Whispering Poems.

Chapter 1241 Oxenfurt Manor
"Is there such a thing? You don't have to worry, I just want to return the ring."

He talked about how he searched for the "water monkey" yesterday afternoon and found a pile of junk. Miss Lathers didn't see Shad last night, so she didn't know about it:
"Then Mr. Stone Oxenfurt, is he just an ordinary man?"

Before leaving, she confirmed that Miss Lathers nodded:
"Yes, at least I think so."

Riding horses without a license is not allowed in the urban core area near the Wilde Opera House, so Shade led the horse and left the block first, and then walked through the city to the outskirts in the north of the city.

I have adapted to snow riding, and it is quite interesting to walk alone in the snow.During the journey, Xia De had a whim, and wanted to know whether he could make the horse run faster if he used his "puppetry" to control the horse.So Xia De, who was very experimental, put his hand on the horse's head while it was galloping in the snow.

The spirit turned into a silk thread to manipulate the puppet, almost immediately making the [Puppet Art] a success.Afterwards, the horse that couldn't control its limbs suddenly stopped, and Xia De fell into the snow together with his horse and man.

Fortunately, the snow was very thick, and the horse's limbs were not injured, and this experiment told Xia De that it is best not to use thaumaturgy indiscriminately.

Although he knew from the map in advance that Oxenfurt Manor was very remote, but when he really set out to go there, Shad found that the place was too remote.

After he left the city, he first passed a small village attached to the city, and then passed a large beekeeper's field on a snow-covered country road.Then passed apple orchards that were bare in winter, and passed a wasteland.After stopping the horse to avoid two rabbits jumping out from nowhere, he crossed a short wooden bridge and entered the forest path.After leaving the forest, I saw the manor standing in the distance, but it took another 10 minutes to actually come outside the manor.

According to Ms. Lathers, this large manor is the old house of the Oxenfurt family. After the family fell a hundred years ago, it was repeatedly transferred as a deductible account. Therefore, after Shade approached , and indeed found that although it has been repaired, it still looks old here.

There is a forest outside the manor, and the manor itself is surrounded by a square white low wall. Some withered vines are clinging to the outside of the low wall, and on the low wall, you can see barbed wire and broken glass that shines in the sun.

But Xia De is not surprised by this. After all, this place is a bit remote, and these measures are necessary for safety.

Oxenfurt Manor is adjacent to the Elrond River, and the pier is not far from the manor.It was still the ice age, so there were no workers on the pier, only some stacked boxes.The whole manor looked very quiet. When Xia De got off his horse in front of the black iron fence gate of the manor, although he could see that the courtyard was tidied up fairly well, and he could even see a small flowerbed surrounded by white stones, but There was no one in the entire courtyard.

The bell that was pulled towards the door waited in peace, hesitated for a moment, and then stretched his hand into the fence:

"There is no problem with Mad Earth."

He waited for a long time, and finally an old man in a black coat walked out of the mansion in the distance. He could tell from his appearance that he was the housekeeper.

When the old man approached the fence gate, Xia De also introduced his identity, and claimed that he wanted to talk to Mr. Oxenfurt about the Rhodes card again.He didn't say anything about the ring. After all, the ring fell into the river. There must be a story behind it. Letting others know rashly may cause family conflicts.

Sure enough, Mr. Oxenfurt had already mentioned about Shad in his home, and the old butler also knew the name of "John Watson", so he opened the fence gate, led Shad's horse and led him away. Come in.

However, Mr. Stone Oxenfurt is not in the manor now, but is talking about business with people in the city, but he will definitely be back before three o'clock in the afternoon, so Shade can wait, after all, it is almost two o'clock at this time up.

Just as Shad thought, even though Oxenfurt Manor has been repaired in recent years, its appearance is very worrying.This place is completely different from the aristocratic manors he visited before. It looks dilapidated even though it is being used, and Shade has never seen it in other places.

It's not just that the courtyard is dilapidated. After entering the mansion, the floor is obviously clean, the walls are well painted, and the oil paintings and ancient armor decorations are also in line with the status of a wealthy businessman, but Xia De still feels that this place is a bit too old.

The mansion was also very deserted. When the old butler led Xia De all the way to the reception room on the second floor, they did not meet a third person, and even the sound of other servants' activities did not appear. At one time, Xia De thought that this There were only the two of them in the house.

But this idea was quickly overturned, because Mrs. Oxenfurt, the owner of the ring, Haila Oxenfurt, brought her maid to the reception room to temporarily entertain guests for her husband.

