Why am I, a cook, always involved in cases?

Su Su stood up gracefully, ready to tell the story in her heart.

However, her narrative was as disorganized as willow catkins floating in the spring breeze.

In the end, only the faint light of the last candle remained, which was the last light and hope held tightly in the hands of the palace maid who led them in.

(What is the secret behind this...)

According to ancient rules, there should be one palace maid sitting in each of the four directions, with two more in the middle, for a total of twelve people.

But what the palace maid mentioned was "the prologue of thirteen stories", which made Lin Zhiruo fall into deep thought.

The palace maid began to talk about the past of the previous emperor, mentioning that there were many palace maids in the palace, but only a few could become the emperor's concubines.

Lin Zhiruo felt uneasy and unable to concentrate when listening to this story.

She inadvertently looked at the brazier in front of her. The flames were jumping, but there seemed to be a hint of unusual weirdness.

(Why does this fire give me such a strange feeling?)

The palace maid described a horrifying ending that moved everyone around her, except Lin Zhiruo, who was so upset that she failed to hear the essence of the story.

"Then, next is the beginning of the thirteenth story..."

Just as the maid was about to continue and throw the last candle into the brazier...

Lin Zhiruo suddenly stood up and pushed open the tightly closed window.

"Lin Zhiruo, what do you mean?"

Su Su exclaimed and tried to stop her, but Lin Zhiruo had already made up her mind.

A gust of wind rushed into the room, the clothes danced in the wind, and the candlelight swayed in the wind.

Lin Zhiruo took a deep breath of fresh air and exhaled slowly.

(No wonder I felt dizzy; it was the poisonous gas in the brazier.)

She threw the extinguished candles into the brazier one by one. The charcoal in the brazier was still warm, and the unextinguished wick ignited the charcoal. For a moment, flames splashed and illuminated the entire room.

In this small, tightly closed room, the incompletely burned charcoal and...

Lin Zhiruo suddenly realized the seriousness of the problem. She rushed to the palace maids who were sitting around the brazier and looked exhausted. She gently patted their cheeks and helped them one by one to a place with good air circulation.

Seeing this, Su Su reacted quickly and began to help Lin Zhiruo.

Starting a fire in such a poorly ventilated place would undoubtedly produce poisonous gas. Lin Zhiruo blamed herself for not noticing it earlier and was also dissatisfied with the organizers.

She turned around to look for the palace maid, but found that she had disappeared without a trace like a ghost.

“… It was almost a disaster.”

Lin Zhiruo seemed to hear the palace maid's whisper, but there was no trace of her anywhere.

"Hey, what's the moral of that story?"

The Ghost Story Conference ended in chaos, and Hu Lan'er ran to ask Lin Zhiruo.

Su Su tilted her head, looking confused, as if wondering, "Who on earth is this girl? Why is she so interested in this story?"

Hu Lan'er seemed to have a special liking for wrapping herself tightly with cloth and never unwrapped it.

"You mean the story about the twinkling lights in the forest?"

Lin Zhiruo asked. She had promised Hu Lan'er that she would tell her later, but she didn't expect that she still remembered it so clearly.

"The so-called forbidden forest may be just superstition, but we cannot completely deny the truth behind it."

Lin Zhiruo continued, “There may be countless unknown dangers hidden in the forest.

While food is plentiful, it's also filled with inedible plants. If this is how the Forbidden Forest got its name, how do we explain it?

Lin Zhiruo began to speculate: "Assuming that most of the residents of that village were outsiders, the original warning was not to pick food from the forest casually to avoid poisoning. As time passed, this warning gradually evolved into a 'taboo'.

The villagers followed this advice carefully, so they didn't know which foods in the forest were safe and which were not.

So, there is such a speculation: a hungry mother and son, eager for the rich food resources in the forest, violated the village rules and sneaked into the forest at night.

In the evening, when the sky is still bright, it is also a time when it is difficult to be noticed.

