The Book of Hibernation

As Winter Thistle predicted.Not long after, the Austrian Law Federation sent a document signed by the speaker, ordering the Academy to end its surveillance of him.

In this way, Winter Ji was also free on the surface.After all, it wasn't that other mages wanted to embarrass him, they just locked him up for others to see.

After leaving the confinement room, Dong Ji didn't leave the academy immediately, but continued to live there as a guest.During this period, he finished reading the books he had borrowed, and went to the old archives to take a look at Jin Ye's portrait.

Winter Thistle has always known about this portrait, and this is the first time she has seen it with her own eyes.Looking at the painting, he laughed. The golden leaf is indeed beautiful, but the elf woman in the portrait is too "beautiful"...

The figure in the painting is exquisite and charming, but her demeanor is innocent like a child's. Her eyes are out of proportion, her skin texture is like porcelain, her neck is so slender that it is about to break off, and her lips are pink like flower petals... Actually Gold Leaf's lips are darker in color, sometimes a little purplish.

The clothes of the people in the painting are gorgeous and complicated, a style that Jin Ye has never worn in his life. Even the hair in the painting is longer, fluffier and more golden than Jin Ye's real hair.

The elf woman in the painting is very beautiful, and Jin Ye is also beautiful, but this woman is not Jin Ye.

Winter Ji did not forget his mother's appearance, he was sure that his memory was correct, it was because this portrait was too exaggerated.

It was Harman, not the painter, who was responsible for the portrait.The older mages in the academy have heard about it. Back then, Haman hired someone to paint the gold leaf. Jinye did not act as a model for the whole process, but Haman supervised the work by the painter's side. He took some portraits of other noble ladies for the painting. For reference, ask the artist to draw such clothes, such expressions, etc. on the beauties.The final painting was so beloved by Harman that he hung it in his office.

In Harman's eyes, is Jinye so beautiful?The person in the painting is not a living thing at all, but a false dream.

It could be seen that Harman really liked her.But he never saw her real face.

During the time Winter Ji lived in the academy, more and more people guessed his true identity.Now, Dong Ji went to see Jin Ye's portrait, which just confirmed everyone's guess.

The teacher also knows to be restrained, the young apprentices' mouths are not easy to control.It didn't take long for almost all the teaching staff in the academy to know that the half-elf was the child of Haman and Jinye, and he was excellent, maybe even better than Haman, so good that he was feared by the Austrian Law Federation.

After a piece of news is known by the people in the academy, the next step is to spread it to the workshop town; with so many people coming and going in the workshop town, the news will spread further.

Master Morton was slightly disturbed by this.Winter Ji didn't want people to know about these things before, why is he taking the initiative to spread the word now?

Winter Thistle reassures him that it's okay, it's not the same now.

After staying in the guest room for a long time, Dongji finally left the academy and moved into the inn in the workshop town.The room fee of the inn was paid for him by others, and a sailing adventure guild entrusted him to make that kind of short-term enchantment tool, and the requirement was to make it as good as the products in the western suburbs workshop of Harbor City.

They tried to order from the Xijiao workshop, not to mention the price, first of all, the construction period is enough for them to wait, the work of the workshop is too busy, there is no way.Sailing is closely related to seasonal climate, and they can't wait that long.

It is said that the technology of the Western Suburb Workshop comes from Haman's spell book.The members of the Nautical Guild thought: Since the workshop doesn't work, let's go directly to Haman's son to try it. Haman's son must be able to do it, and maybe he can do it better.

Winter Thistle gladly took the job.It is easy for him to make short-term enchanting tools, even to the point of being a bit boring.

Just relying on the appearance of a half-elf is not enough to convince everyone of his origin.What is really convincing is his skill as a refiner.

In this way, Winter Thistle almost made a home in Workshop Town.He moved once after Midsummer's Day, from the inn to a magic consumables shop.The first floor is the storefront, and he lives on the second floor.

