Chapter 88: Osmanthus in early autumn encounters a liar again, is he a vampire?

The early autumn wind arrives quietly, and the wind with the fragrance of osmanthus blows through the streets and alleys of Honey Lane. The fragrance is rich and full, like sweet mist.

Ye Wan got up early in the morning. There were not many newly opened osmanthus flowers in early autumn, only small yellow flowers dotted among the dark green and shiny leaves. She gently moved the ladder and climbed to the side of the tree, shaking off the small flowers. In the clear and crisp autumn morning light, they swirled and fell on the plastic paper, forming a layer of flowing gold.

"It smells so good! These osmanthus flowers must be great for making osmanthus cake and osmanthus honey." Ye Wan looked up and saw the sunlight shining in obliquely, casting mottled light and shadows on the petals.

A few bees were attracted by the rich fragrance and circled over unexpectedly, buzzing and startling Ye Wan who was standing on the ladder.

She slipped and was about to fall.

"It's over." She thought so and closed her eyes in fear.

Then the imagined pain did not come, and she fell into a warm embrace. It was Youan.

"How can you be so careless? You didn't even call me when you picked the flowers."

Ye Wan looked up and met his anxious expression. She pulled his sleeve awkwardly, "I didn't stand firmly."

He looked down at her and tightened his arms again: "Call me next time you pick flowers."

The sky was as blue as if it had been washed, so light and transparent, and the sun was milder than in summer. In such a morning, Ye Wan felt that the atmosphere was just right, and everything around him was covered with a faint light.

When she was wondering whether to take the opportunity to kiss him, a sudden cough broke the romance. It was Dorothy.

"Leave some flowers from this tree for me too. I want to make some osmanthus candy," said Dorothy.

The two hurriedly separated.

The two large baskets of osmanthus flowers that I brought home are very useful. Soaking them in honey to make autumn osmanthus cookies, osmanthus honey lotus roots, and osmanthus mochi are all good choices.

Ye Wan placed the cookies that had been shaped into small flowers neatly on the baking tray. The rich aroma of butter and the sweet fragrance of osmanthus filled the air all at once, and the entire kitchen seemed to be covered in a sweet net.

Youan was making an osmanthus latte. He poured osmanthus honey on the wall of the cup twice, poured in milk and extracted coffee liquid, stirred it, and then sprinkled a layer of dried osmanthus flowers.

Today's breakfast has the scent of autumn, and the air is not as sticky as in summer. Ye Wan feels more energetic and happily sits down to have breakfast with Youan.

Pancake seemed to like this osmanthus-flavored cookie very much and was happily eating it while sitting on the side.

"What a happy and carefree morning." She took a sip of latte and put the toast into the toaster. Soon the toast, toasted to a crisp, jumped out of the toaster. She used a knife to spread honey on the bread.

Before she put the bread with thick osmanthus honey into her mouth, a signal bird flew from the blue sky, raised its foot and threw the newspaper on the table.

Ye Wan took out a copper coin and stuffed it into the opening on the signal bird's chest. The signal bird took the money, nodded at them, then spread its wings and flew away.

"Is there anything interesting in today's newspaper?" Ye Wan asked. Her mouth was filled with bread dripping with osmanthus honey, and even the tip of her tongue was filled with the fragrance of osmanthus.

Youan unfolded the newspaper and his expression became serious as he read the beginning. Written in bold black letters:

A noble lady was attacked, and it was suspected that a vampire was the culprit!

Youan's face looked worse and worse. Ye Wan was very worried and went behind him to read the report. The article was very detailed:

Last night, a shocking incident occurred at the Earl's Mansion. The daughter of a wealthy family, Catherine, mysteriously disappeared outside the Royal Opera House. She was found hours later in a quiet alley. She had fallen into a deep coma, her blood nearly drained, and two tiny, deep puncture wounds on her neck, deep enough to reveal the bone, remained.

According to the first discoverer, Peter, a waiter who was leaving the tavern on his way home from work, he left the tavern in the early hours of the morning and followed the sound of faint moans to the corner of the alley, where he saw Miss Catherine lying in a pool of blood. The left side of her exposed neck had two symmetrical, pinhole-like wounds, the edges of which were an unnatural bluish-purple. "The wounds were so strange, they didn't look like they were caused by a beast's bite, but rather by a precise puncture from a sharp object. There were no signs of struggle, only a few crushed rose petals."

The attendant Pete's voice was trembling as he repeatedly emphasized to our reporter the scene: "And that alley was freezing cold. It was early autumn, but that place was as cold as winter."

The doctor from the rehabilitation center who arrived urgently had a serious expression on his face after a preliminary examination. He revealed to the sheriff that the amount of blood lost in Catherine's body far exceeded the limit that could be caused by ordinary trauma, and that the blood was not spilled in large quantities, but rather was forcibly extracted by "some mysterious force." Although the puncture wound on the neck was small, it just avoided the main blood vessels. The method of surgery was really strange.

Catherine was rushed to Santa Maria Hospital in the north of the city. The hospital's director confirmed in an interview that aside from a neck wound, she had no other obvious injuries. However, traces of blood loss were visible beneath her skin. Blood banks were being urgently mobilized from various hospitals to provide her with an emergency transfusion, but Catherine remains in critical condition.

