He'd rather run than be turned into a cannon fodder for the broken engagement.

Madam Qin lived a secluded life, and only her personal old nanny had ever seen her; no one else was allowed to get close to her.

The Qin family patriarch doesn't live here either; I heard he lives in the courtyards of his concubines and mistresses. Leng Huan has never seen the Qin family patriarch and mistress alone in a room.

-

But the person who came out of the lady's room was clearly a man!

He was handsome and had a scholarly air about him, completely unlike the pot-bellied middle-aged man she had in mind.

The key point is that he was dressed in white in the middle of the night, as if he were drifting aimlessly. Except for his black hair, his white face, white neck, and white clothes made him look more like a ghost than a ghost!

Caught off guard, Leng Huan immediately screamed, and when the man looked up at her, she promptly fainted.

—I vaguely felt that it was a flat face, without features.

-

The next morning, as the sunlight shone on him, Leng Huan opened his eyes and met Manager Qin's magnified bitter face, which seemed even more haggard.

"Leng Huan! What time is it? Wake up!" A low shout finally jolted Leng Huan awake, and she quickly got up. She apologized to Steward Qin repeatedly, promising never to slack off or doze off again.

With dark circles under her eyes, Leng Huan followed Steward Qin out of the main courtyard. Seeing that Steward Qin was about to leave, she hurriedly grabbed his sleeve: "Steward Qin, could you tell me what the master looks like?"

Manager Qin's expression changed slightly. He tried to shake off Leng Huan, but Leng Huan was frightened and clung to him tightly. After a while, Manager Qin looked at her, sighed, and said in a low voice, "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask. Just pretend you don't know anything."

Leng Huan persisted, "Steward, this concerns my life. I know the previous servant has disappeared. So, what does the master look like? Tall or short, fat or thin?"

Helpless, Butler Qin whispered a few words in her ear: "Ever since the master and madam returned from visiting relatives three months ago, they have been living separately. The master no longer comes here. The master is naturally tall, slightly overweight, and has a beard..."

-

Leng Huan slowly walked back to her residence. It seemed that not only was the figure she saw not Master Qin, but several people had also recently gone missing from the mansion.

The concubines and mistresses in Master Qin's backyard were all beautiful, some plump and some slender. Two of them disappeared two months ago, and another one disappeared half a month before she arrived. Including the servant, four of them were missing.

Could she have accidentally wandered into some strange world?

Leng Huan isn't afraid of anything else, except for things like ghosts, which he's been afraid of since he was little.

As darkness approached and she had to go to work that night, she felt a little uneasy.

Leng Huan touched the small knife he had bought during the day, composed himself, and slowly walked towards the main courtyard.

She now finally understood why she had felt something was off before: when it got dark, everything else was brightly lit, but the main courtyard was completely dark.

She kept watch and patrolled the night with only a small lantern, and in the main house, under the eaves, there was only a dim lantern; the entire courtyard had only these two points of light.

When the weather is bad, even the moonlight is dim, making it even harder to see things clearly.

But thankfully there was moonlight tonight. For the past few nights, she hadn't been able to adjust to her biological clock and had basically slept through the night. Last night was an exception; she didn't sleep well.

She wasn't near the main house now, but was shivering under the eaves of the side house, clutching a lantern that had died of heat.

Leng Huan wasn't sure if running away was a good idea. Maybe she was overthinking it. She didn't know if acting rashly would cause any other adverse effects.

I stayed up all night on edge, thankfully the situation from last night didn't happen again. I couldn't stay awake any longer and dozed off for a while.

"Dong—" Suddenly, the morning bell rang from the temple outside the city, and a sliver of dawn broke through the sky. Leng Huan opened his eyes with a start, and found that everything was alright.

"It's dawn, you can go now." The old nanny came out from the side room, looked down at her, and said in a hoarse voice.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Leng Huan hurriedly grabbed the lantern and ran off.

Two more days passed peacefully, so peaceful that Leng Huan thought he had misread the scene or was dreaming.

—

"Ah Xun? What brings you here?"

On her day off, Leng Huantian packed her things at dawn to prepare to flee. Only after she stepped out of the side gate did she find the child waiting for her.

She looked up at the sky; the morning light was faint. She wondered what time he had arrived. Had he been traveling in the middle of the night?

