"Little Bell, I'm Old Man Yang Three!" the child announced in a rough voice, yet his youthful face held an air of maturity; the voice itself was that of an adult, which utterly stunned Zhou Huan. What was going on? How could this child sound like a grown-up?

"Brother Yang Three, what's wrong?" Yang Xiaoling managed to compose herself, forcing back her nervousness as she asked Old Man Yang Three.

The child wiped the tears from his face with his delicate little hand. "Alas, it’s a long and sad story. I was perfectly fine the year before last, but last year I fell gravely ill all of a sudden and ended up like this. Ever since then, whenever I feel the urge to wander around and take in the sights, I can only do it at night. During the day, I have to cling to the top of the wall and peek." The more Yang Three spoke, the more he wept, and the harder he cried.

Big Radish and Dongzi also crowded closer. As soon as Big Radish arrived, he chuckled, "Brother Yang Three, what are you crying about, you big man? It’s not like the illness is incurable. Didn't the village chief say that every few years someone in your village turns into a child? All you need to do is prepare enough money and donate it to the Tree God at the entrance of the village."

"What?" Hearing this, a wave of suspicion washed over Zhou Huan. He had never heard of this kind of sickness, but now that he saw it, he knew this wasn't a normal ailment—it was an evil affliction. To demand a monetary donation to the Tree God on top of that—wasn't this just deceiving the common folk? With this thought, Zhou Huan turned back and asked Big Radish, "Have you ever seen anyone get better after donating the money?"

"I have, yes. Not only did they get better, but now they’ve even gotten married and had children," Big Radish replied straightforwardly.

Yang Xiaoling nodded too. "I’ve heard Grandpa talk about this before, but Grandpa always said it was man-made." Saying this, Xiaoling glanced at Yang Three and Dongzi, then pulled Zhou Huan aside to talk. "Grandpa suspected that someone was intentionally poisoning people by using the powder from the white cinnabar ore in the mountains. Grandpa said that ingesting that kind of stone could revert a person back to childhood, but to cure the poison, one would need to prepare a miraculous medicine for treating joint diseases. Only my grandpa had the prescription for this medicine, but when I went back this time, I couldn't find where Grandpa kept the formula."

"Oh, so that's the situation. So, what you're saying is, to cure Yang San'er, we need to find your grandfather’s prescription?"

"Exactly. And as for the fact that Grandpa had the prescription, anyone in the village who knew about it is probably long dead. So nobody knows how to treat this illness now. As for what Big Radish just said about donating money to get cured, there must be some trickery involved," Yang Xiaoling voiced her thoughts.

Zhou Huan fell into deep contemplation. After a long pause, he suddenly picked up Yang Three and said, "Come on, let’s go eat. Big Brother will help you grow up later!"

Yang Three looked at Yang Xiaoling, then looked back at Zhou Huan. Zhou Huan nodded reassuringly. The group went to a nearby roadside restaurant just outside the village, ordered food, and soon devoured everything on their plates. Strangely, Yang Three’s appetite was the same as an adult's—after all, he was supposed to be a young man in his teens, and naturally, he would eat heartily.

After the meal, the group went together to Yang Xiaoling’s grandfather's ancestral home. Xiaoling still had her grandfather's clothes placed on the kang bench. Zhou Huan led Yang Xiaoling out of the room alone, leaving Yang Three inside, while Dongzi and Big Radish went to gather firewood to heat the kang, as the room hadn't been occupied for days and needed heating before anyone could stay in it.

"Xiaoling, think carefully. What kind of formula did Grandpa use? Is it still in the room?"

Yang Xiaoling thought hard. "I can't remember the exact formula, but I remember Grandpa always kept some herbs in the small shed in the courtyard. I just don't know if he kept all the ingredients for the formula there."

"Take me to see it. Even if the formula isn't there, if we have enough raw materials, I should be able to mix a dose," Zhou Huan said before he even finished speaking, urging Xiaoling to lead the way.

Yang Xiaoling led Zhou Huan to the door of the small shed in the courtyard. Upon reaching it, the lock on the shed door was so rusted it had practically fallen apart, and the dilapidated wooden door was an eyesore.

