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

"Um."

Xia Ximo responded with a nonchalant reply, but then uttered a completely emotionless remark.

"You see the person alive, and you see the soul after death; why don't you go find them yourself?"

Such a sentence instantly suppressed the emotions that had just welled up in Ren Fengjue's heart.

She couldn't say anything to comfort her.

They only state the facts.

He indeed never went to look for it.

He was so young when that happened; he was just a few years old and had only just begun to remember things.

He only remembered waking up to see his father's somber face and reddened eyes.

His mother hugged him and said, "Don't go to Nanchuan Hospital to see your uncle anymore."

Why?

Nanchuan Academy has many rare items that can't be found elsewhere, and his uncle is always good at making him happy.

For a child of that age, it was the most interesting place in the entire Marquis's mansion.

His mother stroked his head and comforted him, saying, "He went to a very far place."

He asked eagerly, "When will he be back?"

"Not necessarily, maybe we'll have to wait until you grow up."

Later, when he grew a little older, he happened to remember to ask about it one day, but was severely scolded by his father.

"You are not allowed to mention your uncle again."

He asked why, and his father's face grew even uglier, his eyes filled with admonition.

"No means no, don't ask again!"

Looking back now, he can still feel his father's repressed emotions and his mother's unspeakable words.

He also thought that if he stored it deep in his memory and didn't deliberately think about it, it wouldn't affect him anymore.

It wasn't until he stumbled upon it again that he realized he had only aged a few years in vain.

A knot in your heart that you don't untie will remain a knot forever.

In the silence, Ren Fengjue suddenly gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"Miss Xia is right. Why did it take me so long to understand such a simple truth?"

Xia Ximo seemed oblivious to the self-deprecation in his words and replied, "It's never too late to understand."

"..."

Ren Fengjue had nothing to say, so he changed the subject and asked, "Did Miss Xia discover anything just now?"

Xia Ximo didn't beat around the bush, "You could say yes."

Pointing to a portrait of a woman hanging on the wall, she asked, "The woman in this painting must be the homeowner, right?"

Ren Fengjue glanced at it.

The woman in the painting has a graceful figure, delicate features, and a gentle temperament. She is sitting by the window, half-holding a pipa, with an incense burner burning beside her, from which wisps of smoke rise.

Although what he saw was Ruyan, it was already a half-rotten corpse.

However, judging from the portrait, it is indeed the same person.

Moreover, the scenes in the painting—the pipa, the carved window, and the incense burner—match the furnishings inside the room.

"Indeed, it is Ruyan."

Xia Ximo said, "Yesterday, a wisp of a ghost attached itself to a potted plant, which Tian Qing bought back."

"A wisp of soul is hidden inside; it is her."

Ren Fengjue was quite surprised: "In the East Courtyard?"

"Yes."

"Now that we've found her ghost, will we know how she died?"

"no."

Xia Ximo frowned slightly: "That wisp of ghost is very strange. Not only does it have malevolent energy and heavy resentment, but it also can't remember anything from its previous life."

In the past, the souls that needed to be ferried could be easily distinguished as the main soul and the scattered souls.

Once the main soul is found, the cause and effect of the matter can be roughly understood.

But this time, it's clearly much more difficult.

If we can't approach the problem from the spirits, then we can only look for clues from the living.

How did Ruyan come to be targeted by evil spirits?

How exactly did she die? Where are her three souls and seven spirits now?

Ren Fengjue pondered for a moment, then said, "I never imagined that things would come full circle back to the same issue."

"It seems that both Miss Xia and I must investigate this matter of the 'Soul Nourishing Pearl'."

Xia Ximo wanted to say that she wasn't interested in the bead.

But then I thought, to find out the whole story, we should start by investigating this bead.

Uncharacteristically, she didn't directly refuse him; instead, she asked, "What did you find here during the day? Can you tell me?"

Ren Fengjue was happy to share with her, and immediately recounted everything that had happened since arriving at Hongxiu Tower that morning, as well as what had happened after going to Yuwang Mansion.

He added, "I've already questioned the manager of this building."

"She said that Ruyan suddenly fell ill a few days ago and has been staying in her room ever since, refusing to see any guests. There is also a foul smell coming from the room from time to time, and the servants dare not go in."

"During that time, I did see several doctors, but unfortunately, none of them could figure out the cause of my illness..."

As they were speaking, a soft footstep suddenly came from outside the door.

Both of them had very sharp ears, and they looked in the same direction at the same time, only to see the figure of a woman reflected in front of the door.

"Like smoke..."

The person who came didn't seem to have the courage to come closer, and only dared to call out softly at the door.

It was a woman's voice.

Then, the woman knelt on the ground and said, "That day... it was all my fault. If I hadn't insisted on taking you to that temple, you wouldn't be in this situation..."

Ren Fengjue immediately asked, "What happened at the temple that day?"

Upon hearing this, the woman screamed in fright and staggered as she tried to run away.

However, he hadn't run two steps before he fell to the ground.

"Who are you?"

Upon seeing two figures emerge from the room, the woman's expression changed drastically. "Why are you here?"

Ren Fengjue gestured with the jade pendant at his waist: "The Ministry of Justice is investigating a case, and we hope for your cooperation."

Upon hearing the words "Ministry of Justice," the woman seemed to immediately guess Ren Fengjue's identity and was so frightened that she immediately knelt on the ground.

"Please forgive me, sir. I... I am a courtesan in this building. I just wanted to come and see Ruyan. Her death... has nothing to do with me."

Ren Fengjue frowned, but asked, "Then what did you just say?"

The woman hesitated for a moment, seemingly unsure how to explain.

Ren Fengjue took two steps forward and emphasized, "If you are hiding anything, you will be a suspect in my eyes."

"grown ups…"

The woman, completely unfazed, immediately replied, "I'll talk, I'll talk..."

She took a deep breath, glanced into Ruyan's room, and slowly fell into deep thought.

The woman's name was Simeng, and she was Ruyan's only friend in the Red Sleeve Pavilion.

A month ago, the headmistress, as usual, let them go out to buy cosmetics and rouge.

That day also happened to be the day the emperor issued an edict, betrothing the eldest daughter of the Zhuang family to King Yu.

When Ruyan learned of this while buying rouge, she was somewhat depressed.

Seeing this, Simeng thought that since there was still time, she should go to Qingping Temple nearby to pray and make a wish.

Ruyan originally didn't want to go, but she couldn't resist Simeng's persistent pleading.

The two men gave each of the four servants accompanying them two taels of silver, and then headed towards the outskirts of the capital.

Strangely, the sky was clear before leaving the city, but when we crossed a bridge, the weather suddenly changed. A gust of cold wind blew by, and in an instant, a torrential downpour began.

At that time, the only place to take shelter from the rain was a nearby abandoned temple. The servants didn't have time to think much and carried the sedan chair into the temple to avoid the rain.