Peony Lantern (6) No. 33

  A faint bright color appeared outside the window.

  Ren Ping Sheng took off his gloves and stuffed them into his pocket along with my mask, saying: "A Xuan, this one's for me!"

  "Is that it?" I felt quite discontented.

  Although the cause of death has been roughly inferred and his identity background has been understood, the case still hasn't been cracked!

  "I've already figured out how he died, but I won't tell you now, because I want to see you again." Ren Pingsheng's smile carried a hint of mischief. "Perhaps tomorrow at the county yamen's grand hall, I'll come and explain it to you?"

  "I'm just a girl from a humble family, how can I possibly attend the grand hall?" I felt somewhat disheartened.

  "You're so clever, how can't you find a way? Come on, I've promised. " Ren Ping Sheng paused for a moment, then asked: "Does your Autumn Far brother spoil you?"

  The scene of Qiu slapping my hand away yesterday flashed through my mind, and I couldn't help but let out a sigh.

  "I was foolish in the past and wasn't good to my brother, so it's me who is a person my brother dislikes..."

  Ren Ping Sheng smiled lightly: "Then don't follow him anymore. From now on, follow me, okay? I'll treat you well and take you to do all sorts of interesting things. You're a restless guy, following me will definitely make you happy."

  That's too straightforward!

  Although I'm not as reserved as people in the past, I'm still a young girl who's never been in love before! Such a straightforward confession made my face burn fiercely. I don't know if my face is very red, but anyway, I couldn't say a word.

  The handsome guy didn't force me to answer, he gently took my hand with his beautiful fingers that had just touched the corpse, making my heart beat wildly. He led me to the door of the morgue and said: "It's dawn, I believe Ah Rong has never been lost. So go back and rest. We'll see each other again soon."

  He winked at me and slowly walked away in another direction.

  I feel like I've completely lost my mind. This night, with ghosts and corpses and handsome strangers, has turned my brain into mush. Ren Pingsheng is an interesting person, and a pretty outstandingly handsome guy too!

  I silently scolded myself for being infatuated, and quickly gathered my thoughts. Actually, Ren Ping Sheng and Nie Qiu Yuan are similar in some ways, but their temperament is completely opposite. Ren Ping Sheng's appearance is that of a standard warm man, but there's just something about him that makes me feel like he emits an inexplicable coldness from within, much colder than Nie Qiu Yuan by several degrees.

  I don't know how I got back to the house, I fell asleep as soon as I lay down because I was really tired. It wasn't until dawn that Meilan came to call me for breakfast and said that Nie Qiuyuan and Luo Dachun had already gone to the main hall.

  I didn't have time to eat breakfast and rushed to the main hall. Can we hear the verdict of the case today?

  "I! I saw the floating peony lanterns last night! Right in our county government office..." I exclaimed in a terrified tone as I rushed into the main hall, "It's really too..."

  The word "fear" was swallowed by me, because a house full of people were staring at me with an extraterrestrial gaze. Autumn furrowed her brow and Lu Da Chun smiled wryly, saying: "Liu Yue, are you having another episode?"

  The key point is that there were over a dozen people sitting in the main hall, but Ren Ping was not among them.

  "Last night... Master Zhu said... Peony lanterns..." I stuttered, and suddenly the words wouldn't come out right.

  Who would have thought that a thin old man suddenly stood up, waving his hands wildly and saying in alarm: "Absolutely not, absolutely not! Even if I had the biggest guts, I wouldn't dare to go to Lord Nie's residence at midnight to disturb his daughter! And besides, last night we all went to deal with the lanterns on the outskirts of the city, even Meilan also went, we were all together, absolutely not!"

  I'm full of question marks. Who... is this again?!

  "This is Chen Shou, the county's chief clerk. The young lady just mentioned Clerk Chen..." County Magistrate Ge QingSong found it very puzzling.

  What's this? Is Feng County's Chief Clerk Chen Shou this shriveled up old man? So...

  What! Who! Ah!

  "Feng County's unsolved cases are all handled by the head of the household...""Tomorrow, I'll explain it to you, come and see..."

  "Scoundrel!" I muttered under my breath.

  "Fireflies, what's going on?" Nie Qiuyuan saw through the subtlety.

  "Last night, I saw a peony lantern and was scared. I called for you all, but none of you were there. Then, I met the Chief Secretary. He said it was nothing, that he hadn't seen any peony lantern..." I muttered softly like a child who had done something wrong, not daring to mention what the Chief Secretary and I did together."

  "So you're saying that the Chief Scribe you met wasn't this Chen Shou?"

  I nodded: "It was a young man about the same age as my brother. He said he was the chief clerk of Feng County and told me... not to panic."

  Nie Qiuyuan's long eyebrows slightly furrowed: "The name, did you say it?"

  He said his name was Ren Pingsheng.

  I answered normally, but when I said the three words "Ren Ping Sheng", Nie Qiuyuan was like he had been struck by a thunderbolt, his eyes widening instantly.

  It was the first time I saw his expression change so drastically, he even suddenly stood up, as if intending to reach out and grab my arm, but then froze. I felt his heart skip a beat, and couldn't help but be startled in my own heart.

  What did I do wrong!

  "Brother..." My words didn't even leave my mouth before I heard a loud "slap", and then felt a stinging pain on the left side of my face.

  Nie Qiuyuan suddenly raised his hand and slapped me hard on the face.

  "How can you be so rude, talking freely with a strange man in the middle of the night? How will I arrange your marriage in the future? You need to be strictly disciplined by your substitute father!"

  I was stunned and lifted my head in surprise. This didn't look like him at all, but he pretended I didn't exist, not even giving me a glance.

  I don't know why, but I didn't feel angry with him, only a sense of injustice that brought tears to my eyes. Was this my fault? Anyway, you just didn't like me, and no matter what, it wouldn't be okay. Sniffling, I walked over to Luo Dachun, who also looked surprised, but he said to Xi Ni, "Okay, okay, let's just leave it at that, Liou Ying is scared too."

  The atmosphere was awkward. But in the hall were some high-ranking officials who immediately changed the subject and began to discuss the events that had occurred in the county.

  "Alas, why does our county have this folk custom? Clearly it's not the Lunar New Year yet, but last night was a sacrificial day. Every year around this time something happens, even releasing Kongming lanterns can lead to fights."

  They were not here last night, they went to pull a rickshaw.

  Wait, what's this? A Kongming lantern?

  Suddenly, a flash of light passed through my mind.

  Kongming lanterns are also called sky lanterns. In ancient times, they were mainly used for military purposes, but now releasing Kongming lanterns is mainly for praying for blessings. It seems that when Fengxian County worships the spirits of the dead, there is also a custom of releasing Kongming lanterns. The Kongming lanterns with written messages flying up to the sky are said to be able to convey condolences to the deceased.

  Kongming lanterns are said to have been invented by Zhuge Liang. At that time, Zhuge Kongming was besieged by Sima Yi in Pingyang and could not send troops out of the city for help, so he calculated the wind direction and made some floating paper lanterns with a message asking for help tied to them. Later, it really succeeded. So flying Kongming lanterns are a good tool for transmitting messages.

  What if the lanterns in this ghost story are actually Kongming lanterns?

  For a moment, my mind flashed with slides: peony lanterns hanging from the treetops, on-site peony lanterns, secret rooms, poisoning, Tianjing Gate, traitors, anti-Japanese god drama...

  The camera freezes on the moment when the deceased swallows the poison.

  It was like this originally.