That day, when Jiumu's ferry was over and he returned to Tianshu Mansion alone, he saw a young man in red carrying a soul-burning lamp walking through the Chaoshou Veranda towards Kangsu Garden.
Jiumu didn't take it to heart at first, but when he entered Kaiyang Garden and looked up at the attic, he suddenly realized that the one being punished must be Du Heng.
The soul-burning lamp is specially used to punish the ghosts who have committed serious crimes. The soul is introduced into the lamp and suffers for an hour before their souls are gone.
Jiumu didn't dare to think too much and rushed towards Kangsu Garden like crazy.
To take a shortcut, he jumped out of the corridor and ran wildly in the rain.
A boy looked at Jiumu's madness and stopped to discuss in a low voice for a while before hurriedly walking away.
Without waiting for the greeting from the guard guard of Kangsu Garden, Jiumu rushed in and ran straight towards the main hall. The guard could not catch up.
As soon as I got to the verandah, I saw Du Heng kneeling on the ground. The wick on the table had already been lit, and the fire was shining brightly.
Zhong Le was tapping Du Heng's forehead with a deer-hair pen, as if he was asking for his soul.
Before the boy on the side could finish his salute, the impatient Jiumu rushed up and snatched Zhong Le's pen away.
Zhong Le, who was concentrating, was startled by the bastard's rashness and yelled, "You bastard!"
"Who dares to touch my people!" Jiumu pulled Du Heng up and protected him behind him.
Zhong Le was shocked when he saw Jiumu's angry brows and anger in his embarrassment, and he said angrily, "Why are you so crazy!"
"Tell Da Siming, if you want to kill him, kill me first!" Jiumu said coldly, looking at Du Heng who was stunned, and then turned to stare at Zhong Le angrily.
Zhong Le became more and more confused by these unreasonable words. He folded his hands and sneered, "Look at your sloppy hob on the chopping board. What did you do now?"
Du Heng pulled the corner of Jiumu's clothes and asked in a low voice, "Who are you killing?"
Jiumu was stunned after hearing this, then took another look at the soul-burning lamp on the case and said, "What do you want to do with it!"
"Hey, brother, I'm here in such a hurry today and so aggressive because of this glazed lamp." Zhong Le mocked coldly, "What a hungry pig occupying the wooden trough and insisting on letting it go even if it's not yours. What day, brother?" You have made great progress and become the chief minister, but you still worry that the things in the Privy Council are not yours."
"Liu——glazed lantern?" Jiu Mu's head was confused. He took a closer look and asked doubtfully, "Isn't it a soul-burning lantern?"
When Zhong Le heard this, he immediately wondered what this silly boy was so anxious about. He didn't bother to argue with him. He collected the cinnabar that had been melted with a glass lamp, took back the deer-hair brush from Jiumu's hand, handed it to the boy, and waved his sleeves. Went to the side room.
One more sentence, "It's easy to leave, but I won't send you away!"
Jiumu knew he was embarrassed, so he took Du Heng and left in a hurry, refusing to stay for a moment longer.
"Aunt Yunqi helped me ask for the credit of Chuan Chizi, and I can finally attract interest." Du Heng said excitedly.
Jiumu felt dizzy when he saw the new cinnabar mark on the boy's forehead, so he stopped paying attention to the boy and hurriedly walked ahead, striding back to Kaiyang Garden.
Because Du Heng was dotted with cinnabar and had a serious priesthood, he became an official spiritualist, so he could go down to the attic and walk around Kaiyang Garden freely.
It would take some time to repair the attic, so Jiumu called two boys to move Du Heng's things to his side room.
Du Heng was naturally happy, so he didn't have to worry about it at night.
At noon on the second day, Jiumu, who had just finished lunch, was changing his clothes and preparing to go to Yuheng Mansion, when he saw someone from the Demigod Mansion coming to ask Zhong Le for help.
After listening carefully, I realized that someone had faked the corpse, and the person who faked the corpse was the old woman who came to make trouble in front of Tianshu Mansion that day.
Fake corpses have also appeared in Tianyu Mountain. Usually, the Demigod Mansion in charge can deal with it by itself, but this time, all kinds of methods were used, and it was really impossible to find someone, so I came to Tianshu Mansion to hire someone.
Zhong Le scolded the man in the house for being incompetent, and then followed him to the woman's home.
Seeing that it was still early and there was still some time before the ferry, Jiumu followed Zhong Le to the woman's home.
While Zhong Le was still questioning the steward, Jiumu went against the crowd and entered the house.
Those who were watching the excitement gathered together, either mocking or watching the show, each with their own interests.
"It's different when you have more things." A woman whispered to the one approaching. Both of them were afraid of Zhong Le, so they joked very cautiously. They covered their mouths and snickered together.
Su Mi in the crowd saw the bold Jiumu, and the panic he had just dissipated instantly. He was only worried about this reckless guy, clutching the hem of the lavender skirt and chased after him.
Jiumu entered the back room and happened to meet the woman's wide eyes, and couldn't help but tremble!
As I got closer, I saw that the woman was obviously much thinner than the previous few days. She looked like a woodcarving and clay sculpture, with her eyes wide open and her mouth open, motionless.
Su Mi, who followed quietly, screamed in fright, startling Jiumu again. He looked back at Su Mi, then pushed out his right hand, signaling her to wait outside.
Jiumu went to take a closer look at the woman who looked like a cicada, without a trace of wandering soul.
