"Disciples of the Xuanmen, aren't they all wiped out long ago?"
Nowadays, Xuanmen disciples are like ghosts, forbidden to be mentioned. How dare they still do such things openly?
"They don't appear on the surface, but it's not certain in the dark. Moreover, Xuanmen disciples have the ability to control corpses and capture ghosts. How could the imperial family bear to let them be completely eradicated?"
Rong Zhi thought of the "Qianji Pavilion" that Xiao Jianli mentioned that day. She had always thought it was a banned place, yet it was still secretly serving the court.
Then, the Grand Tutor, who was rumored to have retired, might also be working for the imperial family.
"I understand. You be careful too." Chu Qingze felt grateful after his shock.
She must have taken a great risk to save him at the foot of the imperial city.
"Why are we being polite to each other?"
After all, Chu Qingze was her grand-disciple.
After reminding her "grand-disciple," Rong Zhi also felt a bit tired.
After a busy day, she didn't want to return to the General's mansion and found a vacant room to rest.
About an hour later, footsteps were heard from outside.
Someone's coming?
Rong Zhi became alert all over her body, but after carefully discerning, she relaxed and lay down again.
Probably not a bad person.
"Why are you here?" Chu Qingze instinctively straightened up.
Xiao Yao's brows were tightly furrowed. She looked Chu Qingze up and down, as if he were a rare specimen.
"You're alright?"
"I'm fine."
Xiao Yao was speechless for a moment. She must be crazy to come all the way here.
Hearing from her father that this man had disappeared, she had come instinctively. Now she regretted it.
She cleared her throat, "It's nothing. I just heard from my father that you seemed to have disappeared, so I came to see if you were still alive."
"As the County Princess sees, I am alive."
The voice was polite, but Xiao Yao inexplicably felt a sharp retort.
"You! How can you be so ungrateful?"
She kindly came to visit, and what kind of attitude was this?
Chu Qingze was puzzled. What was wrong with her?
Wasn't she here to see him make a fool of himself?
He looked haggard, unshaven, and very disheveled. Was this not enough?
Did she have to see him lose an arm or a leg to be satisfied?
Chu Qingze was also a little angry.
"County Princess, it's late now. You should leave."
He made a gesture of invitation, thinking he had been very polite.
Xiao Yao's face turned red with anger. She was a dignified County Princess, and no one had ever dared to treat her like this.
"You wait and see!"
If it weren't for the fact that he had treated her father's leg ailment and her father liked him, she wouldn't have come to take a second look.
Since he mistook her kindness for ill intentions, then don't blame her for being rude!
When her father forgot about this person in a couple of days, she would deal with him properly!
Xiao Yao left in anger, while Chu Qingze was still somewhat bewildered.
This County Princess was too petty. She even ran all the way here specifically to see him make a fool of himself.
Rong Zhi rested at Gushen Hall for a night and got up at noon the next day. As soon as she opened her eyes, she heard a clamor outside the room.
When she went out, she saw that the patients were already lined up outside the door.
The news spread too quickly. Chu Qingze had just returned last night, and so many people had come today.
Rong Zhi found it a bit strange. So many people were sick.
Could it be that they were here to take advantage of Zhang Yajing again?
Upon closer inspection, Zhang Yajing was dressed as a man, with Cui Xi assisting him. There was no sign of anyone looking at him lecherously.
As she got closer, she could even hear the grateful voices of some patients.
"Thank you, divine doctor. I feel much better lately. I used to be sickly, but after drinking a few doses of your medicine, it really worked."
"Me too. I used to have trouble sleeping at night, but I've gotten much better after taking Divine Doctor Chu's medicine."
The grateful voices were endless. Most of them described symptoms that couldn't even be called illnesses. Chu Qingze just smiled faintly and sent them away.
So most of them were here to express their gratitude.
"You have quite good popularity."
Rong Zhi came up behind Chu Qingze and saw a prescription on the table in front of him, which listed medicinal herbs for conditioning the body, as well as dietary taboos.
"I see that people here only go to the pharmacy to get medicine when they are sick, and they don't pay attention to conditioning. However, a truly good doctor knows how to prevent problems before they arise and plan ahead. They discover the signs before the patient falls ill, and then prescribe the appropriate medicine to prevent the illness from worsening. That's the kind of doctor I want to be."
When he mentioned this, Chu Qingze seemed a little proud.
Rong Zhi nodded in agreement. His concept was indeed good. Prevention was key and could save patients a lot of suffering.
"Besides, this way, I won't be competing with Baicaoge for business," he added casually, and then naturally attended to the next patient.
Rong Zhi was stunned. She hadn't expected this man to be so thoughtful.
His medical skills were top-notch. He had just arrived in the imperial city and had already made a name for himself. Opening a pharmacy would inevitably take business away from other pharmacies.
To have such consideration was truly meticulous.
She felt a slight surge of emotion in her heart, but the emotion froze in the next moment.
There was a very abrupt person in the crowd, dressed in luxurious attire, waving a fan and winking at them.
Rong Zhi's lips twitched. Why was he here again? He was like a persistent shadow.
However, recalling his help last night, she worried that he might have something important to discuss with her, so she stepped forward to inquire.
"Did something happen?"
"Nothing, I just came to show you a good show."
