Acai's Sky

Chapter 1034: Mingyuepei: Matryoshka Doll Scam 3

As dusk fell, everyone finally stood in front of the mottled gate of Lanruoxuan.

The bronze door of this century-old house has long been rusted, but the eyes of the Taotie pattern on the door knocker are flashing with a strange light, as if watching the visitors.

\"This door...why does it feel like it's staring at us?"\" Tong Shishan shrank her neck and hid behind Ah Er.

Ah Cai reached out and poked the Taotie pattern on the door knocker: "Is anyone there?"

\"Squeak—\"

The bronze door opened slowly by itself, making a teeth-grinding friction sound.

The hall was filled with dust, except for a plate of mooncakes that looked strangely fresh, shiny and smooth, as if they had just come out of the oven, placed on the eight-immortals table in the center.

Jin Yuanbao made a squeak and was about to scurry over, but Ah Cai grabbed him by the tail and said, "Have you forgotten how you stole poisonous mushrooms and vomited all over Xuantian last time?"

The little golden mouse squeaked twice in grievance and reluctantly shrank back into her collar.

\"Snapped!\"

The sudden noise scared the dog so much that all its white hair stood up.

In the corridor on the second floor, a pale lantern floated silently, casting swaying light and shadows on the dusty floor.

Brahma suddenly poked his head out from Ah Cai's sleeve and said, "That's not my fire."

Everyone froze in place. The lantern slowly turned, its light illuminating the face of a woman bleeding from all seven orifices, her pale skin covered in purple veins.

\"Give me back... the Mingyue pendant...\" The ghost girl's voice seemed to come from far away, with a strange echo.

A Cai narrowed her eyes, suddenly rushed forward, and pulled off the ghost girl's wig.

"Ouch!" A delicately made-up face appeared under the wig. Jia Zhenzhu frantically straightened the crooked headdress. "How did you tell that?"

"First," Ah Cai counted on her fingers, "the will-o'-the-wisp fire is the same blue flame as the Brahma fire, but the temperature is wrong; second, the hem of your skirt is stained with Zuixianlou sauce; third..." She pointed at the servant hiding behind the pillar, "your 'ghost servant' forgot to turn invisible."

Jia Zhenzhu coughed twice awkwardly, and the wig slipped off again.

In this awkward silence, Feiyue jumped out happily and snatched the jade pendant from her hand.

\"My Mingyuepei!\" Jia Zhenzhu screamed.

The Tengu ran around the room with the jade pendant in its mouth, and the golden raccoon dog chased it, knocking over a row of antique vases.

The glutinous rice ball was blocking the door, and Feiyue couldn't brake in time. She bumped into its soft belly with a "bang", and the jade pendant fell to the ground with a "clang".

Ah Cai picked up the jade pendant and looked at it in the moonlight: "This is a fake."

She rubbed the jade pendant lightly with her fingers, and the gold powder on its surface fell off. "It's made of copper and gilded. The workmanship is quite good."

Jia Zhenzhu's eyes suddenly turned red: "I...I can't help it..."

It turns out that three months ago, the Jia family's ancestral Mingyue Pendant was stolen by the "Shadow Thief" Ye Wuhen.

In order to hide it from her seriously ill father, she had to play tricks and lied that the old house was haunted and that the jade pendant was missing.

"My brother said he hired the best thief in the world to help," Jia Zhenzhu said, wiping away tears. "But that bastard stole my dowry!"

Ah Er suddenly interrupted: "Wait, you mean Ye Wuhen? The guy who always likes to wear moon-white robes and calls himself the 'Thief Master'?"

"It's him!" Jia Zhenzhu gritted her teeth. "He even left a note saying, 'It's better to give it to me than to let this pearl get covered in dust!'"

Tuan Tuan suddenly meowed and pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper from Jia Zhenzhu's sleeve. Unfolding it, he saw the following words written on it:

[Miss Pearl: I would like to borrow the Mingyue Pendant for a look. I will be waiting for you on the top floor of Lanruoxuan at midnight three days later.

——Night Without a Trace】

"Tonight is the third day!" Tong Shishan exclaimed.

At this moment, there was a sudden "creak" sound from the top floor, as if a window was opening.

Everyone looked up and saw a moon-white figure standing on the eaves, with something in its hand shining warmly in the moonlight.

\"Mingyuepei!\" Jia Zhenzhu screamed.

