"Master, what did you see? I didn't see anything!" Cui Niang asked, puzzled. She and Nian Xue took turns keeping watch over Lan Qin at night because she had been having trouble sleeping lately.
"There's a ghost, Cui Niang, there really is a ghost!" Lan Qin grabbed Cui Niang's hand and exclaimed. She was a modern person from three hundred years in the future, but every time she closed her eyes for several days, a black-haired, white-clad female ghost would appear before her. After several days of this unsettling situation, Lan Qin's eyes became noticeably sunken.
"Master, are you possessed?" Cui Niang was heartbroken to see Lan Qin lose so much weight in just a few days.
"I don't know, Aunt Cui, what's wrong? Doctor Lin came to check, but there's nothing wrong." Lanqin suddenly felt a sense of fear rising from the bottom of her heart. Because this kind of thing was just too bizarre. Lanqin thought about how she had transmigrated, and now she had actually seen a ghost, which seriously challenged her entire worldview.
"Is there something unclean about it? Why don't we invite a Taoist priest to perform a ritual?" said Cui Niang.
Lanqin had no other choice but to follow Cui Niang.
The next day, Cui Niang sent Chen Shou to invite a Taoist priest to perform a ritual in the south courtyard. Lan Qin, pregnant and having slept poorly for several nights, was completely exhausted and lay in bed, afraid to close her eyes. Because if she closed them, the black-haired, white-clad ghost would appear before her.
When Song, Geng, and Wu heard that Lanqin had been bewitched these past few days, they all rushed over to see her. They sat with her in the inner room, listening to the sounds of the Taoist priests performing rituals outside.
The maids all stood guard outside, watching the Taoist priest burn yellow paper, draw peach charms, and chant incantations.
"She was perfectly fine, how could she have seen something unclean?" Madam Song noticed that Lanqin's spirits had completely collapsed and her face had become thinner in just a few days.
"I don't know, I didn't go out. How could I have bumped into something unclean?" Lanqin said.
"Sigh, is it because there are too many women here, making the yin energy too heavy? Why hasn't Master returned yet?" Wu Shi interjected.
“This is perfectly normal. Master was often not in the mansion before, so why didn’t anything happen?” Geng said.
Lanqin watched them chatter amongst themselves, unable to articulate their thoughts. She herself wondered if she had fallen under some kind of spell. Indeed, some things in this world were inexplicable. She understood that her current state was no accident; perhaps she had fallen for someone's tricks again.
The Taoist priests were still performing the ritual outside, but even with her eyes closed, Lanqin could still see those terrifying things. Does this mean that the Taoist priests' ritual was completely ineffective?
"Sister, why does the incense in your room smell slightly different from the one in ours?" This was the first time Song Shi and the others had sat in Lanqin's bedroom for so long. They had visited Lanqin before, but never stayed this long. Therefore, Song Shi, whose nose was always sensitive, noticed that the incense burning in Lanqin's room smelled different from the one in her own room.
"Really? How is it different?" Lanqin asked, puzzled. Her nose was never very sensitive, and she didn't like burning incense, but Cui Niang said that there were too many mosquitoes in the summer, and burning incense in the house could repel them, so she agreed to do it.
"I can't quite put my finger on it, it just feels different. You two should smell it too!" Song said to Wu and Geng.
Neither of them had Song's keen sense of smell; they sniffed but still couldn't detect the difference. It turned out that the incense in Lanqin's room wasn't much different from the incense distributed to other courtyards, which explained why they couldn't smell it. Even none of the maids in Lanqin's room could tell the difference.
"Sister Song, are you sure this scent is different?" Lanqin was already at her wit's end, and she was now suspicious of everything that might be wrong.
“It’s different, how come none of you can smell it?” Madam Song said with certainty.
"Cui Niang, go and call Doctor Liang. I remember he's back," Lan Qin said. Doctor Liang had become Lan Qin's private Western doctor; whenever she had any ailments that weren't suitable for traditional Chinese medicine, she would consult him. Actually, in the beginning, Lan Qin had Doctor Liang come and examine her belongings, checking everything from cosmetics to anything she ate, but he found nothing wrong. As for the incense, since she had been using it without any problems, she hadn't thought of it.
"Consort, do you suspect there's something wrong with this incense?" Wu asked.
“Now I’m suspicious of anything that might have been tampered with,” Lanqin said.
A moment later, Doctor Liang arrived with Cui Niang. Seeing Lanqin's haggard appearance, he quickly asked, "What's wrong, Consort? Have you not slept for several days?"
Lanqin saw that he could tell at a glance that she hadn't slept much, and with even more trust, she said to Doctor Liang, "Take this incense stick away and have it tested. I suspect that someone has tampered with it."
“This incense was truly overlooked. I’ll take it out for testing right away,” said Doctor Liang.
After Doctor Liang examined her, Lady Wu said, "Is this the concubine's private physician?"
Lanqin nodded and said, "He used to treat livestock. I found him at Fourth Master's estate in the northern suburbs. He was very skilled, but not in traditional Chinese medicine, but in Western medicine."
Madam Song frowned and said, "He's treating livestock? Qin'er, how could you let him treat you!"
Lanqin smiled slightly and said, "He's misunderstood. Sister Song, how's the Fourth Prince doing with you lately?"
After this interruption, Lanqin's spirits improved noticeably, and she was temporarily freed from the entanglement of those unclean things.
"Sigh, the Fourth Prince is still the same. He's obedient every day and never disobeys me. But no matter how I look at him, I just can't seem to warm his heart," Madam Song sighed.
"Sister, you should be content with being raised by the Fourth Prince. I don't even have a princess here," Geng said with a remorseful smile.
“Sister Geng, please come to my room often from now on. Third Princess is four years old now, and she’s at the age where she loves to talk and laugh. If you come often, she’ll be happy to have someone to dote on her,” Princess Wu said quickly.
Geng realized she had just misspoke and quickly said, "Alright, then you mustn't be reluctant to let me pamper the Third Princess."
At this moment, Dr. Liang returned with the test results.
"How is it? Is there a problem with this incense?" Lanqin asked hurriedly.
“Consort, please take all these incense sticks out and extinguish them. The ‘ghosts’ you saw were caused by these things,” Doctor Liang said.
Lanqin looked at Doctor Liang in surprise, and sure enough, the incense was the problem.
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