Chapter 42: The Actor Who Suffers the Consequences of His Evil Becomes Possessed by a Ghost
Luo Qingling paused, looking around. She was alone in the corridor, unnoticed. She leaned against the wall, listening intently as the two men in the room continued their conversation.
"Back then, my colleague and General Luo were quite close. Before the battle, he warned General Luo not to trust that man. But who knew..." The woman sighed mid-sentence. "Now, nearly twenty years have passed. Those who deserved death are all dead. Even if they were still alive, they would have already planned everything. How could General Luo turn things around?"
"Yes, everyone in the capital knows that General Luo was a very good man in his day. His current fate is truly lamentable," another person echoed. "We can only hope that Prince Rong An can find some clues during his southern tour and redress General Luo's injustice."
Aye just accidentally killed someone, so how can there be any injustice?
Luo Qingling suddenly felt a chill run through his body, as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. His feet were icy cold and he couldn't move. Could it be that Aye hadn't been accidentally murdered, but rather framed? Listening to the two people's words, it seemed that many people in the capital knew that this was a wrongful case. Why hadn't anyone spoken up for Aye, allowing him to be wrongly accused for over a decade and still unable to return to the capital?
Now that my father is seriously ill, if he is not transferred back to the capital for treatment, he will probably die in a foreign land! Thinking of this, Luo Qingling turned and ran towards the horse farm.
The early spring wind was still a little cold, bringing fine icy rain across his cheeks. Luo Qingling didn't care about the stinging on his face. All he wanted was to find Qin Yanheng and go south with him to find out what happened that year as soon as possible so as to clear his father's name.
The rain was falling heavily, and red mud was splashing everywhere under my feet, with a few drops sticking to the hem of my skirt.
Not far away, outside the horse farm gate, a carriage flying the flag of the Prince's Palace was about to turn around and leave. Luo Qingling quickened his pace to catch up.
Inside the carriage.
Qin Yanheng was dozing with his eyes closed, and the tea and snacks on the table were motionless.
Today, while playing polo, all he could think about was that golden jade marriage stone. It was such a bummer! He might as well go home and have someone bring out the jars of wine buried under the tree so he can have a few good drinks to get rid of the evil spirits!
He must have been catching demons recently and gotten into some evil spirits, otherwise why would he have such a dream? As for the Golden Jade Marriage Stone, he admitted that he was indeed a piece of gold and jade. After all, he was born into an imperial family and was naturally the most noble person in the world. How could such a peerless little prince be conquered by a piece of jade? It was a joke. Qin Yanheng would not believe what those immortals said.
"Your Highness—"
The carriage stopped abruptly, and Qin Yanheng, not paying attention, nearly rushed out of the curtain. He frowned, rubbed his forehead, and raised his hand to open the curtain. Outside, Luo Qingling stood in front of the carriage with his arms outstretched, shouting at him regardless of the others trying to stop him.
"Your Highness," Luo Qingling took a breath and smiled slightly as she saw the curtain being lifted and Qin Yanheng's face appeared behind it. Her eyes were bright. "Your Highness... I have thought of a way to deal with the Golden Dragon Sword."
*
Racecourse Tea House.
"Is this the solution you mentioned?"
Qin Yanheng looked at the girl in front of him suspiciously. The latter had a firm expression and did not seem to think that his proposal was outrageous. He had to confirm again: "Do you know what you mean?"
"Of course!" Luo Qingling nodded vigorously. "Since the Golden Dragon Sword's shackles can't be undone anytime soon, why don't you and I go on a southern tour together? Who knows, maybe we can stumble upon a solution along the way? Besides, the Saint will issue an order to depart soon. If we still can't undone the shackles by then, and the Saint blames us, what will you do, Your Highness?"
Qin Yanheng's headache grew worse with each successive question. Luo Qingling was right; the Southern Tour couldn't be delayed. Furthermore, the Sage was plotting something, and even he didn't know the full extent of it. Any further delay would likely incur the Sage's displeasure. While his father doted on him greatly on a daily basis, he was a different person when it came to serious matters.
But… Qin Yanheng paused and suddenly raised his eyes. Why was she so eager to go on the southern tour with him?
Qin Yanheng grasped the key point and, while sipping his tea, he subtly glanced at her a few times, unable to discern any clues. Could it be that she already knew about the Golden Jade Marriage Stone and was eager to "subdue" him?
Forget it, not to mention whether the relationship between gold and jade is true or false, whether Luo Qingling is the jade is still debatable. If she wants to take the opportunity of the southern tour to subdue him, there is no way!
She must be anxious to take a step further with me... Qin Yanheng thought so.
"But if it's a southern tour, what's your reason to go with me?" he asked.
This question stumped her.
Luo Qingling pondered for a moment. She was just a girl from the Luo family who had come to the capital for a banquet and would soon be leaving for the frontier. It would be unacceptable for her to suddenly disappear. Furthermore, her aunt, Zhao Luoshi, was not someone to be trifled with. She had to come up with a foolproof excuse that would not allow people to associate her with Qin Yanheng, while also allowing her to quietly leave the capital.
Inside the tea room, the two were silent, each with their own thoughts.
Qin Yanheng carefully observed Luo Qingling's expression, not missing a single subtle change. The girl's eyebrows knitted together slightly, and the corners of her mouth, usually raised, were now slightly curved, as if she were pondering something difficult.
