The haunted house

That night, Song Qing, who had successfully sent the death row inmate to be reincarnated, with dark circles under his eyes, prepared to go downstairs to find something to eat and solve his hunger problem.

As he walked, he pondered, "No, grafting can be used on the human body, for example, to replace damaged organs."

"Then, could you go a little deeper? For example, limb regeneration. Hmm, this is a unique ability of a third-rank martial artist. If I could discover the secrets of it through Alchemy, the world would surely be shaken."

"Xu Ningyan said that bio -Alchemy should involve something even more subtle. But the human eye can't see those tiny specks of dust. Now that I have that, I can make something like a telescope."

Telescopes did exist; after the discovery of glass, concave and convex lenses were soon developed. Telescopes were quite common in the military and were usually issued to ordinary soldiers.

Elite scouts rarely use them because after the Qi Refining Realm, a martial artist's eyesight is greatly enhanced. The stronger one is, the stronger one's five senses become. Telescopes then become somewhat of a gimmick.

"Where's that fragrance coming from?" Song Qing sniffed.

He followed the aroma downstairs to the kitchen, where he saw Chu Caiwei directing several people in white robes as something was steaming in a pot.

"Oh, there's even chicken soup! Junior Sister Caiwei, you're so thoughtful." Song Qing's mood immediately improved when she saw the chicken simmering on the small stove.

"Go away, go away." Chu Caiwei spat at him, "This is the Alchemy Xu Qi'an taught me. If it's successful, it could fill the whole world with delicious food."

After listening to Chu Caiwei explain the principles behind chicken bouillon and MSG, Song Qing pondered for a moment and sighed, "Xu Ningyan is truly an extraordinary person."

That's right, this is also Alchemy.

Extracting the essence from medicinal herbs to condense into elixirs, refining steel from ores to make weapons, and now, extracting umami flavor from shiitake mushrooms to make MSG.

It is consistent with the knowledge he shared when he began his lecture that day.

Alchemy encompasses many fields; its essence lies in extracting what cannot be seen.

"I still don't understand what he meant by MSG, because he didn't provide the process, he just simply said that it's extracted from grains," Chu Caiwei said.

"Your senior brother will help you." Song Qing patted Chu Caiwei's head.

The renovation of the new house was completed two days ahead of schedule. Xu Qi'an asked the government for leave to help his second uncle and aunt move.

The aunt, dressed in a dark blue silk robe with a matching jacket, stood with one hand on her hip and the other waving a handkerchief, looking as smug as a general leading troops into battle, directing the servants to move things.

This manner of behaving, if borne by a woman of average appearance, would appear vulgar and unpleasant.

But if it were a 36-year-old woman who was well-maintained like a woman in her early thirties, with a beautiful and delicate face and a voluptuous and graceful figure, she would be a stunning sight.

Xu Qi'an wondered if the beautiful girl beside him, with her striking features, would be as charming as her mother in twenty years.

Or even better.

"Hey, Lingyue's reached marriageable age. I wonder which lucky guy will be able to marry such a beautiful girl. "Xu Qi'an sighed, "Girls grow up and leave home," and silently joined his second uncle as porters.

Because enough carriages were hired, the moving of the household's belongings was completed in just two trips. Auntie planned to buy some odds and ends in the inner city, taking this opportunity to replace them with new ones.

My aunt and second uncle are elders, and although Xu Qi'an bought the house, the main house on the east side was reserved for them to live in.

When the rooms were being allocated, Xu Lingyue, who was usually gentle, had a rare argument with her aunt.

The three-courtyard house was very large, but the core inner courtyard actually had a limited number of rooms. The master certainly wouldn't live in the guest rooms or the areas for the servants.

According to his aunt's wishes, the row of rooms in the west wing belonged to Xu Qi'an, since he would be getting married in the future.

But Xu Lingyue shamelessly insisted on moving in, wanting to live next door to her elder brother.

My aunt said, "You're a grown woman, yet you live so close to your brother. Aren't you ashamed?"

Xu Lingyue suddenly became agitated, argued loudly, and even started quarreling with her mother.

In the end, she also moved to the west wing, but her aunt arranged for Erlang's room to be in the west wing as well, and discussed with Xu Qi'an that when he had a wife in the future, Lingyue and Erlang would move to the north wing to live.