After the news came out, people inevitably thought of Dracula who had recently awakened in Twilight Manor. He has lived for a thousand years and is very powerful. He is likely to come to the capital late at night to cause damage.

The Earl's Mansion has currently offered a reward of one thousand gold coins for any clues that may lead to the investigation.

Before he finished reading the report, You An went out with the newspaper in his hand: "This is bad. I need to go out for a while."

Ye Wan was also worried about the girl lying in the hospital, but she didn't realize how bad it was at the moment.

Until she brought a cart of osmanthus cookies to the market to sell, people in the market were talking about it. Miss Catherine was famous for her kindness and enthusiasm, and she often held charity events, and had a very good reputation in the royal capital.

Emma happened to be on vacation today and came to help. Ye Wan treated her to cookies. The cookies were baked very crispy, but melted easily in the mouth. The aroma of osmanthus filled her mouth, and the richness of the cream went well with the osmanthus. Emma liked them very much.

Because the cookies tasted so good, many people came to buy them. Ye Wan listened to the general discussion among the people, and they generally said that this must have been the work of Dracula from Twilight Villa outside the city.

After all, vampires have a really bad reputation.

Ye Wan thought about what the Night Watch Association had said, that decades ago, Ye Yu had used food like duck blood to entertain vampires. She found it hard to imagine a group of vampires sitting in a restaurant eating duck blood vermicelli soup with gusto.

But if a group of vampires like to eat duck blood vermicelli soup so much, then they may not be too harmful, Ye Wan thought.

But apparently others didn't think so. There were even things that could defend against vampires at the market. After Ye Wan finished selling the cookies, she went home with Emma. They walked through the alley and met a woman setting up a stall.

The person was wearing a black veil and sitting there with her legs crossed. There were many things that could repel vampires on the stall: garlic bunches, mahogany swords, crosses and so on. She also held a red apple in her hand.

"This is a magical apple. If you eat it, you will gain eternal youth and beauty."

Ye Wan: “…”

Ye Wan instantly remembered where this rhetoric came from. It came from when she had just arrived in the other world. She met a woman in black veil in an alley and spent a lot of money to buy a dirty map from her, which was actually available.

"Now is the time for revenge." Ye Wan thought.

She ran out quickly and found the guards. Justin happened to be on duty today, and he quickly led the team over.

"That's her!" Ye Wan put her hands on her hips. "She tricked me into spending money on a map, and she also sold me fake apples."

The woman in black veil was originally sitting there trembling like an old lady. When she saw Ye Wan bringing the guards, she jumped up like a rabbit, rolled up the things on the ground, and ran away.

The guards were chasing after them. Ye Wan was holding something and yelling, "If you catch her, remember to ask her to give me the money for the map!"

At night, the small restaurant reopened, and everyone's topic was still about the tragedy. I heard that many people spontaneously gathered outside the healing home to light prayer candles and pray that Catherine could survive the difficulties.

The main course tonight is osmanthus yellow millet buns filled with black sesame filling, and osmanthus candied lotus root as dessert. Rose dragged her tired body in.

Ye Wan filled a bowl of candied lotus root for her. Rose took it with gratitude and sighed deeply.

"Any news of Ophelia?" she asked.

Rose shook her head and lowered her head to take a bite of the cold sweet-scented osmanthus lotus root. The lotus root segments were drizzled with sugar syrup and looked thick and translucent, with sweet-scented osmanthus flowers inlaid on top, and the glutinous rice inside was also very chewy.

She ate happily, finishing the entire bowl in one gulp. Then she sighed heavily, "I waited outside the gate of Twilight Villa for most of the day but didn't see them come out. This morning, I heard something happened to a certain noble lady, so I came back anxiously."

"It couldn't have been Dracula," Ye Wan said naturally. "I remember he swore to Ophelia a hundred years ago that he would never harm civilians again. Isn't it said that vampires must keep their oaths?"

Rose gave her a meaningful look. "We can't harm 'commoners,' but that one is obviously a noble."

Ye Wan: "...I didn't expect that swearing could be done with different words."

Rose obviously had no good feelings or trust towards this Dracula: "I'm really worried that he's got his eyes on some ancient magic that can turn zombies into humans again."

Ye Wan thought of those old and terrifying Western movies, such as the bloody countess who bathed in blood to maintain eternal youth.

That Dracula looks like a paranoid lunatic who might be capable of doing anything.

Ye Wan prepared some fresh pig blood today, planning to stew spicy pig blood, tofu and vermicelli tomorrow. When she finished, You An also came back.

"How is it?" She brought a bowl of osmanthus honey wine to Youan, who took it and said, "The situation is a bit bad. All traces of magic around Catherine have been cleared..."

He paused mid-sentence, then stood up and asked alertly, "What's that noise?"

There was a slight commotion coming from the kitchen.

"Maybe we pickled too much osmanthus honey today and attracted rats or something." Ye Wan guessed.

Pancake, who was stealing food at the table, moved his head and said, "Squeak!"

"Sorry, Muffin, I didn't mean you." Ye Wan comforted it apologetically, then followed Youan into the kitchen.

She usually kept the kitchen very clean, so there shouldn't be any mice. Ye Wan was very puzzled. She pushed open the door and saw a person standing inside. She had long silver curly hair and a black gauze skirt that swept across the floor. She didn't turn around, but stared at the basin of fresh pig's blood and muttered:

“This doesn’t look delicious at all.”