Chapter 1: Who is the god with three heads and six arms who inherited the tavern? ...
The night was as dark as ink, with a crimson moon hanging in the sky. Ye Wan walked through the streets under the light of street lamps. Occasionally, an owl flew over her head, making a "cuckoo" sound.
Holding a roll of parchment in her hand, she followed the instructions and came to an alley where there were two forks in the road. There was a signpost in front of the fork, but there was nothing written on it.
"Should I go left or right?" Ye Wan thought silently.
The slightly rusty iron road sign suddenly bowed to her and began to speak:
"Turn left on Honey Lane." The arrow on the sign curved into a smiley face. The voice was enthusiastic, and the rust on the body fell off as it trembled. "And turn right and you will meet your true love, Prince Charming!"
Oh my god, the road sign spoke. Ye Wan was shocked for two seconds and ran to the fork on the left.
She must have traveled through time, Ye Wan thought, or perhaps she was mentally ill.
Before tonight, she was still designing the floor plan for the decoration of her own small restaurant. She worked until midnight. Ye Wan wanted to take a break, but she accidentally fell asleep. When she woke up, she found herself in this strange place with a medieval European style everywhere.
Ye Wan sighed and looked at the parchment in his hand again in the dim light of the Greek column street lamp.
"Dear daughter Ye Wan:
When you see this letter, you should have arrived in Cartmel, the capital of the Kingdom of Osenna, which is my hometown.
According to the tradition of the Kingdom of Osenna, every adult citizen needs to undergo a period of spiritual practice, so I let you come here alone.
Please follow the map attached to the letter to the Old Oak Tavern at 18 Honey Lane. That is the tavern I own, which closed down 24 years ago due to poor management. As long as you reopen the tavern and use delicious food to heal the blackened guests, you will complete the mission. At that time, your father and I will go to the Kingdom of Osenna to take you home.
Your beautiful mother
With all due respect, Ye Yu①"
"At least a house was left for me, so I don't have to sleep in the open." She comforted herself.
Sneakers made a light sound on the granite paved stone road. Ye Wan walked a long circle in the alley, passed by a row of European-style cottages, and finally stopped at the door of a two-story building.
The house looked like it hadn't been lived in for a long time. The gray stone walls were covered with gray-green weavings, and the iron gate was covered with rose-colored rust. Only a wooden sign hung on the wall, on which the words "Old Oak Tavern" could be barely made out.
It’s so broken, Ye Wan showed a bit of disgust.
There is a picture frame on the iron gate, but the picture is dark and empty.
She tried to pull the handle on the iron door, but it didn't budge.
Ye Wan tried pulling the door a few more times, but it still didn't budge. She sighed and decided that if it really couldn't be opened, she would have to find a locksmith tomorrow.
Just as she was pondering, the black mass in the picture frame suddenly moved, and then separated from the middle to both sides, as if someone was pulling open a black velvet curtain in the painting.
A woman in a pearl-colored nightgown emerges from the painting, and she even has curlers hanging on her head:
"Why are you here at this hour? I'm already asleep." The woman looked quite dissatisfied.
Ye Wan was stunned for a moment, and could only apologize awkwardly: "I'm sorry, but I just found this place."
The woman picked up her gold-rimmed glasses from the table and took a closer look. "Oh, it's Ye Yu who's back. I haven't seen you for over 20 years, and you're still so young."
Ye Wan: "No, I am Ye Yu's daughter, Ye Wan."
"I see. If you look closely, he is indeed a head shorter than Ye Yu." The woman nodded in understanding, and then said, "I am Barbara, the doorman of the tavern. You want to come into the tavern, right? Then you need to answer some questions first."
"Excuse me, who is the god with three heads and six arms?"
Ye Wan was tired and sleepy, and was caught off guard by the question, so he was inevitably a little slow in thinking: "Let me think... Um, if it comes to three heads and six arms, it should be Nezha, yes, Nezha."
"Wrong answer." The woman said coldly.