The shop owner is a woman in her early thirties. Her husband is the leader of the expedition team and often brings back some rare gadgets. They keep the ones that can be sold publicly, and sell the ones that cannot be sold to the academy privately.Now Winter Ji is not only a tenant of his house, but also their appraiser, and also an introducer between them and the academy.

One day at noon, the female shopkeeper had just sent away two travelers when three more guests came at the door.

The guests came on horseback, and they looked like adventurers or mercenaries rather than mages.

The three dismounted.The red-haired young man held the reins of the three horses by himself, and the black-haired young man stood at the door with his hands on the hilt of his sword, looking like a guard.A third entered the shop and took off his hood.

The shop owner looked him up: he looks like a Sandenian, with long black curly hair, and the clothes are simple, but the materials are not cheap, and the workmanship is also extremely exquisite... She could tell at a glance that they were probably Shifan Street Chamber of Commerce people.

This is a rare guest.She warmly welcomed the guest in and introduced to him the new things brought back by the expedition team recently.

The guest, Aldin, made a brief salute to the shopkeeper: "I want to find the refiner in your shop, who is also your appraiser, named Winter Ji."

The shopkeeper sighed: "Oh...they are looking for Dong Ji. Now we have ten people here, and eight of them must be looking for him. It's a pity that you came at the wrong time, so you can't see him."

"how?"

The shopkeeper looked at the sky outside: "He probably hasn't gotten up yet."

Aldine followed her to the window.

It's already noon, and Winter Thistle hasn't woken up yet?This shocked him.When I was in Harbor City, Winter Thistle got up very early every day. Aldin always wanted to stay for Winter Thistle to sleep in longer, but Winter Thistle wanted to go to the laboratory.

Aldin asked, "Is he unwell?"

"No, that's what he is. Probably all mages are like that."

Mage is not like that.At least winter thistles don't seem to be.Aldin thought for a while and said, "I'm his friend, an old acquaintance. How about it, I'll wait for him outside the door of the room."

After he finished speaking, he turned and walked towards the stairs.The shopkeeper hurriedly came out from the counter to stop him: "Oh wait, how can this work! How do I know if he wants to see you? What if he gets angry!"

"Does he get angry easily?" Aldin asked, laughing unconsciously.

The owner said: "That's not true, he has a good temper. But he is also our tenant, and at the same time a partner in work, we have to respect him..."

Aldin thought for a while and said, "Actually, I also want to buy something by the way. I heard that you have imported a batch of golden-winged falcon feathers here?"

"Yes, there is!" The shopkeeper led them to a corner of the shop.This item is very rare and expensive, it is not easy to collect, and the selling price is also high. It is not a common item, so it is not displayed.

The shop owner introduced: "The golden-winged falcon feathers were collected by my husband's expedition team. Few people can go up that kind of rocky cliffs. This is a good thing. It has a high affinity for arcane arts and is suitable for enchanting arrow feathers. It is used in The clothing is also very suitable for…”

Before she finished speaking, Aldin said: "I want whole feathers, can you sell them in batches of [-] pieces?"

After hearing the words, the shopkeeper was stunned for a while, nodded first, and then followed up with the words: "To complete Quanyu...there are not so many new ones, but there are still old ones in stock, do you want them?"

"Of course the old ones are fine."

"How much?"

"We buy unprocessed products directly. The quantity is huge. Let's see how many you have."

The shopkeeper sniffed and kept rubbing his apron with his hands, but the expression on his face was under control.

There are not so many goods on the counter, so she has to take the guests to the underground warehouse to count them.Aldin ticked his fingers towards the door, and the black-haired young man walked in.The owner took the key and opened a small door in the counter, and took the black-haired youth to the basement.

So Aldin was the only one left in the shop.He walked up the wooden stairs to the second floor, and the shopkeeper didn't stop him.

Aldin was still thinking when he went up the stairs, and he didn't ask which room Winter Thistle lived in just now... After he came up, he understood that there was no need to ask, obviously the entire second floor was used by Winter Thistle.

