The Ninth Lady is a rebellious person.

Chapter 227 We're all in the same boat

Lang Jiuchuan then asked A Piao about some details of the government's handling of the matter of refining corpses from the family, such as how they found women with special birth dates and times.

"The Cong family knows astrology and divination. The Imperial Observatory is their territory, and they take advantage of this. They collude with officials in charge of household registration and documents, and they can find out about special birth dates with ease. As you know, women's status has always been lower than men's. The powerful and wealthy are a little better off, but women from the lower classes have an even lower status. If they die or go missing, they are often not taken seriously. There are even cases of female infants being drowned or abandoned at birth." A-Piao replied, "The Cong family takes advantage of this. They mostly abduct women from families without any connections. They even have people specifically tasked with finding them. The incident at the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion was an accident. If they hadn't harmed Qi Si, they would probably still be fine."

Actually, that's not the case; it was meeting this person in front of me that was the unexpected.

"But don't be fooled by the current uproar outside, with people making up stories and telling tales about this. It will be suppressed soon. Firstly, the incident has amplified its impact, causing panic and fear among the people, and making them suspicious of monks and Taoists. The Xuan Clan won't let this go unchecked. Losing public trust will not benefit them." A-Piao sneered sarcastically, "Without faith, how can they maintain their high and mighty attitude?"

Lang Jiuchuan said, "The imperial court will not allow it. If more people talk about it, it will easily lead to chaos. Some people will take advantage of the situation and push over blatant crimes and evil deeds as monks and Taoists controlling evil, which will only increase the difficulty of solving the case and confuse the public."

"It's true."

"Lord Shen's suggestion is good. With a dedicated supervisory department, similar cases can be investigated and handled by the supervisory department, which will make things simpler. This department can also help to differentiate the Xuan clan." Lang Jiuchuan narrowed his eyes and tapped the table lightly with his fingertips: "The establishment of this department will only bring good and no bad."

Especially for her.

She's going to mess with the Rong family sooner or later, and she doesn't want to see them surrounded and protected like an iron barrel, with no way to get to them.

The ghost looked over and said, "Even if it's true, the Rong family's torture and murder of your body can't be investigated, and it wouldn't stand up to scrutiny. Once it's discovered, the Xuan clan will think you're a possessed demon! Also, the Rong family is currently quiet, but they lost several people because of you, and they're definitely not satisfied. They'll come back sooner or later, so be careful. If they spread the news that you're possessed by a demon, can you bear the name of an evil spirit?"

Lang Jiuchuan chuckled: "If you're so capable, then invite monks and Taoist priests to exorcise the ghosts and see if they can drive me away!"

As she spoke, her eyes darted around, and she said, "Speaking of which, we've been through thick and thin together since this family matter, we're practically in the same boat. If I'm bullied, your sect leader wouldn't just stand by and do nothing, would he?"

Ah Piao glared: "What does this have to do with my sect leader? I advise you not to push your luck!"

Shameless! They even try to piggyback on this.

"We're all ghosts in the same boat, so how can we not be involved? You're the sect leader's ghost, and I'm your friend ghost. It's the same for us, so protecting one's own is just a side thing."

The ghost laughed in exasperation at her earnest excuses, picked up the incense stick, and left, saying, "I'm busy. Do as you please. Goodbye!"

Lang Jiuchuan: "..."

The shopkeeper's vision is too narrow!

……

Xifang, Xunxiang Hutong.

Zhuang Quan Hai, his face pale and ashen, squatted at the shop entrance, peering out. So many days had passed, why hadn't the girl arrived yet? The ghostly customer in the shop hadn't left, and he was so anxious that he couldn't sleep day or night, even having to sleep with one eye open.

The sound of wheels came from the alley entrance.

Zhuang Quan Hai peeked out and saw a carriage stop at the alley entrance. A maid in a padded jacket got off first and then helped another person off.

Upon seeing the girl's appearance, Zhuang Quan Hai cried out in pain, jumped up, nearly fell to the ground, but rubbed his knee and ran quickly towards the alley entrance.

"Young lady, you've finally arrived!" Zhuang Quan Hai was so excited that tears welled up in his eyes.

Lang Jiuchuan stopped, looked at the dark circles under his eyes, and said, "Have you not slept for days?" Zhuang Quan Hai said with a mournful face, "That ghost... the guest has been waiting for you. I was afraid that if you didn't come, he would cause trouble."

No, it should be called haunted.

If a customer arrives and waits in vain for a long time without being received, he would probably be furious if he were a ghost.

He had a pregnant daughter-in-law at home, and fearing that the ghost might disturb her pregnancy, he didn't dare to close his eyes completely.

Lang Jiuchuan smiled: "He didn't cause any trouble, so he's clearly a good-tempered ghost guest!"

Zhuang Quan Hai: "..."

This joke isn't very funny.

"Come, follow me to meet this ghostly guest." Lang Jiuchuan walked forward.

Zhuang Quan Hai lagged behind her by a step, and as if he had found his pillar of support, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Arriving at the shop, Lang Jiuchuan stood at the door, glanced at the square signboard of Wanshipu (Everything Shop), and nodded in satisfaction.

"We've been open for about ten days, and this is the only customer we've had. Some neighbors passing by asked us out of curiosity, but since you weren't there, all I could say was that we could wait for the owner to come and see a doctor or something." There was a display case in the shop with some medicinal herbs, so it probably wouldn't hurt to say that we could see doctors.

"It's alright, this shop wasn't originally intended to make money."

Zhuang Quan Hai's lips twitched. Wasn't he driving this car to experience the hardships of ordinary people instead of making money? What a spendthrift rich girl... so willful.

"Guest, come out from under the plaque. You've been staying right here by the door all this time, no wonder no one comes to my shop." The plaque is made of willow wood, and she has specially treated it by drawing a soul-nourishing array, so that ghostly guests can find shelter here.

However, this ghost is probably quite old, with a strong ghostly power. Even inside the array, the yin energy still seeps out. It seems she needs to add another array pattern inside, otherwise, if a ghost guest lands and startles passersby, it would be her fault.

As soon as Lang Jiuchuan spoke, the plaque remained motionless, but Zhuang Quan Hai froze.

What? The ghost guest is hanging on the signboard?

No wonder he always felt a chill on his head when he squatted by the door, and he had to hold onto the jade pendant to keep from shivering. It turned out that the ghost was right above him.

He had mistakenly assumed the person was waiting inside the shop, since the owner hadn't said a word.

Zhuang Quan Hai's resentment surged instantly, and he gave Lang Jiu Chuan a long, brooding look.

Lang Jiuchuan chuckled awkwardly and said, "I forgot to tell you, I've modified this signboard. If ghost guests come, they'll wait for them on the signboard."

That soul array was a soul-nourishing array, which took her a lot of mental energy to carve.

Zhuang Quan Hai forced a smile that looked more like a grimace.

Suddenly, a gust of cold wind blew from the signboard. Zhuang Quan Hai instinctively moved closer to her, supporting his trembling thigh with one hand, and looked ahead cautiously.

"The owner of this shop is actually a young woman?" A general wearing armor and a tasseled hat slowly appeared in front of Lang Jiuchuan.