The Deposed Crown Prince had Three Lifelong Regrets - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Li Qinghuai stopped laughing. After an unknown period, the continuous drizzle gradually threatened to become a downpour, and only then did a few blurry houses appear in view.

The Joyful God Inn was typically located in remote, desolate areas, yet it was not a good place for lost travelers. The inn was heavily saturated with the smell of blood, as it was specifically used by corpse-drivers to rest and avoid the sun during the day.

Lu Fengmian was the first to step inside. Outside, the rainwater streamed off the eaves in a continuous sheet. As she passed, droplets traced her hair, slid down her delicate, pale nose bridge, and disappeared into her collar.

The rainwater was cool, meeting her feverish body and instantly turning warm.

The air was filled with dust. A few red candles flickered softly in the main hall.

A faint odor of decaying corpses lingered at her nose. Li Qinghuai sneezed repeatedly. Taking a few more steps forward, she spotted a small, seated figure of Zhong Kui behind the red candles.

Upon closer inspection, she realized it was also molded from red wax. The figure’s neck was cracked, suggesting that it might not be long before the head separated entirely from the body.

She bent down to look closely. Zhong Kui had an ugly face, with a leopard’s head, circular eyes, and a bushy, iron-like beard, which lent him an air of solemnity.

Further inside, five or six tables were pushed together and covered with straw mats. Four stiff, straight figures lay on the mats. A strong smell of medicinal herbs mingled with the stench of decomposition.

Everywhere else, there were only coffins and more coffins. The only thing remotely related to living human presence was a human-shaped shell leaning against a central stone pillar. This person slowly raised their head, directing it toward where Li Qinghuai had entered, yet they stared blankly, as if seeing nothing.

A faint scent of blood emanated from this person’s severed leg.

Li Qinghuai wrinkled her nose and turned back to the eaves as if she hadn’t seen anything. The rain curtained like a waterfall. Lu Fengmian brushed past her and gracefully entered, like a celestial being.

Immediately after, countless bodyguards poured in around her.

Just as a draft blew through the hall, causing her hair to stand on end, she was glared at fiercely by that person, Mo. The two seemed to have an intergenerational feud and could never get along peacefully.

“Living people keep away.”

A hoarse, aged voice came from inside. It was clear, without guessing, that it belonged to the young man with the severed leg.

Upon closer inspection, he was a rather handsome young man, but his face was weathered, and his eyes were murky and devoid of spirit.

“We are all human. If you can stay, why can’t we?” Li Qinghuai folded her arms, adopting the petulant temper of a pampered young lady, and mumbled.

This overly delicate voice startled most of the people present. Even the knuckles of the two Taoist Masters, Mo and Lu, who were hanging by their sides, couldn’t help but curl up at her words.

“Hmph. If you must stay, then stay. But if you incur any injury later, don’t blame me for not warning you.”

“Are you a corpse-driver too?” Li Qinghuai asked.

The young man pondered for a moment, then calmly said, “No,” and slowly lowered his head, falling silent again.

“But your clothes and appearance all tell us you make a living driving corpses. Now you say you’re not. Do you perhaps want to scare us away? Don’t think I don’t know what bad intentions you harbor.”

Say what you will, Li Qinghuai’s talent for feigning madness and throwing a fit like a spoiled young lady was top-notch.

“Where did this madwoman come from? Get out immediately! I don’t take in lunatics here.”

Zhong Kui suppresses ghosts, and corpse-drivers drive corpses. By rights, the two should be mutually incompatible, yet they appeared together here. Something strange must have happened that required Zhong Kui’s suppression.

“Hmph,” Li Qinghuai roared, shaking her head violently with the sound. Her crazed appearance scared away most of the surrounding onlookers.

She pushed aside the few people blocking her, rushed to the low table, and swept her arms across it, instantly knocking all four neatly lying corpses onto the ground.

The hands, which had been respectfully folded across their chests, were now scattered and askew after the shove, a truly unsightly mess that damaged her own virtue.

Under the astonished and horrified gazes of the two Taoist Masters, a thick wad of phlegm shot out from the mouth of the corpse-mover, tracing a perfect parabola in the air. Just as it was about to graze Li Qinghuai’s temple and land on her cheek, she leaped onto the straw mat to avoid it.

After Li Qinghuai’s mud-stained shoe soles left defiant prints on the straw mat, the corpse-mover’s expression grew dark enough to drip water.

The instigator, however, squatted down obediently, tilted her head slightly, and smiled faintly.

She was born very beautiful, and her smile was sweet and affectionate, though it was impossible to tell what she was thinking—unfortunately, it didn’t look good on her.

Gently twirling a corner of her gown with her fingers, she said, “Corpses can lie on the ground. Why put them on a table? They don’t know their place.”

Her bright eyes darted about, shining brilliantly.

The moment the words left her mouth, before anyone could react, she rolled her eyes and collapsed backward.

With a loud thud, the back of her head hit the tabletop.

Lu Fengmian’s awkward smile vanished instantly without a trace. The hand she had extended trembled violently. Her mind was in turmoil, a knotted mess impossible to untangle.

This panic was deeply rooted, an emotion that didn’t belong to the current Lu Fengmian but felt more like a feeling inherited from the past. When she rushed to where the other person had fallen, she couldn’t even comprehend what she was doing.

Her pulse and breath seemed normal. Could she have simply fainted from the fever?

It wasn’t until trickles of clear tears hit Li Qinghuai’s cheek that she realized the depth of her emotional response.

