Journal of the Wandering Traveler

The carriage drove through the wet mud, leaving two parallel pits and horseshoe marks with a fixed pace.There were two girls sitting on the driver's seat, and one of them was frowning and thinking, "Ah——the hot and humid weather is so horrible..."

"Margaret, you live in the south, aren't you used to the summer here?" Another girl sitting beside her asked angrily.

She retorted: "Milan, my side is not so humid!"

"That's right, it's near the sea." The two of them were on their way to Yelucheng, and David said it would take about a day and a night.Yelucheng is a coastal city with maritime transportation as the cornerstone of its economy.But the pier was burned to ashes by bandits, and it is no longer usable.

"Ah--the hot and humid weather is so hateful..."

"Can't you say something else?"

Margaret carefully searched for different topics in her head, her eyes rolled in and out of her sockets, "Ah! By the way, where is your hometown?"

The other party replied without thinking, "In the Okra Valley in the north, it's quite far from here."

"Ah, that's right." Margaret wanted to say something to continue the topic, but when she was about to ask, a drop of rain fell from the sky onto the tip of her nose, and when she raised her head, the rain suddenly jumped into the ground embrace.Margaret, who hadn't expected it to rain, immediately stepped over the driver's seat to shelter from the rain under the roof of the car.

Milan frowned dissatisfied. It was sunny and sunny just now, but now it suddenly started to rain.This is the summer in the south; Milan, who was born in the north, is naturally not used to it, "Why does it suddenly rain..."

"It's summer now!" Contrary to just now, Margaret, who grew up in the south, seemed to be accustomed to rainy days, and said to the gloomy sky with her mouth pursed: "I hope it's just a cloud and rain."

"Looking at the weather, I'm afraid it's going to rain for a while. We can't keep the horses in the rain, let's find a place to shelter from the rain..." Only then did Milan realize that Margaret's voice was not coming from beside her, but From behind her, "Hey! It's not fair that you are the only one who doesn't need to get in the rain? Get out!"

"do not do it!"

In the end, Milan found a cave not far away that allowed the entire carriage to enter to shelter from the rain. Of course, Margaret still never came out of the horse to get in the rain.Therefore, the wetness of Margaret's clothes is really different from that of Milan's.I saw that Milan's loose shirt had stuck to her body; and her hair was dripping.

"I'll light the fire, Milan, go and change your clothes first." Looking at the drenched Milan, Margaret felt a little guilty in her heart, so she took out dry firewood and flint on the carriage, and prepared to go out in the cave. Medium fire to keep warm.

"Huh? Can you answer?" Seeing that Milan didn't respond, Margaret turned her head to look at her situation. How could she see that the other party's upper body was stripped off, "Wow! You, you, Why are you undressing?"

"Uh...you asked me to change clothes, right?" Milan didn't feel embarrassed about the body, but looked at each other with a fussy face and said: "We are all girls, I am not shy yet, you are so shy what?"

Margaret touched her braids, turned her head and replied awkwardly, "Ha... that's right."

"Aren't you going to change your clothes?"

"No, no, my skirt is very thin, just warm it with fire. Go ahead!"

Although she said so in her mouth, her eyes never left the little fire in front of her.A strange feeling came up from the bottom of her heart, and she didn't know what it was, only that that naked figure would linger in her head for the next few hours.

"Hey, Margaret? Margaret!" Seeing that Margaret didn't answer, Milan sat on the ground watching the fire in silence, so he went up and patted her on the shoulder, "Margaret! I just Let me ask you, why don't we go to Yelu City and go directly to Moon City?"

The other party was taken aback and fell backwards. Fortunately, she supported herself with her hands in time, otherwise she would have fallen to the ground in embarrassment, and was swept away by Milan. She asked, "Why did you go directly to Yuecheng?"

Milan frowned dissatisfiedly, pointed at the map in his hand and murmured: "Are you listening to me... I just said that according to Dandelion's route map, she probably left Yelu City yesterday and is now heading to Yuelu City. And starting from here to Moon City is faster than going to Yelu City first and then to Moon City, so I suggest that we don’t go to Yelu City, but go directly to Moon City.”

