An Oriental Odyssey

While the Young master Xianya and Zhao Lanzhi were reminiscing about the old days in the teahouse, Yuan An was swallowing breakfast in her own manor. The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became: the strange death of the dancer Ru Yue, even the experience The experienced coroner could not explain the cause of death. The county magistrate also arbitrarily settled the case and used Xiaoyu as a scapegoat, but they still couldn't figure out the case, how was she supposed to find the real murderer? 

    Hey, it's fun to talk big, be heroic and arrogant, but where was she supposed to even start? If she can't figure out the truth, and if she can't find the real culprit, then she won't be able to get Xiao Yu off the hook. If Xiao Yu can't get off the hook, then three days later, no, two and a half days later, Zhao Lanzhi will really come to arrest someone. The county magistrate has such a diligent constable, he will really chase them to the end! Yuan'an recalled Zhao Lanzhi's appearance of a life-threatening ghost again and became even more irritable, relying on herself really seemed useless, so she went to go to the old man hiding in her manor's basement at home to discuss and brainstorm.

    Yuan An took some beef in Huadiao wine sauce from the kitchen and walked across the back garden to the basement. From a distance, she saw her younger brother Yuan Ning walking around the basement with a kitchen knife in one hand and a lantern in the other. She wanted to step forward to stop him, but she was one step too late, Yuan Ning opened the basement door and stepped in.

    This Yuan Ning was the only son of Assistant Minister Ye and Yuan'an's half-brother. He was the son of the current lady of the manor, who Assistant Minister Ye had married after her mother passed away. He is fifteen years old this year, he is not fat, but his face is white and plump, with a square head, so Yuan'an gave him the nickname called Baotou when they were young, which means that his head is a bun. Normally, the only son in other noble families would be arrogant and unrestrained. Yuan Ning always wants to be arrogant, but he can't because he has an even more arrogant older sister. 

    While Mr. Ye was busy with official business, whatever Yuan An said at home went. When she gave him that nickname and he tried to protest, Yuan'an bullied him into compliance. Since then, he had to endure her feet. Speaking of the basement in the back garden, he was not allowed to go there! Initially, Yuan Ning didn't even dare to look there. Of course, him not looking did not mean that he didn't care. 

    On the contrary, the more Yuan'an forbade everyone from approaching the basement in the back garden, the more curious Yuan Ning became, causing his little liver itch with curiosity. Finally, he didn't see Yuan'an in the house for two consecutive nights so Yuan Ning thought that his sister had gone out to play again and won't be back anytime soon, so he finally seized the opportunity to go to the basement to check it out.

    Speaking of which, Yuan Ning picked the basement lock with a kitchen knife and went in with a lantern, only to feel a damp gust of wind coming up, cold sweat broke out all over his body, it was dark in front of him, and the light of the lantern was weak, the long downward staircase was steep. His head was as big as a bucket and round as a bun, so it was difficult to maintain his balance. As he took the first step, he felt his foot slip, and he fell and started to roll down. 

    It was unclear how far he rolled down before Yuan Ning finally used his fingers to grab a section of the steps to halt his fall. When he stabilized, he felt a furry thing crawling on the back of his neck. He held the lantern, and he quickly grabbed at his back with the other hand, when he saw that he had grabbed a spider the size of a palm with big eyes staring at him, the hair on it was thicker and longer than chicken feathers.

    Yuan Ning screamed in fright, shook off the spider, fell to the ground, then heard countless squeaks. Hundreds of tats rushed around his butt as if they were being chased by the wind, they gathered not far from Yuan Ning, and countless small green eyes stared at him fiercely. Yuan Ning only felt that the hair all over his body stand up, he took advantage of the moment the rats did not pounce, quickly jumped up and ran up the stairs. No matter how fast he ran, he felt as if his heels were being bitten by the big teeth of the rats. He took several big steps and was out of breath, just as he was reaching the entrance of the basement, he tripped and fell, the lantern he had been desperately holding fell on his back and ignited his hair, a fire was started. Yuan Ning panicked, screamed and jumped out of the big iron gate of the basement.

    Yuan'an was outside, she had seen Yuan Ning going in not long ago, and now he came up with his hair caught on fire. At this terrible moment, Yuan'an voice interrupted him, "What's going on?"

    "Ahhh, waa, Hair and face on fire!"

    Yuan An stepped forward without touching Yuan Ning, then she stretched out her foot and knocked Yuan Ning down at once: "Lie down, your older sister will put out the fire for you!"

    Yuan Ning had no choice, he rolled on the ground, and Yuan An stomped on Yuan Ning's big head.

    The flames on Yuan Ning's head were not that serious, but he was so scared by the spider and rats and thought that he was about to be burned to death. Yuan'an looked anxious, but in her mind, she was amused. She stepped on his head and stepped on it until the fire was distinguished: "It's out, older sister put out the fire for you!"

    Yuan Ning stood up. His hair was scorched, his eyebrows were burnt away, his nose was blue, his face was swollen, and his lips were bleeding.

    Yuan'an held his shoulders and suppressed a smile: "Younger brother, ah, younger brother, you can see this is a blessing in disguise. By allowing your older sister to step on your face, you have instantly become even more handsome!"

    Yuan Ning cried and touched his face: "I don't believe it! I'm going to get a doctor!"

    Yuan Ning ran away crying. Yuan An covered her mouth and said: "We'll see if you dare to come here again!"

    When Yuan'an saw Yuan Ning running away, and no one else was bothering her, she opened the big iron door and entered the basement. She didn't have a lantern in her hand, but after skillfully counting down the twenty-eight steps, she turned to the left, opened a wooden door, and entered a circular room with a radius of five feet with a firepit in the middle. The light in from the firepit was bright, the walls on one side were full of bottles and jars with various colored liquids filled with animal organs of different sizes, antlers, snakes, tigers, chickens, salamanders, bats, and dogs. There was a huge mural for divination, next to a few boxes. There was a large pot burning on the fire, the liquid in the pot wa boiling, making a gurgling sound, a tall and thin guy dressed in a black robe with a hood was standing in front of the cauldron, waiting and watching. This was the scene of a warlock's lair.  

    Yuan'an's shadow grew as she neared the fire, the man in black didn't turn back, but he knew that it was Yuan'an behind him. His voice was hoarse and low: "Who came down to the basement just now?"

    "My brother Yuan Ning, he didn't reach here. He fell down and was scared away by your spiders and rats. When he climbed out, his hair was burned by his own lantern and he let me trample on him to put it out." Yuan'an amusingly shared.  

    "Shh." The Warlock suddenly motioned for her to be quiet. 

    Yuan An understood and immediately fell silent. She knew the crucial moment was coming, and this person's medicine was almost ready.

    Sure enough, the gurgling medicinal liquid rushed out of the small hole on the lid with a squeak, passed through a thinly curved copper tube like an intestine, cooled and solidified, and finally a dark red pill emerged from the other end of the iron tube. The medicine was caught by the man in a black robe with a copper plate.

    The man in black seemed to be quite satisfied with the result of his work. He shook the pill and slowly walked over to Yuan'an. His face slowly emerged. It was a strangely beautiful face, black eyebrows with boyish eyes, clear and bright, high nose, thin lips, and two shallow smile lines at the corners of his lips. With this face, he didn't look serious at all. It's just with that face, that demeanor, no matter how you look at it, he was under thirty years old at most, but his hair was as white as snow!