The road from Dali Temple to home was a main road. The lanterns on the road poles were brightly lit, and the guards of Dali Temple would pass by here from time to time.

So this road was very safe, from small to large. Tangyuan muttered, raised her head, and looked at the night not far ahead.

The lantern of the road stick illuminated the road ahead in the past, but tonight, under the mist, it made people feel cold for some reason.

Tangyuan gathered her collar and walked forward.

The wind blew, the lanterns on the poles swayed, and the huge lantern shadows fell on the ground and swayed back and forth. Tangyuan slowed down, subconsciously took a deep breath, and tightened the corners of her clothes.

But at this moment, her mind couldn’t help but think of the story Wen Mingtang told about the painted-skinned-monster eating people. It was also like this at night when the night wind was swaying, and a figure suddenly walked out from the end of the alley.

Tangyuan pursed her lips, gritted her teeth subconsciously, and suddenly sped up, running towards home over the swaying pole and lantern.

Soon! After passing through an alley entrance, she arrived home. The night wind blew by her ears. The moment she passed through the alley entrance, a figure stretched towards it.

A dark shadow suddenly enveloped her, and Tangyuan instinctively raised her head and looked towards the shadow.

Then, a scream echoed throughout the alley.

…

…

The next day was Wen Mingtang’s rare day off, so the chef next to her took over the meal. Since there were currently only two chefs in the public kitchen of Dali Temple, the burden of preparing the morning meal fell on Master Sun.

Wen Mingtang didn’t plan to go to the public kitchen to eat the morning meal cooked by Master Sun. She just indulged in a rare moment of laziness and took a nap. After getting up, she picked up the mung bean cake she made yesterday afternoon and ate two pieces to cushion her stomach. Then she washed myself, took her money bag, and prepared to go shopping.

After thinking about it maturely, she walked to the gate of Dali Temple. Before she could step out of the gate, a carriage covered with silk satin stopped at the gate of Dali Temple. Then, a familiar maid jumped out of the carriage and walked towards Wen Mingtang.

Wen Mingtang couldn’t help but frown when she saw her.

The maid seemed unaware and said directly: “Miss Wen, our Miss…”

Before she finished speaking, Wen Mingtang suddenly looked past her looked behind her, and called out: “Liu Sicheng!”

The interrupted maid turned around and looked at Liu Yuan, who was walking towards this side.

Liu Yuan looked at her and was about to speak when he caught sight of the maid from the corner of his eye and asked casually: “This is…”

Wen Mingtang said: “The maid of my zújiě from Jiofang. I am not very familiar with her!”

Speaking of Wen Mingtang’s zújiěr, thinking of the inexplicable pursuit that day, it was really not difficult for Liu Yuan to have a good impression of this maid. Since Wen Mingtang said “not very familiar”, he directly dismissed her. He ignored the maid and said directly to Wen Mingtang: “Master Wen, I’m looking for you! Follow me quickly!”

After hearing this, Wen Mingtang immediately raised her heels and followed Liu Yuan.

Seeing that the person was intercepted like this, the maid became anxious and hurriedly tried to stop her: “Miss Wen, our Graceful Miss has made an appointment with you to go to the hot springs at Zhuangzi outside the city today…”

The conversation was abruptly interrupted by Liu Yuan before the words were finished. He said without any politeness, “What hot spring are you talking about? People are losing their lives, and you’re thinking about hot springs? If you want to soak, let your Graceful Miss do it herself. Master Wen is coming with me to pick someone up!”

With one sentence the maid’s face was blue and red, and she looked very ugly.

Liu Yuan ignored her, but accelerated his steps and walked forward with Wen Mingtang. Seeing that Wen Mingtang didn’t even raise her head, and even walked away without saying hello to her when passing by the carriage, Wen Xiutang threw a teacup angrily in the carriage. When the maid came back, she was still angry. Without thinking, Wen Xiutang slapped the maid in the face and cursed: “Why can’t you even invite someone?”

