Uncle De stayed in the room where Wu Sicheng was no longer there. He chuckled to himself as he thought about it. He never expected that the young master had such a considerate and thoughtful side. He figured that girl must have won his heart. But he couldn't bring someone he met here back to Lan Kingdom!

The old man wanted him to stay abroad but couldn't. It's pitiful that the old man is in his seventies, alone in a foreign land, guarding his huge family business, and can't even go back to his own country. He can't even see his daughter and grandson. What a messed up world!

I don't know if I'll ever see Miss again in my lifetime!

Wu Sicheng had no idea that Uncle De had thought so much just because he had asked a question.

At this moment, he was thinking that he would buy the ingredients for making old duck soup after get off work tomorrow, and make sure it was ready by dark so he could deliver it to An Moxue.

These past few days have been tough, making it difficult to do anything, so I've had some time to make tonics for An Moxue.

Losing so much weight in just a few days can't be a minor illness; even a fever must be very dangerous.

Meanwhile, An Moxue was sitting in her own dining room having a late-night snack.

The only advantage of going abroad on missions is food. Unlike back home, you don't have to hide it or worry about being discovered and reported for eating something good.

After finishing her late-night snack, An Moxue began her evening study session.

She had always known that she was surrounded by wolves, but as the investigation deepened, she was still shocked by what she found; this was only the tip of the iceberg.

How could she dare to relax? That one moment of mental lapse caused her to develop a fever. She knew she had been too tense, but what could she do?

I don't even have anyone to talk to or share the burden with. I have to bear everything, good or bad, all by myself.

How can you protect yourself if you don't desperately learn more?

However, she never imagined that someone was sharpening a knife at her at that very moment.

In a study that exuded an air of refinement, the door was tightly closed. An elderly man sat at a desk, asking his grandson, "Anthony, how's the investigation going? Have you found out anything about that girl? Is she really from the Nalan family?"

“Grandfather, after searching for so long, I’ve finally found out. She’s not from the Nalan family, nor from the Lan Kingdom, but from Mongolia. Her full name is Abaganar Jido. Is there something wrong with her? Maybe she just looks like someone else. Besides, she only looks like the person in the portrait in terms of her eyes.”

"How do you know she's not a granddaughter of the Nalan family? If she didn't, she wouldn't have the Nalan surname, right? Isn't that also possible?"

Is that possible?

"Alright, didn't you say she's back? Tomorrow morning, let's go to her house and take a look, then we'll talk. It'd better be her, otherwise our family will really be in trouble with you!"

Anthony was still skeptical and said, "Grandfather, is this really a curse? Could it just be an illness? If not, should we go somewhere else to find a good doctor?"

"Does our strange disease exist?"

“But…” Anthony couldn’t refute his grandfather’s words. Could there really be such a powerful priest?

However, their family has had problems for five generations, and each generation is more serious than the last. The grandfather said that this is a backlash, simply because they broke the vow they made to the Nalan family. This is the price they have to pay. Only when everyone in the Nalan family forgives them will the curse be lifted.

The previous two generations didn't take it seriously; none of the family members died naturally—they all died suddenly or accidentally, and none died of old age. Moreover, they all started experiencing symptoms on their thirteenth birthday, and the condition worsened with each generation. By his generation, he was experiencing three episodes every month: at the beginning, middle, and end of the month. During an episode, he was delirious, acted like a madman, and self-harmed. After regaining consciousness, he had no memory of the episode.

The previous two generations of people who fell ill did not suffer as much, and they did not take it seriously, thinking it was just bad luck. Some of them died as young as teenagers, while others lived to be over seventy years old, like his grandfather, who is seventy-two years old this year and still alive.

My grandfather was convinced it was a curse because he saw in an ancient book that there were people with the same symptoms as his family. It was recorded as a witchcraft curse and was also identified as such by several priests. However, only the family that cast the curse could break it. This is what is meant by "the one who tied the bell must untie it."

But if that's true, then their ancestor would have betrayed the Nalan family, and their family would be the Nalan family's servants!

The Nalan family has been searching for people since their grandfather's time, for three generations now. Their family has gone from a large clan of a thousand people to one with less than a hundred. What's the use of having money if you don't have a healthy body to enjoy it? You still have to live in endless fear every day.

They have never found it. Is this also a punishment from the gods?

Anthony didn't know, nor did he know if the girl named Jido was a descendant of the Nalan family, but he wanted to live, to live healthily, and to live to a ripe old age.

So, the moment he saw the girl, he realized she resembled the priest in the painting hanging in his grandfather's study, especially her eyes—they were exactly the same.

After a long silence in the study, the grandfather spoke again, "Anthony, whether it's true or not, we have to try now, don't we? Don't you want to live a good life?"

Anthony recalled the scene when he met An Moxue and said, "Grandfather, but I always felt that girl was not so easy to fool, especially her eyes. Looking into them always made me feel scared, as if she could see through all the appearances and see the essence. It made me feel guilty."

"You're just being cowardly before the battle even begins. Stand up straight, who knows what you're really thinking?" the old patriarch of the Popov family said with exasperation.

Anthony was extremely curious and couldn't wait to ask, "Grandfather, is the Nalan family very powerful?"

"They used to be very powerful, but I don't know about now. Otherwise, how could our family have ended up as slaves?"

"But why hasn't anyone from the Nalan family contacted us in all these centuries?"

The old patriarch's eyes were unfocused. "Yes, why?" he asked, seemingly to his grandson, yet also to himself. Both grandfather and grandson wanted to know the answer, but neither had one.

Another silence fell over the study, so oppressive it was hard to breathe.

Finally, it was Anthony who broke the awkward atmosphere first, saying, "Grandfather, it's getting late. Let me take you back to your room to rest. Tomorrow morning, we'll go to her house and wait for her. You can check her out first, and then we can make further plans. How does that sound?"

“Alright, there’s no better way. Let’s pray to the gods for our protection. This Jiduo is a descendant of the Nalan family who is related to them by blood.”

Anthony helped the old master out of the study.