"What's wrong? Why are you all stammering and not speaking?"
Yan'er frowned, looking at the subordinates in front of her, feeling a vague sense of unease.
"Da Jie Tou, Precious Baby Jie... Precious Baby Jie, she..."
One of them stammered, but still couldn't speak clearly.
Another beside him, however, seemed resigned, closed his eyes, and blurted out the words in one breath.
"Precious Baby Jie didn't wait for our main force to arrive. Instead, she colluded with another group and went to the ruins ahead of time."
"In the end, Precious Baby Jie and that group disappeared. They were probably taken away by the Millelith."
"..."
Yan'er fell silent, her fingers trembling as she pressed them to her forehead.
Finally, she couldn't help but explode.
"That fool!!!"
"How could I have such a stupid sister? She's useless and only causes trouble for me all day long!!"
...
Everyone surrounding Yan'er bowed their heads low, not daring to utter a single word.
Only after Yan'er finished scolding them did they finally dare to raise their heads slightly.
Yan'er's chest was heaving violently, and her cheeks had turned very red, presumably due to her anger.
"Have the people below gather more information and see where she's being held."
Yan'er took a deep breath, then said to the few people.
Although her relationship with Precious Baby wasn't very good, they were still sisters by the same mother. If she could be rescued, she should be rescued.
Of course, if she was really locked up in the Liyue Harbor prison and rescue was too difficult, she wouldn't bother.
Precious Baby had always been quite clean in her dealings; as long as they couldn't dig up old dirt, she would at most be imprisoned for a few months.
"Yes!"
"Alright, I'm going back first. Being out too long will make her suspicious."
Yan'er waved her hand at her subordinates.
The subordinates quickly left, cleanly and efficiently, as if no one had ever been in this secluded little forest.
"Hmph..."
Precious Baby took another breath, then she slowly got up and headed towards Qingce Village.
She was very fast, and this place wasn't very far from Qingce Village. By the time she returned to Qingce Village, she happened to see Stelle sitting at the tea stall, chatting happily with a young woman.
She didn't know why, but seeing this scene, Yan'er, who was already in a bad mood, immediately puffed out her cheeks.
She quickly walked over and unceremoniously called out to Stelle.
"Hey!"
Stelle was startled by Yan'er's voice. She turned her head, a little confused, to look behind her.
"Yan'er? You're back. How was it? Are you ready…?"
Before Stelle could finish her sentence, Yan'er stomped over, picked up the tea on the table, and drank it all in one gulp.
"What's wrong?"
Stelle asked, puzzled.
"Nothing!"
Yan'er snorted, then turned to look at A-Zhi opposite her.
"Who is this?"
"Ah, let me introduce you. This is A-Zhi, a herb gatherer from Qingce Village."
"And this is Yan'er, the scholar I mentioned earlier."
"Hello."
A-Zhi extended her hand, but Yan'er didn't even glance at it. Instead, she directly asked, "A herb gatherer? There's even a herb gatherer in this village… So, you must be very familiar with the mountains around here, right?"
A-Zhi was slightly taken aback, then withdrew her hand and nodded.
"I gather herbs in this area; I've been to most of the mountains."
Although Yan'er's attitude seemed quite poor, in A-Zhi's understanding, scholars were all eccentric individuals, so she didn't mind too much.
"Then, I wonder if you could take us to the west."
"The west?"
A-Zhi tilted her head in confusion.
—
After explaining the whole situation, A-Zhi finally nodded in agreement.
After all, although her work wasn't exactly easy, she only needed to go out once every few days.
Qingce Village also didn't have any particularly good methods for preserving herbs, so if she gathered herbs too often, it would be pointless if they couldn't be preserved.
Recently, it happened to be A-Zhi's leisure time, and she had a good impression of Stelle, so she was very willing to help.
Additionally, she was also curious about the legend of the [Chi]. If she could figure out the truth about the [Chi] with these two, it would be a good thing.
However, it was already getting late. Although it wasn't dark yet, if they went to the western mountains now, they wouldn't know when they'd return.
So, they decided to rest in Qingce Village for the night and depart tomorrow morning.
"You two can rest at my place tonight."
A-Zhi brought the two of them back to her home.
There were no inns or similar places in Qingce Village, and most of the residents here were elderly people and children. It wouldn't be good to disturb them, so A-Zhi invited them to her home.
It was a bit small, but it was fine for one night.
Actually, Stelle had originally intended to sleep in her Serenitea Pot tonight, but since A-Zhi had invited them, she couldn't very well refuse.
Moreover, if she exposed the Serenitea Pot, Yan'er would definitely be wary of her afterward.
There was no choice; she could only come here.
"Sorry, I live alone, and my house is a bit small…"
A-Zhi placed her small basket behind the door and said to the two of them.
As A-Zhi said, her small house had no distinction of rooms or halls. Upon entering, it was a single room with a large bed, a set of table and chairs, and a wardrobe.
These furnishings seemed to be quite old. Although the house was clean, the dilapidated furniture, which had been neglected for years, still added a sense of decay.
It seemed A-Zhi's life was quite hard.
"How do you even eat here?"
Yan'er crossed her arms, surveyed the room, and then asked.
She herself came from a poor background, and besides, the Treasure Hoarders' base was often worse than this place, so she wouldn't be particular.
It was just that the house was so simple and bare, without even a stove. Would they have to go hungry tonight?
"My stove is outside; this room is too small to fit it."
A-Zhi said with a smile.
Then she went to the wardrobe, opened it, and took out a quilt from inside.
Although her bed wasn't too small, and apart from Stelle, they were all petite Damselettes, so squeezing onto the bed wouldn't be a problem.
But no matter what, it could only fit two people, so someone would still have to sleep on the floor.
"You must be hungry too. Please sit for a bit; I'll go make you dinner now."
A-Zhi placed the quilt on the bed and then said.
"I'll help too."
Stelle offered proactively.
It felt a bit rude to stay at someone's house and still have them wait on her.
Although her constitution prevented her from cooking, she could probably assist.
Yan'er, however, showed no intention of moving. She merely snorted, went to the bedside, and sat down, lost in thought.
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