The night was dark, the shadows of the trees were blurry, and the moonlight outside the window was crushed by the grid, making the face in front of him half bright and half dark, making him look even more weird and terrifying.

The princess suddenly woke up from her sleep. She was so frightened that she wanted to scream, but her throat seemed to be strangled. She retreated to the corner of the bed timidly with her hair loose. Her face was still smiling sadly, and her voice seemed to float in the air: "I'm looking for my child. Have you seen my child?"

The princess shook her head desperately with tears in her eyes. She casually raised a pillow to block her eyes, curled up in the corner of the bed and trembled. Finally, she cried out with a trembling voice: "Who are you? I don't know you!"

The woman sighed, and suddenly reached out, touching the princess' neck with her bright red nails. The princess was so frightened that she cried and begged for mercy. Suddenly, she felt as if there was some sticky liquid on her neck. She raised her head suddenly and saw blood oozing from the woman's wrist, and then drops of blood flowed down her neck into her clothes.

The princess felt cold all over and had a constant pain in her stomach. She wanted to vomit. Fortunately, the lights in the courtyard were on at this time. The maids in the courtyard heard the princess' screams and rushed to the door and knocked on it, shouting, "Princess, what happened?" The princess was inspired by the courage of the voice. She pushed the body in front of her and ran towards the door barefoot. The door opened at this moment and she fell into the arms of a nanny who rushed in first.

She was like a drowning person who came across a piece of driftwood. She clung to the warm body in front of her and cried hysterically, "There's a ghost! There's a ghost in my room!" Everyone was startled and quickly picked up the lantern to shine into the room, but they only saw the bedding in disarray and the gauze curtains tangled, with no sign of a human figure.

A maid in charge hurriedly asked carefully, "There's nothing in there. Did the princess have a nightmare?" The princess straightened up in shock: Was it really a nightmare? But the smiling face under the moonlight, the cold nails, and the blood dripping on her neck, that kind of real and suffocating fear, how could it be fake?

"Blood, there's blood!" A maid screamed in surprise, and the others realized that the princess' neck and chest were covered in scarlet blood. They quickly surrounded her and checked if she had any wounds. However, the princess' eyes fell directly under her bed and she said, "That shoe is not mine..."

A maid quickly lit a lamp and saw a pair of green silk shoes lying under the bed. But where had the person wearing the shoes gone? Why did the person disappear out of thin air the moment they pushed the door open? Or was it that the person wearing the shoes was not a human at all?

The princess was supported by the maids and sat on the bed. She was still in shock when she suddenly heard someone shouting, "What was that?" She turned her head quickly and saw outside the window facing her. The shadows of the trees were swaying gently. Under the bleak moonlight, a ghost face with a blue glow was shining. There was no body under the face, and his eyes were staring straight at her, with the corners of his lips raised evilly.

The princess could no longer bear such stimulation, and finally rolled her eyes and fell down softly.

The next day, the princess woke up still in a daze, and kept muttering that there was a ghost in the room, and she didn't want to stay in the mansion any longer. Prince Qing quickly sent someone to take the princess back. When the princess heard about this, she felt guilty and anxious, and quickly asked Yuan Xi to take a lot of expensive tonics from the warehouse to compensate for the princess's panic.

The masters had their own plans in mind, and the servants were even more frightened by the news. They heard the maids in the princess's room talk about what happened that night. The female ghost was obviously Du'er. Her soul was still in the mansion. No one knew how many people she would kill before she stopped. The Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, but the people in the mansion were in a panic and no longer had the mood to celebrate the festival.

That morning, Yuan Xi sat under a blossoming tree, staring blankly at a pile of papers with a frown on her face. Xiao Du walked over to her and sat down, pretending to sigh in resentment, saying, "You finally remembered your husband."

There was no trace of teasing in Yuan Xi's eyes. She just raised her head and said seriously, "Do you think it's a little strange that there's a ghost in the princess' room?"

