Sir Song, do you want to pledge yourself to me?

They had dinner too early, so after returning to the inn, they asked the innkeeper to cook a bowl of noodles for each of them.

"Of course, Song Huai can arrange things so well! He's really amazing!" Ji Nuan praised Song Huai's ability to do things while eating noodles.

Song Jinbai smiled and said, "I used to work at the Dali Temple, and Song Huai followed me, so he learned some skills in investigating cases and finding evidence."

Ji He nodded in agreement, "I really can't tell, he usually looks so cheerful and cheerful, but he's actually quite reliable when it comes to getting things done."

Ji Shan checked the time and found that it was already late, but Song Huai had not returned yet. He asked worriedly, "The county magistrate has finished the trial, why hasn't Song Huai returned yet? Did something happen to him?"

Song Jinbai pondered for a moment and speculated, "Song Huai must have gone to investigate the Chief Registrar. Mr. Wang dares to act lawless in this small town because he may be relying on someone to cover up for him. The Chief Registrar, as a local official, is likely his umbrella of protection."

Ji He swallowed a big mouthful of noodles and nodded, "Yeah, that makes sense! A bully like Mr. Wang must have someone backing him up."

Ji Chuan glanced at his silly brother and said, "He used to be a criminal investigator. His brain works faster than yours. How can he not make sense?"

These two people are really, even until now, they still haven't realized Song Jinbai's bad intentions, they are so heartless!

Listening to Ji Chuan's somewhat sarcastic words, Song Jinbai smiled slightly and explained, "I also heard Wang Youxin mention the chief clerk, but was interrupted by Wang Kui. That's when I guessed that it might be related to the chief clerk."

"Let's not talk about this anymore." Ji Nuan put down her chopsticks and said firmly, "You guys just wait here tomorrow. I'll go to the Man-Eating Valley alone to see if there's any black-bone grass." She had obviously made up her mind and planned to go to the Man-Eating Valley alone to look for black-bone grass.

"No! I'll go with you."

Song Jinbai rejected the proposal without question. He couldn't let Ji Nuan take the risk alone.

The three brothers of the Ji family also wanted to go, but they looked at each other and didn't say anything.

Ji Nuan glanced at Song Jinbai and said helplessly, "You saw it all. I can protect myself. What's there to worry about?"

Song Jinbai insisted, "No matter how powerful someone is, they can be careless sometimes. I'll go with you as an extra safeguard. I don't want you to take risks alone."

Seeing that he insisted, Ji Nuan had no choice but to nod in agreement, "Okay then."

Ji Chuan watched the two of them from the side. Although he felt a little uncomfortable, he couldn't say anything to stop Song Jinbai. After all, this was related to the safety of his younger sister.

Seeing that everyone had finished eating, Song Jinbai said, "Everyone, go wash up and rest after eating. There's no need to wait for Song Huai. It's not uncommon for him to come back late due to work."

Everyone got up and went upstairs to rest. Ji Nuan walked in front and said to Song Jinbai, "Don't wake me tomorrow. I want to sleep a little longer. If we go too early, the fog won't clear yet. We'll leave at the end of the morning hour."

Song Jinbai tilted his head and smiled gently: "Well, then sleep a little longer."