There are a lot of unopened cardboard boxes piled up in the corridor, and various unknown plants are drying in the window at the end of the corridor. There are four rooms on the second floor, and the doors of three are open. The largest room is a study room, which is filled with The towering bookcase, the desk is at the innermost, and the entire wall behind the desk is blackened terrazzo glass, on which there are still various runes, magic circles, and numbers written with plaster pens; the next room is with a console The laboratory, the layout is similar to Kanai's laboratory; there are large instruments in the third room, Aldin is not sure what it is for, he has bought similar things before, so he can recognize it.

Only the door at the end of the corridor was closed.This is probably the bedroom, and it is said that Winter Thistle is sleeping in it.

Aldin came to the door, just about to knock, but put his hand down again.

Just when he hesitated for a moment, footsteps came from inside the door, and then there was a click, and the latch was opened.

Half of Winter Thistle's face was exposed through the crack of the door.

His hair was disheveled, his eyes were slightly dull, and his eyelids were slightly swollen.It seems that what the shopkeeper said is true, he really slept until noon.

Winter Thistle looked at Aldin through the crack of the door, just staring blankly, without speaking for a long time.

Aldin originally wanted to take the initiative to say hello, but Winter Thistle's appearance was so interesting that he simply looked at Winter Thistle, hoping to see how Winter Thistle would react next.

After staring at each other for a while, Dongji couldn't help but yawned, and turned away to wipe away tears after the yawn.

Finally, it was Aldin who spoke first: "Are you still asleep?"

"You woke me up." Winter Thistle said.

After speaking, he turned and walked back to the room, and opened the door.Aldin followed him in.

This bedroom is much smaller than the other three rooms, and the interior decoration is also very simple.Winter Thistle climbed onto the bed again, knelt on the bed and opened the wooden window, letting the sun shine on the bed and the floor.

Winter Thistle wears a thin linen robe.As he raised his hand to fix the window, the bright light shone through the baggy clothes and outlined the half-elf's slender back.

Standing at the door, Aldin felt that this scene seemed familiar: it was not noon, but early morning, and Winter Thistle was also wearing thin clothes at that time, and also turned his back to him, asking him "How can I agree to leave"...

Winter Thistle could feel Aldine's gaze.He didn't look back for a while, just put his elbows on the window sill, pretending to look at the streets of Workshop Town, breathing fresh air to refresh his mind.

"Did I wake you up?" Aldin asked.

Winter Ji replied vaguely: "Not exactly, even if I woke up when I heard a little movement, it's about time to wake up."

This answer contradicts what he just said.He just said that he was woken up by Aldin.

Aldin didn't continue to ask. After all, it's useless to worry about this. It's a bit like looking for words.

In fact, the first answer was true—Winter Thistle's answer of "being woken up by Aldin" was closer to the truth.

He had just woken up at that time, and when Aldin asked, he hesitated to answer.

Aldin didn't speak loudly with the shopkeeper, and his footsteps were very light when he went upstairs, so it was supposed to not wake people up.Winter Thistle sleeps in a house facing the street, which is enough to show that his sleep quality is not that bad.

The truth is, before fully waking up, Winter Thistle had a dream.

In the dream, he woke up at home, the home on the border of the sea of ​​trees.He didn't know it was a dream, so he didn't find it unusual at all.In the dream, he got up very early, and it was just dawn. He washed, changed clothes, looked for food, and then searched for things in the hut. Sometimes he lost his shoes, and sometimes he lost an important book. He was busy, I don't know what I'm busy with.

At this time, someone kept knocking on the door, and Winter Thistle put down what she was holding to open the door, and Aldin stood outside.

Behind Aldin is the summer courtyard, which is the courtyard of the Harbor City mansion.Behind Winter Thistle is not the hometown hut, but his room in the mansion in Harbor City.

Dong Ji was not surprised in the dream, as if it should be like this naturally.Aldine told him something he could not remember.