It was as if he had entered a magnetic field, and the resonance made Jiu Mu's scalp numb, his heart tightened, and he almost vomited.
The sun's rays moved slowly, seeping into the room and moving onto the woman's body little by little.
The rune-burning brazier in the corner had long since lost its flame, and was half filled with black paper ashes. The remaining smoke was feeble and rising slowly.
Jiumu looked up along the remaining smoke, squinted carefully, and found a clue.
Facing the daylight, you can clearly see the dense black threads hanging from the beams, like spider silk.
It was connected to the woman's head, shoulders and limbs, and then the woman sat there like a puppet and never moved again.
Jiumu held his breath and stared at the beam for a long time.
Just when Jiu Mu was most focused, the woman suddenly jumped out of the bed! He quickly moved to Jiu Mu's side and pinched his neck tightly.
Caught off guard, a pair of dead hands clamped down on him. Jiumu was so panicked that his mind went blank, and he subconsciously tried to force the woman's hand off.
How could the stiff corpse be pushed away so easily.
Breathing became increasingly difficult, and Jiumu gradually lost strength.
Fortunately, Su Mi rushed in in time, holding the gǔ hairpin that she used to protect her body, and stabbed it into the woman's back with a scream. For a moment, golden bugs swarmed around the woman's body like earthworms. As he wandered around, the scorching flame instantly burned the woman to ashes.
Jiu Mu collapsed on the ground and gasped for air.
"Thank you - thank you." Jiumu said, and Su Mi pulled him to his feet.
The guy who was behind the scenes turned into a black shadow and dodged from the door to the opposite roof.
Jiu Mu was in a hurry to catch up, but somehow, he suddenly had the ability to fly over the roof and walk over the wall. Using his hands and feet, he reached the top of the roof in just a few moves.
However, the black shadow ran so fast that Jiumu couldn't catch up.
When the black shadow disappeared, Jiumu realized that he had somehow landed on the ridge of the roof. When he was surprised, he fell down again, and it took him a while to get up from the ground.
When walking towards the main hall, all the children of the woman's family were crying and trying to reason with Su Mi.
The corpse was burned to ashes, which in the eyes of these people was a serious matter that damaged one's morality.
Su Mi was so frightened that she only wiped away tears. She was confused and speechless for a moment.
Zhong Le glanced at Jiumu, who was walking tremblingly, and glared at this reckless guy.
Then he sternly scolded the troublemaker, "Is it because the sky is broken or something? If we don't burn this thing, how can you unscrupulous people still have your lives here to cry and make trouble! Who knows, one by one , If wolves don’t eat dead children, they will be eaten by living people!”
"I burned the body." Jiumu couldn't bear to see them making things difficult for Su Mi, so he said righteously.
"Even if you are a god, you don't have this right!" A young man kneeling on the ground cried and said with anger.
Zhong Le didn't care what the young man said, he didn't care. He picked up the kid and slapped him twice.
"Fuck your mother, pus is leaking from your brain. You are really a bad boy!" Zhong Le said through gritted teeth, "I will give you some money to give you face. Who dares to cry again?" Just use your tongue to sharpen a razor, and you will die!"
At this point, everyone shut up. Zhong Le put his hands on his hips and pointed at the people outside the door to warn, "You can say it in front of me now. If you don't say it now, you will use it later." If you make a fuss, this puddle of dead ashes will be your fate!"
After everyone listened, they were all respectful and did not dare to express their anger.
Zhong Le glared at the sons and daughters wearing sackcloth and filial piety, then turned around and left.
Everyone collected the ashes in silence, not even daring to cry in mourning.
After Su Mi and Na Yunqi registered the deceased on the ferry, they sat in the main hall of Yuheng Mansion and drank scented tea.
Du Heng went to the ferry alone to wait for Jiumu to ferry back.
Seeing that Su Mi was completely distracted, he asked, "I've seen you worried a lot these days, but what's the matter?"
Yun Qi glanced at Su Mi and was too lazy to talk.
He took another look at the tarnished hairpin in Su Mi's hand and asked lazily, "What happened to that thing of yours?"
Su Mi smiled innocently, and then told Yun Qi what happened at noon today.
After finishing speaking, Su Mi clutched her lusterless hairpin and exclaimed in a low voice, "I heard it's the puppet technique. Compared with your flying flower into the dream, which one is more powerful?"
Hearing this "Flying Flowers into Dreams", Yun Qi was really heartbroken!
Yun Qi was thinking hard about the whereabouts of his peach blossom hairpin. He was in a bad mood and stopped talking to Su Mi.
He just shook his head and didn't answer.
As the sun fell, Jiumu and Du Heng came to the main hall together.
Yun Qi was anxious to find the hairpin and left in a hurry without saying hello to the two men.
Su Mi finished washing the tea cups, tidying up some more, and then returned to the main hall. Unexpectedly, these two guys were waiting in the main hall without saying a word.
"Why don't you go back?" Su Mi asked with a smile.
"I have a way to restore the hairpin." Jiumu stretched out his hand and asked Su Mi for her hairpin.
Su Mi was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then smiled and said, "There's no need to waste such effort, it's just a hairpin."
How could Jiu Mu not know that Su Mi's hairpin was a hairpin from the earth, a magical weapon that existed in ancient times and has been passed down from generation to generation in the Su family. Su Mi is very precious on weekdays.
Seeing that Su Mi refused to hand over the hairpin, Jiumu had no choice but to take it by force. He was so rude that Su Mi blushed for a long time.
