"Wanwan, what are you doing?" Qi Sichen followed behind Lin Wanyue, somewhat puzzled.

Lin Wanyue crouched down and crawled under the small table, sticking a talisman on the bottom of the table.

Qi Sichen, watching from behind, was completely baffled and followed behind her to protect her.

Lin Wanyue crawled out from under the table. Fortunately, the people serving in the palace had cleaned it very well, and there was not a speck of dirt under the table.

However, Qi Sichen still seemed a little bothered, so he took out his small handkerchief and wiped her face: "Hasn't Liu Shuhua already been dealt with? Why do we still need to use talismans?"

And it was hidden away like this.

Qi Sichen had already instructed Eunuch Liu to prepare another palace room for His Majesty to stay in temporarily, and even the servants had been replaced.

But Lin Wanyue's continued cautiousness was rather strange.

"Achoo—" Lin Wanyue touched her nose, sneezed loudly, and took the small handkerchief that Qi Sichen handed her. She wiped her nose before answering, "Because she's strange."

"What makes you say that?" Qi Sichen frowned, puzzled.

Lin Wanyue's beautiful eyes rolled around as she searched for a place to hide the talisman.

She had carefully hidden talismans in all the vases, in the soil of the potted plants, under the table, in the drawers, under the bed, and in the middle of the gauze curtains, just in case she missed any and didn't have enough when she needed them urgently.

Hearing Qi Sichen's question, she became more serious and answered, "If a person's soul leaves their body after death, they will most likely become a ghost. But if they have just died and something unexpected happens, they might become a zombie, but this is extremely rare!"

"Moreover, even if one becomes a zombie, being exposed to the sun would render them essentially useless. But this Consort Liu is different; she is neither a ghost nor a zombie."

"You mean..." Qi Sichen asked tentatively. He didn't really understand things like Taoist magic, but since Lin Wanyue brought it up, he felt there must be a reason behind it.

Lin Wanyue nodded firmly and said, "That's right, just as you think, she's a puppet."

Qi Sichen slightly opened his mouth, "Huh?"

His face was full of confusion, and he could only stare at Lin Wanyue.

"I had previously guessed that she was controlled by a Gu poison or a ghost king, otherwise how could she run out in broad daylight and move so freely? I just couldn't figure out what she really was."

"Later, she burned to death, and I collected her ashes, only to find out that she was actually a puppet." Lin Wanyue recounted in detail, "A few days ago, His Majesty sent me some very beautiful and exquisite silk figurines. These silk figurines were made with lead wire as the skeleton and cotton as the flesh and blood. Because of their exquisite workmanship, they looked almost lifelike."

"If an ordinary person were to be burned to death and cremated, it would take at least half an hour, or even more than an hour. Even then, it would be impossible for the bones of the body to be completely burned away."

“But we all saw it just now. Although the fire was powerful, it couldn’t have burned all of a person’s bones in just half an hour, leaving not even a skull, but all of them pulverized into dust,” Lin Wanyue explained in detail.

Qi Sichen wasn't stupid; he understood immediately upon hearing this. "So, when you saw those powders earlier, you already guessed that she might be made of wood? Or cotton?"

At this point, Lin Wanyue scratched her head a little embarrassedly, "Hehe, actually I still don't know what she's made of."

Although Lin Wanyue had learned some Taoist arts, she was not very proficient in them. Moreover, puppetry was a heretical art, so how could someone like her, a righteous daughter of the Heavenly Dao, possibly learn it?

However, Qi Sichen had already followed this line of thought and continued to think on his own, saying with some excitement, "Since she is made by a puppet, there must be someone behind her, so you are now trying to prevent that person from doing so?"

"Godfather is so smart!" Lin Wanyue gave him two thumbs up without reservation, her praise genuine.

Qi Sichen's thoughts were the same as hers.

"Ahem..." Qi Sichen was a little embarrassed by the praise, and smiled and said, "It's all thanks to our Wanwan's cleverness that she came up with this. I originally thought she was just a ghost, and that she was unwilling to accept the death of her son, so she wanted to stay in this world."

Unexpectedly, this monster was just being used by someone.

However, in the end, the person behind the scenes was still not brought out; they were really well hidden.

Qi Sichen pondered what kind of purpose the person behind this was that was so deeply hidden, and that they even controlled such a powerful monster as Liu Shuhua!

I wonder how many powerful puppets like Liu Shuhua he has.

Today's events were extremely dangerous. If Lin Wanyue hadn't stopped him, Qi Sichen would have known very clearly that even if he withdrew a large number of imperial guards to protect the emperor, it would have been useless, just thinking about the two guards whose lives were instantly drained by Liu Shuhua.

The more he thought about it, the more terrified he became, and his incomparably handsome face grew increasingly gloomy.

Seeing her godfather's face growing increasingly grim, his beautiful brows furrowed tightly, Lin Wanyue used her dusty hands to gently pull them away, asking, "Godfather, why are you so angry?"

"I'm not angry. I just can't understand why they didn't make a move before, given their abilities." Qi Sichen's expression calmed down slightly.

Lin Wanyue couldn't understand it either.

Judging from Liu Shuhua's demeanor today, if she were to suddenly launch an attack, even Lin Wanyue might not be able to save the emperor in an emergency.

Lin Wanyue comforted Qi Sichen, saying, "Perhaps they have some concerns and can't act rashly. In that case, Godfather, you don't need to worry."

“That’s absolutely right. My Wanwan is so smart.” Qi Sichen rubbed Lin Wanyue’s head, and seeing that things were almost packed up, he carried her back to the banquet hall.

...

When the two returned, they were hoping to catch one last glimpse of the Hu women's dance.

But they arrived rather late; the ministers had already left in twos and threes, and the dancing women had all withdrawn.

I happened to run into Qi Yuan, who looked rather sullen, at the entrance.

"Uncle, Wanwan, where did you two go? Why are you only coming back now?" Qi Yuan's eyes lit up as he watched the two of them run over, but he was also a little unhappy. These two had actually abandoned him. He pouted.

Seeing him like this, Qi Sichen reached out and scraped his lips, saying, "You have no dignity whatsoever for His Majesty."

"Uncle, where did you go today? Why are you back so late?" Qi Yuan pressed on.