There was a slight sound of the door opening upstairs. Hesta raised her head and saw Villefort walking out of the bedroom with a confused expression.
Endai said hello to him, but he didn't hear her.
Everyone else in the hall also stopped what they were doing, and all the subtle sounds disappeared instantly. This sudden silence woke Villefort out of his trance.
He looked at every pair of eyes looking at him and said "Good afternoon" in a vague voice.
"The Duke finally woke up?" Endai asked.
Villefort smiled haggardly and said, "I'm causing trouble for you."
"Please come down and have a cup of tea."
Villefort went downstairs obediently and sat down on the sofa next to Ende.
Endai pushed a cup over: "I woke up once at around three o'clock last night. When I got up, I found that the light in the study room on the first floor was still on. I saw you were fascinated by reading, so I didn't go over to disturb you... What time did you go to bed later? of?"
"I'm not sure. Anyway, it was after dawn."
After taking a sip of tea, Villefort coughed a few times and braced himself, "I really can't sleep, so I got up and read a book."
"What book is so good?"
"I can't say it's interesting, just some history before the blackout era, over in District 12..." At this point, Villefort suddenly remembered something, and he looked at Hesta, "Before, I always thought Miss Eureka's The name sounds familiar, and I suddenly read the source yesterday."
"Really?" Endey looked at Hesta curiously, "What's the source?"
Hesta lowered her eyes slightly, "It's classical, eureka."
"……What does that mean?"
Hesta was silent for a moment, and when she was about to answer, Villefort had already spoken.
"During the Black Iron Age, there was a very erudite scholar in District Twelve. One day, he was summoned to the palace. The emperor gave him a new crown and told him, 'This is a crown made by my new craftsman. , but a whistleblower told me that the craftsman embezzled my gold. Please help me test whether this is true.'
"The scholar pondered for several days and still couldn't figure it out. One day when he was taking a bath, he sat in the tub and saw water overflowing from the tub. He suddenly realized that the overflowing water was exactly equal to the volume of his body. This method could help He accurately measured the volume of irregular objects and thereby verified whether the crown was pure gold.
"He was so excited that he immediately jumped up and shouted, 'eureka! 'eureka!'," Wilford paused. "In classical language, this means 'I found it'."
Endai let out a soft sigh, and she turned to look at Hesta, "Is that so?"
"Yes," Hesta replied, "I just made the name with it because I liked the meaning."
Endai held her chin up: "That is to say, do you also have some problems that you have been thinking about and still can't solve?"
Hesta smiled and shook the cup in her hand gently, causing the remaining half cup of tea to swirl in her hand.
"Yes... there are many," she raised her head and glanced at Villefort in front of her inadvertently, "but on this matter, maybe everyone is similar, right?"
Villefort frowned slightly, and a hint of sadness appeared on his face that already showed signs of aging. He put the cup back on the table and said to Ende: "Thank you for the tea... I will go out for a walk."
Hesta watched him leave, "Don't we have to follow him out?"
"No need. Victoria said before that the Duke is completely free during this period," Endai thought for a while, "Or should I say, not free at all?"
Hesta stood up.
"Where are you going?" Endai asked.
"I'll go up and see Sophie and the others."
…
On the stone road leading to the countryside, Si Lei's car was driving very fast, and a puff of light gray dust was raised on the road she passed.
In the passenger seat, Stella held on to the armrest of the car window tightly. Along the way, they often encountered cars returning from the opposite direction - they should be citizens who made a special trip to lay flowers at the Golden Crow Palace.
Both of them carry cameras, but for different purposes. After arriving at the destination, Stella made many trips back and forth, and finally selected four shooting locations, capturing the sea of golden gardenias and the ruins behind them into the lens.
Si Lei took his camera and jumped into the ruins alone to look for clues.
In the past few days, all the investigation teams sent out failed to make any progress. After exhausting all efforts, Si Lei decided to try his luck at the Golden Crow Palace - Stella just happened to ask her if she could take a ride, and the two People come together.
It was almost nightfall when Si Lei climbed out of a half-collapsed wall.
"Anything gained?" Stella asked.
"No." Si Lei replied calmly, and she walked to Stella, "What about you?"
"It's pretty good." Stella took out a golden gardenia from her handbag, "I took two. Do you want one as a gift?"
"...Why are you still stealing flowers from others? Put them back quickly."
Stella had quick eyesight and quick hands, and took the flowers back, "Of course I have my own uses, and besides, there are so many golden gardenias here and these two are not missing!"
Si Lei put his hands on his hips and exhaled, "Okay, get in the car and go back."
On the way back, the two of them were thinking about their own things. There was silence in the car for a while, until Stella suddenly said, "Do you know the origin of Jin Zhi, Officer Si Lei?"
Si Lei glanced at her, "I don't know, what is it?"
"The origin of Golden Gardenia is in District 12, and it is not a native flower in District 3," Stella said softly. "Records about Golden Gardenia can be traced back to the myths of the Black Iron Age. Golden Gardenia was originally a nobleman. The daughter of Jin Zhi served the earth god Dehe in the local temple since she was a child. Later, the father god Ebai rose up and began to burn down Dehe's temple. He sent down fire from the sky three times, but Jin Zhi used clever tricks to save the temple three times. .
"Ebai was very angry, so he sent the God of the West Wind to assassinate Jin Zhi. However, the God of the West Wind took notice of the situation. Instead of killing her, he kidnapped the woman back to his island and wanted to take her as his own.
"While passing through a canyon, Jin Zhi painfully shouted Daihe's name into the abyss. A miracle happened at this moment - Jin Zhi's body turned into countless seeds in an instant, and seeds bloomed all over the mountains and plains. White golden gardenia.
"People in the third district like Golden Gardenia very much because it is a rare flower that can bloom in winter. It looks good and smells good. Its petals are snow-white. Everyone says it symbolizes a pure heart. But in fact, the flower language of Golden Gardenia is 'Keeping Chastity', in District 12, people worship her as the goddess of chastity, saying that she will protect young women from losing their virginity before getting married."
Stella turned the flower branch, and the snow-white petals flew like the hem of a skirt. She looked sideways at Si Lei.
"What do you think of this story?"
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