Xu Qi'an was a little reluctant, because if they lived too close, his sister would find out if he stayed out all night at the Imperial Academy of Music, and then she would complain.

Xu Lingyin was placed in her uncle and aunt's room. Children are more sensitive to their beds and environments, and her aunt was worried that her young daughter wouldn't sleep well at night and would have nightmares.

Anyway, the east wing was particularly large, consisting of three rows of rooms.

Xu Qi'an quickly arranged his room. His original courtyard was almost undecorated, so there wasn't much that needed to be embellished.

He went outside to bask in the sun and saw Xu Lingyin squatting alone by the well, her face pale with fear, yet she seemed to be trying her best to hold back from running away.

"What are you doing?" Xu Qi'an asked.

"Big brother." Seeing her highly skilled older brother arrive, Xu Lingyin breathed a sigh of relief, but pointed fearfully at the well opening. "This place is haunted."

"So, what are you doing squatting by the well?" Xu Qi'an, somewhat puzzled.

Since you knew it was haunted, shouldn't you have been afraid and kept your distance? Why were you squatting by the well, persisting despite your fear?

"My sister said that ghosts only eat children," Xu Lingyin said, frowning slightly.

"Then?"

She suddenly became furtive, trotting over and whispering, "I'm tricking it into coming out, shh. Don't let it hear."

"???"

Xu Qi'an stared at her blankly for a long time, then gave her a thumbs up. "Those who know how to appreciate food are truly wise."

Everyone has ideals, Xu Lingyin, at a young age, has already found hers: There is nothing in this world that cannot be eaten, only whether I want to eat it or not.

The determination and perseverance to use oneself as bait for delicious food is, in a sense, genius.

"Then keep trying. Once you've tricked the ghost out of you, your big brother will make you something delicious." Xu Qi'an patted her head.

"Mmm!" Xu Lingyin tapped her head, both scared and longing.

Before dusk, we booked a private room at a restaurant not far from our new house. The whole family enjoyed a very satisfying meal. Although the taste wasn't as good as Cassia Moon Tower, it was cheaper and closer, so we could eat out more often in the future.

Xu Qi'an lay in his spacious and comfortable new house, looking at the beams above his head, when he suddenly remembered something.

It seems that Erlang wasn't informed of the move in a letter?

"Forget it, I don't need to worry about this. Time for bed."

East room.

After coaxing Xu Lingyin to sleep, her aunt returned to the bedside and, looking at her husband sitting cross-legged on the small couch in meditation, suddenly felt a little worried:

"Master, after Ningyan gets married, will he compete with me for control of the household? Will he make us move to the west room?"

"I've heard that daughters-in-law are all very vicious, always thinking of ways to fight against their mothers-in-law."

My aunt was fortunate. When she married my second uncle, both of Xu Household's parents had already passed away, so she was never bullied by a wicked mother-in-law.

But even if you haven't eaten pork, you've always seen pigs run. Especially since this house was bought by Xu Qi'an, her title as "mother-in-law" is not entirely legitimate.

Xu Pingzhi opened his eyes, thought for a moment, and said, "With your temper and personality, you're bound to lose to them."

"Hmph!" The aunt had no reply, so she let out a soft snort.

Xu Pingzhi comforted him, "Maybe Ningyan will marry a stupid wife in the future."

The aunt thought it made sense and secretly prayed that her nephew would marry a stupid wife in the future, so she could bully her.

"Oh right, I haven't written to Erlang yet. We've moved to the new house, and he doesn't know about it yet. He went to the outer city and couldn't find us." The aunt was worried about her son.

"You don't need to worry about this. You can't even read many words," said Xu Pingzhi, who was also not very literate.

"Written by Ningyan."

Two days passed in a flash. Xu Qi'an's life was very peaceful. He patrolled the streets, cultivated, and took time to visit Haoqi Tower to exchange feelings with Wei Yuan.

Because of the downfall of the Minister of Ministry of Works, the infighting between the various parties has cooled down considerably, and for the time being, no party is targeting the Nightwatchers.

That evening, Xu Qi'an returned home and found that his second uncle was not there.

"We're on night patrol today," the aunt replied.

"It's also possible he went to the Imperial Academy of Music," Xu Qi'an thought to himself.

Second Uncle is a centurion of the Imperial Saber Guard, patrolling the streets during the day and at night, working like Nightwatchers. If Xu Qi'an gets involved in so many cases, he'll be working day and night as well.