Zhou Huan reached out and gave it a gentle pull; the lock immediately clattered to the ground. Then, with a slight shove, he forced the door open. But as the door swung inward, two large rats, each over a foot long, darted out. The room had no bed and was pitch black.

"Brother Huan, there's a light switch behind the door. Turn it on."

Zhou Huan reached out to feel for the switch, and his hand immediately came into contact with a large, sticky spiderweb. When he finally flipped the switch, the ceiling light flickered and buzzed for a moment before stabilizing.

Looking into the room, it was a complete mess, as if someone had ransacked the place. Some scattered medicinal herbs lay on the floor. Towards the back of the room was a table, and on the table lay a piece of paper. Zhou Huan walked over, picked up the paper, and glanced at it—he was overjoyed. "It seems your grandfather was truly thoughtful; he actually kept this formula."

Yang Xiaoling took the paper and examined it. As she reached the end, she discovered a very serious problem. "Brother Huan, this formula is incomplete. Although I can't recall the names of every single herb, I remember the quantity. There should be fourteen herbs, but there are only eleven here. The bottom three herbs have clearly been torn off."

Zhou Huan looked closely at the paper in Xiaoling's hand. "That's right, this paper has obviously been ripped. And it doesn't look like it was torn intentionally." Saying this, Zhou Huan handed the paper back to Yang Xiaoling. "Look here, the tear marks on the paper are uneven. If it was your grandfather who tore it, it would have been very neat. Given how meticulously he kept his room, there’s no doubt about that. Also, look at the signs of a struggle in this room; it's very likely something happened right here."

"Could it be that Grandpa encountered something here, and then..." Yang Xiaoling guessed.

Zhou Huan shook his head. "Not necessarily. We need evidence for that."

Suddenly, the camera hanging on Yang Xiaoling's chest flashed violently, blinding Zhou Huan. When he managed to open his eyes again, he saw a packet of medicine resting on the table.

"Xiaoling, look, there’s a packet of medicine on the table!" As soon as Zhou Huan spoke, Yang Xiaoling rushed over, tore open the packet, and scattered the contents onto the table. She then separated the herbs and found there were exactly fourteen different kinds.

"Let me see!" Zhou Huan was somewhat excited. Holding the packet of herbs, he matched the names on the prescription one by one against the scattered materials. Thirteen herbs matched up perfectly, leaving one round, dark object that Zhou Huan had never seen in either of his lifetimes. "What is this medicine? Is this the last ingredient, Ghost Eye, or is it one of the missing three from the back?"

"This is called... this is called Dog Bell," Yang Xiaoling said, a slight blush appearing on her face. "After I disappeared, they all called me Little Bell because Grandpa often had to go to the mountains to find this herb, so at other times, they called me Dog Bell."

After hearing Xiaoling speak, Zhou Huan smiled broadly. "Little Bell, Dog Bell—truly, these guys had quite a sense of humor with nicknames. If what you say is true, then this is the herb missing from the formula. Now, all we need to find is this one called Ghost Eye."

"Ghost Eye? I've never seen it. It seems Grandpa never mentioned that herb to me either."

Zhou Huan thought it over deeply. "I don't know what kind of medicine that is either, but if I see it, I'll definitely recognize it. Because that medicine has a distinct scent of decaying corpses, but it certainly isn't an herb. It seems this ingredient is taken from a dead body. Where your grandfather got Ghost Eye from back then is impossible to say."

"Brother! Brother Huan! Something terrible has happened!" Dongzi rushed in from the courtyard gate in a panic, shouting as soon as he saw Zhou Huan. But Big Radish followed behind him, and hearing Dongzi out of breath, he was rather amused.

"Good! You really introduced me to a man after my own heart, so hardworking. Here, as a reward, have a slice of ginger." As he spoke, Big Radish shoved a slice of ginger into Dongzi’s mouth.

Unexpectedly, Dongzi spat the ginger slice out, glared fiercely at Big Radish, and snapped, "Your hands are quick, aren't they? Let me finish talking to Brother, alright?" Big Radish pouted and watched Dongzi.

Dongzi continued, "Brother, someone used a red pen to draw a line through the Fate Tags we hung up this morning. Our names, everyone except Big Radish, have been marked with red ink."