It was no wonder she was disguised; it was merely Chen An’s trick to satisfy his lust!
In her haste earlier, she hadn’t examined him closely, making her efforts futile.
“Father told me to watch you carefully. You’ve snuck out again. Hurry home, or don’t blame me for taking action,” Chen Yanyan warned.
Chen An mumbled reluctantly.
Rong Zhi had a sudden inspiration and deliberately waved her hand in a spot only Chen An could see.
Chen An said, “You go back first. I injured my face and need to see a doctor.”
“I’ll take you,” Chen Yanyan said, looking wary. Letting him go out freely might lead to more trouble.
“I injured my lower body too. Do you want to go with me?”
“Of course.”
“…” Chen An grinned. “Good sister, I’ll give you all the money I have. I promise not to visit brothels. I’ll be back in an hour. If I’m not back, you can beat me to death!”
He raised his hand to swear to the heavens and emptied his pockets of all his silver.
Chen Yanyan, half-believing, took the money. Thinking that he wouldn’t be able to cause any trouble without funds, she called for her maid and coachman to prepare to return.
As she was leaving, she noticed the coachman was immobile. He had been acupunctured. After releasing his acupoints, he gave Chen An a strange look.
Was this shameless fellow afraid to be seen, and thus acupunctured the coachman?
Despite her confusion, Chen An’s eccentric personality was nothing new, so she didn’t think much of it and drove away.
Rong Zhi appeared shortly after.
Seeing Rong Zhi’s attractive appearance, Chen An grinned. “Beautiful lady, I didn’t expect you to be so gorgeous and skilled in martial arts. You waved at me just now, did you take a liking to me? Let me tell you, if you injure me, I won’t marry you as my main wife. At most, I’ll take you as a concubine.”
Rong Zhi ignored his teasing and got straight to the point. “Your maid was impersonating my friend. When did you see her?”
Chen An looked somewhat surprised and recalled. “Five days ago.”
He thought Rong Zhi was angry about him disrespecting her friend and chuckled. “Don’t worry, young lady. I’m a man of principle. I would never commit such an act as abducting a civilian woman. Your friend is fine right now.”
Rong Zhi rolled her eyes internally. She had heard everything just now; he hadn’t acted because he couldn’t defeat Chu Qing Ze.
The last time Rong Zhi went to the Grand Tutor’s mansion, he had carried her in. He had also claimed he wouldn’t abduct women. Who would believe him?
“Have you seen anyone else?”
“Hmm… there seemed to be another young lady in the side room. I didn’t see clearly. She was dressed in rags. She probably wasn’t pretty.”
“A young lady? In rags? Are you sure?”
Rong Zhi subconsciously thought of one of her companions, but Dong Mei was recuperating at Gusheng Hall and being well taken care of. How could she be in rags?
Chu Qing Ze didn’t have a habit of keeping patients for treatment. So, who was that person?
“Did you go there for medical treatment?”
Rong Zhi was highly suspicious. Although Chen An appeared weak and frail, based on everyone’s demeanor earlier, he didn’t look like a patient at all. His frail appearance was most likely feigned.
“Cough, cough. I heard there was a beauty there. But I only glanced, and I haven’t been back since.”
This was typical of him. It seemed she wouldn’t get any more information. Rong Zhi cupped her fists. “Farewell.”
She leaped into the air and sped away.
Chen An’s voice echoed from behind, “Beautiful lady, I still don’t know your name!”
Gusheng Hall.
Rong Zhi meticulously re-examined the premises, inside and out.
Previously, she had only inspected the pharmacy and found signs of a struggle. But Chen An had said a woman dressed in rags had once lived in the side room.
She checked every possible hiding place and indeed found a piece of cloth in the side room.
The fabric looked old and still carried the scent of earth. Rong Zhi examined the cloth carefully, then looked at her own clothes.
It was a coincidence; the cloth was almost identical to hers.
She sniffed the air and detected a lingering scent of a corpse in the room.
It was a foul odor, like that of a corpse buried underground for a long time.
Rong Zhi knew Chu Qing Ze enjoyed studying corpses. Judging by the smell, the corpse had not been gone for more than two days.
She suddenly recalled the corpses from the mass grave. Had Chu Qing Ze brought those corpses out? Then were they discovered by the First Prince’s men and captured?
Judging by the signs of struggle, the opponent was skilled. They could even be the First Prince’s imperial guards.
She clenched the piece of cloth, feeling that this was highly likely the case.
Creak! The door suddenly opened, and Cui Xi poked her head in from outside.
“Who are you?”
Rong Zhi waved her in. “I am Lin Mo. Are you looking for your young lady?”
Cui Xi nodded and covered her nose as soon as she entered.
“Divine Doctor Lin, has my young lady gone missing?”
“It seems so. I’m here to investigate for any clues.” Rong Zhi held up the cloth. “Do you know if Chu Qing Ze has brought any corpses back recently?”
Cui Xi took the cloth and nodded. “Yes, a few days ago when I came to see my young lady, I found a corpse in the side room. I was too scared to see clearly at the time. It looked like a young lady.”
She hesitated, then added, “She was dressed similarly to you, Divine Doctor Lin. I almost mistook her.”
“Where was it brought from?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”
“Oh, right. Three young ladies used to live here. Do you know where they all went?”
