"Tsubaki?" I whispered to the white cat in front of me over and over again.

But she ignored me, didn't even open her eyes, and couldn't tell what was wrong.

"How long has this cat been in your house?" I asked the boy.

"Huh... Brother, how do you know it's not my cat?"

"I have an identical white cat in my store, which has been lost for months, and it should be the same as this white cat in your house. ”

"So the cat did find my house on its own," said the boy, "and it was probably at the beginning of the spring that it almost fell into my brewing tank, but it was my father who fished it out and lived here ever since." ”

"It's about the same time," I said, "my cat also disappeared at the beginning of spring, and she does like to drink, and I guess the smell of your wine attracted her." ”

At this time, Tsubaki woke up.

The white cat opened its eyes slightly, straightened its two front paws, lowered its head and stretched a big lazy waist.

"Tsubaki?" I called to her again.

She didn't seem to anticipate my presence, her eyes were a little panicked, and she took a few steps back vigilantly.

"Tsubaki, it's me, Ye Ke. I reached out and stroked her head, and she didn't dodge, but her body was trembling slightly.

"Brother, are you the ghostwriter Ye Ke?" said the boy.

"Well, it's me. "Now I don't bother to answer the boy's question, Tsubaki's situation is not quite right, she obviously recognizes me, but why don't you speak?

"So it's you that Daddy has been looking for," the boy looked very happy, "and let's go inside and rest, or Daddy will come back and say that I was rude and let the guests stand outside." ”

"Can you," I said, "and let me be alone with this cat for a while? I'll explain to him when your dad comes back, don't worry." ”

"Uh... Alright then, I'll go make tea first. ”

After the boy left, I sat down in front of Tsubaki and looked at her all the time.

"Meow..."After a long time, the white cat barked weakly.

"What's wrong?" I asked, "why don't you speak?"

"Meow...", another faint voice, Tsubaki spun around me, rubbed her body against my back, and finally curled up on my lap.

"Are you too tired?" I said, "then let's sleep again, and when I wake up, I will have the strength to go back to my monster appearance." ”

Tsubaki didn't make any more meowing sounds, I touched her head over and over again, and soon she was purring and falling asleep again.

"This cat is really not an ordinary cat. A man's voice appeared not far away, I turned my head and saw that it was a white man, judging from his appearance, eighty percent was the father of the boy just now, he seemed a little embarrassed, "I'm sorry, I overheard your conversation." ”

"You wrote to me, right?" I said straight to the point, "If you know how to use a ruler to convey information, you should know about youkai." ”

"Well, that's right," he didn't hide it at all, "I can see youkai too, but I can't see much, listen to my son, this white cat is your lost cat?"

"It's the same one," I picked up Tsubaki and stood up, she adjusted her position slightly, and continued to sleep, "I want to take her back." ”

"I'm afraid I can't say yes, it's this cat who found my house on its own, and it brings me a lot of things that make good wine. The man said, "Unless, you're willing to translate this for me." His tone was as if I had to help him.

The man pulled out a wad of what looked like stationery from his bag.

"This is—" I took the letter, there were about twenty of them, each one densely written, "Monster wrote?"

"I must have been," said the man, "I inadvertently helped a youkai stuck in the snow last winter, and since then, every once in a while I have received a letter with this kind of unintelligible text, and I have heard that you are a ghostwriter, so I would like your help in translating the contents of this letter." ”

"It's all about brewing," I said, returning the letter to the man, "but there's a lot of writing in it that I haven't seen before, and I'm afraid it's not just from youkai." ”

"Can you translate for me?" the man asked, almost without hesitation.

"I can't guarantee that," I said, "first of all, it's something more technical, and I may not be able to translate it accurately, and secondly, I have to ask the yokai to know the words that I haven't seen." ”

"Isn't that cat of yours a youkai?" said the man, "and it seems to know a thing or two about winemaking, and has brought me yeast that I have never seen before, as well as strange seeds and springs, and this white cat always gives me the best help whenever I can't find a breakthrough in winemaking." ”

"I'm afraid, Tsubaki won't be able to help you anytime soon," I said, "and I don't know what happened to her, but I can feel that she is very weak and may need a long rest." ”

I didn't like the man in front of me, whether it was the tone of his voice asking for my help or the reason he wanted to keep Tsubaki.

"If it's really your cat," said the man coldly, crossing his waist, "why don't you even know it's dying?"

What do you mean? My words got stuck in my throat.

"You really don't know?" the man frowned, and sighed after confirming that I really didn't know what he meant, "How unaware of the news are you, and you don't even know about the presence of a contagion among youkai. ”

“... What kind of contagion?" My voice began to tremble, if there really was such a thing, how could I know nothing, "What does this have to do with Tsubaki?"

"You can feel that this white cat's demonic aura is very weak. "The man walked up to me and gently touched Tsubaki's head, his eyes were infinitely gentle, did he love Tsubaki more than he showed?

"Some time ago, there was a strange disease among the monsters, and the monsters gradually lost their demon power for no reason, and at first they just felt uncomfortable, slowly getting weaker and weaker, and finally even lost their lives. Moreover, this disease will spread in the region, and small monsters are especially susceptible to this disease, and there is currently no cure. The man said.

If you follow what he said, then Tsubaki may have also been infected, so she can't turn into a human form and talk to me.

"But just because there's no cure doesn't mean there's really no way. The man said again, shaking the brewing recipe in his hand.

"Wine?"

"I'm just guessing," said the man, "but almost all the monsters who got sick before and after the white cat have disappeared from this world, but this cat is still alive, and I thought for a long time why, and suddenly one day I found that it drank my wine every day, and every time after drinking, it regained some demonic energy." ”

"I'll help you translate these recipes, and it's better to give them a try than to sit still." "After all, in addition to Tsubaki, there are countless youkai that may completely disappear because of this infectious disease," but before that, I have one more thing to do. ”

Lu Shu's words, what should you know.

I sent the note to Lu Shu to Loquat's mouth and waited for a reply, but what I didn't expect was that in less than an hour, I received a reply from her, only six short words.

"Go to Tanggu and find Dijiang. ”