The maid pushed a trolley and prepared tea for the two of them. She was not very old, and Xia De even glanced at the maid's skirt.Because of his acquaintance with Tifa, Xia De has a deep research on the shape, color and upper body of the maid's skirt, and Mrs. Oxenfurt's maid, although the style of the maid's skirt is a bit old , but it's no big deal.It's just that the color of the skirt and the white part of the hair band is a little yellow no matter how you look at it, Xia De is not sure if it has not been washed.

As for Mrs. Haila Oxenfurt, she is a very typical family lady who looks in her 30s.She has beautiful curly long black hair and blue eyes, a high nose, and three-dimensional facial features. She wears a black veil when receiving guests, and wears a red and black high-necked floral dress at home.She is very tall, only inferior to most of the witches Xia De knew. Except for Miss Troy whom Xueshan knew, her skin was unexpectedly white. Although the face behind the veil looked a little melancholy, she still maintained the dignity of a hostess to receive Xia De. .

After the maid brought the black tea, she left the study and asked Shad to talk to Mrs. Oxenfurt.In Xia De's view, this is completely against the rules. A stranger like himself can be alone with the hostess when he comes to visit. This is the treatment only a "sneaker" can have.

Probably seeing Shad's doubts, Mrs. Oxenfurt said softly:

"Something happened a while ago. My husband dismissed his previous servants, and he hasn't had time to find a new one. There are not enough people in the house. I'm sorry."

"It's ok."

Xia De sat on the small sofa beside the coffee table, facing the window.While talking, he saw that it was snowing outside, and the weather was fine when he entered the door just now:
"This time I said I came to visit Mr. Oxenfurt, but it's not just for the Rhodes card."

He took out the ring box from his pocket. The box was prepared by himself. The girls around him said many times that jewelry should not be placed directly in the pocket:

"I found this from the belly of a fish while fishing on the ice a few days ago. This should belong to you, right?"

He opened the box and handed it to the tall woman in front of him. The latter looked slightly surprised at the ring, and took another look at Xia De before taking it:
"Yes."

[Her body temperature is a little low, but it is still within the range of normal people. 】

The voice of "her" came from next to his ear, Xia De did not have direct contact with the woman in front of him, but he was close enough when he handed out the ring just now.

"Although I don't know why it got into the fish's stomach, I've returned it to its original owner. After a while, Mr. Oxenfurt will come back. Can I mention this to him?"

Xia De asked again, and then picked up the teacup in front of him.

The pale black-haired woman held the box and shook her head slightly:

"There is no need to mention the matter. I can give you a reward, Mr. Watson."

"No no, I don't have to get paid, I'm just free. If my 'date time' with that young and beautiful 17-year-old was in the afternoon instead of the evening, I wouldn't have sent it back."

Xia De said with a smile, and then took a sip of black tea lightly.

【no problem. 】

Since he entered the manor, he has always been vigilant, and this manor is full of weirdness.But at least so far, he has not noticed traces of the elements.Of course, this does not mean that it is definitely normal here. After all, Xia De is not arrogant and thinks that his perception is completely correct.

If his perceptions were omnipotent, the problems at Six Place Saint-Terraine wouldn't pop up every few months.

He wanted to talk to the woman in front of her about her marital problems and find out why the ring fell into the river, but it seemed that Haila Oxenfurt was unwilling to speak, which prevented Shad from bringing up the topic.

So Xia De changed the subject:
"This manor is really remote. On the way I came, if it weren't for the people of Offi Village to guide me, I might not be able to find it."

"Yes, but this is the ancestral home, so we can't just move it out easily. Although it's a bit empty, and the gas and steam pipes are inconvenient, it doesn't have much impact on our lives."

The woman spoke softly again, her voice was always very soft.

Xia De nodded, because it was far away from the city, and the mansion didn't even have a gas pipeline installed.But there are steam pipes here, and large manors are equipped with steam engines and even underground steam boilers.In the corridor just now, I felt that the interior of the building was a bit dark, and it was also because the kerosene lamps hung on the walls instead of the new gas lamps:

"Does Mr. Oxenfurt like Rhodes cards very much? I am a foreigner. I just heard the story of Mr. Oxenfurt not long ago. He is really a very good local player."

"Yes, he likes the Rhodes card very much. Before he lost to you, he hadn't lost for a long time."

This topic finally made Haila Oxenfurt willing to take the initiative to say a few more words:
"Not only Rhodes cards, but also in other areas, my husband has always rarely lost. Business, relationships, betting, he always wins, and he wins very thoroughly."

(End of this chapter)