Gu Zheyuan stared at the black mist swirling around the blade and suddenly burst into laughter. His laughter shook the dust off the beams. He sheathed the blade, his lazy demeanor returning to normal. "You'll be coming to the palace with me tomorrow. The Imperial Household Department is in need of a skilled fire artist who can draw talismans."
“I want to be the national teacher.”
"Okay." Gu Zheyuan hooked the jade belt around her waist and pulled it in front of her. "First, learn to dress like this eunuch—" He breathed warmly behind her ear. "For example, how about calling me 'godfather'?"
Jiang Songyi took two steps back and bumped into the rack, the chains rattling. She stared at the hem of Gu Zheyuan's gold-embroidered dragon robe, which was still stained with fresh blood. "I saved your life, and you want to make me childless?"
The candlelight flickered on Gu Zheyuan's pale face. His fingertips stroked the upside-down steel nails on the rack: "My benefactor has misunderstood. The position of the Chief Seal of the East Factory is something that many people have been vying for but cannot obtain." As he spoke, he suddenly leaned forward. Jiang Songyi pressed the back of her neck against the cold iron hook and smelled the scent of agarwood mixed with blood wafting from his sleeves.
"I'm a eunuch, and I need to thank you for your kindness?" Jiang Songyi clutched the peach wood talisman hidden in his sleeve. The day before yesterday, this eunuch lay dying in a dilapidated temple, and today he can use a living person as a teaching tool.
Gu Zheyuan chuckled softly, his gilded armor brushing against her ear. "Well, when my benefactor is desperate." Before he finished speaking, the sound of chains dragging across the floor could be heard from outside. Two guards carried the prisoner, who looked like a bloody gourd, in, leaving two dark red marks on the blue bricks.
"This is a garrote." Gu Zheyuan picked up the iron hook with his nail-stained fingertips, "Hook it to the third rib and turn it three times, and the intestines will be like spinning thread." Before he finished speaking, the person on the rack suddenly twitched and spit out blood foam, which splashed on Jiang Songyi's embroidered shoes.
She pulled her foot back abruptly, and the pearls on the toe of her shoe instantly turned red. Gu Zheyuan tutted, grabbed his python-patterned cloak, and squatted down to wipe it. Jiang Songyi took three steps back in shock: "Is the factory manager killing a chicken to scare the monkeys?"
"My benefactor, your words are hurtful." Gu Zheyuan casually threw his cloak to the guard, and the black cloth covered the bloodstains on the ground. "I just want to open the girl's eyes." As he said this, he suddenly drew the embroidered spring knife from the guard's waist. With a flash of cold light, the prisoner who was groaning just now was already beheaded.
Drops of blood rolled down the blade, creating tiny red blossoms on the blue bricks. Jiang Songyi stared at the gradually gathering white mist above the corpse, the newly deceased soul baring its fangs and claws at Gu Zheyuan. She suppressed the churning in her stomach and heard her own dry voice: "Using living people to test his courage, the factory owner is very clever."
"He's not a living person now." Gu Zheyuan tossed the blood-stained handkerchief into the brazier. As smoke rose, the spirit suddenly let out a shrill scream. Jiang Songyi saw the ghostly figure's forehead bearing the snake-shaped tattoo unique to the Dongling people, something not seen on the living person's face.
"Longevity Festival. Your Emperor will not survive this autumn." The ghost's curse echoed in the torture chamber. Jiang Songyi clenched his palms and made a profound gesture: "This is a spy from Dongling. His accomplices in the palace should be working in the imperial kitchen."
Gu Zheyuan paused as he wiped his dagger, the blade reflecting the gleam in his eyes. "My benefactor, this divination is quite accurate." He suddenly leaned in, his gilded armor lifting Jiang Songyi's chin. "How about we calculate again? What do I intend to do at this moment?"
Jiang Songyi caught a glimpse of the ghost trying to possess Gu Zheyuan, and slapped his hand away with a sneer: "The factory manager should go to the Imperial Hospital to check for a brain disease now." Before he finished speaking, the ghost penetrated Gu Zheyuan's body but missed, and the resentment made the candlelight suddenly dim.
The guards suddenly knelt in unison. Gu Zheyuan stroked the back of his reddened hand and chuckled, "Take Miss Jiang to the mortuary." As he turned, his dragon robe swept across the corpse, and the ghost suddenly vanished like smoke, leaving only a half-scream lingering in the air.
The stench from the mortuary was even worse than that from the torture chamber. Jiang Songyi covered her mouth and nose as she watched Gu Zheyuan calmly lift the straw mat and say, "Please look, benefactor! This is the body of a drowned man."
"The third bone on the left rib is fractured." Jiang Songyi suddenly pointed at the corpse's chest. Gu Zheyuan raised an eyebrow, his gilded armor scratching across the corpse's purple flesh. "The maid from the laundry department fell into the water three days ago, and your benefactor even calculated that she had broken ribs last year?"
Jiang Songyi stared at the faint red mark on the woman's neck, where her spirit was weeping on the beam. Just as she was about to speak, she heard hurried footsteps outside. The young eunuch knelt at Gu Zheyuan's feet and said, "Master, a talisman has been found in the palace of the Concubine Shu!"
Gu Zheyuan stroked the hilt of the knife and chuckled, "My benefactor's divination is probably more accurate than the Imperial Observatory." When he turned around, the cold wind brought by his python robe swept over the pile of corpses. Jiang Songyi saw countless pale ghost hands stretching out from under the straw mat, and then shrinking back in fear when he passed by.
That night, Jiang Songyi crouched in a corner of the mortuary, burning paper money. Ashes swirled and drifted toward the window. She whispered to the void, "Take the money you've paid for your passage, then rest assured to be reincarnated. Stop haunting the living." Suddenly, from the darkness, the soft tinkling of bells and pendants echoed. Gu Zheyuan's voice, mingled with the cries of a night owl, drifted in: "Your ability to ferry souls, benefactor, is far more profitable than being a eunuch."
…
Deep in the East Factory dungeon, the smell of rotting flesh and blood swirled through the corridors. Jiang Songyi covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief soaked in mugwort, but the choking still made the corners of her eyes red. The screams of the spy ghost were still ringing in her ears, and she was now huddled in a corner, shivering.
"Assassination on the Wanshou Festival." Gu Zheyuan's fingertips traced the blood grooves on the Embroidered Spring Knife and he suddenly chuckled, "My benefactor, this divination is even more effective than torture instruments."
Jiang Songyi stared at the water droplets seeping from the stone wall, letting the chill wind lift the corners of her robe. As the spy ghost lunged at her with bared fangs and claws, she seemingly inadvertently touched her brow with a cinnabar-soaked fingertip. The gray shadow collided with the golden light and, with a scream, melted into the cracks in the wall.
"The factory manager might want to check the imperial kitchen's purchases." She kicked the severed finger away from her foot. "The Western Region wine we bought on July 15th had the Aventurine totem engraved on the bottom of the jar."
Gu Zheyuan's eyebrows twitched slightly, and the scarlet Buddhist beads on his wrist twirled rapidly. The secret agent had indeed found poisoned doves in the wine cellar last night, but... He suddenly grabbed Jiang Songyi by the scruff of the neck and dragged her towards the rack: "Benefactor, do you know what the crime of deceiving the emperor is?"
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