Chapter 8 The Shangguan Family

  The carriage was moving steadily along the road, and pedestrians who saw that it was the Upper Official's family carriage hurried to make way. Although the Upper Official's family was not of imperial descent, they were a prominent clan, and in the capital city, they could be considered one of the dominant forces. The reason for this was that the eldest son of the Upper Official's family was the Emperor's teacher, while the second son was skilled in commerce, with thriving businesses that couldn't be compared to those of Zhao, the richest man in Shu City. Even the youngest daughter would soon enter the palace as a lady-in-waiting, and it was said that she would either become the Crown Prince's consort or one of his concubines. Once the Crown Prince ascended to the throne, their status would naturally be extremely noble.

  In the capital, everyone else still gave face to the Shangguan family. The reason for this was that when Old Master Shangguan's wife passed away, he invited people to hold a memorial service for her. Old Master Shangguan was deeply in love with his wife and had only been married once in his life. Her sudden death was very sad. At that time, the famous Guīyǎn (Ghost Eye) was invited over. Just as Ghost Eye was performing the ritual, the five-year-old ghost quietly told Ghost Eye something. Ghost Eye was taken aback but didn't delay and continued with the ritual. After the ritual ended, he met with Old Master Shangguan alone. Only then did Old Master Shangguan learn that his wife had been murdered, and the reason was because of a woman sent by the Qin family, who were also nobles.

  A 28-year-old woman was beautiful and charming, but the old master only had his wife in his heart. However, he couldn't bear to send her away due to social etiquette, so he allocated a remote house for her, out of sight, out of mind. The woman was unwilling to accept this arrangement and often appeared at places where the old master would pass by. The old master was annoyed and explicitly forbade her from doing so, only then did she calm down somewhat. However, as a newly married woman in her prime, she was extremely discontent. Unable to bear the loneliness, she had an affair with another man outside. One day, coincidentally, she was seen by the old master's wife, who was furious and wanted to tell the old master about it.

  The woman, seeing that things had been exposed, was extremely frightened in her heart. She then thought to herself that everything she had today was all because of Lady Shangguan, so she might as well take a risk and join forces with the man to harm Lady Shangguan. Although the Shangguan family immediately put the woman and the wild man to death, the relationship between the two families became increasingly worse from then on, although it did not reach the point of drawing swords and shooting arrows, but they almost had no dealings with each other.

  It was because of this matter that Guiyan came to perform a ritual every year on the anniversary of Shangguan Furen's death. When Guishen was five years old, Dà Gōngzǐ had just become a high school graduate and was immediately appointed as Emperor's teacher due to his excellent academic achievements and eloquence. It has been eleven years since then. However, there is still some time before the anniversary of Shangguan Furen's death, but for some reason, he suddenly came to invite Guiyan.

  "I originally thought it would take some time to find the master, but I didn't expect the master to come to Beijing." Zhang Guan said with a smile, his tone had a hint of deep relief.

  "It just so happened that I arrived in the capital and was preparing to stay for one night before leaving, but unexpectedly I ran into Zhang Guan Jia." said Gui Yan with a smile.

  "Master, have a good rest tonight, and tomorrow Old Master Shang will discuss the details with you again." The carriage creaked to a stop. Zhang, the butler, got out first and helped Gei Yan down from the carriage after setting up the footstool.

  "Alright." Guī Yǎn didn't ask any further questions, and after Guī Shēng and Guī Hún got out of the carriage, he followed Zhang Guānjiā to a courtyard. In the courtyard, several maids and young servants were already standing there. "Let them all go back, we don't need these." Guī Yǎn said with a smile.

  "That's all, Master. You should rest well." The housekeeper bowed and waved his hand to signal the maids and young servants to follow him out.

  "Master." As soon as those people left, Gui Sheng couldn't wait to ask, "Didn't you say we were staying for two days? Why did you say one night again?" After finishing speaking, he rubbed his chin and lowered his head to think carefully.

  The ghostly eyes and the ghostly soul exchanged a glance, then left directly, returning to the house. Only one ghost remained in the courtyard... muttering to himself...

  "Gongzi, we received an invitation from the Qin family. However, Miss Guiying and her group chose to go with the Shangguan family instead. The relationship between the Qin and Shangguan families is quite bad." Muyao poured a cup of water for Changqingzi, then sat down across from him.

  "That's just right." Chang Qingzi smiled slightly, seeming to be in a good mood. The first time was because of the commission, and they had no choice but to cooperate. This time, however, it was each for their own client, and it just so happened that they could compare who was better.

  "Sir, was your intention last time to pretend to be weak on purpose in order to let Miss Ghost put down her guard?"

  "Young master, this is not right of you."

  "Sir, what do you plan to do?"

  "Will you thoroughly defeat Miss Ghost?"

  "Your Highness..."

  Chang Qingzi helplessly made a stopping gesture with his hand, cutting off Muya's words. Ignoring Muya's excited expression, he directly sent him back to his own room.

  The Er Genzi finally calmed down, and it's really unknown how Mu Ya would have so many problems. However, this time representing the Qin family to compete with the ghost is also what he has been looking forward to, just hoping that the ghost won't be too weak, otherwise winning will be too meaningless, Chang Qingzi thought secretly.

  At this time, in another upstairs room.

  The man who was stabbed by the ghost with a needle, was curled up on the bed. His pale face remained unchanged, and his sweat had already soaked through the sheets. His lips were bitten and bleeding, with blood flowing from the corner of his mouth onto the already damp sheets, slowly spreading into a patch.

  At this moment, the man's eyes suddenly widened, filled with incredulity. He slowly stretched out his body, propped himself up on the bed with his arms, and sat up slowly, but still leaned weakly against the bedding. His teeth, which had been tightly clenched, also slowly relaxed, and his chest heaved irregularly.

  The pain in his bones had actually disappeared, although his body was still a bit weak, but he didn't seem to have any major problems. The man closed his eyes and suddenly opened them again, the corners of his mouth slightly hooked, it seemed that the woman wasn't so cruel after all... After waiting for his body to recover a bit, the man got out of bed, sat down at the table, and poured himself a glass of water. At this time, the man's eyes narrowed, and he naturally brought the cup to his mouth and took a sip.

  "Master." A gentle voice sounded, and the door was pushed open.

  "What else do you want to convey?" the man sneered.

  "The master of the house hopes you will return home tonight." The woman hastily replied with respect, seeing that the man had no reaction, she moved to the side of the man, half-kneeling and embracing the man's waist, saying again: "Brother Huan Yue, Qing Lian..."

  "Let go and get out of here." Yin Huan Yue said coldly.

  "Yes." Qinglian didn't dare to disobey, quickly letting go and retreating a big step back. Although it seemed like the young master was relatively easy-going, that was just an appearance. The true temper of the young master, she was most clear about.

  "Wait outside." Yin Huan Yue said calmly.

  "Yes."

  Call yourself back, it seems to be related to the strange phenomenon this afternoon. However, if that's the case, can't we see some familiar people? For example... Yin Huan Yue's fingers exerted a slight force, and the teacup in her hand immediately shattered into powder. She glanced at him lightly, with a faint smile playing on her lips.