Zhu Jie couldn't wait, but he didn't want to show it too obviously. "This embroidered ball shouldn't have any hidden meanings, right? I mean, any dangers."

Tang Qisheng shook his head beside him. "It shouldn't. After all, it's already dawn, and the mission should be over."

But for the sake of caution, Jiang Cheng waited until the sun truly rose from the horizon before carefully examining the embroidered ball. The ball was sewn from fine colored brocade, and the stitches were meticulous, showing that the person who made it put a lot of heart into it.

There was nothing unusual about its appearance, but as Jiang Cheng touched it inch by inch, he suddenly stopped. The sensation from his fingertips told him that there was something inside the embroidered ball, something hard, feeling like a wooden tablet.

"There's something inside?"

The mature and prudent Zhang Qizheng also became nervous. Since coming to this world, the clues they had gathered were too scattered. Most of the clues were related to the tragic case on Chun Shen Lake many years ago, and this late Madam was the key to the case. How could he not be excited?

Jiang Cheng simply nodded in response. Li Bai took out a small knife from his pocket, the blade gleaming coldly in the dim light. "Cut it open with the knife."

"You can't," Tang Qisheng immediately stopped her, perhaps realizing that he was being abrupt, he quickly explained, "Miss Li Bai, you may not know this, but the embroidered ball is an auspicious object, and auspicious objects need to avoid misfortune. After the embroidered ball is made, it needs to avoid sharp objects such as knives, axes, and scissors. There is a saying that 'cutting the embroidered ball means sending a daughter to join the family', meaning that once the embroidered ball is cut open, even if a child is born after the marriage, it will only be a girl."

The preference for sons over daughters has a long history, especially in ancient high-ranking families, where they were very particular about this, and the strange customs that evolved from this were even more incredible.

Jiang Cheng had even heard of such a thing: in the past, some high-ranking families in ancient times, if a woman gave birth to a daughter as her first child, then this girl could not be kept. They would find a fortune teller, choose a dark and windy night, kill the girl, and then bury her under the threshold of their own gate. This was called *xia xie* (scaring away evil), meaning to scare away the girls who came to be reincarnated into this family, so as to ensure that the next child would be a boy.

If this method didn't work, and the next child was still a girl, they would continue to kill her and bury her under the threshold until a boy was born.

After listening to Tang Qisheng's words, Jiang Cheng slowly nodded, then signaled everyone to move back a little. Then, following the seams of the stitches, he grabbed one end with one hand, tensed his muscles, and slowly exerted force. The embroidered ball was actually torn open.

At the same time, a black wooden tablet fell out of the embroidered ball. Fatty was quick-witted and grabbed it, so it didn't fall to the ground.

This scene was also seen by Zhu Jie and Tang Qisheng, who couldn't help but think highly of this Wang Fugui. They had seen the situation just now. The black wooden tablet was not big and was very inconspicuous in the current environment. They hadn't even fully noticed it, but this Wang Fugui's reaction was surprisingly fast.

As expected, those who could survive the road of wronged souls had a few tricks up their sleeves. The most important thing was that he was very good at disguising, pretending that he didn't know anything and only followed Jiang Cheng's lead.

Zhu Jie and Tang Qizheng exchanged glances, secretly communicating. They guessed that perhaps Jiang Cheng was only the nominal commander of this group, and that the core of these people was actually this person named Wang Fugui.

Strangely enough, standing next to Wang Fugui gave them an indescribable feeling, like a sense of security. In short, everyone felt very at ease wherever Wang Fugui appeared. They had never had this feeling before.

Being able to trigger changes in the environment, this ability was terrifying.

Jiang Cheng held the wooden tablet in his hand and stared at it. The tablet was engraved with many strange patterns, like some kind of script, but no one could understand them.

"What is this thing?" Fatty blinked, complaining, "Why does it look like ghost scribbles?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Cheng moved the wooden tablet closer to him. A moment later, he seemed to have thought of something, and his brows furrowed slightly. "This seems to be *Shui Shu*."

"What is *Shui Shu*?" Fatty asked, not understanding.

Yao Shunyu saw this and explained, "*Shui Shu* is *tian wen*, the language used by priests to communicate with ghosts and gods in ancient sacrificial ceremonies. This language can also be used to communicate with ghosts in special circumstances, but it can only communicate with evil ghosts with deep resentment. These ghosts have some Dao techniques, ordinary ghosts can't understand it."

Fatty's scalp tingled as he listened. He only remembered one sentence: this strange script could communicate with evil ghosts.

Zhang Qizheng stepped forward, staring at the wooden tablet in Jiang Cheng's hand. After a few seconds, he finally nodded, as if confirming. "That's right, it is *Shui Shu*, and it's very authentic. It's rare that someone can actually write something like this. This person must also have considerable Dao techniques."

"I've always heard people in the mansion mention the three words 'Tianshi Mansion', as well as those meticulously crafted lightning strike wood tablets. I think this level of *Shui Shu* is likely made by them."

Li Bai's eyes lit up when she heard this. "What, does Old Zhang understand *Shui Shu*?"

With the clue right in front of them, but no one could understand it, this was really too torturous. The clues about the late Madam must be deciphered.

But unexpectedly, Old Zhang shook his head, his tone somewhat regretful. "Sorry, I only know a little bit of the surface, that is, I can distinguish whether it is true *Shui Shu*. I can't translate it. Among the people I know, perhaps only people like Yu Chengmu have a way, after all, they make a living from this."

Fatty couldn't help but sigh secretly, thinking that Yu Chengmu also had this skill. Fortunately, he was with the doctor, otherwise his ashes would have been scattered by Yu Chengmu and the others.

Suddenly, a steady voice came from behind. "*Shui Shu*, is it? This humble one may be able to understand a little."

Looking back, they saw Shao Tong swaggering over. At this time, he was much more normal than before, at least he didn't say "Daoist" all the time. After Lu Qin's death, the shackles on him also disappeared.

Taking the wooden tablet, Shao Tong held his breath and looked at it for a moment, then exhaled. "Sure enough."

Fatty was anxious. "What is it? What did you see?"

"This records the late Madam's birthday and her name." Shao Tong looked at everyone. "Her name is Guo Shaoyi."

The moment this name was spoken, Jiang Cheng immediately thought of the General's Tomb in the backyard, the tombstone of which read "Tomb of General Guo Shaotang, the mighty General who Defends the Army."

Judging from the name and the clues previously obtained, the current situation was already very clear. This late Madam was a member of General Guo's family, most likely his own sister.

It was precisely because of this relationship that General Guo was negligent in his defense against the Marquis of Zhennan, which ultimately led to his being schemed against and the entire army being wiped out on Chun Shen Lake.