"Impossible!" Ye Wan couldn't believe it, his voice rising several decibels: "It's definitely him."
"Squeak."
A small window opened in the house next door, revealing the sleepy face of an elderly man: "Excuse me, it's late at night, could you please keep your voice down?"
"I'm sorry." Ye Wan said quickly, "But I can't answer her question about what god has three heads and six arms."
The woman quickly said, "Hecate, the goddess of the moon and the underworld, even children know it."
"That's the correct answer," Barbara said.
Ye Wan: “…”
"Hecate, goddess of the moon and the underworld, has three heads facing the sky, the earth, and the underworld." Barbara winked at her mischievously. "Welcome home, the new generation of heirs."
The small door slowly opened.
"Then my answer wasn't wrong." Ye Wan muttered, then walked into the tavern.
The inside of the tavern was even more shabby than the outside. Moonlight slanted in through the window lattices. The plush carpet was covered with dust and turned blue-gray. Many of the wooden round tables were cracked. Behind the gray bar was a huge wine rack with several oak barrels on the side.
Every place was covered with a thick layer of dust, which floated into the air as Ye Wan walked, causing her to sneeze several times in succession.
There was an old-fashioned gas lamp on the bar. Ye Wan found a box of matches in the drawer. After trying for a long time, she finally struck one and quickly lit the gas lamp.
The tavern finally became a little brighter.
There was a small staircase leading to the second floor hidden behind the wine rack. Ye Wan held the lamp, thought for a moment, and decided to go up.
Sneakers squeaked on the old stairs. On the second floor was a simple bedroom. The wallpaper was Ye Yu's favorite light blue, but it was a little mottled. Then there was a large bookcase, a desk, and an iron bed.
Ye Wan reluctantly dusted the iron bed and sat on it. As the gravity of her body pressed down, she felt that every spring in the mattress was wailing at a different frequency.
The bookcase was filled to the brim with books, and she moved the gas lamp closer to look at them.
There are some weird books on it, such as "Other World Food Monthly", "Pink Dragon's 100 Favorite Desserts", and "Handmade Bread Baking Diary".
The next layer is full of novels that Ye Yu liked when she was young, such as Qiong Yao's "Outside the Window" and Xi Juan's "Love in Intertwined Time". The next layer is Ye Yu's favorite novels in recent years, such as "The Beautiful Mommy Who Sweetly Turns Over the Domineering Boss", "Becoming White Moonlight, Being Spoiled by the Buddhists in the Beijing Circle", and "Daily Operation of Chang'an Restaurant".
This is indeed the house under Ye Yu’s name.
Ye Wan sighed.
There was an owl-shaped alarm clock on the bedside, and the hour hand had already pointed to two o'clock in the morning. Ye Wan thought about it and lay down on the bed with his clothes on.
She was so sleepy that she fell into a deep sleep as soon as she closed her eyes.
"The sun is shining on your butt." An older female voice sounded in Ye Wan's ears.
It seemed like everything last night was just a dream, Ye Wan thought. She should be in her big, soft bed at home right now, and Ye Yufeng hurriedly called her to get up.
"Don't rush me, I'll get up right away." She opened her eyes reluctantly.
Ye Wan opened his eyes, only to be greeted by a heavily mottled blue wallpaper. In the framed picture on the wall, Barbara was wearing a pink dress and a matching wide-brimmed hat, looking as if she was about to go out. It must have been her who had just urged Ye Wan to get up.
Ye Wan was so scared that he rolled off the bed: "Aren't you in the picture frame at the door?"
"You can't expect me to stay there forever." Barbara gave her a stern look. "I've been helping Ye Yu look after houses for over twenty years, which is quite considerate. Now I'm going on a round-the-world trip to say goodbye to you."
"Will you go to my world?" Ye Wan asked expectantly, "Can you tell Mom for me? Then you can go to the Louvre to see Mona Lisa."
