TDFM Chapter 116

Dying of Natural Causes 

On the way back, Yun Qing said to Cheng Suiyan, “Suiyan, we can’t stay at your house for now.”

Cheng Suiyan was startled. “Why?”

“Didn’t you hear what Princess Anping said? The Imperial Preceptor has already tracked us down and will surely send people to capture us. We haven’t deliberately concealed anything along our journey, so anyone with enough time and determination could eventually trace us.

Your father serves as an official at court. If we continued staying at your house, we might implicate him.”

Cheng Suiyan said carelessly, “What’s the problem with that? You can stay for now, and if someone comes to arrest you, then you can leave. Don’t worry about my father – he’s an old fox who has navigated the political arena for forty years. There’s no situation he hasn’t seen.”

Yun Qing laughed, “Alright then.”

****

Yun Qing had expected that someone might come to arrest her, but she hadn’t anticipated it would happen so quickly. After staying at the Prime Minister’s residence for only three days, the Ministry of Justice sent people to apprehend her as a “murder suspect.”

Since it was the Prime Minister’s residence, the Ministry of Justice officials couldn’t brazenly force their way in. At that time, Prime Minister Cheng was not at home, so Madam Song sent the steward and household guards to block them, buying time for Yun Qing and the others to escape.

Yun Qing had originally planned to simply flee, but upon further thought, she had come to the capital to find someone. If she became a wanted criminal, it would be very inconvenient to move around in the capital.

In the end, she put down the gold, silver, and fine goods that Madam Song had prepared for them, and instead stood on top of the wall.

On the glazed tiles, the woman stood tall and graceful in red robes fluttering in the wind. She casually tossed a copper coin while smiling down at the crowd below, saying:

“Go back and ask your superiors: if I save the princess, can you temporarily stop pursuing me? We can discuss this again after I finish my business.”

“Demoness, the princess is perfectly fine. Why would she need your rescue?”

“Oh? So the Imperial Preceptor has already saved her? Or perhaps you don’t even know the princess is in trouble? Why don’t you go inquire whether she has been frequently experiencing chills, sleeping poorly, having nightmares, and finding medicine ineffective?

Go quickly. I’ll wait here for you. Let’s settle this matter today.”

When the crowd tried to climb the wall to catch her, Jiang Baiyu threw his sword sheath and knocked them all down. They had no choice but to return and report first.

****

In the afternoon, the princess’s carriage arrived at the Prime Minister’s residence.

Originally, the emperor had sent a eunuch to summon Yun Qing to the palace, but Princess Anping didn’t want to miss this opportunity to see Brother Suiyan, so she requested to come personally.

The emperor, knowing his daughter’s feelings, naturally went along with her wishes. Fearing that those people might harm his precious daughter, he sent many additional guards.

Princess Anping had indeed been ill recently, with symptoms exactly as Yun Qing had described.

The Imperial Preceptor said she had offended a wandering spirit and had people place offerings at the crossroads she had passed through. It was effective that night – she did sleep soundly – but it stopped working the next day.

Seeing herself growing more haggard each day, with even cosmetics unable to hide the weariness on her face, Princess Anping felt anxious inside.

So despite disliking those two demonesses, she was still willing to give it a try.

Princess Anping stood in the courtyard while Yun Qing and her four companions all opened their Yin-Yang Eyes, surrounding the princess and examining her carefully.

The old woman on the princess’s back had a small, thin body with kind eyes and brows. Her pale face was covered with wrinkles, and her mouth was sunken due to missing teeth. She was currently smiling kindly as she allowed herself to be scrutinized.

She wore burial clothes, indicating she had put them on before dying – this should have been a natural death.

Generally speaking, among souls that lingered in the mortal world, those who died violently were more common. For someone who died naturally like this, it was rare for their obsession to be strong enough to bind their soul.

Princess Anping had always been high and mighty and had never been observed like a cat or dog as she was now, especially with the courtyard full of palace maids and guards all witnessing her embarrassment.

She clutched her dress, her face flushing red, “How… how dare you.”

