But what surprised him slightly was that neither Yao, Shun, Yu, nor Li Bai raised any objections, which made him begin to doubt whether his previous guess was valid.

Li Bai and Ding Zhenzong followed the servant's instructions, left this courtyard, and went to another side room to rest, waiting for their turn to take over.

At this moment, only Yao Shunyu was left in the large courtyard, along with the young master whose condition was unknown in the room. Since he entered this courtyard, no sound had come from the room, and the silence felt more like a shrine than a bedroom.

Two large lanterns hung outside the room, one red and one white, just like outside. But the flames inside seemed to be burning out, and the light they emitted was so weak that it could almost be ignored.

Yao Shunyu raised his head and looked at the sky. The moon was covered by dark clouds, leaving only a vague outline, which was not a good sign.

With a sigh, Yao Shunyu rubbed his face hard a few times. When he raised his head again, both his eyes and his spirit seemed to have changed. He strode towards the room and pushed open the door.

The room was relatively bright, with several candles burning faintly. Yao Shunyu's gaze slowly swept over the room. The arrangement inside was the same as before. The only difference was that the curtains in front of the bed were down. Through the translucent blue curtains, he could see a figure lying on the bed.

The figure was naturally the young master, who looked as if he was asleep, motionless.

After confirming again that there was nothing unusual in the room, Yao Shunyu turned around, closed the door as quickly as possible, and then walked to the wooden table, finding a seat.

But he didn't expect that the moment he closed the door, the flame in the red lantern outside seemed to be blown by a breath, swayed a few times, and then suddenly went out.

Only a large white lantern remained, swaying slightly in the night wind, the huge character *dian* (奠 - meaning oblation/funeral) on it particularly glaring in the darkness.

Sitting at the table, Yao Shunyu calmed down and thought. From the previous description by the servant, he knew that their task tonight was to guard the young master's room, ensuring that someone was always in the room before dawn. The young master's safety was not mentioned, in other words, whether the young master lived or died did not affect whether their mission was successful.

All they had to do was to ensure that someone stayed in the room no matter what happened, and to survive as much as possible.

Not having to protect the young master's life was rare in previous missions, so Yao Shunyu boldly judged that the young master would definitely die tonight, and no matter what they did, they could not change this outcome.

Or... Yao Shunyu raised his head and suddenly looked at the vague figure behind the curtain, his eyes turning cold. Or perhaps the young master was already dead, and what was lying on the bed was just a cold corpse.

If that were the case, then things would be troublesome. Having to keep watch over a corpse after death, it would be a disservice to the difficulty of this mission if the corpse didn't reanimate.

Although confirming whether the young master was dead or alive would greatly benefit the next mission, Yao Shunyu dismissed the idea. He didn't want to get close to that bed at all right now.

Time passed by, and Yao Shunyu dared not relax his vigilance. The candlelight in the room flickered from time to time. Prolonged observation made his eyes dry. Just as he closed his eyes and gently pressed the sides of his nose with his fingers, suddenly, a knock on the door broke the silence of the night, and Yao Shunyu's heart also twitched violently.

Who would come calling at this hour?

Yao Shunyu calmed himself down, staring at the door without saying a word.

The door was a very old wooden door, structurally resembling the style of the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was covered with a layer of door paper, which was slightly yellowed, and a figure was clearly reflected on it. "Is Master Yao there? I am the young master's steward, we just met. I've come to bring medicine for the young master, please open the door."

Yao Shunyu was familiar with this voice, and he had indeed met the owner of this voice, but Yao Shunyu was not sure whether the shadow outside was the person himself.

"Cough cough..."

A coughing sound came from the bed. The originally motionless figure slowly straightened up, with one arm propped on the bed. The body was hunched over, and the sound was as weak as that of a dying person. "Is... is A-Bin here? Cough cough..."

A-Bin outside also heard the voice inside, and the knocking became more intense. "Young Master, it's me, A-Bin. The second young master has an old mountain ginseng, and he specially asked the pharmacy to prepare a portion and send it to you."

"Master Yao, what are you doing? Why don't you open the door?" A-Bin's voice outside was full of incomprehension, and also contained a kind of complaint that he couldn't spit out, in short, the emotions were grasped very delicately.

But Yao Shunyu remained unmoved. The moment the young master got up and talked to "A-Bin", he probably knew that the person outside was fake. How could there be such a coincidence?

Also, and most importantly, there was no moon tonight, and the lanterns outside gave people a feeling of being half-dead. Where would the light come from to cast the shadow of the visitor on the door paper?

"Master Yao, please open the door, the person outside is here... here to bring me medicine." The young master was behind the curtain, supporting his body with one hand, looking very weak.

"Open the door! Open the door!" The "A-Bin" outside was still making the last effort, finally almost hitting the door with his body.

Yao Shunyu had experienced similar scenes many times, so he was not panicked at all at first. He knew that as long as he didn't open the door, the "A-Bin" outside would definitely not be able to break in, but a few seconds later, a scene that he never expected happened. "A-Bin" actually forcefully pried open a crack in the door, his face stuck tightly to the door, his eyes full of jealousy peering inside, while one hand stretched in along the crack, constantly groping behind the door, as if to find the door lock, open it and break in.

Yao Shunyu's head buzzed, and he immediately realized that the rules of this mission were different from the past. It was not that he could pass safely as long as he recognized the other party's identity and ignored them.

His breathing became rapid, and Yao Shunyu forced himself to calm down. As more and more of the arm probed in, "A-Bin's" face became more and more distorted. Finally, Yao Shunyu locked his eyes on the young master.

The young master stayed quietly on the bed, completely unresponsive to "A-Bin's" abnormality, which was very wrong.

A moment later, Yao Shunyu walked quickly to the bed, tentatively reminding him, "Young Master, A-Bin is trying to break into your room, he is just a servant, he doesn't take you seriously at all."

The young master paused for a moment, making a weak sound in his throat, "A-Bin is here to bring me medicine, just open the door for him."

Taking a breath, Yao Shunyu said word by word, "But he is fake, he is a ghost."