While speaking, Aldin bowed his head to kiss him, and Winter Thistle accepted it.As he closed his eyes, he thought, "Why am I still in Harbor City? Didn't I leave?"...

After opening his eyes again, he woke up from the dream.This time Winter Thistle really opened his eyes, what he saw was the current bedroom, he was not in the Sea of ​​Trees, nor in Harbor City, but in Workshop Town.

After waking up, Winter Thistle heard light footsteps.In fact, he can ignore it. Normally speaking, the person who will go to the second floor can only be one of the owner and his wife, and it may be to deliver things or something.They are not very good at casting spells, but they know some arcane basics, and they will never mess with the things in the laboratory. Winter Thistle is very reassuring to them.

But today, for some reason, Winter Ji really wanted to open the door to see who it was.

He clearly woke up, but he suspected that he was still in a dream. He always felt that as long as he walked over and opened the door, he would see Aldin just like the dream just now.

That's what people do sometimes, they have dreams that are nested in series.

Then he did see Aldin.Then he realized that he was indeed awake and that it was not a dream.

After lying on the window for a while, Winter Thistle was almost awake.In fact, Aldin's appearance was not surprising. He had expected that Aldin would appear soon, although he did not necessarily come in person.

Now Winter Thistle realizes a very embarrassing thing: this room is very small, with very little furniture, only a bed and a wardrobe, a small table is placed beside the bed, and there are no chairs for visitors at all.

Fortunately, he didn't say "please sit down" in passing, because the only place to sit here is the bed.He was still wearing his sleeping robe, and the bed was in a mess, and if Aldin sat down before him like this, he couldn't help thinking of what had happened in his dream.

Aldin did not come over, but stood against the wall.Obviously he was the one looking for someone, so he should take the initiative to speak... Realizing this, he casually talked about what happened downstairs just now, what he ordered, why the female shopkeeper let him come up, and so on.

Winter Ji heard it a little funny, and finally turned around: "Why do you still buy the materials yourself, is it necessary?"

Aldin shrugged: "I don't want to come upstairs. The owner is very concerned about you as a tenant. I asked her to get busy, but she forgot to stop me."

Winter Thistle said: "I can understand her. You have given her a big order. She knows that you are a customer with a background, and she is afraid that you will be unhappy. In fact, you don't need to spend money at all. Your tattoo is so obvious, as long as you show it to her." , she will not dare to stop you."

As Winter Ji said, many people have heard that Aldin of the Chamber of Commerce has an obvious tattoo of a python. If they see the tattoo, the shopkeeper may really be able to recognize this person as the chief of the Chamber of Commerce.But today Aldin didn't want to be too ostentatious, so he didn't open his shirt like before.

Aldin tugged at the neckline, making a gesture to breathe, but did not untie it: "Look at what you said, I can't just walk in and take off my clothes, that would be too scary."

Winter Thistle laughed again.

Seeing his appearance, Aldin relaxed a lot, so he asked a little doubt in his heart: "You don't seem surprised to see me so early in the morning?"

"It's not so early in the morning, it's already noon."

"Do you still know it's noon? You slept until now. Why, have you changed your habit? Don't you wake up early?"

Winter Ji looked down at her appearance, her cheeks were slightly flushed.In the past, he always worked hard to get up early, and Aldin was the kind of person who slept until noon. Now Aldin looked at him neatly and said that he slept late. This little thing made him feel embarrassed.

So Winter Thistle immediately changed the subject, and instead answered Aldin's doubts just now: "I'm really not that surprised to see you. I guessed that you would come, but I didn't expect it to be so soon, and I didn't expect you to come in person."

Aldin said: "If I'm looking for another mage, I may send my men or messenger eagles. If I'm looking for you, of course I have to come in person."

This sentence seems to contain something else.Winter Thistle sensed it, but pretended to ignore it.

Dong Ji said: "Go to the study and wait for me, let's talk slowly."

Aldin said: "It's about this time, or we'll go out and eat something."

Dong Ji went to the closet: "Alright. Please go to the study and wait for me."