Fu Xun looked her over carefully for a while. "Grandma Zhou, she's the one who asked me to come and take you home."

—

The oxcart creaked along, and Leng Huan yawned from the swaying. His eyes, which were misty with smoke, revealed obvious dark circles, and tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. He was so sleepy.

"Leng Huan, you haven't rested well. Is the work at the Qin family very heavy?"

He only heard someone mention recruitment from afar that day, and didn't know the details.

Whether she didn't notice or didn't react, Leng Huan yawned and said, "Yeah, I'm on night watch."

"Hey, do you think ghosts exist?" Suddenly, Leng Huan leaned close to Fu Xun's ear and whispered to him about what she had seen that night, "...It was like this, I don't know if I saw it wrong or what? Anyway, it felt weird."

Her breath brushed against Fu Xun's ear and cheek, the moisture lingering on his skin. Fu Xun felt a little hot and tilted his head uncomfortably.

As for what she mentioned, seeing her still-frightened expression, Fu Xun suddenly felt a mischievous urge to tease her. He deliberately lowered his voice, making it both childish and steady, and slowly said:

"Brother Huan, don't you know? Some demons and monsters mingle among the crowd, waiting for their chance to strike. Those who are not of our kind are bound to have different intentions."

Demons and monsters!

There really is one?!

Leng Huan gasped. He hissed.

Her expression changed instantly, as if a cold wind had suddenly risen from the ground. She quickly moved closer to Fu Xun, pressing her body against his and grabbing his arm tightly. "Ouch! Don't scare me like that..."

Fu Xun found it amusing and pretended not to understand: "Huan, brother, are you scared?" He deliberately emphasized the word "brother," as if mocking her for being a coward!

"..." Leng Huan slightly released his arm and wiped his bangs. "No, no, I just feel a little cold."

Recently, she followed Fu Xun's advice and lightened her makeup, drawing her eyebrows into thick, sword-like brows and adding freckles to her cheeks to sharpen her features. Now she looks like a handsome young man.

Judging by appearance alone, if Fu Xun hadn't been prejudiced and knew the truth, he might have thought Leng Huan was just a handsome young master at first glance.

Hearing her stubbornness, Fu Xun raised an eyebrow slightly and put his arm around her shoulder. "Since it's cold, let's get closer."

Leng Huan then realized that this position was too awkward. Why could she hold the child herself, but didn't like him holding her?

He's just a little kid who hasn't even grown all his hair yet.

Leng Huan shook his head, trying to steer the conversation back on track: "So, you mean, the person I encountered that time was truly non-human?"

Now that he wasn't tall enough, Fu Xun felt awkward, so he simply let go of her, turned around, and leaned against her back to back, answering earnestly, "Yes, that's right."

"Based on your description, that person might be a faceless ghost, which is neither male nor female. It will periodically peel off the skin of the person it likes and cover its own face to disguise itself as that person. The corpse will be used as nourishment by it to absorb its life force."

"What?!" Leng Huan exclaimed in surprise, turned her head to look at the driver by the haystack in front of her, and then whispered, "Is it...is it a ghost?" She shuddered.

Leng Huan was most afraid of these things in his life.

Fu Xun nodded, then, remembering that she was blind, hummed in agreement.

"Then my job is ruined again!" Leng Huan sighed softly.

"It's nothing serious. You can go back to work tomorrow. A rabbit doesn't eat the grass near its burrow, so it shouldn't dare to attack you."

After thinking for a moment, Fu Xun took out a Buddhist-blessed talisman and handed it to her over his shoulder: "If you're really worried, take this talisman with you, just in case."

Leaning against his short back, Leng Huan turned his head in surprise and took it. "Hey! Not bad, little brother. When did you get the talisman?"

"...The day before yesterday." Fu Xun casually brushed her off.

"I hope this talisman will work. If it doesn't help me get work done, then I'll have to find another job to save up for my travel expenses."

"It's alright. Once I'm healed, I can start earning money again." Fu Xun touched the jade pendant on his chest, lost in thought, his eyes calm.

"I wonder if Manager Qin will pay the daily wage since he ran away halfway through the journey." Leng Huan was a little worried. He looked up at the sky and yawned.

"Of course we'll give it." Even if they don't want to, we'll have to.

—