Chapter 378: Washing the Cat

After Saturday night passed, early Sunday morning, Xia De mailed an express letter in the city to the Duchess's manor, hoping to get a reply as soon as possible.

He had nothing else to do today, so he didn't plan to go out, but stayed at home reading books and organizing files.

After Xia De mailed the letter at 8:30 and returned, Duo Luo Qian came to visit again. On one hand, it was to return the detective files borrowed last time, as well as that book *Complete Collection of Ancient Delarion Fairy Tales*, which Xia De bought at the auction before the Blood Banquet; on the other hand, she hoped to stay at Saint Deran Square today to continue reading those detective files to get more inspiration for her detective stories.

"Speaking of which, how many drafts do you have now?"

Xia De was curious about this point. The blonde female writer showed an elegant smile, which meant she was very confident:

"The first story is adapted from the experience of the two cemetery ghosts you encountered, and the name is *Expired Murder*. My novel is not serialized every issue, twice a week, *Expired Murder* is enough for two weeks of content, I have already finished writing this.

The second story is *Mystery of the Blood Words* that I originally planned to write, this is enough for about three issues of serialization. The third story has been written halfway, the detective record files here gave me inspiration, Xia De, your study is really a treasure."

She looked at Xia De with a smile, and Xia De nodded indifferently:

"If you like it, you can come anytime."

Anyway, those sensitive items of his were behind the hidden wall in the basement.

So this morning, Duo Luo Qian and Xia De spent it in the study. It was just that both of them were doing their own things. Xia De flipped through the books he took back from the doctor yesterday, hoping to at least let the woman's voice in his head memorize all the content first, in case of need.

Duo Luo Qian flipped through the detective files with great interest. When she encountered the parts Xia De hadn't organized yet, she would even help organize them.

Schluch Lake lived at Saint Deran Square for two years and handled two digits of commissions, big and small. Although the work efficiency was much higher than Xia De's, the money-making efficiency was not as high as Xia De's.

At noon, Duo Luo Qian complained that there were no vegetables and meat stored in Xia De's house, and then went to a restaurant outside with him.

After lunch, Miss Jia Lin Na's news still hadn't arrived, so Xia De decided to talk to Duo Luo Qian about the second letter from Miss Mia Gao De during the lunch break.

"Giving the cat a bath?"

The blonde girl sat on the sofa and looked at the cat, which had started to feel sleepy after eating, so it was lying on Xia De's lap, squinting its eyes as if pretending to sleep while accepting Xia De's petting:

"I remember you mentioned this to me last month."

Duo Luo Qian asked.

"Yes, but didn't I have no time?"

Xia De replied, so the blonde girl used the hair tie tied to her wrist to tie up her long golden hair. While organizing her hair, she motioned for Xia De to stand up and showed a smile to him and the cat:

"So do you have time now?"

"Of course I have time."

"How long do you think it will take to wash a cat?"

"About half an hour?"

"Then what are you waiting for?"

Duo Luo Qian, who had tied her hair, also stood up and looked at Xia De with suspicious eyes:

"You always like to complete things immediately and never procrastinate, how come you always procrastinate with this cat? It just so happens that there's nothing to do. I'll wash the cat with you. Although there are no green vegetables stored in your house, there should be aprons, right?"

"Meow~"

Because of Xia De's action of standing up, the cat that was held in his arms let out a dissatisfied cry. The cry of the young orange cat was very gentle, and it didn't expect at all what would happen next.

"That... alright, of course there are aprons, the previous detective left quite a few, and I don't know what he was going to do."

Xia De nodded hesitantly. This matter indeed couldn't be procrastinated. He still had to mail Mia's photo to Miss Gao De.

"Meow~"

The cat held in Xia De's arms squirmed its body, its small claws hung down in front of Xia De's arm, looking very satisfied. Maintaining this posture, the cat that was taking a nap was carried into the washroom by Xia De.

(Little Mia is being washed...)

"You just washed your hair? Do you have the habit of washing your hair at noon?"

This was the first question asked by the Duchess, who was holding a book, when Xia De sat down in front of Miss Jia Lin Na this afternoon.

It was still the study in the manor outside the city, and it was still the same position on the sofa. It was just that Xia De's hair hadn't dried yet, and the traces of washing his hair could be easily seen.

"It's not washing my hair, it's washing the cat."

Xia De corrected.

"Washing the cat?"

The red-haired witch asked back with a smile. The black-haired maid, Tifa Servet, who already knew what happened on the way here, stood to the side and chuckled while helping the two prepare the tea set.

There were eight out of ten female servants in Miss Jia Lin Na's manor, and of course, cats were kept here too. Although the Duchess didn't look like someone who would wash the cat herself, she obviously guessed what happened.

