There's a ghost!
They initially thought it was an abandoned temple, but when they walked over, they discovered a soft, yellowish light shining from inside.
Mr. Chen's face was extremely pale, and his voice trembled as he asked, "When did anyone get here?"
Zhu Qinghe looked over and said, "Isn't this a temple? Isn't it normal for there to be people here? Didn't you have a monk presiding over it before?"
Mr. Chen's tone was serious and his expression was tense: "Miss, you may not know this, but about three years ago, there was a fire here. Everyone died in that fire, and since then, this place has become an abandoned temple."
"There are rumors that you can still hear the sound of monks striking wooden fish here at night. It is said that the spirits of those monks have not left. The word has spread far and wide, and no one dares to go near here anymore."
A gust of cold wind blew by, and the stray hairs behind her ears brushed against her neck. Zhu Qinghe shivered and shrank even further behind Shen Wumei: "Lord Shen, did you hear about the case of the deserted temple three years ago?"
Shen Wumei's tone remained calm: "Three years ago, I had not yet entered officialdom, so naturally I did not know."
Zhu Qinghe asked with some doubt: "How did Lord Shen become the head constable of the prefectural government so quickly?"
She thought he had been working for many years, but he looks very young. Oh, and she doesn't even know how old he is.
"By the way, Lord Shen, how old are you this year?" Zhu Qinghe asked curiously.
"Twenty-two."
So young, and only five years older than her, yet he seems more mature than her father in his dealings with people. Zhu Qinghe was filled with all sorts of thoughts.
“Well,” Mr. Chen interrupted their conversation, “if you two don’t need anything else, I’ll be leaving now. It’s too gloomy here, I can’t stand it anymore.”
Shen Wumei glanced at him, seeing that he was indeed terrified, and that keeping him around would only be a burden, so she nodded in agreement: "Alright."
"You two be careful too. If there's nothing suspicious, leave quickly. This is no good place; it's very eerie," Boss Chen said kindly, lifting his robe as he walked around the scattered wooden stakes.
"Take care, Mr. Chen," Zhu Qinghe greeted him kindly, her gaze falling on the pile of broken wooden stakes at the entrance, wondering where they came from.
Shen Wumei stared at the open mountain gate in front of her, which was completely dark inside, like a lurking beast opening its gaping maw, waiting for its prey to walk into its trap.
His gaze swept over the half-open door, blackened by the fire, and he stepped inside. Zhu Qinghe turned around and saw that he had already gone in. She quickly followed and tugged at his sleeve: "Lord Shen, don't leave me behind. I have a lot of yin energy and a weak fate, so I'm very prone to encountering ghosts."
"The famous Mr. Science is afraid of ghosts? Shouldn't it be the ghosts who are afraid of you?"
"The ones who aren't afraid of ghosts are Taoist priests; I'm just a fortune teller."
"Is there a difference?" The man's nonchalant tone successfully reignited Zhu Qinghe's anger.
“That’s a huge difference,” Zhu Qinghe said, feeling heartbroken. “It’s because of people like you who have no respect for tradition and nature that our industry has declined to this point.”
"Shh—" Shen Wumei suddenly put a finger to her lips, making a shushing gesture. Zhu Qinghe stopped speaking and nervously held her breath.
What's wrong? Did he hear something?
Something rolled to Zhu Qinghe's feet. Zhu Qinghe even felt it lightly bump her foot. It didn't hurt through her cloth boots, but at this moment and in this situation, she felt her hair stand on end.
"Aaaaaah—Shen Wumei, Shen Wumei—" Zhu Qinghe jumped to his left and wailed, "A ghost—"
Shen Wumei looked helpless. He grabbed Zhu Qinghe's face, which was pressed tightly against his shoulder, and said, "Look closely, where's the ghost?"
Zhu Qinghe opened one eye with trepidation and saw a broken lantern sitting alone on the ground where she had just been standing, turning slightly. The paper covering it had long since disappeared, leaving only a tattered bamboo frame that barely maintained the shape of the lantern.
In this eerie and silent long night, it is as if it were something left behind by messengers of hell who had wandered into the human world.
It was a false alarm. Zhu Qinghe tidied her hair and belatedly felt a little embarrassed, realizing that she seemed to have been a bit of a hindrance.
Shen Wumei glanced at the increasingly dark sky, then at the girl who was barely shoulder-length in front of her, and for once felt a pang of pity: "It's getting late, why don't I take you home first?"
It was his oversight. This deserted temple seemed unusual, and he shouldn't have involved her. It would have been better for him to investigate alone.
Zhu Qinghe, however, felt a surge of loyalty: "It's alright, sir, I'll stay with you."
Although this place looks a bit eerie, who is she? She is Science, how could she be defeated by such a small difficulty?
Besides, although she didn't like Xu Yishu, she was still a young woman in the prime of her life. Now that she was here, she wanted to do her part to find her as soon as possible.
Shen Wumei's eyes were deep and serious. "You don't need to do this. It's not your job."
Zhu Qinghe smiled brightly: "Lord Shen has helped me so many times, I should repay him in some way. Besides, if I help Lord Shen find the real culprit, wouldn't I get a reward?"
Shen Wumei chuckled; she really was obsessed with money.
Zhu Qinghe saw his sincere smile for a moment, and her heart seemed to skip a beat. This was the first time she had ever seen Shen Wumei smile, and he was indeed very handsome.
The two finally reached an agreement, and after walking a short distance, they saw the bell and drum towers standing opposite each other. Temples are mostly built on mountains, and this one was no exception; though small, it had everything one needed.
Zhu Qinghe looked on with some doubt: "Didn't you say it was burned? It doesn't look too bad. It's not as badly burned as the mountain gate."
After a moment's thought, Shen Wumei said, "Let's go take a look at the main hall."
Zhu Qinghe followed him into the main hall. The Buddha statues that should have been placed inside were gone, and even the basic items such as incense burners and precious tripods were all missing. If one did not know in advance that this was the main hall of a temple, it would look no different from an ordinary dilapidated house.
Zhu Qinghe stared blankly at the last remaining candle on the candlestick by the door. The memory of the lantern by the door made her feel even more uneasy. She quickly walked to Shen Wumei's side: "My lord, there should be other people living here."
“Hmm.” Shen Wumei confirmed her guess. “I also noticed. Perhaps it’s a good place for homeless people in the neighborhood.”
"Would Xu Yishu be here?" Zhu Qinghe asked hesitantly. If Xu Yishu was here, then there was a high chance that the murderer was also here.
"I don't know either," Shen Wumei said. He didn't know what the murderer was trying to do either. Xu Yishu was the daughter of the richest man in the country. If she wanted money, she would have to leave her own conditions.
If he had a grudge against the Xu family, he could have just killed them. Why go through all the trouble of moving them out of the secret passage? What was his purpose?
As the two were thinking, a gust of cold wind blew in and extinguished the candle, plunging the hall into darkness.
Zhu Qinghe felt a dark shadow flash past behind her. She turned around in a panic and called out, "My lord? — Lord Shen? Shen Wumei?"
Before she could get a response from Shen Wumei, she felt a heavy blow to the back of her neck, and then everything went dark and she lost consciousness.
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