"Ah, um, that's it!" Margaret thought of Milan's figure just now, and a hot current rushed to her forehead. She felt something coming out of her nose, and hurriedly took out the handkerchief in her pocket, and wiped it on her face. It was blood red.

Yes, she had a nosebleed, because of her friend's nakedness, which made Margaret feel ashamed and wanted to find a hole to crawl into.

"Are you okay?"

Shaking her head guiltily, Margaret took a few steps back, "No, no, no, don't worry, it's just that the air is a bit dry! It will be fine in a while!" After saying this, she really wanted to cut her tongue Lose.

"Dry? It's raining now..." Milan glanced outside the cave, the rain was still falling, and finally she decided to ignore Margaret, who suddenly became weird, and stood up, "You should also I'm hungry, let me get the food that Mandala gave us."

Margaret hesitated for a moment before answering: "Uh, ah, yes, please!"

Just as she stopped bleeding, Milan jumped out of the carriage with two pancakes and handed one to Margaret.

Tearing a small piece of the pancake into the mouth, Milan asked, "How did you meet Dandelion?"

"Um...well, we are...cough, cough..." Margaret spoke without swallowing the pie in her mouth, which would naturally choke her.

"Do you want some water?" Milan asked worriedly.

The other party waved his hand, swallowed the pancake in pain, and continued to answer Milan's question just now, "She stayed at my house for a while before, so she told me a lot of outside stories, she is just like my sister! And She is very good at horsemanship, and she is very gentle..."

Margaret's eyes sparkled when she spoke about the dandelions.These Milan are in the eyes.

"It seems that you like dandelions very much." Milan said with a raised mouth.

"Ah..." Margaret raised her head to meet Milan's eyes, and just now her **** figure flashed in her head again, her face flushed, and she started talking nonsense in order to cover up her embarrassment: "Ah... ...Yes, I like dandelions very much, I want to be her lover!"

What has been said can no longer be taken back, and it is too late for Margaret to regret it.This sentence has already passed into the ear of the other party.

Milan changed from a slight smile to a big laugh because of the other party's expression, "Hahahaha, I wish you success!"

"No, that's not what I meant. Just now I..."

Before he finished speaking, as if Margaret was not allowed to explain, Milan glanced outside the cave and found that the rain had stopped.She stood up and put the last piece of cake into her mouth, "Hey, finish the cake quickly, we have to hurry!"

"Hmm! Wait!" Margaret quickly squeezed the pancake into her mouth, extinguished the fire in front of her with the water in the glass bottle, and immediately followed Milan's footsteps and got into the carriage.

Moon City is not in the coastal area, and there are no canals.Its only selling point is wine, which is another important place for wine production besides the town of Khodoba.The mild climate is suitable for growing grapes, and almost every household here is either working in a wine estate or running a tavern.Therefore, it is also known as the "Red Wine City" and attracts many people here every year.

"Let's find a place to stay first! I know there is a good hotel." This is not the first time Milan has come to Moon City. Moon City is a must-go place for businessmen, as early as the age when she could not drink , she has been here several times with her parents.

"Okay, it's up to you, anyway, it's my first time here."

Milan parked the carriage in front of a three-storey building. Before the carriage stopped, the gate of the building was pushed open, and a woman in an apron ran out, "Guests, you are here for sightseeing. Are you interested in staying in our hotel for a few nights? We have a discount today!"

"Well, there are two of us." She gestured with her hands, picked up a suitcase, and jumped off the carriage, "Please help me get the carriage to the manger."

Unlike Milan's chicness, Margaret hurriedly put on her backpack, checked if there was anything missing, and then got out of the carriage, "Milan, wait for me!"

They were taken to the room on the right side of the stairs on the third floor by the hotel staff. When they entered, Margaret saw a bed on the left and a desk in the middle of the two beds.The window in the room was facing the door, and in front of the desk, Margaret stepped forward and opened the curtains with a "shua", and her vision suddenly became vast.

