"Hey, hey, hey! Why did she faint? She’ll be alright, won’t she?" Yun He looked at A-Jiao, who had collapsed onto the floor. He stepped forward, squatting down to shake her, but she didn't wake.
Qi Wuyi put his blade away. "It’s fine. Mortal ghosts have weak constitutions; she was just knocked out by the shock. I’ll wake her." He fumbled around in his robes but couldn't find the medicine he needed, so he simply leaned down and blew a breath of air onto A-Jiao’s face.
A-Jiao slowly came to.
"You're awake. Our business here is finished," Yun He said. "Stand up. I need to write a record of the proceedings, and you need to affix your thumbprint." With a grand wave of his hand, he manifested a bamboo scroll and a brush and began to write.
"Lord Yun He, Lord Qi, can you do something about his head?" A-Jiao pointed at Liu Che. A pool of blood had already gathered behind his head. "If we don't cover this up, a lot of people are going to be implicated tomorrow. I haven't even finished my four hundred years of punishment yet; I don't want to be responsible for any more lives!"
Yun He stopped writing and looked up, circling Liu Che once. "Lord Qi, take a look. Is there any saving him?"
Qi Wuyi was speechless. "I am merely an ordinary doctor of the soul. I am truly not skilled in treating mortals. They are far too fragile; one wrong move and he might actually die!"
"Then... just try your best. At least make it look like he wasn't struck by someone."
"Come, come, affix your thumbprint." Yun He stuffed the bamboo scroll into A-Jiao’s arms. "As for covering that up, it couldn't be simpler. Just move him a bit and make it look like he was so tired he slumped over and hit the cabinet."
Once A-Jiao had pressed her thumbprint, Yuan Deng took the scroll and nodded in agreement with Yun He. "That is indeed the simplest way..."
Yun He interrupted him. "However, there are other methods." He paced around the hall, stopping beside a gold-cast elephant. "Like this, for instance." He picked up the golden elephant and handed it to A-Jiao.
A-Jiao turned the golden elephant over in her hands several times but couldn't see anything special about it.
"If you don't understand, then forget it. Let's go! We'll put you back in your body and then head back." Yun He walked toward the door, then suddenly turned around. "Oh, right. When we were at the place where you're staying, we found a little toy. Consider it a gift."
Yun He flipped his wrist, and a small wooden figure instantly appeared in his hand.
A-Jiao’s pupils contracted. "The place where I'm staying?" *Isn't this a Wugu doll?!*
"Yes. We saw it as soon as we entered. This little thing was trying to burrow its way into your room."
A-Jiao took it. A talismanic charm was wrapped around the wooden figure, covered in incantations she didn't recognize. Characters were carved into the wood: *Chen Jiaojiao*. It even included the Eight Characters of her birth for this lifetime.
*Hiss—* It was actually targeted at her. She had assumed it was meant for Liu Che and had simply been placed in the wrong spot.
Yun He dispelled the barrier he had set up earlier. With another wave of his hand, Liu Che began to stir, slowly waking up.
A-Jiao froze for a moment, then a plan formed in her mind. She threw the wooden doll straight at Liu Che.
Yun He said nothing, leading them back toward the Qingliang Hall.
***
Liu Che felt a splitting headache, as if he had been struck by something. He braced himself against the desk to stand up.
Suddenly, a dark shadow flew toward him. Unable to dodge in time, he was hit squarely in the head.
Liu Che propped himself up with one hand while the other reached for the back of his head, where the pain was most intense.
His hand came away feeling warm and wet.
"Your Majesty? Your Majesty, what happened?" Outside, Yang Dieyi had heard something fall and wondered if he had misheard.
"Come in! Light the lamps!" Liu Che stared blankly at his hand. *Why does this feel like blood?*
Yang Dieyi entered and lit the lamps, only to see the Emperor sitting by his desk in a daze.
"Your Majesty?" Yang Dieyi walked over, then sucked in a sharp breath of cold air. "Your Majesty! How did you get hurt?!"
The palace attendants hurriedly lit more lamps. Only then did Liu Che realize that the substance on his hand was indeed blood.
Yang Dieyi stepped closer and discovered a pool of blood on the floor. The hair at the back of the Emperor's head was completely soaked.
"Your... Your... Your Majesty, this is... this is... Quick! Summon the Director of the Imperial Physicians!" Yang Dieyi was frantic. He had been guarding the door just now, yet he hadn't heard a single sound!
Liu Che finally snapped out of his daze and roared, "What is going on?!"
"Your Majesty, this servant was outside the entire time and heard nothing!" Yang Dieyi took a silk cloth from an attendant and pressed it against the back of Liu Che's head.
Liu Che was furious, but he didn't dare move too much. "I am the sovereign of this nation, yet I was struck in the head inside the Xuanshi Hall... What are you all good for? Where are the men of the Minister of the Household? Summon the Chief of the Household! Every person on duty today is to be imprisoned..."
"Ow!" A young palace maid tripped and fell to the floor. Terrified, she prostrated herself, trembling and crying out for mercy.
"What is that on the floor? Bring it here!" Liu Che had spotted a small object by the girl's feet.
A palace eunuch respectfully picked it up, only to be struck with horror.
"What is it?" Liu Che knitted his brows.
The eunuch crawled forward on his knees to present the object.
A *Wugu* doll!
Liu Che stood up abruptly, but a wave of dizziness forced him back down. Yang Dieyi hurriedly supported him.
"Bring it closer." Liu Che was so enraged that even his voice trembled.
The eunuch could only shuffle further forward.
Liu Che picked up the small wooden figure. He suddenly remembered that when he had first woken up, something had hit him. It was this!
He pulled off the talisman to examine it, just as he heard Yang Dieyi gasp, "Your Majesty, there are characters on this wooden figure."
Liu Che focused his gaze.
*Chen Ajiao?*
Why was it targeted at her?
On her...
"Go. Bring Chen Ajiao to me. And Chu Haiguang—summon him to the palace immediately."
Yang Dieyi stepped forward, wanting to correct him—that it was Chen Jiaojiao, not Chen Ajiao—but seeing the Emperor in such a towering rage, he didn't dare speak. He could only obey the command.
***
"Lord Yun He, may I ask you something?" A-Jiao spoke tentatively.
Yun He placed her back beside her physical body in the Qingliang Hall. "Ask."
"Lord Yun He, I just wanted to ask... can this *Wugu* witchcraft really allow someone to have a child?"
"Witchcraft works by disturbing the mortal essence surrounding a person's soul. Do you really think a few wisps of aura can transform into a little baby?" Yun He looked at her as if she had asked an incredibly stupid question.
A-Jiao felt a hollow ache in her heart. So, she had been deceived in her past life. She had actually believed it—believed it with all her heart.
"Thank you, Lord Yun He."
"You... you mortals and your witchcraft. None of it is ever any good. Honestly, you'd be better off waiting until you return to the Underworld and then throwing a tantrum at your stepfather."
"Stepfather?!!! My mother... my mother and Lord Shen got married?!!!"
"Not yet!" Yun He shook his head.
"Then why did you—"
"But the marriage proposal document has already been submitted."
!!!
Chen A-Jiao bit her handkerchief in her mind. *What should I do? I don't want to live anymore. I want to go back to the Underworld.*
*I want to go back to the Underworld!!!*
Yun He rolled his eyes at her. "Stop your nonsense. Just finish this life obediently."