Xu Qi'an used to trust his second uncle just like his aunt, but ever since that "chance encounter" at the Imperial Academy of Music and the subsequent act of using orange peels to remove the perfume scent, Xu Qi'an understood.

A man's words are like a devil's lies.

I don't think I have the right to criticize my second uncle. Xu Qi'an lowered his head and ate his food.

At night, Xu Qi'an was suddenly awakened by a scream. He opened his eyes, sat up, and reached out to grab the black and gold longsword leaning against the bed.

Upon arriving at the courtyard, they saw Lingyue's maid sitting blankly on the ground, a candlestick lying on the floor. Her face was deathly pale, and she was pointing towards the well, trembling and unable to speak.

"What did you see?" Xu Qi'an asked in a deep voice.

The door behind her opened, and Xu Lingyue, wearing an overcoat, came out to check the situation.

In the east room, the candlelight in Aunt's room also came on, and she led Lü'e out following the sound.

"What's wrong?" Auntie asked, frowning.

As more people gathered, the maid's fear lessened considerably. Pointing to the well, she said in a trembling voice, "There's a head in the well."

Several screams rang out at once.

Xu Lingyue turned pale and shrank behind Xu Qi'an, clutching his sleeve tightly. Her aunt also approached in fear.

"You, you didn't say..." Auntie's beautiful eyes widened in horror.

She didn't say aloud that she had "driven away the ghost," because she couldn't let the servants in the mansion know about it.

Is there a head in the well? Xu Qi'an gripped his black and gold longsword tightly, pressed his hand down to signal his sister and aunt not to panic, and slowly approached the well opening.

The vengeful spirit in the well was indeed eliminated, and the well used to raise ghosts at the thieves' den was also purified, so it shouldn't be possible for vengeful spirits to reappear.

Could it be...? Xu Qi'an strode over, went around to the back of the well, and sure enough, he saw the little boy sitting by the well, looking sleepy.

"It's a big pot!"

Awakened by Xu Qi'an slapping him with the scabbard, the little boy rubbed his eyes and mumbled something.

"What are you doing here?" Xu Qi'an thought to himself, "Just as I thought."

"I'm hungry, so I came out to find something to eat." The little boy looked at the well with an Qi Ingestion expression. "It's really good at hiding; even when a child is right at their doorstep, it won't come out."

Xu Qi'an guessed that the maid saw Xu Lingyin peering out from the well, and he felt a rare sense of frustration, as if he had a bellyful of complaints he couldn't express.

"Big brother will have the kitchen get you some pastries." Xu Qi'an picked her up and carried her back.

"Lingyin?" Auntie was taken aback, then her eyebrows furrowed. "You brat, sneaking out in the middle of the night to scare people!"

She then realized that Lingyin was not in the room.

Xu Qi'an interrupted his aunt's rant impatiently, "She's just hungry."

Although she ate three bowls of rice for dinner, she was still hungry.

The aunt, now lacking confidence, snorted, put her hands on her hips, glared at the young girl with her large, bright eyes.

Xu Qi'an comforted his younger sister, aunt, and several maids, coaxing them to go to sleep. He then went to the kitchen to get some pastries and fed Xu Lingyin.

The little one doesn't need to be coaxed; he falls asleep while eating.

Xu Qi'an returned her to Lü'e and went back to his room to continue sleeping. In his hazy sleep, he heard someone knocking on the door.

"Big brother." Xu Lingyue's clear and melodious voice came from outside the door.

"What's wrong?" Xu Qi'an didn't open the door. It was the middle of the night, and it was improper for an older brother to open the door for his younger sister.

"I... I can't sleep, I'm scared." Xu Lingyue paused, then added, "Mother can't sleep either. When Lü'e asked earlier, Mother told her about the haunted house. As she talked, they both got scared too."

"Dad's not home, so they're all too scared to sleep."

What does it matter to me if they're afraid to sleep? Shall we all sit down and play mahjong all night? Xu Qi'an recalled his own experience with Maidong and empathized, so he patiently explained:

"Don't be afraid, there are no ghosts in the house."

Xu Lingyue didn't reply, hesitated for a few seconds, then asked, "Big brother, can you stay with us?"

PS: This chapter is an extra update from yesterday.