The criss-crossing paths connect different dwellings, and the houses become sparser as you go to the periphery, replaced by a whole stretch of endless vineyards.

Milan didn't bring a lot of things like Margaret did. He put the suitcase on the bed on the right hand side and said: "Every time I come with my parents, I always come to this hotel. Let's take a walk on the street. Right? It would be good to inquire about Dandelion."

"Well, good!" Margaret knew that she didn't have enough travel experience, so she didn't think too much about it. Like a very well-behaved dog, she agreed with what others said.

"I don't understand you." When Milan locked the door with the key she got just now, she suddenly said these words: "You are shy at one time, like a child at one time, and treacherous at another time..."

well?what does that mean?Margaret stayed there for a while, and didn't know how to respond. No one had ever said that to her.

Seeing Margaret struggling to answer, Milan sighed and walked towards the stairs, "Forget it, pretend I didn't say anything, let's go downstairs."

"Miss! Two ladies from Bryan Town!" When Margaret and the others were about to open the door and leave the hotel, a familiar voice stopped them.Looking back, the owner of the voice was the red-haired woman they met in Blaine Town.

Milan didn't remember knowing her, and frowned as she recalled where she'd seen her; Margaret, on the other hand, greeted the woman with a big smile and said, "Hi! You're the lady from Blainetown!"

"My name is Flamingo, I'm a wine merchant, and I'm not married yet, so don't call me Mrs." She extended her right hand and shook hands with Margaret, "Congratulations on your safe arrival Come here! You are..."

"Ah, I'm Margaret." Smiling at the other party, Margaret pointed to Milan who was standing next to her, "This is Milan who traveled with me, Anthurium, didn't you say that there are bandits on the road Is it dangerous? How did you get out of Bryantown?"

"I took a long way around, and I just arrived yesterday! It's lunch time now, let my sister treat you to dinner!" Anthurium naturally put her arms around Milan and Margaret's waist, and brought them to go outside.

Milan was a little unaccustomed to this kind of physical contact, so as soon as he got outside, Milan broke away from Huo Hehua's hand and asked, "Then Miss Huo Hehua, where are we going now?"

In contrast, Margaret let the fire crane hug her.The aunts at her house are as enthusiastic as anthuriums, and they are already used to this kind of physical contact.

"I know there is a good tavern nearby, we can have something to eat there." Anthurium's enthusiasm will not be easily extinguished, she shrugged and said to Margaret: "As a wine merchant, I often go to Moon City , and this time I came here not only to buy goods, but also to meet my old friends, we have played together since we were young..."

Before she finished speaking, a male voice interrupted, "Huohehua, would you like to have a drink with me tonight?"

"Tsk, Danny, it's you again? Are you annoying?" She frowned dissatisfiedly, let go of Margaret's arm, straightened her waist to make herself look more imposing, "I and How many times have you said that I will not drink with you, and as a knight here, you should have more important things to do?"

Danny touched his belt buckle indifferently, and said confidently: "I will continue to work hard! I am different from my other brothers, I will not play with women, and I am wholeheartedly for you!"

"Understood, I understand." Fire Crane Flower replied perfunctorily.

"Ah, the brother over there called me, I'm sorry." He gave a knightly salute and walked away.

With a smirk, Margaret leaned forward and said to Fire Crane Flower, "He likes you very much, why don't you give it a try?"

The latter stared at the direction Danny left in disdain, and she snorted softly, "The knights in Moon City are all scum, even if he is the only good guy among them, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with him."

Milan, who had been silent all this time, said: "I heard that they took a lot of bribes and secretly let people buy and sell banned drugs here. But it's not murder and arson..."

"No, some riders have done a lot of indecent and immoral things, even women, little girls, men... Yuecheng is not as safe as you think." Seeing Milan and the others, their faces became serious, she She kept her mouth shut, put on her warm smile again, and said, "Well, stop talking, let's go eat something!"

Anthurium hooked Margarita's arm and walked forward, while Milan followed closely behind.

