“This is my wife, and my son and daughter. Master Bao, Physician Long, young masters and ladies — please, make yourselves at home.”

After introducing his family, the Old Patriarch waved a hand.

“Let’s begin! Food is the foundation of the people. These past few days have been hard on all of you.”

The meal began, and no one spoke.

Having gone hungry for several days, Feng Jiu’er did not hold back either.

Everyone ate their fill, and even their complexions improved noticeably.

The maidservants cleared the tables and brought fresh wine.

Qiao Mu and Feng Yinan took Yue Qinchun into the room.

The maidservants left; Yang Sheng, having eaten his fill, stood guard outside the door.

Jian Yi remained in his seat, occasionally sipping his tea.

Feng Jiang and Feng Jiu’er, along with the entire Zhang family, all remained seated.

“Old Patriarch, what exactly is the situation? Everyone we’ve brought can be trusted — speak freely.” Feng Jiu’er set down her cup and waved a hand.

The Old Patriarch nodded and sighed softly.

“In our third breeding zone, we originally had eight thousand scorpions, ten thousand venomous snakes, and a number of toads.”

The Old Patriarch glanced around, then lowered his voice.

“To be honest, counting the batch that died the day before yesterday, half the scorpions are already dead, and over two thousand snakes as well.”

“In short, they’re either dead or missing — we can’t even find the corpses.”

“Right now we have roughly four thousand scorpions left, and fewer than eight thousand venomous snakes.”

“Before you all arrived, the Master surely told you the situation wasn’t too serious, because, well, the worst of it happened the night before last…”

“Ah, the majority of them vanished the night before last.”

Feng Jiu’er looked at the man speaking and furrowed her brow.

“Does the Old Patriarch mean the poisonous creatures didn’t die of illness, but went missing instead?”

“Some died of illness, some went missing, and there were also some remains and bloodstains — perhaps they were eaten.” The Old Patriarch shook his head.

“Worried it might spread to the other creatures, we brought back any that had died of illness or been bitten.”

“At first it was mostly deaths from illness — poisoning deaths, it seemed, the colors all changed.”

“But our physicians couldn’t determine exactly what poison they’d been exposed to, or how they’d been poisoned.”

“In any case, we’re still completely without a clue, and if this keeps up, ten heads wouldn’t be enough for me to answer for it!”

The lady beside the Old Patriarch gently patted the back of his hand, looking at Feng Jiu’er and Feng Jiang.

“Master Bao, Physician Long, you must help us!”

“Of the three breeding grounds, only the toad farm has had no trouble so far.”

“Our grounds were never that large to begin with, and we don’t dare move things rashly. If the situation weren’t beyond our control, we wouldn’t have troubled Master Lei either.”

Zhang Zhicheng kept gripping his cup, glancing now and then at the people across from him.

The young girl had set a plate of fruit in front of herself and kept popping pieces into her mouth, as though none of this had anything to do with her.

“If the creatures truly died of illness, this matter mainly falls to Physician Long — I don’t understand poisons.” Feng Jiang poured himself another cup of tea.

“Yes, I know.” The Old Patriarch nodded, his gaze settling on Feng Jiu’er.

“I wonder if Physician Long has any good suggestions?”

“When poisonous creatures suddenly die en masse, finding the cause is certainly important, but there’s one thing I find very strange,” Feng Jiu’er said, her crescent brows knitting.

“Does the Old Patriarch mean that at the scene, there were not only whole corpses, but also incomplete, mutilated ones? And that for many of the creatures, not even the corpses could be found?”

“That’s right.” The Old Patriarch nodded.

“By our count, of four thousand scorpions, we found… we found roughly a thousand corpses, and nearly all of them were mutilated — whether it even adds up to a thousand, we’re not sure.”

“As for the snakes, two thousand are missing, and fewer than two hundred corpses were found — if not missing a head, then missing a tail. So pitiful.”

“We suspect some kind of monster got in and devoured the poisonous creatures — I even suspect it might be some highly venomous creature that can fly.”

“A highly venomous creature that can fly?” Feng Jiu’er’s brow furrowed even deeper.

“Indeed! But that’s only our guess — we have no proof.” The Old Patriarch sighed softly.

“At first it was only a few dozen, then a hundred or so dying off, with mutilated, oddly colored corpses — we didn’t think too much of it.”

“So we reported it to the Master as the creatures falling ill.”

“But the night before last, suddenly so many died — no, I should say so many went missing — and our assumptions changed.”

The Old Patriarch sighed again.

“If it were simply the creatures poisoning each other, killing one another, even devouring each other, the numbers couldn’t have dropped by this much.”

“There’s been nothing unusual around our breeding grounds either, so the only possibility left is that something flew in, ate the creatures, and flew back out.”

Feng Jiu’er pressed her lips together and said, “Where are the corpses? Would it be convenient to take a look now?”

“Convenient, of course it’s convenient.” The Old Patriarch nodded vigorously and stood up.

He glanced at Feng Jiang once more, then said quietly, “Though, it’s getting late — perhaps it would be better to look tomorrow?”

“Master Bao and Physician Long have traveled so far and must be tired, no?”

“Just have some brought here,” Feng Jiang said, setting down his cup. “Everything else can wait until tomorrow.”

“Very well.” The Old Patriarch nodded in response.

In the end, the Old Patriarch had two crates sent over, then the family of four, along with a maidservant Feng Jiu’er had said wasn’t needed, took their leave.

“My lord, they’ve really left — no one stayed behind,” Yang Sheng said, returning from outside.

“Good, go get some rest.” Feng Jiang waved a hand. “Tonight, Feng Yinan will keep watch.”

“Yes, my lord.” Yang Sheng nodded and turned toward the stairs on the other side.

Jian Yi opened the crates, and at once a foul odor wafted through the room.

When Qiao Mu came out from inside, she waved a hand in front of her nose and went over to open both windows.

Feng Jiu’er opened a cloth bag and took out a small basin and a pair of tweezers she had made herself.

She used the tweezers to pull a tailless scorpion out of the crate and set it in the basin.

Qiao Mu glanced into the other crate and covered her nose. “This thing — it reeks.”

“Where are the masks? Bring a few out,” Feng Jiu’er said softly.

“All right.” Qiao Mu shook her head, turned, and disappeared back into the front hall.

She soon returned with several masks, handing one each to Feng Jiu’er, Jian Yi, and Feng Jiang, keeping one for herself.

These masks were Feng Jiu’er’s own handiwork — everyone was already used to them.

With the masks on, things felt much better.

Feng Jiu’er picked up the tailless scorpion and examined it for a good while, then set it down and pulled out another.

Feng Jiang reached out to grab a snake, only to have Qiao Mu smack the back of his hand.

When he turned, Qiao Mu was holding something that looked like a glove.

This, too, was one of Feng Jiu’er’s creations.

For people in their line of work — medicine and poison-making — such necessities were indispensable.

Qiao Mu stared at Feng Jiang’s large palm and raised an eyebrow.

Feng Jiang looked at his own palm, then at the glove-like object, and held out his hand.

“Don’t move!”

Qiao Mu looked somewhat put off, but she still put it on for him with her own hands.