Ye Wuhen bowed gracefully and said in a clear voice: "Thank you all for showing me the way. I will... "

Before he could finish his words, Feiyue suddenly jumped onto the roof and bit the corner of his robe.

Ye Wuhen's body swayed and he almost fell down. He quickly did a somersault to steady himself.

Unexpectedly, the golden raccoon had already been lying in ambush on the side and slapped his wrist with one claw.

\"Snapped!\"

The jade pendant flew high, drawing a graceful arc in the moonlight.

Ah Cai leaped up, Piccolo attacked——

\"when!\"

Piccolo hit the jade pendant accurately, sending it flying towards Er.

Ah Er opened his folding fan and steadily caught the flying jade pendant.

\"Give it back to me!" Ye Wuhen rushed over angrily.

\"Boom!\"

The glutinous rice ball appeared where he was standing at some point, and Ye Wuhen fell heavily on the soft belly of the tomb guardian beast, and was bounced up and hit the pillar.

Acai walked over slowly and lifted his chin with the piccolo: "Now, can we have a good talk?"

Ye Wuhen was about to speak when Jia Fugui suddenly rolled in from outside, shouting breathlessly: "Don't believe him! He was hired by my sister to act!"

"Brother!" Jia Zhenzhu screamed, "You said you would keep it a secret!"

The scene was in chaos. Feiyue took the opportunity to steal Ye Wuhen's belt, Jin Yuanbao was rummaging through his purse, and Tuantuan was kicking his wig like a ball.

Ah Er held the genuine Mingyue Pendant in his hands and examined it carefully. Suddenly, he frowned: "Why does this jade look like..."

\"Is it the 'Cang Hai Yue Ming' piece that was stolen from Yunmengze twenty years ago?"\" An old voice came from outside the door.

Everyone turned around and saw that Xuantian had turned back to his original form at some point - a black tortoise as big as a round table. A white-haired old man stood on the tortoise shell. He was the leader of Yunmengze.

\"Huh?\" Ah Cai looked at the old man curiously.

The old leader snorted coldly: "I knew there was something fishy about the Jia brothers and sisters. Twenty years ago, their father stole our sect's most precious treasure, and now he's trying to put on a show and get away with it?"

Jia Zhenzhu's face turned pale, and she suddenly knelt down. "Master, please understand. My father was also confused back then... Now he is terminally ill, and he only hopes to atone for his sins before he dies..."

Ye Wuhen rubbed the back of his head, feeling hurt, and said awkwardly: "I just acted for money... Who knew that your grudges in the martial arts world were so complicated..."

Ah Cai looked at the old man, then at Jia Zhenzhu, who was kneeling and crying, and suddenly sighed: "So this mission was a setup from the beginning?"

The old master jumped down from the tortoise shell and reached out to take the Mingyue pendant. "Indeed. I anticipated the Jia family would make this move, and specifically asked you to take on this 'task'." He turned to look at Jia Fugui. "Did your father say anything else?"

Jia Fugui trembled as he pulled out a letter from his pocket: "My father said... to return the item to its original owner, and only ask... only ask Yunmengze to save his life..."

The old master was silent for a long time, and finally sighed: "Forget it, twenty years of grudges, it's time to put an end to it."

At that moment, Feiyue suddenly barked. Everyone turned around and saw it dragging out a sandalwood box from somewhere. Inside, neatly stacked were twelve jade pendants that bore a striking resemblance to Mingyue's—all counterfeits.

Jia Zhenzhu lowered her head in shame. "My father...my father has been trying to imitate it for years, hoping to make a replica that's real enough to return to Yunmengze..."

Under the moonlight, the genuine Mingyue Pendant suddenly glowed softly, and the old master's expression gradually softened: "If I had known this would happen, why would I have done it in the first place..."

Ah Cai looked at the people in the room and suddenly felt overwhelmed. She bent down, picked up the belt that Feiyue had stolen, and threw it to Ye Wuhen: "Put it on. It's cold in the middle of the night."

While Ye Wuhen was hurriedly tying his belt, Tong Shishan and Huang Jinhe had already started to divide the loot - they took away all the jade pendants hanging around Jia Fugui's waist.

Ah Er was looking in the bronze mirror and fixing his hair that was messed up by Feiyue, totally unaware that Tuantuan was chewing on his most treasured folding fan as a teething stick.

Ah Cai shook her head and suddenly felt that although this mission was a mess, it didn’t seem too bad?