He said this and placed his hand on Rong Zhi's shoulder, but Rong Zhi slapped it away.
Are we that close for you to put your arm around me?
Chen An didn't seem to care and walked forward on his own.
Rong Zhi was momentarily unable to figure him out. Did he have something important to do, or was he just here to tease her?
In the end, Rong Zhi followed him. If something truly happened, wouldn't she miss it?
She followed Chen An to a theater. From afar, she could hear the melodious singing. The opera in the theater was melodious and graceful. When she got closer, she saw that there was only one person singing on stage, and the audience below was empty. It looked quite eerie.
"Is the person on stage human or ghost?"
After what happened last night, Rong Zhi's first reaction upon meeting someone was this. She was also surprised by her own question.
"What are you talking about? Sit down and watch the opera." Chen An didn't answer and sat down in the front row.
Rong Zhi saw that although he was smiling, there was no teasing in his eyes like before.
Then there was only one possibility: they were not here to simply watch the opera.
Since the other party didn't answer, Rong Zhi had no choice but to sit beside him.
The tune was ancient. Even in Rong Zhi's previous life, this was a nearly lost tune. She didn't expect anyone to still sing it now.
The dan role on stage had expressive eyes. While singing, her gaze was always fixed on Rong Zhi. At first, Rong Zhi thought it was because there were few people in the audience, so she didn't pay attention to this gaze.
Gradually, Rong Zhi realized that no matter what the girl did, her eyes were fixed on her. She had a strong feeling of being stared at.
After a long time, it became very uncomfortable.
Indeed, the person on stage was most likely not human!
"Why did you bring me here? If there's nothing, I'm leaving."
She got up uncomfortably, preparing to leave. Suddenly, the person on stage leaped forward and appeared in front of Rong Zhi, her limbs still making various opera gestures, and the song in her mouth did not stop. Her eyes stared at Rong Zhi with increasing intensity.
Rong Zhi instinctively clenched her fist.
The other party suddenly reached out to grab her by the neck. Just as Rong Zhi was about to retaliate, the other party suddenly stopped moving and fell down limply.
"What's going on? Was this your doing?" Rong Zhi looked at Chen An, her expression somewhat displeased.
"I'm sure now."
Chen An looked at Rong Zhi, and a strong interest appeared in his eyes.
"Sure of what?" Rong Zhi took a step back, suddenly having a bad premonition.
"No wonder you attract female ghosts; it turns out you yourself exude a strong ghostly aura."
"Didn't you say that being with ghosts for a long time would cause you to be tainted? I fought with that female ghost last night, so it's not surprising that I got tainted."
"It's not like that. That level of ghostly aura would only make ghosts feel familiar; it wouldn't cause such an enthusiastic reaction. Unless it's emanating from you yourself."
Rong Zhi's scalp tingled. She wasn't a ghost, but she wasn't a real person either.
She was someone who had already died, but had merely borrowed a body.
Did the other party see through it?
"Why do I emanate a ghostly aura? Am I also a ghost?"
Her mind was in turmoil, but she appeared very calm on the surface.
"Of course not. If you were a ghost, your body would have rotted away long ago."
Fortunately, he hadn't seen through it.
Rong Zhi breathed a sigh of relief.
"However, your situation is indeed quite strange. Generally, this kind of aura is only emitted by people who are on the verge of death."
"Maybe I'm dying," she shrugged. As long as he didn't see that she had borrowed a body, everything else didn't matter.
Chen An put away his fan and took out a talisman from his懷, sticking it on the actor's forehead. The next moment, the actor let out a faint moan and slowly woke up.
Rong Zhi looked at her vigilantly, but she was no longer as fervent as before. She just looked around blankly. When she saw Rong Zhi, she frowned, and a look of disgust appeared on her face.
"Who are you? Why are you in my theater?"
"Just passing by." Rong Zhi was a little surprised. The attitude had changed so drastically. She seemed possessed just now.
"Young Master Chen."
The actor leaned towards him with a delicate posture, asking coyly, "Who is this woman? Why did you bring her here? Don't you want me anymore?"
"How could I? My beauty, this is just one of my maids. I have something to do, I'll come see you again another day."
Chen An pinched her cheek, turned around, and led Rong Zhi away.
Rong Zhi didn't care about being called a maid. She asked impatiently, "Why did she suddenly change like that?"
"Because the person just now wasn't her."
Chen An smiled mysteriously.
Rong Zhi suddenly thought of a possibility, "Could it be..."
"Possession. She was possessed just now. The one who was interested in you was just a wandering spirit."
Rong Zhi looked around, only to feel that all around them were ghostly shadows.
"I told you, your situation is very similar to that of a dying person. Some wandering spirits who want to borrow a body will be interested in your body."
Borrowing a body? Did she also come back to life this way?
Did she snatch someone else's body?
"What's the success rate of coming back to life through this method?"
"Almost none."
"Why?"
Chen An looked at her strangely, "How many people die every day in this world, and how many wandering spirits are there? If everyone could borrow a body, wouldn't the world be in chaos? Moreover, everyone's body is different. Even if you borrow one, it might not be a perfect match, and in the end, you still won't be able to control your body from decaying."
Rong Zhi thought of herself. As someone who had borrowed a body, why had she been able to live for 18 years intact.
"There is only one situation, and that is when someone uses sorcery to borrow a body."