"Your life is really interesting."

"I wish this kind of interest could be less. Fortunately, cats only need to be washed once every few months, otherwise..."

Xia De thought of the cat he held and put into the bathtub an hour ago in his own washroom, which was staring with big eyes. After touching the warm water, it suddenly struggled and then erupted with powerful combat power.

Xia De had once suspected how that orange cat Mia, with that body shape, bullied other animals in the pet shop.

Now he knew that the combat power of this kind of small creature absolutely couldn't be judged by its appearance. If it weren't for Duo Luo Qian's help, Xia De wouldn't necessarily have been able to catch the cat that was constantly struggling and trying to escape.

During the whole process of washing the cat, Mia had been struggling, so Xia De was almost covered in water. He hadn't had time to dry his hair before the carriage arrived at Saint Deran Square.

So now Duo Luo Qian was at Xia De's house, using a towel to wipe the water off the cat that was wrapped in a blanket and unhappy. After all the fur on its body stuck to its skin, it looked like it had lost a whole circle, and after seeing its appearance in the mirror, that orange cat had been sulking at Xia De.

"Alright, let's talk about business. You said you found an ancient magic potion that can still be used?"

Miss Jia Lin Na closed the book in her hand and put it on the coffee table. Xia De noticed that it was a magazine about women's summer clothing... a real magazine.

"Yes, ancient fish-man's youth potion."

Moving his thoughts away from the cat at home, Xia De placed the bottle of potion on the table.

Tifa looked at it curiously, and after Miss Jia Lin Na picked it up and looked at it against the light, she carefully pulled out the bottle stopper, sniffed it with her nose, and frowned slightly:

"I thought you were just joking, I didn't expect... Xia De, I know this, this is a high-level magic potion that only the ancient fish-man race could make. It can make anyone return to youth for a certain period of time. The ancient witch emperors would even use it to take a bath."

And what Priest Ao Gu Si said was that the ancient witch emperors added this to their breakfast. But no matter which statement was correct, it confirmed the rumor that the witch emperors lived extremely luxuriously.

After obtaining Xia De's consent, Miss Jia Lin Na asked Tifa to take a professional glass dropper for preparing magic potions and a black old cat. After carefully absorbing a drop, she dripped it into the cat's mouth.

The three people watched the cat. With its lazy cry, the fur on its body became dense and shiny at a speed visible to the naked eye, and at the same time, the old body was also recovering its health.

It leaped fiercely, from Miss Jia Lin Na's lap to the coffee table. When it wanted to rush at Xia De, it was caught by the black-haired maid reaching out.

For a full half an hour, it returned to its original old appearance. A smile appeared on Miss Jia Lin Na's face:

"Judging from the color, smell, and effect of the magic potion, this is indeed a high-level magic potion offered by the fish-men of the Fifth Era to the witches. The magic potions and materials offered by different races are something that people of our era can't even imagine. And in the Fifth Era, except for a few witches who could find relics like 【Youth-Preserving Leaf】 when they were young, most of them relied on various expensive magic potions to stay young forever, hum, those women..."

The witches of the Sixth Era seemed to be quite dissatisfied with the witches of the Fifth Era. Miss Jia Lin Na's slender fingers held the bottle and shook it gently, watching the liquid spin in the bottle, and then looked at Xia De:

"Xia De, I won't ask you where you got this. Since you don't take the initiative to say it, I won't explore your secrets. But this has a great effect on me. A small bottle is enough for an adult to return to youth for a week. Let me give you a price... how about 3300 pounds?"

"Of course, this price is of course fine."

Xia De nodded immediately. His original expected price was around 2300 pounds. Although this magic potion had extraordinary effects, the magic potion was a one-time item, and the duration of the effect was limited, so being able to have this price was already quite good.

"However, I want cash, no bank drafts this time."

The cashing of large bank drafts took time, and Xia De didn't want to always take bank drafts with the Duchess's signature to get money, which was not good for his reputation.

"No problem, but in this way, you have to wait for a while."

She tilted her head at Miss Servet, who immediately walked out of the room to arrange the cash Xia De wanted.

Miss Jia Lin Na placed the magic potion on the table and talked to Xia De about other things:

"Remember last time I told you that the council sent a new witch to search for the second chosen one? She has already set off, and the destination is Coldwater Port. I heard that there is a fish-man riot there, and the whole city is searching for those strange creatures. Speaking of which, I remember little Lei Qianya seems to be in Coldwater Port, and I don't know what she is doing."

She told this to Xia De as fresh news, but this was quite important to Xia De. He pretended not to care and asked:

"I don't know which great witch was sent this time? Can I know her identity? Oh, I won't tell others." ===== CHAPTER 379 =====