They turned left and right and finally arrived at the tavern. The tavern was not big. Although there were windows, the sunlight was blocked by the drawn curtains. The dim light made people drowsy.Since it was lunch time, it was packed with customers.

After ordering the meal proficiently, Anthurium asked: "We haven't seen each other for two days, and you've become acquainted? You didn't know each other well when we first met. What made you travel together?"

It wasn't long ago that Milan couldn't understand Margaret, and now some people say that they look like they have known each other for a long time, which is really ironic.

"We are here to find someone." Margaret took out Dandelion's diary from her pocket, "just to return this diary to its owner."

After Huo Hehua glanced at the diary, she showed a surprised expression, "I remember this diary! So you also know Dandelion?"

"Huh?! Do you know Dandelion?"

Huo Hehua nodded, "She and I grew up together, so I asked her to meet here the day after tomorrow."

Margaret was very excited when she heard the news. Although she knew that she would find Dandelion in Moon City, they didn't expect to hear about her so soon.

"That would be great, you can just pass the diary to me and hand it over to her! Ah, no, let's get together, I want to hear the story of your acquaintance." The more Huo Hehua spoke, the more excited she was, the faster she spoke. And the tone of voice also became faster and faster, "This is fate, right? I thought you were killed or robbed before, but I didn't expect you to stand in front of me alive and say you knew Little Dandelion!"

Anthurium held the beer bottle and stood up, "Come! Respect fate!"

"Respect fate!"

Milan and Margaret didn't want to spoil the fun of others, so they also toasted with the anthurium.It was the first time for them to start drinking in broad daylight; I don't know if it was because of the atmosphere, but each of them drank three bottles.Seeing Margaret's flushed face, Milan suddenly began to rejoice that he usually drank with his brothers.

"Ah... Milan..." Margaret said, lying on the wooden table with a flushed face.

"what?"

With a smile, Margaret stepped forward and pinched her face, "No, I just asked to see."

"Alas..." Milan supported his forehead, and let Maritella pinch her face helplessly.She knew that it would be useless to be serious with the drunk, so she snatched the wine bottle from her other hand, "Stop drinking."

Then she politely apologized to Huo Hehua: "I'm sorry, I didn't know this guy was so easy to get drunk. I'll take her back to the hotel first, lest she be rude in public. Excuse me."

"Ah, it's all right! I've finished eating too, let me help take her back, I told her to drink." As the instigator, Fire Crane Flower boldly left a silver coin and stood up.

"Thank you for inviting us to dinner." After nodding politely, Milan helped Margaret up and asked, "Will you go by yourself?"

"Of course! Do you think I'm drunk?" She shook off the opponent's hand, walked a few steps and fell back on Milan. She struggled to stand up, but unfortunately her hands and feet couldn't control her.

Anthurium resisted the urge to laugh, squatted down and pulled Margaret up, "Come on, let's go back together!"

Without being suppressed by Margaret, Milan stood up easily and said to her, "Thank you."

"No, no, it's just a trivial matter." After Anthology's answer, she looked to the right and found that Margaret had disappeared without a trace. "Huh? Where did Margaret go?"

Noticing the door that had just been closed, Milan immediately walked over there, "She went outside!"

"Ahhhhhh──"

When Milan and Anthurium chased outside, they heard a scream. Looking at the source, it was Margaret screaming.As they approached her, they saw an image they would never forget—in a dark alley behind the tavern, lying a mangled corpse.

There was not a lot of blood next to the corpse, so it is certain that the corpse was moved here after being killed.

Huo Hehua looked at the corpse and ran back with a pale face, stumbling to find someone to help.

"Milan, is that a dandelion? She is as tall as this... corpse."

"No matter how you look at it, this is a male corpse. Although she is tall, she is not as strong as him." She glanced at the corpse again and shook her head.

Suddenly, her expression changed, "Wait...it's a bit strange, his death wasn't..."

"Get out of the way! Don't look any further!" Several knights ran over and pulled Milan and Danny away. Danny was among them.The knights covered the corpse with a white cloth solemnly, and Milan heard them whispering that the identity of the corpse was that of a knight named Peter.

