It was the second day when I visited the Qi family compound again. Although Shan Hai told everyone to keep a low profile, there was still a large group of servants waiting in the corner. The housekeeper said that the master had sent a few able-bodied servants to take precautions, and the rest were here to watch the fun. Steward Qi dismissed them after a long time.
Aluan was checking Madam's pulse in the main room, while Manager Qi followed Taoist Master Lin blankly. He couldn't understand the compass in Shan Hai's hand, so he just walked around the room holding a candle. The shadows of the two people were cast on the wall, stretched very long.
The room was quiet, and the compass remained unresponsive. The air was icy cold, and sometimes the cold air passed over the skin, like a fine knife cutting through it, the ice hurt. It's almost summer, and it shouldn't be so cold that people's hands and feet are numb. But the doors and windows were tightly closed, and Shan Hai was sure that there was something in the house that shouldn't be there.
"Can I see you every night?"
"I've seen it once or twice... The servants in the reverse room said they saw it often, but I don't know if it's true or not. If they get into trouble or want to be lazy, they often use the shadow to make trouble... "
"Have you met Master and Madam?"
"The master didn't believe it at first. He saw it with his own eyes once in the backyard and was frightened. My wife has been in bed all year round and often talks in her sleep. No one can tell whether it is true or false."
"What sleep talk?"
As soon as Shanhai asked, Aluan ran over from the end of the corridor carrying a medicine box. She tugged at the corner of his clothes and motioned for him to lower his head. Shan Hai bent down and listened, listening to what the young apprentice whispered while raising his sleeves.
At this time, some noise broke the silent night.
Like... a child's glass beads, jumping up and down on the wooden floor. When this voice appeared, all three people shut their mouths. Shan Hai looked at the compass in his hand. The pointer trembled slightly, but did not point out anything clearly.
The sound lasted for a while. Manager Qi wanted to speak, but Shanhai raised a sign to silence him. He held the compass in his left hand, took out the Bahuang Mirror in his right hand and adjusted the angle left and right, wandering around the corridor looking for the source of the sound. But the sound only lasted for a while and then disappeared.
"What did you just want to say?"
"Hey, when servants are on patrol at night, they often hear some noises from here... They say they sound like children playing with beads. Today, this is the first time I heard..."
His voice became smaller and smaller, and he seemed a little panicked, but in front of the girl who had no fear on her face, he was embarrassed to say clearly that he was afraid. After all, Taoist Master Lin's apprentice has seen some of the world. She always looked like this wherever she went, like a puddle of stagnant water with a straight face and a cold expression. Shan Hai didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.
This is the east wing, where Qi's eldest son lives. But the master and his wife have no children, so this place should be empty, except that the young master who has passed away lived here a few days ago. Shanhai thought Aluan was not afraid, but he saw her tightening her grip on the mahogany sword hilt at her waist.
Just now, she told him that there was an unnatural smell in Mrs. Qi's room. She took some powder from the incense burner and concluded that there must be musk in the ashes.
By the candlelight, he saw that there was a smear of ashes at the corner of Aluan's mouth - this conclusion must have come from the taste of the stuff in her mouth. This girl really dares to put anything in her mouth, musk, that's...
…but it’s an anti-child medication.
Lin Shanhai felt a cold wind on his back, making his scalp numb.
It was not a ghost, but a chill that came straight from the bottom of my heart.
Musk.
The Qi family has no children.
The cry of a baby at midnight.
Any fool knows what this connection is.
It was almost the ugly time, so Shanhai asked Guan Qi to take them to the guest room to rest for a while. The steward said if he had any questions, just call him and he would come right away. Lin Shanhai nodded repeatedly, and Ma Liu sent him away. Before closing the door, Shanhai still poked his head around to look around. After making sure that no one was there, he carefully closed the door, opened the window and looked around, and then closed it tightly, fearing that there would be a gap.
"What are you doing? I'm really afraid of evil spirits coming in. Just put a few talismans on it and it'll be fine."
Shanhai hurriedly pulled Aluan to sit down and hissed fiercely at his index finger.
"Ghosts are not scary, people are scary. Ghosts are all about killing people."
"... Shanhai, you mean?"
It’s over, Aluan is the fool.
"Forget it, I can't tell you clearly..."
"No, of course I understand. Do you think I learned everything in the pharmacy for nothing? It's just that I can't understand..."
"What can't you figure out?"
"What does this have to do with Shadow Girl?"