They use this time to pick mushrooms or fruit, then return home under cover of darkness, unaware of what they have picked.”

"There is a kind of fruit called Night-Glowing Fruit."

Lin Zhiruo said slowly, "This fruit looks just like any other fruit. It may seem delicious, but it's actually highly poisonous and can cause severe diarrhea. It also has an amazing property—at night, it emits a faint glow, dazzling and breathtakingly beautiful."

Lin Zhiruo once couldn't help but taste it because of its beauty, but was forced out by her father. She still remembers it vividly.

The mother and son picked the luminous fruits under the moonlight, not knowing that they could glow, and took them on a night road.

The faint light coming through the bamboo basket might look like ghost fire from a distance.

But when they returned home and turned on the lights, the glowing fruits no longer glowed, so the mother and son cooked and ate them.

"Even if the toxins are not normally fatal, what will happen to malnourished people?"

Lin Zhiruo continued, "The child died, and the mother died too. Perhaps what the mother wanted to express before her death was... (Delicious but deadly fruit hidden in the forest.) She might have wanted to say this as a small revenge for the villagers' indifference."

"I see--"

Hu Lan'er looked satisfied, letting the cloth flutter in the wind. "Then I'll go first—"

She skipped away like a carefree child.

Although Lin Zhiruo had no right to judge others, she felt that this person acted as he pleased and was quite unconventional - she thought to herself.

"Oh I got it."

Su Su was no longer as nervous as before and straightened her chest. "In my opinion, the other stories are just mystifications and have nothing new to offer."

"It's hard to say."

Lin Zhiruo and Susu set out on the journey back to the Liuli Palace...

In the Glazed Palace, Caiwei lowered her head, sewing meticulously with her hands as she was carefully sewing clothes.

Princess Ai Ling's growth rate is like the rapid growth of plants in spring, which makes people sigh at the passing of time.

The clothes soon became too small to fit, and she had to be so diligent in making new clothes for the princess.

"We had a few minor incidents on the way back."

Lin Zhiruo answered softly.

"I had a premonition."

Caiwei seemed to have seen through everything long ago. She had a calm smile on her lips and her eyes flashed with wisdom that showed insight into the world.

"The maid who was in charge of organizing the event last year has passed away. I'm still wondering who will take over her job this year."

As she spoke, Caiwei slowly put down the needle and thread in her hand, gently massaged her tired shoulders, as if recalling the past.

"That maid was truly gentle and considerate, and I received a lot of help from her. It's a shame she never left the harem, and her short life ended just like that."

Caiwei's words revealed regret and emotion.

Lin Zhiruo glanced at Susu inadvertently, and saw that her face suddenly turned pale, as if these words had touched a chord in her heart.

"Excuse me, head maid, that maid..."

Lin Zhiruo hesitated to speak, as if she found it difficult to start.

"You must keep this matter secret and not spread it outside. In fact, she was once a concubine of the late emperor."

Caiwei's voice was low and serious, as if she was telling a story from the past.

"I've never liked these kinds of gatherings, but considering they were her passion, it would have been unkind to forcibly stop them. However, it would also have been inappropriate to stop them the year after her death. Fortunately, someone finally agreed to take over."

After saying that, Caiwei packed the sewing tools one by one into an exquisite lacquer box, yawned, and slowly walked into the bedroom.

Lin Zhiruo pondered in her heart, feeling that this story was somewhat familiar, as if it had some connection with the strange story told by the emcee and the palace maid.

Although Lin Zhiruo had forgotten the specific details, she could still sense a clue from Susu's increasingly pale face.

(Well, the mysteries of this world are as numerous as the stars in the night sky.)

Lin Zhiruo folded her arms across her chest, tilted her head slightly, and her eyes were deep and distant.

At least, they didn't become the thirteenth living ghost story - she was secretly glad in her heart.

But that night, Su Su, out of fear in her heart, insisted on sleeping with Lin Zhiruo, causing Lin Zhiruo toss and turn in the stuffy heat, unable to fall asleep.