The Masked Man News of a cursed cloth mask that enables a person to see a ghost that turns around with the sound of a five-stringed lute comes to the attention of Gaojun through a scholar named He Mingyun, just as he hears of news from Chancellor Yun Yongde that an eunuch from Feiyan Palace (which could probably be Yi Siha's former master, after seeing that "monster" in her eyes) claims to be cursed by the Raven Consort. Gaojun leaves as Yongde warns him about associating with the Raven Consort. Meanwhile, Yue Yuyong comes to tell Shouxue of not doing as she is told, though she defends herself, saying it's not as if she likes it. That night, Gaojun comes to show the cursed cloth mask, which he purchased, to Shouxue. She did a little investigation, which involved asking Wen Ying to summon the Red Sparrow troupe, but they already left the capital. Gaojun, however, says that there's a five-stringed lute in the imperial archives, handled by a musician named Zuoqiu Yao. He identified the ghost as that of Qifu Shicui, a musician obsessed with the five-stringed lute who got less and less performance requests due to his selfish behavior. He then spent his days playing in the Baoer Workshop until he grew emaciated and his fingers bleeding from playing it.