Fu Xue said, “Must be about sixty years old, right?”

Princess Anping angrily said, “You’re the old woman!”

Cheng Suiyan said, “We weren’t talking to you. Don’t move around.”

Yun Qing asked, “What’s your name?”

Princess Anping raised her chin: “This princess is called—”

Cheng Suiyan impatiently interrupted her: “We already said we weren’t talking to you. If you speak randomly again, I’ll put a dog-barking talisman on you.”

Only then did Princess Anping realize something was wrong. Her expression changed, and she said in a small voice, “There are other people here?” She cautiously looked left and right but saw nothing.

However, these people were staring at her back.

With tears in her eyes, she said, “What… what’s on my back? Wuwuwu, Brother Suiyan, don’t scare me…”

Cheng Suiyan turned to Yun Qing and said, “Yun Qing, why don’t we let her see for herself?”

“Good idea.”

Yun Qing cast a Yin-Yang Spell on Princess Anping, then said, “When you’re mentally prepared, turn around.”

Princess Anping didn’t pay attention to the first part of that sentence and immediately turned around.

Then she suddenly found herself face-to-face with an old woman, their noses almost touching.

“Ahhhhh! Ghost ahhhhh!!!” The woman’s screams echoed throughout the Prime Minister’s residence.

The palace maids and guards who had been silent all changed their expressions. Some guards vigilantly drew their swords but didn’t know who to attack next.

Princess Anping whooshed away like a shot, running around in panic. Several palace maids followed behind her anxiously.

As she ran, Princess Anping screamed hysterically, “Go away, go away! Ahhhhh! Brother Suiyan, help me! There’s a ghost behind me!”

Cheng Suiyan shook his head. “I can’t save you. Why don’t you quickly beg Immortal Maiden Yun?”

Princess Anping had no choice but to run to Yun Qing and grab her robe corner. “Immortal Maiden Yun, please save me! Take this thing away!” Due to extreme fear, tears streamed down her face and her voice trembled.

Yun Qing crossed her arms, tapping her upper arm with her index finger. “First tell me, do you recognize her?”

Princess Anping frantically shook her head. This time she couldn’t care about etiquette – her hair ornaments flew wildly. “I don’t know her! I’ve never seen her before!”

“Then don’t speak for now.”

“Okay…” She nodded, tears still flowing uncontrollably. Her hand gripping Yun Qing’s robe corner never dared to relax. Her eyebrows were raised in distress, and her expression was both fearful and humble. Her initial arrogance had completely vanished.

Yun Qing removed the Yin-Yang Spell from Princess Anping and cast a calming spell on her.

After doing this, she asked the old woman again, raising her voice. “What’s your name?”

The old woman’s form moved slightly as she leaned toward Yun Qing, grinning to reveal her black, hollow mouth. She said, “What a pretty girl. What’s your name?” Due to her missing teeth, her pronunciation wasn’t very clear, but it was understandable.

Yun Qing answered, “I’m called Yun Qing. And you?”

“What well? Are you going to dig a well?”

Yun Qing raised her voice. “I said, what – is – your – name!”

“Horse? I can ride horses! I learned in one try!”

All five people simultaneously facepalmed.

Fu Xue: “What do we do? We’ve encountered a hard-of-hearing ghost.”

Cheng Suiyan said, “I don’t know if this ghost can read. Let’s try.”

He found paper and brush, wrote three large characters “Who are you” on the paper, and showed it to the old woman.

The old woman smiled kindly and said, “What kind of talisman is this drawing? It looks quite nice.”

Well, that route was blocked.

Jiang Baiyu said, “She died recently and is still wearing burial clothes, which means she had family to see her off. We can have someone draw her likeness and post it around – perhaps we can find her relatives.”

The others thought this method was feasible. After discussing it, they dispersed. Princess Anping still clutched Yun Qing’s robe corner, deforming it completely. She said quietly, “What about me?”

Yun Qing said, “Go home. This ghost isn’t malevolent and has no intention of harming you. Your symptoms are only due to Yin-Yang imbalance from being close to a spirit. Once we resolve her obsession, she’ll leave on her own.”

