Substitution

Chen Miemie almost thought she had misheard and had to confirm twice.

"Granny Qiu, that lady possesses the mysterious prototype of 'creating honey.' Are you sure she can't cook at all?"

"Of course. My family runs a restaurant not far from here. She used to order from me all the time—I'd know. As for that 'creating honey' nonsense, I have no idea what her mysterious prototype is, but it's definitely not that."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because the honey she 'created' was bought at my shop."

Watching Granny Qiu walk away, Chen Miemie thought to herself, This is going to be tough.

"Unfortunately, Granny Qiu doesn't know where Lady Yi has moved to now."

She needed to reevaluate and sift through the clues. The information she got from Yi Zhu and Yi Xian might not be reliable. Not that they would lie to her, but when they were very young, adults had sometimes "tricked" them.

She walked to a dark corner.

"Origami, I want to go inside."

Origami opened a wormhole passage.

Since she was already here, she might as well go inside and take a look.

The house had a thin layer of dust, clearly unoccupied for some time. There wasn't much furniture left, making it look sparse—maybe most things had been taken when they moved.

Chen Miemie was hardly cut out to be a detective. Expecting an amateur to search an entire house was overestimating her.

Luckily, she had helpers.

"Everyone get to work. See if you can find any useful clues. Bobo handles the kitchen, Loop covers the first-floor hall, Qinghua takes the second-floor bedrooms, Origami and Daidai handle the third floor, Red deals with the ceiling, Pure Water checks the plumbing..."

After giving out the orders, Chen Miemie found a chair at the dining table and sat down.

The oddities were more professional than she was. Let the pros handle the pro stuff. If she went in, she'd only mess things up and disturb the scene.

The search didn't go smoothly at first. Apart from some personal belongings in Yi Xian and Yi Zhu's rooms, the other rooms were nearly empty.

But before long, the oddities suddenly found their groove and made discoveries.

"Miemie, I found a small notebook in the master bedroom on the second floor," Qinghua said as she came downstairs.

"I found a special glass jar deep in the cupboard," Bobo called out.

"I found a tiny wooden stick on a curtain rod," Red said, appearing silently from the ceiling staircase.

Chen Miemie was satisfied with the haul. "Pack it all up. We'll take it back and study it slowly."

Soon, they returned to the shop at 19 Fairytale Road.

It was mealtime.

Bobo jumped in front of Chen Miemie. "I've developed a new flavor. We're having chicken tonight!"

"Oh? What flavor?"

"Haha, I discovered a fruit called 'durian.' Stuff it into the chicken breast and roast it—it'll be delicious."

And so Bobo enthusiastically promoted her new creation.

When everyone crowded around the table, Bobo released the unique aroma of the new flavor.

Instantly, a pungent durian smell spread through the entire hall.

"What is that smell?" Daidai was the first to complain.

Red silently drifted away.

Lost Turtle shrank into its shell.

Only Loop seemed to think it was okay.

Chen Miemie wasn't a picky eater—she ate everything, sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, no problem. Durian was within her scope.

In the end, only Chen Miemie and Loop feasted at the table; everyone else kept their distance.

Halfway through eating, Chen Miemie remembered the new partner.

"Water Gaze, would you like some?"

"Thank you, but no. I don't need to eat."

After finishing the roast chicken, it was 6 PM.

Tonight was the frost moon.

The temperature dropped sharply.

The first thing after dinner was to complete the contract with Water Gaze, officially welcoming it into the new race family.

Then, everyone began studying the spoils brought back from 50 Nuan Yu Road.

The first item: a notebook.

"This notebook is blank. There's no content inside."

Qinghua, who found it, pointed out the anomaly: "This notebook was wedged in the crack of the bed in the master bedroom. I think it was accidentally dropped by whoever slept there. One page has been torn out."

Chen Miemie found the torn spot. "Qinghua, your eyes are really sharp. You noticed a single torn page in the middle. You'd have to point it out to me, and even then I'd take forever to find it."

Qinghua smiled. "If it were just paper, I wouldn't have noticed either. But when I tried to porcelainize it, I found a gap between two porcelain pages."

Chen Miemie's antenna of hair stood on end. "You're something else."

Loop grabbed a pencil and gently rubbed it over the page directly after the torn one.

Soon, the writing from the torn page was transferred onto the paper. Due to limited transfer quality, they could only read it in fragments, piecing it together by guesswork:

Dazhuang was again throwing a tantrum for sweets, but unfortunately [] wouldn't allow it. I'm so clever to design this dish. [] spare ribs, with ingredients like preserved plums, lychee, [], no extra sugar added. Finally succeeded. Now leave it to [], perfect!

The [] represented unclear gaps.

Chen Miemie exclaimed, "This is Yi Zhu's mother's braised spare ribs recipe! With this recipe, we might be able to recreate that dish Qinghua picked up his words: "If he tasted the flavor from the past, maybe it could trigger Yi Zhu's memories of sweetness."

"Great, let's move on."

The second item: the glass jar.

It was a transparent, ordinary glass container.

Everyone gathered around and stared at it for a while, puzzled.

Chen Miemie looked at Bobo: "What's special about this jar?"

"Bobo here has been studying all kinds of flavors for a long time. Even though this jar has been washed clean, I can still smell the lingering sweetness inside. This jar was used to store honey for a long time!"

"You mean this was Yi Zhu's mother's jar for 'creating' honey?"

"Yes, no doubt about it."

"Good, Bobo, you're amazing too."

Next, the third item: the small wooden stick.

It wasn't a mysterious item or magical tool—just an ordinary wooden stick.

Without anyone asking, Red, who had found it, explained the anomaly.

"The little black spots on this wooden stick are bloodstains. A bloodied stick hidden high on a curtain rod—that's obviously not normal."

Chen Miemie picked up the stick. "Can you tell what kind of creature this blood came from?"

"Human blood," confirmed Pure Water.

No guests came that evening.

The next morning, as soon as Chen Miemie stepped onto the street of Fairytale Road, Old Man Yu from next door came running out of his shop.

"Chen Miemie, trouble's coming. The Scholar Academy's notice has been posted. Sixty percent of people have agreed. The demolition of our street is a done deal."

Chen Miemie raised an eyebrow slightly.

"They're still going ahead with it? Is the project lead still that 'Cicada' scholar?"

"No, apparently Cicada called in sick. The temporary replacement is the Seal Library's City Special Advisor."

"What the heck? City Special Advisor—since when did we have that position?"

"It's always been around."

"It's not just some patsy puppet they brought in to take the fall, is it?"

Old Man Yu shook his head. "We run the Sealed Library, governed by six principal scholars who manage the entire city. But the city's special advisor holds veto power over every decision."

Chen Miemie nearly jumped up. "There's someone that impressive around? What's the advisor called?"

"Lord Chenpi."