The officials of Dali Temple and the runners took a trip to the Yishan Mountain and brought back another “murderer”. This time the “murderer” was a nun wearing a robe but with an unshaved head.

Coming face to face with Liu Yuan and his group returning with the “culprit,” Tangyuan, who had originally planned to leave, found it hard to resist stopping in her tracks. She ate the snacks newly made by Wen Mingtang while curiously observing Liu Yuan bringing the person over.

The snack resembled a rolled-up piece of paper, hollow in the middle with the edges rolled up. Its outer layer was a golden yellow, with dense black sesame seeds evenly embedded inside. Even before getting close, one could already smell the rich aroma of eggs and milk emanating from it.

Watching Tangyuan lift the snack, which resembled a rolled-up piece of paper, to her mouth and take a bite, a crisp “crackling” sound immediately ensued. Judging from the sound, it was indeed crispy. With each bite, countless crumbs fell down, rustling as they landed on the ground. More crumbs stuck to Tangyuan’s mouth and face.

The little girl ate happily one bite at a time. Looking at her mouth and face full of crumbs, they knew she had eaten a lot.

The rich egg fragrance and the crunchy sound of “cracking” were really tempting. When he passed by the Tangyuan, Liu Yuan couldn’t help but take out the handful of “small rolls” held in the little girl’s hand. He took a roll and couldn’t wait to bite it.

The rich and sweet aroma of eggs and milk filled her mouth, and the crispy texture was somewhat reminiscent of the “crispiness” found in multigrain pancakes. However, it differed slightly in terms of texture from the “crispiness” of pancakes, with subtle differences in softness, hardness, and crispiness.

Liu Yuan ate so much that he looked at his mouth bulging and stared angrily at his Tangyuan. After finishing a small “roll paper”, he licked his fingers with unfinished content and asked her: “What is this? The snacks made by Master Wen? I’ll go to the public kitchen to get some later!”

“This is called a dàn juǎn. Today Zhuangzi sent some milk and said it would spoil if you didn’t drink it all, so Master Wen made this snack called a dàn juǎn. The snacks will be delivered to everyone soon.” Tangyuan said, raising a finger toward Liu Yuan and saying, “If you eat one of my dànjuǎns, remember to get your own share and return it!”

Yo! This little girl was quite stingy! Liu Yuan shook his head, faced Tangyuan who was staring at him, and said helplessly: “Okay! I remember, I’ll return it to you later.”

That was pretty much it! Tangyuan retracted her fingers, pursed her lips at Jinghui who was being taken to the prison, and asked in a low voice: “Is this the painted-skinned monster that kills people?”

“Murder is murder, what’s with all this talk about monsters!” Liu Yuan thought shrugging helplessly. “If it were really monsters committing the murders, why would they need the Dali Temple to investigate? They could just find some Taoist priests to use their methods to find the culprit!”

Just as Liu Yuan was about to ask Tangyuan to stop talking about monsters and shut up about monsters, he heard a voice behind him.

“The case is not over yet. Whether this is the painted-skinned monster or not will not be known until the case is over.” Lin Fei, who came up from behind at some point, glanced at Tangyuan and paused for a moment while his eyes fell on the dànjuǎn in her hand.

Tangyuan, who noticed Lin Fei’s gaze, had just fought with Liu Yuan for even a dàn juǎn. Now seeing Lin Fei looking at the dàn juǎn in his hand, he immediately generously dropped a handful of dàn juǎns in his hand. Half of the cake was given to Lin Fei, and he asked proactively: “Lin Shaoqing, do you want to eat dàn juǎn? Master Wen made them with milk and eggs.”

Lin Fei nodded, took the dànjuǎn, said “Thank you”, and then looked up at Liu Yuan and reminded him: “Return the dàn juǎns to Tangyuan later.”

With Shangfeng’s order, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to let go of that dàn juǎn! Liu Yuan said “Yes” with a grimace, and then heard Lin Fei say: “Go to the Chang’an government office again!”

