Holding a lantern, guiding souls across, Lady Hou comes from the underworld.

After the banquet, the old butler indeed came to entertain them personally.

Following Mr. Shen's instructions, he led everyone into a separate courtyard within the villa, which happened to have five guest rooms.

Moreover, each room was assigned a servant to attend to them.

Even in the best inn in the county, you might not get such good treatment.

Yu Lang couldn't help but sigh, thankfully he had asked someone a couple of questions after entering the county.

Now that they had eaten and drunk their fill, and were exhausted from a day and a night of travel, Yu Lang and Yan Zhengchu couldn't wait to go back to their room to rest.

Ren Fengjue did not drink alcohol. When the old master Shen came to offer a toast earlier, he quietly substituted tea for it.

At this moment, seeing that Yu Lang and Yan Zhengchu had returned to their rooms one after another, he also told A Xia to go back and rest.

Xia Ximo remained standing in the same spot, seemingly lost in thought.

Ren Fengjue noticed that her cheeks were flushed, probably from drinking, but her eyes were still clear and showed no signs of drunkenness.

He suddenly remembered the first time he met her on that merchant ship, when she was drunk and lying unconscious in the cabin where the assassin was hiding.

"Does Miss Xia like to drink alcohol?"

Upon hearing this, Xia Ximo seemed to slowly come back to her senses from her daze.

This should be the first time she has drunk alcohol since she came back to life.

She didn't remember if she used to like it; she just drank it subconsciously.

"Drink if you want, it doesn't matter if you like it or not."

It was still his usual way of speaking.

Ren Fengjue was not surprised and simply smiled knowingly.

Instead, Xia Ximo gave him a deep look and whispered a reminder: "Don't sleep too soundly at night, be careful there might be problems at the villa."

After saying that, she turned and went back to her room.

Ren Fengjue pondered those words for a moment.

Judging from his intuition, the Yuelai Villa did indeed feel a bit strange.

But I can't quite put my finger on what's strange about it.

Judging from Mr. Shen's age, his most beloved only daughter should be considered a "daughter born late in life".

For someone of his status, it's only natural that he would spend a lot of money to celebrate the marriage of his precious daughter, whom he had finally obtained.

If I had to pinpoint what was wrong, it would be that it was too enthusiastic and extravagant.

Ren Fengjue didn't know what Xia Ximo's basis was, but he still trusted what she said.

Therefore, after returning to his room, he dismissed the servants and did not intend to sleep in bed. Instead, he lay on the couch fully clothed and closed his eyes to rest.

After Xia Ximo returned to her room, she didn't let the servants attend to her. Instead, she sent Wuyou out to search the manor for any wandering spirits.

Wuyou shook her head firmly, "I didn't sense any ghostly presence along the way from the front yard to the backyard."

"I saw a shadow at the banquet."

Wuyou also felt puzzled: "If it were a ghost, I couldn't possibly not smell it, and besides, that Taoist priest was also there."

Taoist priests are, after all, human, and might be less discerning when they've been drinking.

But if even the spirit of the lamp can't sense it, then it probably isn't true.

Of course, Xia Ximo had no intention of meddling in other people's business. As long as there were no unjustly killed souls or ghosts from Fu Lou, she could ignore it.

That night, however, passed peacefully.

When I woke up, the morning light was warm, and the servants had already prepared my washing and toiletries.

When they came out of their rooms, they all looked refreshed and in excellent condition.

Under the old butler's arrangement, they went to the flower hall for breakfast.

Ren Fengjue was a man of propriety. Having been treated so well, he would certainly have to thank and say goodbye in person if he were to leave.

However, the old butler said that Mr. Shen had gone to accompany Miss Shen early in the morning and could not meet with everyone.

Therefore, everyone had no choice but to take their leave.

Perhaps it was because he slept so well last night, but Yu Lang felt that his steps were particularly light today.

He was the first to walk to the carriage and invite everyone to get on.

The early morning sunlight shone in front of Yuelai Villa, casting long shadows of each of them on the ground.

However, it was at this moment that Yu Lang noticed something was wrong.

Everyone has a shadow.

This includes the horse-drawn carriage, the trees nearby, and even the courtyard wall.

Only he had nothing beneath his feet.

The shadow disappeared.

When Yu Lang first looked at it, he thought he was seeing things. He looked at it carefully again and again, confirming it several times, and then he was suddenly startled.

By this time, everyone had boarded the carriage, but Yu Lang was nowhere to be seen. Ren Fengjue couldn't help but lift the curtain and ask, "What are you all standing there for?"

"grown ups…"

When Yu Lang turned around, his face was deathly pale. He pointed to his feet and said, "My lord, please take a look for me. My... shadow seems to be missing."

Upon hearing this, Ren Fengjue looked down at the ground, his expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly called out to Yan Zhengchu, "Master Yan, come and take a look too."

The group disembarked from the carriage again.

And under the sunlight, I checked it several times.

Yu Lang's shadow has truly vanished.

Yan Zhengchu's expression also turned serious. He said, "Although a person's shadow is formed by the reflection of light."

"But there's another theory—only ghosts don't have shadows."

Yu Lang was taken aback by these words: "So, you're saying I've become a ghost?"

Behind him, Xia Ximo suddenly retorted, "Ghosts fear sunlight. If you were a ghost, you'd probably be scattered to the winds by now."

"Then what happened? It can't be that the shadow ran off to play by itself, can it?"

Yan Zhengchu glared at Yu Lang, then said seriously, "Besides that, there is another theory: the vengeful spirit steals the shadow in order to find a substitute."

"..."

Ren Fengjue glanced back at Yuelai Villa behind him, recalling what Xia Ximo had said last night.

"There's something wrong with this resort."

Yu Lang looked utterly dejected: "Am I being haunted by a vengeful spirit? What should I do?"

Ren Fengjue turned around and walked into the manor: "Naturally, we'll find it back where it was lost."

They returned to the manor gate and knocked. Upon seeing that they had come back, the servants summoned the old steward.

The old butler was quite surprised by this and couldn't help but ask, "Gentlemen, why have you returned?"

Ren Fengjue said politely, "I just realized I've lost something, so I came back to look for it."

The old butler asked in surprise, "Has something valuable gone missing?"

Yu Lang quickly interjected from behind, "That's far too valuable!"

He stepped into the sunlight, pointed to the ground, and said, "My shadow was left at your manor."

The old butler was astonished: "Young master, how could you joke like that? Anything can be lost, how could a shadow possibly disappear?"

Ren Fengjue then asked, "Has any similar incident ever occurred at Yuelai Villa?"

The old butler quickly shook his head.

"Has any wrongful conviction ever occurred?"

"Absolutely not!"

Just as the standoff was reaching its conclusion, a voice inquired, "Steward Chen, have we received guests? Why don't you invite them in?"

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw it was Qin Shu, the son-in-law of the Shen family, whom they had met once last night.