“I’m not going back to the palace! I want to stay at the Prime Minister’s residence!”

Yun Qing looked at Cheng Suiyan with schadenfreude. “Suit yourself.”

****

Since it concerned the princess, the authorities didn’t dare not cooperate. The portrait was quickly posted, and within a day, there were leads.

This old woman was surnamed Xiao, sixty-two years old this year, born into an ordinary family in the capital and married within the capital as well. Her husband was a minor official surnamed Fu who currently held the position of junior ninth-rank Corrector of Books, whom everyone called Scholar Fu.

Madam Xiao’s parents-in-law had already passed away. She and Scholar Fu had raised two sons and one daughter, all of whom were now married. Among the grandchildren, the oldest was a sixteen-year-old granddaughter, and the youngest was a grandson not yet one year old.

Scholar Fu’s salary was meager, and he had to support two sons, so although the Fu family could be considered an official household, they lived quite modestly.

Madam Xiao had always had a good reputation and never quarreled with anyone. Whether friends, relatives, or neighbors, no one had a bad word to say about her.

She had died seven days ago from heart disease. On her deathbed, her eldest son dressed her in burial clothes, and she closed her eyes at the seventh hour, dying a natural death.

The Fu family lived at the first house in East Lane on Yong’an Street, right next to the main street and the lane entrance.

Yun Qing asked Princess Anping if she had been to that place seven days ago.

Princess Anping thought for a moment and said, “Seven days ago was General Wang’s second daughter’s birthday. She and I are good friends, so I went to celebrate with her. We played at her family’s Ice Lake Villa in the suburbs for half the day.

From Ice Lake Villa to the palace, Yong’an Street is the necessary route. I returned to the palace in the afternoon and indeed passed through East Lane around the seventh hour.”

“When you passed by the Fu family home, did you say anything?”

Princess Anping’s eyes widened. “Are you suspecting I was disrespectful to the deceased? How is that possible? I didn’t even know her, much less know that someone in their family had died!”

Fu Xue found this person’s tone really annoying and warned, “Hey, be polite when speaking to my senior sister, or I’ll make you have nightmares every day.”

Princess Anping looked at Cheng Suiyan pitifully. “Brother Suiyan, look at her.”

Cheng Suiyan laughed. “They’re only willing to save you for my sake. Who do you want me to look at? Put away that princess attitude of yours – no one here cares about your status.”

Yun Qing rubbed her chin and said, “This is too strange.”

Generally speaking, when souls lingered in the mortal world due to strong obsessions, they would either remain at the place of death or wander around places connected to their obsession. Even if they possessed someone, that person should be connected to their obsession.

But Madam Xiao clearly didn’t know Princess Anping at all. Their social statuses were vastly different, so they were unlikely to have any grudges. Currently, there was no apparent connection between her obsession and the princess.

Cheng Suiyan asked, “Could it be that this old lady’s remaining in the mortal world has nothing to do with obsession, and someone forcibly kept her here?”

“That’s not impossible, but what would be the purpose? A hard-of-hearing old lady who died naturally doesn’t have much resentment. What could this kind of soul be used for?”

“True, besides pranks, there doesn’t seem to be much use. Could it be revenge? …No, the official investigation said this old lady had a good reputation and never quarreled with anyone.”

Fu Xue tried again to communicate with Madam Xiao. She asked loudly, “Grandmother, what is your obsession?”

Madam Xiao smiled kindly and said, “Practice? Yes, I need to practice more. I’ve been secretly practicing for a long time! Like this—” She raised her hand as if waving something.

“No, I’m asking about your obses—sion—”

“Steamed buns need filling? I don’t like filling, I like the skin!”

Fu Xue’s shoulders drooped. “Forget it, your hearing isn’t good. What am I trying so hard for?”

“Who says my hearing isn’t good? My hearing is perfectly fine!”

“……”

Well, she heard that sentence clearly.

Jiang Baiyu shook his head and said, “Let’s start by investigating her life before death.”