Ji Chuan saw him smiling at his younger sister again from behind and wanted to go up and cover his face.

~~~~~

At noon on the second day, a thin mist still hung in the Man-Eating Valley. Ji Nuan and Song Jinbai walked side by side in the valley.

After walking for a while, Song Jinbai asked in confusion, "We've been walking for a while, but we haven't seen any swamp-like areas. Why don't we ask Jixiang to help us find black-bone grass? It's much better at finding things than we are."

"Jixiang is indeed clever, but he can be a bit ferocious at times. There's a high probability that there's a swamp here. He moves so fast that we'll fall into it if we're not careful. Then, we'll not only have to look for the black-bone grass, but we'll also have to look for it urgently."

Speaking of this, Ji Nuan thought about the little thing stealing the vitality water and found it funny again.

"Indeed." Song Jinbai chuckled. "Your sleeve can even hold living things? This is truly magical."

"Of course!" Ji Nuan smiled proudly, "I also have a few rabbits. If you want to eat them, I can take them out right now."

She suddenly had a new idea. "Oh, by the way, do you think I should raise a few pigeons, like Jixiang? That way it would be convenient for delivering messages in the future."

Song Jinbai nodded. "Senior Brother raised a pair of Gaker Falcons in the northern border. Those birds can carry messages much faster than pigeons. When I get back, I'll ask him for a small one for you to raise. Raise it like Jixiang. It will be much more convenient for you to pass on messages in the future."

Ji Nuan's eyes lit up when she heard this.

"Look ahead, is that a puddle of water?" Song Jinbai asked, looking into the distance.

"Let's go and take a look." Ji Nuan pulled Song Jinbai and walked forward quickly.

Song Jinbai looked at the little hand on his wrist, feeling happy, and his lips curled up unconsciously.

The two men came to the edge of the water, where there was a muddy area with scattered clumps of thatch.

Ji Nuan stopped in front of the mud, took out a rabbit from the space and threw it in.

Song Jinbai looked at his loosened wrist, feeling a pang of regret. He had just been dazed by the feeling of Ji Nuan pulling him away, but now it had suddenly disappeared.

After being thrown into the mud, the rabbit struggled for two steps, but soon sank deeper and deeper.

Seeing this, Ji Nuan said, "It's a swamp. Ordinary people might mistake it for wet mud if they're not paying attention. Once they step in, they'll sink deeper and deeper. It looks like the legendary land god devouring people alive."

Song Jinbai looked at the swamp in front of him and asked worriedly, "Can we find black bone grass here? We can't just give up like this."

Ji Nuan pointed to the scattered thatch growing in the mud and said, "Those clumps might be black-bone grass."

Song Jinbai frowned and said, "There's no way to get close, how can you tell?"

Ji Nuan raised her eyebrows confidently and suddenly swung out a vine. The vine seemed to have a spirit, quickly extending to a clump of thatch, curling up the thatch and then retracting.

Song Jinbai didn't expect that it would be so easy to get thatch.

Ji Nuan squatted down and observed the thatch that was rolled back.

There is a thin black line in the middle of the thatch leaves, and the roots are also black in sections.

"Is this black bone grass?" Song Jinbai asked uncertainly, and tried to touch the grass with his hand, but was quickly blocked by Ji Nuan.

"Be careful! If you get scratched, it will be bad. This grass is evil." Ji Nuan reminded.

Ji Nuan grabbed another rabbit from the space.

She let the rabbit's leg scratch the leaf, then pointed at the rabbit's blood on the leaf and showed it to Song Jinbai. He saw that the rabbit's blood was slowly absorbed by the leaf and disappeared.

"This is black bone grass." Ji Nuan said with certainty, "It seems that many people have sunk into this place for these black bone grasses to grow."

Song Jinbai suggested, "Let's put up a sign here as a reminder to those who come here."

"Okay." Ji Nuan responded and took out a piece of wooden flooring from the space. This was a surplus that had been piled up in a corner of the underground garage. She had never expected it to be useful now.

She took a red marker and drew a sign on the wooden floor that imitated the sign "Beware of Falling into the Water" and wrote below it: "Swamp ahead, dangerous, stay away!" In this way, whether illiterate or literate, everyone could understand that there was danger ahead.

Ji Nuan showed Song Jinbai the wooden floor she had written. "Okay, see if it works."

Song Jinbai carefully examined the markings and text on it, nodded in approval, and said, "Hmm, easy to understand! I'll fix it to the ground."

Ji Nuan handed him a hoe, and Song Jinbai started digging the soil to firmly fix the wooden floor to the ground.

Ji Nuan used the same method to roll up a few clumps of black bone grass and put them all into the space.

After the wooden sign was fixed, the two left.