shadow

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"What are you saying? But I think the main courtyard is more suitable. The prime minister is right next door, and Ah Shi is across the street. I can open the window and say hello every morning when I get up. Isn't that great?"

“This…” the butler frowned, “Then… let it be as Miss Xu wishes.”

We then moved into the Prime Minister's residence without any fuss.

In the evening, the three of us were having dinner together when the Prime Minister asked me, "You're moving to the Prime Minister's residence. Have you informed your household supervisor about it?"

I pursed my lips: "No..."

"Hmph... What about the other people from the Imperial Observatory? Do they all know to come to the Prime Minister's residence when they need to see you?"

“Uh…” I fell silent.

The prime minister snorted again: "Then why are you still eating here? Hurry up and go back to the palace to say hello."

"Oh..." I gave Muli an awkward smile, then got up and headed to the palace.

When I told him I was moving to the Prime Minister's residence, the Supervisor nodded: "Great, I'll go with you then, it'll be easier to find us later..."

"Oh? You're going to the Prime Minister's residence too?"

"Me too, me too!" Xu Baohe chimed in from the side, "I'll go too."

“You can’t do it…” Supervisor Chao Baohe shook his head: “You have to stay in the Imperial Observatory. If anything happens in the future, you can keep an eye on things.”

“Me?” Baohe pointed to himself: “I’m such a small person, who can I take care of? I’m counting on Xu Yi to take care of me!”

The supervisor did not answer, but pointed to the servants beside him and said, "Go and call that new guy from the Five Nether Sect over."

The servant bowed and replied, and after a short while, he brought over the cultivator from the Five Netherworlds Sect. He bowed to the Supervisor and said, "Supervisor," then turned to me and said, "Miss Xu," and finally cupped his hands to Baohe and said, "Baohe."

"What? You call yourself 'Supervisor,' and you call yourself Miss Xu Yi, but when it comes to me you're called 'Protecting Harmony'?"

“Hey…” the supervisor interrupted Baohe: “Xu Baohe, you and he are of the same rank, it’s normal for him to call you Baohe.”

After finishing speaking, the supervisor asked the cultivator from the Five Netherworld Sect, "What's your name?"

"My name is Wu Qing."

"Oh, Wu Qing, Xu Yi and I will be away for a while, so you and Xu Baohe will keep watch over the Imperial Observatory. If you have any questions or are unsure of what to do, you can come to the Prime Minister's residence to find us."

"Yes," Wu Qing nodded, "This junior understands."

Bao He objected: "What do you mean I have to guard the Imperial Observatory with him? I want to go with Xu Yi..."

The supervisor glanced at Bao He and said, "Xu Yi only has the Imperial Observatory as her home now. Aren't you going to stay home and take care of her?"

“Uh…” Baohe was silent for a while, then nodded after a long while: “Alright then, I’ll guard the Imperial Observatory.”

After saying that, she pouted and came over, tugging at my skirt: "Xu Yi, come back soon! Come in and see me anytime."

“Okay,” I squatted down and patted Baohe’s head. “Good boy, we’ll come back as soon as possible and we’ll definitely try our best to find you.”

“Alright,” Baohe nodded, then dashed back to his well, leaving only the faint yellow glow of the lamp slowly emerging from the well.

Baohe seemed sad. I frowned and looked at the supervisor, who shook his head slightly at me.

After the Imperial Censor and I boarded the carriage leaving the palace, I asked him, "Imperial Censor, why did you leave Baohe in the palace?"

"Why should I?" The Director of the Imperial Observatory rolled his eyes at me. "You won't be staying at the Imperial Observatory for long. How long can this old body of mine last? How am I supposed to retire if I don't find someone to succeed me?"

"Huh? You plan to let Xu Baohe inherit the Imperial Observatory?"

“No, Baohe is a spirit, he can’t appear in public, but he can help the successive directors of the Imperial Observatory, so it can be considered a peaceful end for him…” At this point, the director glanced at me and said, “He can’t leave the capital with you either. If you don’t arrange a way out for him, how will you leave?”

Uh... I guess you have to admit that experience matters. They've started planning this early.

So in the end, we gave the room in the main courtyard to the supervisor, and Muri and I moved into the courtyard next door.

When they went over for dinner that evening, the supervisor kept praising, "Oh, this dish is delicious, this one is delicious too..."

It added a touch of liveliness.

In the evening, the people playing chess became the supervisor and the prime minister.

Muli and I sat down next to them and watched them play chess.

Not long after, Wu Qing arrived with Bao He.

When the servants from the Prime Minister's residence brought the two of them over, I was surprised: "Neither of you were at the Imperial Observatory?"

Wu Qing first bowed to the people around him before looking at me: "Miss Xu, there's something strange at the examination hall."

"What? What's wrong?"

Baohe jumped to my side and nodded, "Yes, today when we were patrolling the capital using the Water Moon Mirror as usual, we saw a faint layer of blackish-gray aura near the Examination Hall..."

"The Examination Hall?" I couldn't sit still any longer and looked at the Prime Minister: "A-Shi..."

The prime minister's eyes flashed with sharpness: "I never expected he would even tamper with the examination hall!"

"I'll take Baohe over there to take a look first." After saying that, I looked at the supervisor.

