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

Yan Zhengchu set up a small stall next to the busiest street in Kaiming County.

The banner reads: "Catch ghosts and exorcise evil spirits, and bestow spiritual talismans."

However, most people who passed by regarded him as a charlatan, glanced at him, and then left.

Yan Zhengchu wasn't flustered. Before setting up his stall, he had calculated that he would definitely "have business" soon.

However, after waiting for nearly two hours, until their mouths were dry and their throats were parched, no one stopped or stood by.

Just as he was wondering if the divination had failed him today, someone finally stopped.

He was a middle-aged man who looked distressed.

"Taoist Master..."

Before he could speak, Yan Zhengchu asked directly, "Have you visited Yuelai Villa recently?"

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man was immediately taken aback.

He became agitated: "How did you know, Taoist priest?"

Master Yan smiled slightly, feigning profundity: "All it takes is a quick calculation with my fingers."

The man said, "My daughter went with me to a wedding banquet at Yuelai Villa five days ago. She fell ill after we returned from the banquet."

"We've already called a doctor and given her medication, but she remains in a coma..."

"She also kept telling me that a shadow was following her."

"shadow?"

Yan Zhengchu immediately packed up his stall and said directly, "Now take me to see it..."

On the way to the man's house, the man gave Yan Zhengchu a general account of what had happened over the past five days.

The man's surname was Zhan, and he was a famous blacksmith in Kaiming County, known as Zhan Wulang.

Five days ago, his daughter Xiaoduo came back from Kaiming College and said that Mr. Qin's son was going to marry the young lady from Yuelai Villa.

When Mr. Shen was in a good mood, he decided to hold a ten-day banquet to entertain the whole county and would not accept any gifts.

After hearing this, Xiaoduo begged her father to take her to a banquet.

So, that evening, after Xiaoduo finished school, Zhan Wulang took his daughter there.

And the truth was just as rumored: the Shen family did not accept monetary gifts; all that was needed was to say a few words of congratulations, and one could go in and eat and drink to one's heart's content.

Zhan Wulang was overjoyed. He saw a table full of delicacies and fine wines that he had never seen before, and he was amazed that his trip had not been in vain.

"The wine at the wedding banquet was so fragrant and delicious that I couldn't help but have a couple more drinks than I expected..."

At this point, Zhan Wulang looked regretful. "At that time, Xiaoduo had almost finished eating and wanted to get off the table to play. I gave her a few instructions and then let her go..."

When a man gets carried away with drinking, he talks animatedly with the people at the table and pays no attention to the children.

When they suddenly realized what had happened, Xiao Duo was nowhere to be seen at the banquet.

Startled, Zhan Wulang quickly inquired among the servants in the manor, eventually alerting the old steward, who took him to search the manor.

It's worth noting that Yuelai Villa covers a vast area with courtyards of varying sizes and at least dozens of rooms.

As he searched along the way, Zhan Wulang was covered in cold sweat, and the effects of the alcohol gradually wore off.

Upon hearing this, Yan Zhengchu couldn't help but ask, "So how was it finally found?"

Zhan Wulang seemed a little embarrassed. "It was found in... Miss Shen's courtyard."

"Huh? Why did Xiaoduo run off to the inner garden?"

Yan Zhengchu had been to the villa once before and even stayed overnight. Although he didn't know the full extent of it, he could estimate the distance from the front courtyard to the inner garden.

How could a five or six-year-old girl run so far without anyone guiding her?

Zhan Wulang sighed again and said, "Xiao Duo said that a shadow carried her there..."

"Shadow again?"

Yan Zhengchu frowned, sensing that this matter was not so simple.

He then asked, "What was Xiaoduo doing when you found her?"

Zhan Wulang hesitated for a moment before saying, "She... is in front of Miss Shen's room."

"Have you seen Miss Shen?"

Zhan Wulang quickly waved his hand, "Of course not, at that time..."

He seemed to want to say something, but stopped himself in time.

Yan Zhengchu noticed that his expression was strange, and his tone was hesitant, even somewhat doubtful.

"What was it then?"

Zhan Wulang was clearly guilty: "It's nothing..."

"Really nothing?" Yan Zhengchu paused, deliberately stopping to look at him. "If you're hiding something, this Daoist priest isn't confident he can help you."

Upon hearing this, Zhan Wulang was indeed frightened.

He looked around, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "At the time, I noticed something strange about Miss Shen's courtyard..."

"What do you mean?"

"Although the Zhuang family is celebrating a happy occasion, there is no sign of joy in the courtyard where Miss Shen lives. Even the door to her room is locked with a large padlock."

She doesn't look like a bride-to-be.

It's more like being locked up.

Yan Zhengchu also began to have doubts, and then asked, "Are you sure Miss Shen is inside?"

Zhan Wulang nodded firmly, "Because I heard Miss Shen shouting inside..."

"How did you determine that it was Miss Shen shouting?"

"It was the old butler who said it."

Yan Zhengchu nodded and then asked, "What was she shouting?"

"Her shouts were somewhat indistinct, but the general idea was that she wouldn't take her medicine..."

Yan Zhengchu then asked, "Do you know what illness Miss Shen has?"

Zhan Wulang shook his head before replying, "I only know that Miss Shen has been in poor health since childhood and is often sick. As for what illness she has this time, I really have no idea."

As we were talking, we arrived at Zhan Wulang's house.

After pushing open the courtyard gate, Yan Zhengchu only felt a faint yin energy surrounding him, but no malevolent energy.

He took out his compass and looked around, but seeing nothing amiss, he went to the bedside to check on Xiao Duo's condition.

Zhan Wulang stood nervously to the side, watching as Yan Zhengchu simply made a hand gesture and pressed it onto his daughter's forehead.

A moment later, the daughter suddenly opened her eyes, and a wisp of black energy emanated from them.

Yan Zhengchu picked up a copper coin and threw it at the black mist.

Then, the copper coin fell to the ground, and Xiaoduo suddenly woke up crying.

"Xiaoduo! Daddy's here!"

When Zhan Wulang saw that his daughter had woken up, he was both surprised and delighted, and hurriedly asked Yan Zhengchu, "Daoist Master, is my daughter alright?"

Yan Zhengchu replied, "She just encountered an evil spirit; exorcising the evil spirit will do the trick."

As he spoke, he knelt down in front of Xiaoduo and asked her gently, "Xiaoduo, what did you see at the banquet at the villa that day?"

There is a folk belief that children as young as a few years old, before their "third eye" closes, are extremely likely to communicate with the spirit world.

Perhaps, Xiaoduo saw something that day...

Xiao Duo nestled in her father's arms for a while before gradually stopping her crying.

When asked by the young Taoist priest, she timidly replied truthfully, "I saw... a shadow following me."

"It even invited me to visit the resort..."

Yan Zhengchu quickly asked again, "Did it talk to you?"

Xiao Duo nodded and said, "It said it also has a daughter, and that it would take me to see her, and then... and then Daddy came looking for me."

Yan Zhengchu frowned, thought about what had happened, remained silent for a moment, and then asked Zhan Wulang, "Where is Miss Shen's mother?"

Without much hesitation, Zhan Wulang replied, "Madam Shen passed away more than a decade ago, when Miss Shen was born."