Huh? Just investigate the case. Why go to the Chang’an government office?

Lin Fei looked at Liu Yuan, who was puzzled, and said, “Check the disappearance cases in the past few years!”

Why did the normal human life case suddenly became involved in the disappearance case?

Tangyuan on the side was eating the dàn juǎns in her hands and listened curiously with her eyes wide open.

When she was listening carefully, she saw Lin Fei shake his head toward her and say, “Go and help Master Wen make dàn juǎns! Don’t stay here anymore.”

Tangyuan opened her mouth and was about to say something when she heard Lin Fei heard say: “I will tell you when I catch the painted-skinned monster.”

This sentence completely dispelled Tangyuan’s worries, and the little girl immediately said “yes” and ran away happily.

It seemed that they really believed that the killer was the demon depicted in the painting! Liu Yuan looked at the excited figure of Tangyuan running away and, with a sense of resignation, rubbed his forehead and sighed, “If we could catch a demon, those Taoist priests would probably be ecstatic! Who knows, from now on, the Dali Temple might directly change into Zhenmeng Division¹, relying entirely on rituals to find the culprit!”

Those who entered Dali Temple did not believe that there were ghosts and demons in the world who kill people. Those who pretended to be gods and ghosts would be proven to be man-made in the end.

Originally, he thought that once he said these words, he would receive approval from Shangfeng, after all, who would take words used to coax children seriously?

Unexpectedly, just thinking like this, Lin Fei on the side spoke and urged again: “You should also go to the Chang’an government office and borrow the files of the disappearance cases reported in the past few years, so that the painted-skinned monster can be arrested as soon as possible. Bring him to justice!”

After saying this, Lin Fei turned and left.

“Opening your mouth, it’s the ‘painted skin monster’. Closing your mouth, it’s still the ‘painted skin monster’. Talking as if there’s really a monster coming out from the painting! Tangyuan, that half-grown child, isn’t even here!” With these thoughts in mind, Liu Yuan returned to the main hall, reminding Wei Fu not to forget to take his portion of the dàn juǎns for him. Then, in a hurry, he led his men out of the Dali Temple.

Tangyuan went out for a spin and came back. Wen Mingtang was still making dàn juǎn. She took a spoonful of the dàn juǎns batter, a mixture of milk, eggs, flour, cooked black sesame seeds and oil, and poured it into the pot. Then she quickly flattened it and left it until it was almost done. , use chopsticks to quickly roll up the batter into a “little book” shape.

The freshly made dàn juǎns were still soft, but when they cooled down, they became crispy and ready to eat.

The public kitchen was filled with the aroma of dàn juǎns. Ji Caimai and Ah Bing were helping to divide the dàn juǎns. If they couldn’t bear the aroma that filled their noses, they would pick up one and walk aside to eat to satisfy cravings.

When handling the milk, Ji Caimai said that this sweet snack with the fragrance of milk and eggs would only be liked by children like A Bing and Tangyuan. But when the dàn juǎns were ready, he immediately got slapped in the face, because even an adult like him would like to eat it once in a while!

When the last dàn juǎn was ready, Wen Mingtang stood up. When she was about to go out with Ah Bing and Tangyuan to deliver the dàn juǎns, Zhao You came over.

As soon as she stepped through the door of the public kitchen, she heard Zhao You’s loud voice: “I will take mine and Lin Shaoqing’s share, and then take two more back home!” With that, he handed over the dime of silver he had prepared.

Looking at the money handed over, Tangyuan and A Bing didn’t feel strange anymore. After all, they had already made it once yesterday, so they packed the dàn juǎns in oil paper bags without thinking. Wen Mingtang looked at Ji Caimai next to him. But they were suddenly startled, and the two of them glanced at each other subconsciously: an idea came to them spontaneously.

(End of chapter)

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Footnote

1. The department of exorcism