“Chengmei, what’s wrong?”

Mo Xianghao, seeing that something was wrong, quickly called out her courtesy name and rushed over. Her overly long robe sleeves swayed with her steps, making her look like she was stepping out of a black and gold flower garden as she walked.

Her words were urgent, her steps hasty, yet this fragmented, direct concern was shut out by Lu Fengmian. Although she too wondered why she was acting this way, the overwhelming sensation of nearly losing someone deeply cherished rolled over her, and her attention was almost entirely focused on the recently unconscious person, leaving her no capacity to spare.

Tears streamed continuously from her eyes, bead by bead, falling and collecting on Li Qinghuai’s face, then slowly spreading and sliding down.

Perhaps the weeping was too distraught, or the warm liquid disturbed her dream. The person in Lu Fengmian’s arms pressed her pale lips together, and her eyelashes couldn’t help but flutter.

This sight did not escape the sharp-eyed Lu Fengmian. Her choked throat could only manage a strangled sound, and she quickly moved to pinch the philtrum.

However, the skin, slick and delicate from tears, made Lu Fengmian’s hand slip. When she regained her composure and tried to press again, her palm was seized by another hand that shot out from the side.

Her gaze followed her wrist up the arm and to the neck.

The person was Mo Xianghao.

Lu Fengmian glared at her, trying to pull her hand free. After struggling twice, she realized the other person was determined not to yield, and her face uncontrollably darkened.

Mo Xianghao was truly terrified by Lu Fengmian’s behavior, her heart jumping to her throat. Yet, she endured her friend’s man-eating gaze and added worriedly, “Let me do it.”

The bad temper accumulated over more than a decade was about to pour out through this vent. After pulling her tightly grasped hand free, Lu Fengmian swatted away the hand blocking her with uncontrolled force and proceeded with the rescue herself.

The level of panic in the person surnamed Mo was tinged with a new layer of mystery. Her slightly parted thin lips couldn’t close for a moment. She thought, “Both of them must be possessed now. If this evil spirit is so powerful, what should I do? How can I save them?”

She forcefully suppressed her confusion, turned her head to look back, and scanned the faces that were as bewildered as her own, realizing how foolish she was. If both Li Qinghuai and Lu Fengmian had been afflicted, what hope was there in these ordinary people…

Should she check on the corpse-bearer resting against the stone pillar? Perhaps he knew something, or perhaps he was the one responsible.

Mo Xianghao gritted her teeth, deciding to first separate these two frantic people and then tackle them one by one.

But just as she turned back, she saw both of their eyes wide open. Before her mind could fully process it, she blurted out a sentence.

“Ha! I knew this shabby little place couldn’t harbor any powerful demons. The spell of confusing the mind and losing the soul can be broken in just a moment, hahaha.”

Perhaps spurred on by these boastful words, Li Qinghuai suddenly started coughing violently. She forced her dizzy head up, and her eyes were unbelievably blurred.

Truly unbelievably blurred. Her posture was like someone who had just stumbled out of a hidden brothel in the capital, ten jin of wine down and with beef and mutton lining her stomach.

If she were dressed up and sent to a pleasure quarter, she could go in and splurge herself silly.

Mo Xianghao had only recently recovered from her aphasia. After taking a few extra glances at the expression of pain mixed with pleasure, her hair stood on end, and she fell silent again.

Meanwhile, Li Qinghuai was simply trying to figure out why Lu Fengmian was holding her. When she opened her eyes, she wanted to tell the other person that this was just a small trick to find a place to stay overnight.

She was exhausted, and her heart had palpitated fiercely just now. She couldn’t hold on and fell, and the impact had caused her to bleed slightly from the back of her head. She needed a moment to recover.

However, her appearance did indeed look too much like possession.

But in every misfortune, there is a blessing. The case she needed to investigate could be leaked this way. Throwing a fit, fainting, and then waking up was a common tactic used by women in the palace to vie for favor.

Using this method to draw everyone’s attention to this troubled place might not be a bad idea.

Using it now was for her own benefit, and the method was effective. When she woke up, she could fully blame it on ghosts and demons. But considering her junior sister’s yin-yang eyes, she planned to ask her to check her injuries directly and then signal to her through eye contact, using her body as a shield.

To tell her—I just don’t want to leave. My body aches, and I am mentally exhausted.

But who would have thought that the aloof Master Lu would completely change her nature and weep for her?

She knew that even before she lost her memory, she wouldn’t shed precious tears over such trivial matters.

When she opened her eyes, the large tears hitting her pupils, she could still faintly feel the force and pain.

If she had followed her original plan to wake up with a smug smile, she would likely have been beaten to death in this situation.

But she didn’t need to overly fake it. The moment she saw Lu Fengmian crying, she truly fell into silence.

The world went quiet for her. Everything she saw and heard felt unreal. Days of travel fatigue and blood loss made everything seem separated from her by a hazy bronze mirror, accompanied by waves of dizziness.

Li Qinghuai weakly reached out and grasped Lu Fengmian, “I’m fine, just too tired. I’ll sleep for a bit. It’s nothing.”

Her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, sounding as if she might stop breathing any second.

The straw mat was old, and small barbs inevitably poked out where it was woven. A few spots of fresh blood stained it, but the bleeding from her scalp was slight, perfectly hidden by her thick, dark, and voluminous hair.

A small clump of hair roots stuck together, which was uncomfortable.

But she didn’t notice it. Her attention was too scattered for the pain to register severely.