The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#776 - Another guessing riddle

"Although Supervisor Qu's cultivation is only at the Second Palace realm, he is quite knowledgeable in the art of alchemy. Among the alchemists in the bureau who can refine sky-repairing pills, he is the youngest. Moreover, his medical skills are also good. If someone in the team gets injured, Supervisor Qu can provide timely treatment…"

Supervisor Huang trailed off, finally unable to continue, because Lu Jing kept rolling his eyes beside him.

"Do you have any objections to Supervisor Qu?"

"No, I have no objections to Supervisor Qu himself, but I have a big objection to him replacing me. I think I am clearly the more suitable person to enter the secret realm between the two of us."

"You're right," Supervisor Huang admitted, "But the list has already been set. Supervisor Qu will go to the secret realm with everyone. This is Supervisor Guo's decision."

Hearing this, Lu Jing turned around and walked out of the courtyard without saying a word.

Supervisor Huang was helpless, "Where are you going? You are already a formal supervisor, not a student still studying at the academy. Can you abide by the rules of the Department of Celestial Observation?"

"I'm going to find Supervisor Guo," Lu Jing said, "And I'm not disobeying the rules of the department. As a supervisor of the Department of Celestial Observation, when I see a superior making a wrong judgment, I should of course remind them. This is the duty of a subordinate."

After saying that, Lu Jing ran off before Supervisor Huang could speak again.

However, when he ran to the Star Observation Tower, he was told that Guo Shouhuai was not there.

"Where did Supervisor Guo go? When will he be back?" Lu Jing asked the man in blue in front of him.

The latter shook his head, "I don't know. Supervisor Guo has been going out very frequently recently. Besides dealing with Mr. Ji, there are also those strange objects that sneaked into the capital city before. He is actually not here most of the time. The various affairs of the Department of Celestial Observation are also being handled by several Vice Directors."

Lu Jing was unwilling to give up, "Then where does he live? I'll go to his residence to see."

"Supervisor Guo doesn't own any land in the capital. He usually either sleeps in the Star Observation Tower or goes to the riverside to seek pleasure," the man in blue said respectfully.

"Then if there's something urgent, there should be a way to contact him, right?" Lu Jing frowned.

"Do you have something urgent?"

"Of course, it's extremely urgent."

"Then you can leave a letter for us, and we will send it to the place designated by Supervisor Guo. He will reply to you when he sees it."

"No need for so much trouble. I see you're all quite busy. Why don't you just tell me the place, and I'll deliver it myself."

After successfully extracting the address from the man in blue, Lu Jing didn't delay and went straight there.

The place the man in blue mentioned was outside the city, a small village.

The village was nothing special, just an ordinary village commonly seen around the capital, with a wealthy household and thirty or so families.

Although times are bad now, since it's close to the capital, everyone can still make a living.

Lu Jing randomly found someone at the entrance of the village to ask, and found the only household in the village that grew camellias.

Then he poked his head out and saw a boy playing with mud behind the fence. He beckoned him over, took out ten copper coins from his pocket, "Let's play a game. I'll ask and you answer. If you answer everything correctly, I'll give you all this money."

Lu Jing was originally worried that the boy was too young and might not understand the value of copper coins.

However, children from poor families mature early. The boy, who was only about six or seven years old, immediately put down the mud in his hand, wiped his nose, and ran over, staring eagerly at the copper coins in Lu Jing's hand.

"Have you seen a person, um, he looks a bit scruffy, but his eyes are very special, as if he can see through all your thoughts. Oh, right, he's missing an arm recently."

The boy nodded.

Lu Jing couldn't help but rejoice, "Has he been to your house?"

The boy nodded again.

"When was the last time?"

"Just yesterday, he even brought me my favorite ghee snail puffs."

"Really? When did he leave? Did he say where he was going?"

This time the boy only shook his head, then looked at the ten copper coins in Lu Jing's hand.

"Hey, you haven't said anything yet, and you're already thinking about my money?" As soon as Lu Jing finished speaking, he saw mist rising in the boy's eyes.

"Heh, crying won't do any good. You have to answer properly to get money, understand?"

Lu Jing pulled the hand holding the money back.

As a result, the boy turned around and ran away, then hugged a village woman who had just come out of the house and burst into tears.

Seeing this, Lu Jing reluctantly put down the copper coins in his hand, preparing to flee the scene.

But at this time, the village woman suddenly said, "Officer, please wait, there's something here for you."

"Huh?" Lu Jing stopped.

"It's what Lord Guo left for you," the village woman added.

"Do you know who I am?" Lu Jing asked in surprise.

"I don't know," the village woman said, "But Lord Guo said you would come to find him. He instructed me to give you that thing when he left."

"Then why didn't he give it to me directly?" Lu Jing muttered, "Ah… I see, it's this kind of divine calculation again. He deliberately didn't let me go to the secret realm, and then knew I would definitely come to find him, and then left something behind, showing that everything is under control. The old tricks of the charlatans."

The village woman had already returned to the house and taken out a bamboo tube.

Lu Jing took the bamboo tube, opened it, and found a map inside, no, a star chart, with dense small dots all over it, all stars.

As one of only three people in the entire academy who chose the course of Celestial Observation and Deduction, Lu Jing had unfortunately not attended many classes.

He held the star chart and looked at it upside down for a long time, but couldn't make anything out of it.

So he asked the village woman again, "Did Lord Guo leave any other words?"

"No, he came and left in a hurry this time," the village woman shook her head, "He just gave me this bamboo tube and told me to give it to the person who came to find him. After that, he left without even entering the house."

"I knew it, another riddle to solve," Lu Jing said with a headache.

He put away the star chart, then asked curiously, "May I be so bold as to ask, what is your relationship with Lord Guo?"

The village woman hesitated for a moment and then nodded, "My sister once had a relationship with Lord Guo."

"Does Supervisor Guo have someone he's devoted to? I've never heard him mention it. Where is your sister now?"

"She's already dead."

Lu Jing raised his eyebrows.

The village woman added, "It's not what you think. That was five years after they separated. In short, they couldn't be together for some reason in the end, but Lord Guo had a good relationship with my parents. After my sister died, he saw that we were having a hard time and found us work so we could earn some money to supplement our household."

"Helping him receive letters is one of them, but he hasn't been here much in the past six months."

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