Chapter 23 Corpse of the Son

  "I'm fine!" I avoided his gaze.

  "I heard that Xuan Yuan doesn't consider you a human being. If he did, I wouldn't be telling you this. But I'm looking at you..."

  "The one who demoted me is the Emperor himself, Xuan Yuan's temper has not been good lately, so his attitude was a bit overboard, but I've already married him, even if I'm not the princess, I still can't just leave the palace!"

  I deliberately use the phrase "three obediences and four virtues" of a woman to speak, although I don't believe in what's proper, but I know the real reason.

  But is Yang Chen's words true? The Crown Prince Xuan Yuan Li has always been 'good' at calculating, how could he do such a foolish thing as setting fire to the Wang Fu? Yang Chen is the son of the national teacher, whether he is really helping us or intentionally saying so, it is unknown!

  After leaving the private room, we went our separate ways.

  Back to the Wang Fu, Xuan Yuan Mu had not returned yet. I followed Zhang Mama until she finished her work and then walked with me into the pavilion in the 'flower' garden, where we were surrounded by water on all sides, so even if we said something, no one would hear it.

  "The princess must have something to ask the old slave?" Zhang's face was calm and serene, with a hint of detachment that came with age.

  "Zhang Ma, don't keep calling yourself 'old slave' in front of me. We're the same now." Although I said this, I knew she was intentionally using this tone to pressure me, hoping I would let her off.

  "I dare not!"

  I stood up, walked to her and sighed: "The queen is crazy. She knows she's in danger but still sends away the people she trusts most. Why? Is it really because the Wang Fu is short of people?"

  Zhang Niangniang didn't expect me to bring up the Empress, did she? A hint of sadness flashed across her calm face.

  "That night I entered the imperial palace, do you know what the empress said to me?"

  "What?" Zhang's voice was filled with anticipation.

  "She told me, don't ask anything, don't say anything, the less you know, the longer you live."

  "Empress of Dusk..."

  "You must know what's right?"

  "I... this old slave doesn't know, this old slave knows nothing!" Zhang Yini shook her head and rushed out of the pavilion, no longer listening to my words.

  Xuanyuan has come back, and needs to prepare dinner. Others don't know, but I do - he's a dead man, who basically doesn't eat at all, occasionally just drinking some cool tea.

  The kitchen manager sent two people who were delivering food away, and had no choice but to ask me to deliver the dishes. Before I went, the manager even apologized to me.

  "Yesterday you were wronged, I heard that the prince scolded you severely, but at least the dishes you sent could stay, so..."

  "It's nothing!" I pretended to frown and took over the tray with two dishes on it.

  I entered Xuan Yuan's room and saw that he had a gloomy face, his expression was very bad. I didn't say anything, lowered my head, put down the dishes, and was about to leave.

  "Snow!" Suddenly, Xuan Yuan spoke up, "Let's go back to the small building!"

  I closed the door and walked back in front of him: "What happened?"

  "Xuanyuan Zi died, his soul was also torn apart by Guoshi's curse, and then... Xuanyuan Mu closed his eyes."

  I grabbed his arm, I knew that for the dead, what was frightening was the soul's second death, Xuan Yuan Mu must have seen that kind of death, a death from which one would never be reborn.

  A pang of sorrow in my heart, Xuan Yuan Zi, that small, thin child, ultimately died, and not even his soul was spared.

  "Xuanyuan Zi is just a child, if he grows up and his resentment deepens, he will become a fierce ghost. In that case, the National Master will not be able to suppress him, let alone cause his soul to shatter into pieces and never reincarnate."

  "The national teacher used this method to scare you, it's so similar to the shape of death, so Xuan Yuan, don't be afraid!" I looked at him, the sadness in his eyes pierced deep into my heart.

  We are all lonely people, sometimes just a glance is enough for us to understand the pain in each other's hearts.

  Xuanyuan nodded and then pulled me down to sit, he didn't eat but liked watching me eat.

  I ate while telling him about what happened with Yang Chen during the day.

  "Although arson is a foolish thing, the most foolish things can be used to shake off suspicion against him." Xuan Yuan Mu said to the prince.

  "Do you believe what Yang Chen said?"

  "He doesn't resemble his father much, maybe what he said is true. We'd rather believe it to be safe than sorry and there's no harm in doing so."

  "Ah!"

  After dinner, we returned to the small building in the Ghost Bamboo Forest. The little boy with blurry flesh and blood was standing at the door to greet us. Still no facial features, very scary.

  I curiously asked him: "Can't you look a bit more decent?"

  He replied to me: "If you look good, you can't take care of the house. There are so many 'yin' ghosts and female corpses outside, if they look too good, they won't be afraid!"

  Xuanyuan didn't want to disturb us, so he let him rest on his own. I was curious about how he rested, so I took advantage of Xuanyuan's inattention and secretly followed him.

  In a small room, there was a large wooden box. The dim and featureless flesh-like creature lived inside it. The interior of the large wooden box was messy, with soft white things scattered all over.

  A foul smell wafted out and I crouched at the 'door' to ask the little fellow inside, "What's in your wooden box? It smells terrible!"

  "No way, it smells so good! This is my favorite!"

  "Does it smell good?" It actually smells very bad. I took a step forward and looked into the wooden box, but all I saw was a blurry mess inside.

  Just as I was about to ask him again, I saw a finger in the wooden box.

  "Do you want to know what this is?" Xiaoxuan Mu raised that bloody flesh face and stared at me with a face without eyes.

  I stared at the wooden box in horror, wanting to shake my head, but unable to move.

  "This is a human corpse, which I crushed and spread out like a bed. When I'm hungry, I can still eat a mouthful, and it tastes quite good. You think it's beautiful?" Little Xuan Yuan Mu originally didn't have any facial features, but I saw him smiling at me, and his smile was so evil that it seemed like he would pounce on me and crush me to pieces the next second.

  I almost rushed out of his room with a vomiting feeling, saw Xuan Yuan standing on the building smiling at me, I couldn't help but shake my head.

  "Do you know I went to see his room?"

  "Hmm!" Xuan Yuan smiled and nodded.

  "Then why didn't you stop me?" I glared at him angrily.

  "Because you will find out sooner or later, and it's better to know what kind of person he is." Xuan Yuan Mu said with a bad smile.

  "You... I found out you've been bullying me every time you come back to the small building!" I turned around and walked towards my own room, hoping that my carved 'flower' big 'bed' hadn't been contaminated by that blurry little Xuan Yuan's dirty paws.