A relationship that cannot be reached with eight poles.
Lin Shanhai started to have a headache again. He felt that he was not here to exorcise demons, but to solve crimes.
There must be a traitor in the Qi family compound who is trying to frame his wife. But who could it be? Burn musk in the house - maybe even in the food... leaving the Qi family without offspring, and the property will not be in the hands of the servants. Unless someone is instigating it, there must be someone with vested interests controlling the overall situation behind this chess piece.
He suddenly remembered the distant relative who had adopted a son that he had heard about during the day. Could it be their doing? Killing those babies and then sending the son here would indeed bring a lot of benefits. But this would cause big trouble.
"I have to go to the government office tomorrow."
"Is it because of the escaped Young Master Qi?"
"Yes. I feel like... I can't explain it logically."
He was not sure whether the steward could be trusted, so he just called for steward Qi and asked him to prepare a horse tomorrow and he would be back soon.
"Okay." The steward agreed happily.
"By the way, do you ever have a dog in your house?"
"...I used to have a big black dog, called Dahei. But it kept barking at night. I started to dig holes a few days ago, and it made the yard full of potholes. It was useless. I gave it to him three days ago. Send away."
"Is the fur pure?"
"Taoist Priest, don't you want to kill someone for blood...?"
"...You are worrying too much. Where was it sent? Can you pick it up?"
"Well, it's easy to say if you don't want to kill it. It's not far away. I'll bring it back to you tomorrow to show it."
"Okay. I'm sorry to bother you."
"What a big deal. Is there anything else?"
"Is there anything to eat?"
A Luan poked his head out from behind Shan Hai.
"Don't cause trouble to others."
"Ah, yes, Miss Aluan. You go back to the house and rest, and I'll ask Xiao He to bring you some pastries from the kitchen."
"Thank you, Uncle Qi."
As a result, by the time Xiaohe arrived, the girl was already soundly asleep. Shan Hai asked her to put down the snacks and go back to rest as soon as possible. Xiaohe bowed and left. He thought for a while by himself, and was ready to blow out the candlestick and take a rest early.
As soon as the candle was blown out, a woman's shadow appeared on the paper door.
Taoist priest Lin shivered instinctively.
He grabbed his apprentice's mahogany sword in the dark, carefully leaned against the wall, and leaned toward the door. He carefully touched the paper with the scabbard, but there was no movement in the shadow. When he opened the door suddenly, he found that the maid Xiao He was dozing against the wall with the lamp still standing nearby. Xiao He was also awakened by the movement, and he knelt on the ground and apologized repeatedly.
Fortunately, I didn't lose my composure when I was scared, otherwise it would be too embarrassing.
It turned out that Xiaohe wanted to ask for something but didn't dare to ask, so he kept waiting at the door. When the lights in the room were turned off, her shadow was naturally projected on the paper door.
He invited Xiaohe into the room and listened to her slowly.
She is the maid who came to the Qi Mansion with the young master of a distant relative. The distant relative was a businessman, not particularly wealthy, but he lived a pretty good life. It's just that the business has had some problems in the past two years. It can no longer squeeze out extra financial resources, and almost all the servants have been laid off. The adopted young master Qi was the seventh son in the family, so he had no choice but to send him over.
The seventh son, Qizi, felt that the homophony of his name was destined to be auspicious, so he happily agreed.
"The young master is a good boy. He has been playing with me since childhood. He knows the hardship at home and comes out voluntarily. Moreover, everyone in the Qi family treats him well. He will not run away from here without even saying hello just because he loves his family... Little He is afraid of him... Can you, can you please ask Master Lin not to report to the official position? The young master is a good person, and the young master's family is also a good person..."
The maid spoke in a tearful tone. Shanhai looked at Aluan who was sleeping soundly, patted her shoulder helplessly and promised her not to go tomorrow, so her sobs became quieter. After a lot of effort, Shanhai sent her back.
What Xiao He said made things even more confusing.
If the young master's family had declined in the past two years, he would not have been concerned about the Qi family's property earlier. This maid is about the same age as Aluan, and what she says is true, and there is no sense of making it up.
Then the person who killed those babies was probably someone else.
Who is the one? Who could it be?
In the dead of night, the sound of insects in the yard flowed into the room through the small cracks in the window. After a while, a slight barking came from my ears, which sounded very far away.
Thinking about these strange things, Master Lin's eyelids gradually became heavy.
