Bab 19: Mass of Black

The mute old beggar gazed at Gao Lan Mei questioningly, but she just nodded at him to show her small act of encouragement.

The old mute beggar felt that since he was already old, and if it was destined by fate that he would be sent to the Justice affairs, he would just accept it. He followed what was instructed by Gao Lan Mei after releasing a heavy sigh.

Regardless of where he went that day, it would not change the fact that it wouldn't take long for him to kick the bucket. Might as well live honorably.

Xi Ma who had also heard Gao Lan Mei. "I will give you an incense of time. If there are no walnuts with poison, we will end the agreement." They did not have all day. Prince Wei Jiayi was still on the third floor waiting for him.

"That's enough time." Gao Lan Mei responded without any expression, which made Xi Ma a little irritated.

"Then ask him to start soon. What is he still waiting for?" Xi Ma asked through clenched teeth but did not receive a response.

Gao Chu was very nervous. She already chanted multiple Buddhist scriptures for protection and good luck which went on forever.

"Amitabha… Buddha, please help us… Please protect us…" Gao Chu chanted continuously with her eyes closed.

She was hoping that there would be no incident like the last time where the young miss had gotten into an accident.

The memory of that unfortunate event was still fresh and she did not want to experience it ever again!

While everyone was waiting Xi Ma asked, "What's going on?"

Xi Ma was expecting the old mute beggar to pick one walnut at a time to find whether it was poisonous or not.

When Gao Lan Mei asked the beggar to stay away from the scattered walnuts, he's already confused.

While waiting for the beggar's next action, crow after crow approached the scattered walnuts and started eating them!

"Look! What is that?!" Someone exclaimed from the crowd. Everyone looked at where the man was pointing in the sky.

To everyone's surprise, above Mount Hua, a mass of black is forming. It was getting bigger and bigger and it seemed to be gradually moving closer.

"Heavens! What is that thing?" Another from the crowd shouted.

The large mass of black moved in a certain direction fast and it also seemed like it was heading in the direction of the Medical Pavilion!

....

On the third floor of the Medical Pavilion…

Prince Wei Jiayi was still trying to feed his pet crow as he ignored the noisy event on the ground floor.

This crow was initially injured but was nursed back to health before it became his current pet. Since 'Meme' is especially docile and well behaved, he mostly brought his pet along.

When he was preparing another batch of herbs for his crow Meme to eat, the crow started making noise and act strangely.

Caw!

It was trying to scratch and bite its cage; it seemed that it had the intention to escape.

Wei Jiayi frowned watching Meme's strange behaviour but did not do anything aside from observing it further.

The longer he observed, the more hostile the crow became. It was ruthlessly attacking the cage from inside trying to force its way out.

Caw!

The sound was starting to irritate Wei Jiayi. With a snap of his fingers, the cage opened so he could see if the crow had any unseen injury. However, as soon as did so, the crow immediately flew out from the cage.

His pet went out the large window but Wei Jiayi did not mind and followed by jumping out of the window to chase…