The maid screamed in pain, covered her face, lowered her eyelids, covered the emotions under her eyes, and lowered her head calmly. Replied: “That…that is the Sicheng of Dali Temple. It seems that Miss Wen is involved in a life lawsuit or something.”

Wen Xiutang’s expression turned unpleasant. Just the thought of not bringing the person over, made her fearful of facing the anger of Prince Yu when she would go to the Zhuangzi later. Feeling a mix of frustration and anger, she muttered, “So many complications!” and then dropped the curtain she was holding.

Seeing this, the maid turned to give instructions to the coachman, and just as she was about to climb onto the carriage, she heard Wen Xiutang’s voice coming from the carriage, “I want to be alone for a while, so just follow me by the side!”

The driver glanced at the maid, flicked his whip, and the carriage drove forward leisurely.

To be fair, this carriage didn’t move very fast, and she could keep up with it at a trot. But how could the maid who usually followed Wen Xiutang in the carriage travel such a long distance? Not to mention having to follow her directly out of the city!

The maid followed in embarrassment and glanced up at the carriage wrapped in silk beside her, with a hint of hatred in her eyes.

…

…

Wen Mingtang had no time to care about Wen Xiutang’s dirty things here. She followed Liu Yuan to the entrance of the alley and saw a few officers standing at the entrance of the alley. The tall wall of people was a sight to behold for a while. She didn’t know what happened in the alley. All she saw was the person standing next to the guard, sobbing, her eyes swollen like walnuts.

As soon as she saw Wen Mingtang, Tangyuan said “Wow” and cried again.

Wen Mingtang hurriedly stepped forward, pulled the crying Tangyuan aside, and while comforting her, she looked up at Liu Yuan and asked, “Liu Sicheng, what happened?”

Liu Yuan glanced at her and said, “What happened? Isn’t it all your fault?”

Wen Mingtang was puzzled.

Liu Yuan: “Did you tell her the story about the painted-skinned monster?”

T/N

Here is the story referred here.

Wen Mingtang nodded, and just as she was about to speak, Liu Yuan turned to the human wall formed by the guards behind him and said, “Everyone, give way!”

After hearing the news, the yamen officers forming the human wall at the back made an opening. Through the opening, Wen Mingtang saw a body lying at the entrance of the alley. The corpse was that of a man, wearing a long-sleeved robe from the Wei and Jin Dynasties. His hair was also combed in a bun that was popular during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. He looked exactly like people in the Wei and Jin Dynasties hundreds of years ago.

T/N

Wei and Jin dynasties are part of the six dynasty period that lasted from AD 220–589.

With such attire, placed in Da Rong, even in broad daylight, it would likely attract a considerable crowd of onlookers, let alone in the evening.

Most unsettling of all, the face of the corpse was covered with a layer of pale and eerie white powder, with red lips painted on. In broad daylight, it looked eerie and unsettling.

“Doesn’t it resemble the evil spirits that crawl out of coffins in ghost stories, having cultivated for hundreds of years?” Liu Yuan spoke, then took a painting from the hands of a bailiff nearby, unfolded it, and pointed to the empty scroll. He said to Wen Mingtang, “When we arrived, there was even a scroll dropped next to the corpse.”

At this point, Liu Yuan paused, his expression peculiar as he looked at Wen Mingtang. He said, “The one who stumbled upon the corpse was Tangyuan. What do you think she saw?”

Wen Mingtang looked down at the crying poor Tangyuan and asked Liu Yuan: “What did she see?”

Liu Yuan glanced at the frightened Tangyuan and said, “She said she saw The monster from hundreds of years ago lying on the ground. He came out of this piece of paper!”

Tangyuan, who had first discovered the corpse, was one of their people from the Dali Temple. Originally, they had thought it was a good thing, but upon hearing the details of Tangyuan’s “witnessing” process, Liu Yuan had felt that it might have been better if someone else had made the initial discovery.

This was the first time he heard such an outrageous witness statement!

(End of chapter)

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T/N The name of the dish in English is Slap fried rice. Just why??? Here is a video of recipe. It is in Chinese but you can easily understand it. But please let me know why it is slap fried rice!