The supervisor nodded: "You take Baohe and go ahead first. Wu Qing will return to the Imperial Observatory to oversee things."

At this moment, the prime minister stopped us: "You must not give in. Since the crown prince dared to make trouble in the examination hall, he must be confident that you cannot interfere. He may even be targeting you. If you go, you will only give him a reason to smear you."

"Then what should we do?"

The prime minister began pacing back and forth, his voice slow and deliberate: "We cannot act rashly on this matter, but we must plant a seed so that it may be investigated later..."

At this moment, the Director of the Imperial Observatory stepped forward and said, "In that case, Wu Qing, you should go to the palace immediately and, in your capacity as the supervisor of the Imperial Observatory, report to His Majesty that there is something amiss at the Imperial Examination Hall. Bring the Water Mirror with you."

"Yes," Wu Qing nodded and immediately headed back to the palace.

"But we still can't be sure if Ah Shi is alright, since we don't know what that dark gray thing is..."

“Why don’t I go?” Baohe said, standing on my shoulder. “I’ll go and see for myself. Mortals can’t see me anyway.”

"But the Crown Prince's men know you, and they're afraid they'll capture you while I'm gone..."

“Use the shadow,” the supervisor said. “Let the shadow scout ahead.”

"Yes, and there's a shadow too," I quickly nodded. "Okay, then I'll leave it to the supervisor."

The supervisor nodded, took out the old purse, extracted a wisp of ghostly energy from it, which transformed into a mirror, and explained to us, "This mirror can transmit back what the shadow sees in real time."

Then I saw a figure emerge from the purse and speed towards the examination hall.

The shadow in the mirror passed through the crowd and arrived safely at the examination hall. Then, following the night patrol, it slowly found Ah Shi.

Ah Shi was covered in cold sweat, his eyes were unfocused, and his hand holding the pen was trembling uncontrollably, he hesitated to write...

"What's going on?"

The supervisor squinted: "It seems that he is blinded by ghostly energy and cannot see, so he dares not put pen to paper."

"What should we do? We can't get in from here either!"

The supervisor didn't speak. The next second, the shadow that was still lying prone sprang up and leaped over A-Shi's head. I clearly saw the shadow swallow something. Then, A-Shi, who was sitting at the desk, suddenly had clear eyes and quickly began to write furiously...

"What...did the shadow eat?"

At this moment, Ah Shi hugged my neck and stammered, "It eats ghost energy!"

I turned my head and saw that Ah Shi's legs were trembling a little, so I comforted him, "It won't eat you, don't worry."

"No, Xu Yi, do you understand? I feel like it can eat anything! Maybe it can even eat your bones!"

"It stayed under my feet before and I didn't see it eat my ghost energy, so it should be fine."

At this moment, the supervisor coughed and said, "Well, since there's a shadow guarding Ah Shi, there's no need to worry. It accepts anyone who comes."

"It accepts anything? So it can eat anything?"

The supervisor didn't answer me; he just turned around and went back to his room to rest, muttering, "I'm so tired..."

The prime minister smiled, stretched, and said, "It's getting late, I'm going to rest now. Please make yourselves at home." Then he left.

Muli also took my hand: "Let's go, Xu Yi, this matter is temporarily over, let's go and rest."

Baohe then asked me, "Xu Yi, I haven't explored the Prime Minister's residence yet. May I walk around a bit?"

“Where are you going? You,” I nodded to Baohe, “you should also hurry back to the Imperial Observatory. If there are any unusual developments, you can come and contact us immediately.”

"Okay..." Baohe was listless, but he still obediently went back on his own.

I kept sensing the location of Baohe until I felt it had returned to the Imperial Observatory, then I breathed a sigh of relief and rested with Muli in my arms.

I had another dream last night. In the dream, I was actually seeing things from the shadow's perspective. I could see myself sitting behind Ah Shi, and I could feel that the shadow had eaten a lot and was quite full...

I glanced at Ah Shi, who was still working hard ahead of me, and could only sigh, "This kid is really working hard."

So I retreated again. The next day, when it was broad daylight, I first checked the situation on the shadow's side, and then checked Baohe's condition, before being dragged out of bed by Muli...

The supervisor and the prime minister are already eating breakfast, and they look like they'll be finishing soon.

The prime minister glanced at me briefly and said, "Ah Shi is coming out today. I will meet you after court. You can go ahead first."

"Alright, Ah Shi won't be out until late tonight, right?" I looked at Mu Li: "Mu Li, are there any customs or traditions we need to follow when welcoming people back from the imperial examinations?"

“The scientific expedition lasts for three days, and the students eat very little during these three days. We can bring some pastries to pick him up.”

"Okay, let's go out and find some good food to take to him."

I was patrolling the streets with Muli, looking for good food, when I heard Muli whisper in my ear, "Xu Yi, that woman in the pink dress over there is the Crown Princess."

The Crown Princess? I looked over curiously and saw the Crown Princess coming out of a clinic. I immediately understood what she had come to see.

He quickly ran over to the Crown Princess and said, "Miss, I might be able to help you with your troubles."

He paused as he was boarding the carriage, then entered.

The maidservant standing nearby came over and shoved me, saying, "What do you, a lowly commoner, know? How dare you say you can solve it?"

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