinary ghosts are very afraid of it…”

Wei Yin suddenly realized, no wonder!

No wonder the amulet was of no use to him.

As she spoke, Wei Yin gradually recovered from her earlier fright and, without realizing it, groped her way out of the darkness of the clean room.

Lanterns, still lit, gradually appeared beneath our feet, illuminating the path.

Wei Yin could see the road again, and quickly and quietly loosened the ribbon of his handkerchief. Lu Hun seemed not to notice and continued to walk forward with his umbrella.

They had only taken two steps when they saw Chen Xuanhua lying in a corridor.

Chen Xuanhua kept his eyes tightly closed, still clutching Wei Yin's amulet in his hand.

Wei Yin immediately said, "This is my husband's cousin. She came over while I was bathing just now and wanted to see my amulet. Suddenly, she snatched it from my neck..."

Lu Hun remained silent, stepped forward, and stared intently before taking the amulet from Chen Xuanhua's hand and handing it to Wei Yin: "She must have been bewitched by Azhu."

“Ah Zhu knows the power of the amulet. If we don’t take your amulet away, she can’t get close to you. Somehow, she bewitched your husband’s cousin and made her take it. But it’s alright, she just fainted. Go and send someone to take her back to her room.”

Wei Yin nodded and was about to call someone to send Chen Xuanhua back to the west courtyard when she saw Liu Mama, who had heard the commotion, stride over from the back door.

Lu Hun had not expected that Granny Liu would suddenly appear here. He tried to hide himself, but it was obviously too late. He had never liked to have contact with strangers, so he stepped away from Chen Xuanhua and used the Po Jun umbrella to cover most of his face.

At first, Granny Liu thought Wei Yin was with He Wenqing, but when she got closer, she realized that the person standing behind Wei Yin was not the eldest son, but the young master who had just arrived at the mansion that day. She couldn't help but look at him strangely several times. This young master was indeed strange. He always liked to carry an umbrella, whether it was day or night, so she still couldn't see what he looked like.

However, when she noticed Chen Xuanhua lying unconscious on the ground, her attention was immediately diverted.

"Good heavens, Miss Biao, what's wrong? What happened? No wonder I heard strange noises coming from the back door earlier..."

Wei Yin was afraid of frightening the wet nurse, so she didn't mention what had just happened. She only said, "Xuanhua came to bring me food just now. When I came out after bathing, I saw her faint here. I guess she must have been exhausted these past two days. Wet nurse, please find someone to take her home."

Knowing that Chen Xuanhua was always in poor health, Granny Liu didn't think much of it when she heard this and quickly called someone to take Chen Xuanhua back to the west courtyard.

Granny Liu also had to go and see, and then she would have to tell Madam He and He Wenqing about it. Just before leaving, Granny Liu remembered her important matter and said, "Oh, right, young mistress, when I came in from the back door just now, I saw a farmer coming to our mansion looking for a lady. The farmer looked rushed and something seemed off. He smelled strongly of smoke. I heard the commotion and hurried over, but I haven't had a chance to ask yet. I don't know what happened..."

A farmer?

Could it be Hu Datian?

What is he doing at the He family's house so late?

Wei Yin glanced at Lu Hun behind her with a puzzled look, "I understand, wet nurse. You can go now."

A note from the author:

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