"Why?" Ye Feng looked at Wu Ye Lin in confusion, "Did Senior Miao Dao have a conflict with your Wu Ye family?"
"No, no!" Wu Ye Lin waved her hand, "Senior Miao Dao and Grandpa, and our family have a good relationship, but... for some reason, he deliberately kept his distance from us..."
"Actually, I can understand. After all, Senior Miao Dao's only grandson was first poisoned by something inexplicable, and now he's missing..."
"Although there's no evidence, I suspect someone didn't want Senior Miao Dao to get too close to our Wu Ye family!" Wu Ye Lin said quickly to Ye Feng.
"Is that so..." Ye Feng frowned slightly, "Lin, you just mentioned the second Miao family's top expert, what's that about? Doesn't the Adventurer's Guild only have one Miao family? Isn't the Miao family's top expert their patriarch, Miao Feng?"
Ye Feng was quite confused, as the information he had previously received from Tie Niu at the Meow Meow Adventurer's Guild was like this...
"The second Miao family is not the Miao family!"
"The Miao family is the family managed by Senior Miao Feng. Senior Miao Dao just happens to have the same surname, Miao. To differentiate, they are called the second Miao family!"
"Although the second Miao family has far fewer members than the Miao family, they have many talents!"
"Especially Senior Miao Dao's grandson, who is already a Silver-tier elite at a young age and is extremely talented in arcane runes. It is said that he has studied the Yellow family's secret Gu runes and made some breakthroughs..."
"But a few months ago, Senior Miao Dao's grandson was inexplicably poisoned by a deadly toxin while researching arcane runes... And he went missing not long ago..." Wu Ye Lin quickly explained to Ye Feng.
"Let's not talk about this anymore!" Wu Ye Lin let out a sigh, "Ye Feng, Xiao Xiao, Qiao Ying, let's go. It's getting late, let's have dinner together!"
...
As night fell, Ye Feng, Xiao Xiao, Qiao Ying, and Wu Ye Lin were already seated around a large round table, laden with dishes that looked and smelled delicious.
"Ye Feng, let's eat first!" Although Wu Ye Lan hadn't arrived yet, Wu Ye Lin wasn't surprised. This was because her grandfather had already instructed them earlier that if he couldn't return in time, they should start eating.
"Your grandfather isn't here yet, won't that be a bit impolite?" Ye Feng frowned slightly.
"It's fine~" Wu Ye Lin waved her hand, "Grandpa isn't putting on airs or doesn't want to see you. He had urgent business and left. He told me this morning when he left not to wait for him!"
"Oh, alright then~" Seeing this, Ye Feng immediately picked up a piece of pork knuckle and started eating. He quite enjoyed gnawing on them.
"Here, Xiao Xiao, have some eel. It's delicious!" Wu Ye Lin also served Xiao Xiao a piece of steamed eel.
"Oh, okay~!"
"Qiao Ying, you have some too~"
"Ye Feng, this charcoal-grilled lamb chop was roasted by me personally~"
...
Soon, Ye Feng and the others began to eat with gusto.
...
An hour later,
"Grandpa is really something, why isn't he here yet!" Even Wu Ye Lin was starting to get a little displeased. After all, this dinner was supposed to be a special thank you meal from Wu Ye Lan to Ye Feng, and now most of the food was gone...
"Everyone has urgent matters sometimes. Your grandfather probably encountered some unforeseen circumstances~" Ye Feng, however, didn't seem to mind at all. He was savoring the golden thread lotus and meat soup.
"Truly a delicacy. If it were in the past, this kind of natural golden thread lotus would be impossible to find!" Ye Feng muttered as he drank.
"Big brother, why is this brown wild vegetable called golden thread lotus?" Xiao Xiao, who was also drinking the soup, asked curiously.
"Oh, this golden thread lotus was originally green and turned brown when cooked into soup," Ye Feng explained. "The reason it's called this is because its veins shimmer with golden light under the sun... Wild golden thread lotus is said to absorb the essence of heaven and earth, possessing extremely magical properties. It's an extremely rare treasure, and all sorts of snakes and birds will eat it when they see it!"
As he spoke, Ye Feng served a bowl to Wu Ye Lin. "Lin, you should drink some too~"
"Oh, okay!~" Wu Ye Lin smiled slightly and nodded. "Perhaps it's because of the Great Cataclysm that the ecosystem has recovered somewhat. Wild golden thread lotus can be found in many places, but the danger has also greatly increased. Near the golden thread lotus, one often encounters powerful ferocious beasts!"
...
"Patriarch!"
"Patriarch!"
...
At this moment, the greetings of the waiters could be heard from the entrance. Immediately, Ye Feng and the others saw a man with a square face, white hair and eyebrows, and a spirited demeanor walking in. As the man approached, Ye Feng and the others actually felt a cold breeze blow past them...
"Grandpa!" Seeing the newcomer, Wu Ye Lin immediately stood up and walked to the old man's side. She introduced him to Ye Feng, "Ye Feng, this is my grandfather, Wu Ye Lan!"
"Oh, hello!~" Ye Feng stood up and greeted him.
"This... I'm sorry... the food..." Ye Feng felt a bit awkward. There were many kinds of food, and they were all delicious. His appetite was quite large, and he had pretty much eaten all the food on the table. The dining table was now a mess of dishes and plates, looking exceptionally untidy...
"It's nothing, it's nothing. I brought a roasted chicken. Shall we eat it together?" Wu Ye Lan waved his hand and said kindly.
"Oh, okay!~" Ye Feng naturally had no objections.
"Young man, thank you for taking care of Xiao Lin when we were in the City of Ice. I'll toast you to this cup!" After taking a few large bites, Wu Ye Lan poured himself a full cup of white wine and downed it in one go.
"Good!" Ye Feng raised his glass in a toast and drank it down as well.
"Thank you for the Eternal Frost Ice. I'm drinking this, you can have yours!" With that, Wu Ye Lan raised his cup to Ye Feng again and finished it.
"Grandpa?" Wu Ye Lin was a little puzzled, as her grandfather rarely drank, but today he had downed two large cups of strong liquor in a row.
"The weather is a bit cold, I'm drinking some alcohol to warm myself up!" Wu Ye Lan smiled slightly and directly downed half a catty of white wine from the bottle.
"Damn..." Ye Feng was speechless. Even a drunkard wouldn't drink like this. He had already tried the homemade fruit wine, which had a very high alcohol content. An ordinary person would probably be knocked out by a small goblet... And the weather was cold? Although it was night and the temperature had dropped a bit, it was still a hundred thousand miles away from being cold, let alone for a top expert like Wu Ye Lan... Wu Ye Lin was also confused, but she didn't ask. She just felt that her grandfather was acting increasingly abnormal...
"Hmm?" After observing for a while, Ye Feng frowned but said nothing.
"Right, Ye Feng, that golden medal you used to check into the Meow Meow Adventurer's Guild, try not to show it around casually. It might attract quite troublesome issues!" Wu Ye Lan opened another bottle of strong liquor, took a big gulp, and said to Ye Feng.