“They’ve left. They said they were returning to their hometowns. I don’t know where.”
Rong Zhi frowned. It seemed there weren’t many useful clues.
“Divine Doctor Lin, will my young lady be alright?” Cui Xi asked worriedly.
“It’s hard to say yet. Don’t mention Zhang Yajing’s disappearance to others. Try to find out if there are any sightings of her.”
“Okay.” Cui Xi, seeing she couldn’t help, left.
As Rong Zhi turned, she bumped into someone, stumbled, and was then helped up.
“Be careful!”
A frivolous voice.
“How did you follow me?” Rong Zhi became vigilant. She had used Qinggong when leaving the outskirts. How did he follow her?
There weren’t many people in this world whose Qinggong was comparable to hers.
“I was worried about you. I came to see you.”
Chen An smiled as he surveyed the place, then went to the pharmacy and looked at the mess. He cried out, “What a tragic scene. It seems your friend is likely beyond saving.”
“Don’t speak ill omens,” Rong Zhi hid the piece of cloth.
“Don’t be so fierce. I’m helping you, and it’s also a way to build rapport.”
Who wanted to build rapport with him?
Rong Zhi rolled her eyes internally.
After looking around, Chen An returned to the side room and sniffed. Then, he looked at Rong Zhi mysteriously. “I think the signs of struggle are very strange. They don’t look like something a human could do. It might be a ghost.”
Rong Zhi sneered. “If those words of yours spread, your head would roll.”
“Who am I to be arrested? Who would dare arrest me?” Chen An opened his fan and waved it ostentatiously.
The weather was getting colder, and his fanning motion looked particularly comical.
Rong Zhi said nothing, dragged him to the door, and locked it from the outside.
Chen An’s reminder made her suddenly recall that Qiu Shan at the blacksmith shop in the north of the city had once said he saw a “female ghost” dressed exactly like her.
With so many strange occurrences happening lately, Rong Zhi couldn’t help but consider that possibility.
“Why are you still following me?”
All the way, Chen An stayed close, like a shadow.
“I told you, I’m helping you,” Chen An said with a shameless grin, looking quite smug.
Rong Zhi said nothing and quietly turned into an alley.
This was a bustling street near the north of the city. The alleys were numerous and intricate, crisscrossing each other. Rong Zhi wound her way through them, and soon, Chen An was no longer in sight behind her.
She covered her nose and mouth, took out a pill from her怀 and crushed it, scattering it in the air before quickly leaving.
Chen An soon caught up.
“You run quite fast.” After taking a few steps, he suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed.
Rong Zhi heard the muffled thud behind her and sneered. “It’s not difficult to shake you off.”
She used her Qinggong and quickly arrived at the blacksmith shop in the north of the city.
Qiu Shan was a little surprised to see Rong Zhi. “Miss Lin, why are you back? Do you have any clues?”
Rong Zhi asked, “I wanted to ask you about the ‘ghostly figure’ you mentioned before.”
“What ghostly figure? Miss Lin, did you mishear? I said it was a passerby. There was no ghost,” Qiu Shan’s expression was a little unnatural.
“Brother Qiu, you don’t need to hide anything from me. Although I grew up in the Imperial City, you know I despise officials the most. Are you still worried I’ll talk out of turn?”
His thoughts exposed, Qiu Shan smiled sheepishly. He led Rong Zhi to the inner room, closed the door, and after confirming no one was watching, he spoke mysteriously.
“Miss Lin, I’m only telling you this. Please don’t tell anyone else, especially not that I told you.”
“Of course,” Rong Zhi nodded.
Qiu Shan then recounted what he had seen and heard.
“Just these past two days, every time it gets dark, I see a woman passing by. The woman is not tall, likely no more than 20 years old, and she’s dressed in rags. Her gait is also not normal.”
“This area outside the north of the city was originally a mass grave. I’ve heard many legends before, but now I don’t dare to speak of them. At first, I thought it was a passerby, but then I noticed something odd and thought it might be a girl who had gone mad. But that day, during the day, I found something outside.”
Qiu Shan went back into the room and, after a moment, handed something to Rong Zhi.
Rong Zhi examined it closely and immediately identified it as a human finger bone!
“This is…”
“This was left behind where that girl passed,” Qiu Shan’s face showed fear as he thought of something.
“That girl actually eats people! Think about it, what in this world eats people? Only ghosts eat people!”
Rong Zhi’s expression froze. Her first thought was that it had fallen off the girl.
When a large number of corpses had crawled out of the mass grave last time, the little girl who looked very much like her had decaying skin and flesh that was falling off.
If the girl Qiu Shan saw was like that, then this finger bone could very well be her own.
“Brother Qiu, does she come every night?”
“Yes.”
This meant there was still a chance to see her. Rong Zhi suddenly remembered something and took out the cloth she had hidden earlier.
“See if the girl you saw was wearing clothes like this?”
Qiu Shan took it and his face suddenly turned pale. “It’s exactly like this. Where did you find it?”
“I saw it on the road,” Rong Zhi now had some confidence. Finally, there were some clues.
“Brother Qiu, I’ll stake out the vicinity tonight. Please keep an eye out for me. If you see her, let me know.”
She was going to wait by the stump for the rabbit!