"I don't think so. The procedures for going to another world are too complicated. Besides, as someone in a painting, the Adventurer's Guild probably won't approve it, for fear of scaring the citizens of that other world." Barbara hesitated and waved to Ye Wan: "I'm leaving. The money is in the safe in the attic. Goodbye, Ye Wan."
Then she walked into the picture frame, getting smaller and smaller, and finally condensed into a tiny dot.
Ye Wan was left alone again.
The weather is very good today. The sun shines brightly and you can clearly see the dust particles floating in the air. This sunlight effectively dispels the fear in Ye Wan's heart.
She went to the bathroom to wash her face and went downstairs again.
Ye Wan didn't look at the first floor carefully yesterday, so she looked at it again today and found that the oak barrels were very heavy and could not be moved at all. If she pushed them, she could feel the sound of the heavy liquid inside hitting the barrel wall.
Ye Wan opened the lid of the barrel, and a strong aroma of caramel butter beer came out. The aroma was very rich, much like caramel popcorn freshly out of the pan. Each popcorn was coated with thick butter, with the mellowness of authentic butter and the crispiness of caramel.
Ye Wan swallowed her saliva, but unfortunately she looked around but couldn't find the wine vessel.
However, I unexpectedly found the kitchen. The kitchen door was hidden behind the stairs. The sink and brass tableware inside seemed to be under a spell and were completely dust-free.
However, when Ye Wan took the trouble to turn on the brass faucet, a stream of rust-red water quickly rushed down and splashed all over her face.
Moreover, the broom, rag and bucket in the corner were covered with cobwebs. It seemed that Ye Yu only cared about her kitchen sink.
This set of cleaning tools appeared at the right time. The house was really too dirty, so Ye Wan went to get the broom.
With a "snap", the broom separated into two parts.
Ye Wan tried to fix it but failed, so she had to throw the broom into the trash can.
Barbara just said, where is the money?
In the end, Ye Wan successfully got 20 gold coins, 20 silver coins, and 60 copper coins. There was also a very small floral wallet in the safe. It looked like it couldn't hold anything, but it was magical. So many coins could be put in it, as if some kind of magnifying spell was cast on the wallet.
Honey Lane looks very clean and beautiful during the day. Almost every household's terrace and steps are planted with colorful flowers, which sparkle in the sun.
The elderly woman who had been sweeping the steps last night stopped when she saw Ye Wan come out. "It looks like the Old Oak Tavern has a new heir. You must be Ye Yu's daughter. You look almost identical. I'm Dorothy, the owner of the candy store."
Unlike last night, the friendly old woman had calmed down and came over to shake hands with her. Ye Wan awkwardly shook her hand back: "Good day, ma'am, you are right. I am Ye Yu's daughter, Ye Wan."
She asked hesitantly, "Is there a shopping street nearby? The things in the bar are all old and completely unusable."
Dorothy pointed westward. "There's a limited-time market in Cinderella Square. You can buy almost anything you want there. Walk to the red telephone booth and into the underground tunnel. There's a train there. It's just one stop away."
Ye Wan nodded: "Thank you so much, ma'am."
She walked west.
Dorothy continued sweeping the floor, a pleasant smile on her lips: "What a polite little girl."
Ye Wan walked to the entrance of the alley, where an old woman dressed in black veil was squatting and setting up a stall.
A tattered gray cloth lay on the ground, and the things on it all looked quite ominous: a brass lampstand made in the shape of a skull, a torn slipper emitting suspicious purple smoke, and a twitching frog's leg...
Ye Wan took a quick glance, then forced himself to walk over without looking around.
Unexpectedly, the old woman looked up at her and called her: "Little girl..."
She held out her hand, and in her wrinkled hand was a bright red apple.
"A red apple that keeps you young forever, only 20 gold coins." Her voice was hoarse, yet with the sweetness of some cheap candy.
Ye Wan looked up at her, then looked down at the apple, and then looked at her again:
"Auntie, do you take me for granted?"
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