Danny's face is no longer the same as the first meeting. He frowned and said to Anthurium: "I will ask you a few questions first, and then I will send you back to the hotel."

When the group of them returned to the hotel, it was already evening, and Margaret was already sober.

"I drank too much just now. I'm really sorry to bother you." Margaret put on a sorry expression, playing with her braids, and said to Milan and Fire Crane.

"Oh, it's okay, I'm worried that you will have shadows after seeing the corpse. But it's great to see you all right now." Fire Crane Flower said while sitting on the desk in Milan's room.

Seeing the death of a stranger had little effect on Milan and Marguerite, who lamented the knight's untimely death, but that was all.

Instead, Milan held his breath and frowned unhappily: "Just now I told that knight Danny that the corpse was weird, and he said I was wrong! His attitude really pissed me off!"

"What's weird?" Margaret asked while lying on the bed, rubbing her temples to relieve her headache.

"Hanging, have you seen it? There is a gallows in the square over my house, and sometimes people are hanged there. When they die, their faces are swollen, and their ears and nostrils bleed..."

Margaret jumped up as if forgetting to have a headache, "Ah! I remember! The same thing happened after that man died! So he was hanged before he was beheaded?"

"I guess so, although it's none of our business...but it really pissed me off, that knight's attitude!" Milan paced back and forth in the room impetuously, she was very sure of her deduction, but this deduction was not true. She was very angry at being accepted, "By the way, Margaret, isn't your head hurting?"

"Ah, it hurts again! Milan, don't remind me!" Margaret instantly became weak and lay back on the bed.

Fire Crane Flower stood up, "I won't disturb your rest, I'll go back to my room first, don't go out tonight, shall we have dinner here?"

Miss, when did you become our companion?But thinking that the familiar guy in front of him is Dandelion's friend, Milan restrained his impulse and said, "Okay, see you later."

"See you later!"

"We've been waiting for an hour. How slow is Miss Firecracker... I'm so hungry!" Margaret lay listlessly on the dining table.

Milan patted her on the head and motioned her to sit up straight, "Don't rub your face against the table. However, Anthurium is so slow, let's go find her in her room."

Hearing these words, Margaret immediately cheered up, "Okay! Her room is on the first floor?"

"No, she said it was the third room on the right hand side on the third floor."

When they were about to leave, a woman stepped forward and grabbed Milan's hand, talking to her: "I saw those knights talking to you, do you know them very well?"

The woman's face was very pale, and she spoke in a dark voice, and she was very small, with long black hair covering her face; which made Marguerite wonder how she could see ahead.

Milan's eyelids twitched, and she felt that she couldn't have a relationship with the woman in front of her, so she hurriedly shook off the woman's hand and replied, "We are just tourists, we just came here, and we are not familiar with those knights."

After finishing speaking, she took Margaret's hand, left the woman and left, and she didn't let go of Margaret's hand until the stairs.

"That woman is weird." Margaret looked behind and found that the woman was still staring at them.

Glancing at the woman uneasily, Milan raised his foot, "Let's go up quickly."

It was very difficult for Margaret to walk from the ground to the third floor on an empty stomach. She leaned against the wall and panted, "Haha...ha...you mean...ha...the room of the anthurium?"

"Well, let me knock on the door."

"Slightly ─ ─ slightly ─ ─" No response.

Milan knocked on the door again, "Miss Huohehua, are you in?"

She pressed her ear to the door in disbelief, and eavesdropped on what was going on in the room; unfortunately, she heard nothing but silence.

"The lady in this room has gone out an hour ago and hasn't come back yet." Suddenly, a voice came from the stairs facing their backs, and when they turned their heads, they saw a woman holding a large stack of beds, She was the same woman who had come to meet them in the first place.

Margaret and Milan looked at each other, and they both felt that something was wrong.She obviously offered to have dinner with her, so how could she miss the appointment without reason?

"Can you come and let us know when she's back?" Milan asked.

"Ok."

They didn't hear from Fire Crane Flower that night, and they didn't know where she went.