Seeing her serious expression, Xiao Du gradually stopped teasing. He had also carefully asked people about the princess' encounter with a ghost in the mansion, and the servants said that it was the ghost of Da'er who came back for revenge and accidentally ran into the princess' room. He also suspected that someone was behind it, but the servants said that the ghost face had appeared in the mansion half a month ago, and it should be just a coincidence that it appeared in the princess's courtyard that night. Moreover, Prince Qing stayed in the resident all year round, but he was a vassal king without real power. He was cautious in his words and deeds when he returned to Beijing this time. There was no reason for him to become hostile to the Marquis's Mansion because of this incident.

He really couldn't figure out what the purpose was if someone was behind this. Since it didn't cause any harm to the mansion, he simply treated it as a ghost. He prepared to ask Zhou Jingyuan to find someone to perform a ritual to reassure the servants. He also went to his mother to comfort her, and the matter was finally settled.

When he heard Yuan Xi had come to him to ask about this, he knew that she must have discovered something, so he looked at her intently and asked, "What do you think is wrong?"

Yuan Xi said, "On the night when the princess was in danger, they found a shoe under her bed that did not belong to her. So the shoe must have fallen down. But if she really came back to seek revenge, why would she go out of her way to change a pair of shoes?"

Xiao Du frowned and said, "You mean..."

Yuan Xi nodded and said, "I have already gone to see the shoe, but I remember very clearly that it was not the shoe she was wearing when she fell into the water."

Xiao Du hurriedly asked: "So you suspect she is not dead?" After all, only living people need to change shoes.

Yuan Xi's eyes were filled with confusion, and she said, "But so many people saw her drowning that day, and then the body disappeared. And if she was just pretending to be a ghost, how did she escape from the house?" All the maids who entered the princess's room that night insisted that they did not see any figure in the house. If it was a living person, how could he disappear in such a short time in front of so many people?

The two were speechless for a moment, both feeling that the situation was a bit tricky. Yuan Xi then looked at the stack of papers in his hand and said, "There is also the ghost face hanging on the tree. I asked Manager Zhou to ask all the servants who had seen the ghost face and write down the locations where they encountered the ghost. As a result, I found that these places were all around Qixia Courtyard and all in the woods, which is very similar to the environment where the princess saw the ghost face that day."

Xiao Du followed her words and immediately understood what she meant. "You suspect that the ghost face was seen by someone before, and it was just a cover-up for this time."

Yuan Xi nodded and said, "I think the ghost face appeared before just to find some people to verify whether this trick can succeed."

Xiao Du thought for a moment and said, "What kind of trick can make a ghost face hang in the air alone?"

Yuan Xi shook his head and said, "I don't understand it either, so I think we should go there and take a look, so that we can figure out the mystery."

In Qixia Courtyard, the flowers and trees are still lush, but due to the ghost rumors, it has become deserted and no one dares to approach.

Yuan Xi looked at the desolate scene in front of him and sighed helplessly. Thinking of the effort and investment he had put into renovating this courtyard, he felt a little uncomfortable. He also became a little stubborn and had to find out the truth of this matter.

The two of them walked to the big tree facing the princess' window. Yuan Xi looked up at the dense branches of the tree and murmured, "Looks like I need to go up and take a look." Then he set his eyes on Xiao Du.

Xiao Du immediately understood what she meant, and glared at her, "I am the Marquis of Xuanyuan, and you want me to climb a tree?"

Yuan Xi hooked his arm and said softly, "You have been on the march for many years, so you must be good at finding traces. Others can't compare to you."

Xiao Du couldn't help but smile when he heard this. He tied up the corner of his robe, jumped onto the treetop, and carefully looked for any traces that might have been left behind.

Finally, he found some strange blue powder on some branches and leaves. He quickly broke them off and jumped in front of Yuan Xi to examine them with her. Yuan Xi looked at it for a long time, then sniffed it. After carefully recalling it, she said, "Do you think this looks like phosphorus powder?"

Xiao Du's eyes lit up and he said, "It does look like phosphorus powder."

Yuan Xi quickly recalled: "Does that ghost face only appear late at night?" Then she smiled and said, "I think I understand his tricks."