The drizzle outside the window had stopped, and the warm sun quietly shone into the room, reflecting on the girl's face. Her skin was as white as snow and jade. If she was really a piece of jade as the immortal said, then she was indeed worthy of the name.
The high-pitched music in the theater suddenly brought Qin Yanheng back to his senses. He was about to say something when he heard a commotion next door, accompanied by several screams.
The two people in the room looked at each other, and both saw the coldness in each other's eyes.
Oh no! There must be another monster!
*
theater.
The gorgeously dressed actor on the stage opened his mouth slightly and sang a sad tune.
What was strange was that the actor's eyes popped out and blood flowed from his eye sockets, but he was still dancing without noticing. He circled his fingers, turned sideways, and walked back and forth in front of everyone with small steps. There was a sharp knife stuck in his back, and the gushing blood dyed his costume red.
"The creditor comes to claim his life, the gluttonous prince buries himself in the flowers, the official is not ordinary, the peach and willow trees of early spring chase the east wind."
The actor's voice was shrill, and halfway through, it suddenly changed from male to female, with a hint of desolation, and even in the faint sunshine after the rain, it could still convey a sense of horror. The other actors on the stage saw this and were stunned and at a loss as to what to do.
It was clearly a sad drama, how come it suddenly turned into a murderous ghost?
The audience hadn't reacted yet, thinking it was just a plot orchestrated by the troupe. Duan Qingyi was the first to notice something was amiss. She stood up, pointed at the actor with bloodshot eyes, and shouted, "Can't you see? He's been possessed by a ghost!"
"Hurry up and save them——"
The theater was in chaos. Someone suddenly remembered that Qin Yanheng was also playing polo at the racecourse next door. Someone shouted, "Go and get Prince Rong An over here! He'll definitely be able to solve this!"
A black shadow flashed by, and Qin Yanheng stood on the stage with his arms folded across his chest, quietly watching the actor who was still singing.
Perhaps because he was going to play polo today, Qin Yanheng specially wore a Hu suit in the morning. The narrow sleeves had dark gold patterns on them, which made him look even more youthful.
Qin Yanheng took out a talisman from somewhere and threw it at the possessed actor. The melody suddenly stopped, and the actor slowly turned around and looked at him, with a smile on his lips growing wider.
"One song, one sigh, tell the whole story of the panic in the world..." The actor continued to sing, his steps becoming faster and faster.
"Who on earth is playing tricks here? Come over here quickly!"
Qin Yanheng took a quick step forward and grabbed the actor's neck. He made a hand gesture with his right hand and tried to forcibly pull the ghost out of the actor's body. Unexpectedly, the actor suddenly twitched and fell to the ground unconscious.
"The actor is dead!"
Someone inside the theater shouted, and everyone screamed and fled. Luo Qingling went against the crowd to find Duan Qingyi. The two of them quickly walked over to Qin Yanheng's side. Qin Yanheng half-crouched in front of the actor, staring for a moment before looking up at Luo Qingling, a look of helplessness on his face.
"The ghost that suddenly possessed me is gone," Qin Yanheng said coldly. He really didn't know why, ever since he met Luo Qingling, monsters kept appearing around them. This was already the third one.
"Young Prince, the actor is still alive." Luo Qingling half-knelt down and stretched out his hand to feel the actor's breath, then raised his eyes and said, "Why don't we heal the actor first and make plans after he wakes up."
Qin Yanheng nodded, tacitly allowing Luo Qingling to order his followers.
"Greetings, Prince Rong'an. I will take people to carry the actor to the clinic for treatment." The theater owner was extremely uneasy, but he still walked forward and bowed to Qin Yanheng. Then he glanced at the girl in pink skirt beside Prince Rong'an, and was confused about her identity.
"These talismans can calm souls. Take them, troupe owner. If anything happens, just send someone to the prince's mansion to find me." Qin Yanheng took out the talismans from his sleeve and handed them to the theater owner. After leaving a word, he took Luo Qingling away.
Although Qin Yanheng is a prince, he is the Taoist's only disciple in the world after all. If a monster appears in the capital, he must not stand idly by.
In front of the carriage.
Luo Qingling looked up at Qin Yanheng and couldn't help but speak out what was in his mind.
"Young Prince, do you feel that we have been encountering monsters too frequently recently? Is there something strange going on?" Luo Qingling felt uneasy. His hand hidden in his sleeve secretly stroked the blade of the Golden Dragon Sword. The raised lines on that sword were a little scratchy.
"I have mentioned to you that the Golden Dragon Sword is a treasure from the fairyland. It is natural that it will be coveted by monsters when it falls into the human world. Madam Luo has no Taoist magic skills, and yet she has a fairy item in her hand. Who else will those monsters go after if not you?" Qin Yanheng looked at Luo Qingling silently, his expression somewhat helpless.
"It was this Golden Dragon Sword that inexplicably recognized me as its master. It wasn't me who wanted to..." Luo Qingling stopped talking midway.
For some reason, she suddenly recalled the dream she had in the Xiangshan Temple pagoda the previous day, and she couldn't help but have other guesses. Although she didn't understand the relationship between the Golden Jade Marriage Stone and the Golden Dragon Sword, she felt that there must be some connection between herself and Qin Yanheng's sword.
Otherwise, why would Qin Yanheng's sword recognize her as its master when they first met?
Luo Qingling couldn't figure it out. She glanced at Qin Yanheng, who also looked like he had a headache, and then turned and left.
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