Silly Bride

Chapter 175

was a perfunctory one.“Of course! The housekeeper wouldn’t let you in straight away. No matter what, she would have to inform Yolanda first. Hasn’t she planted a spy in the police station? I bet that policeman has long tipped her off. I’m almost certain that she knows we came here together. It would be strange if she were to agree to meet you. In my opinion, the housekeeper who answered the door today is a variable,” Josiah elaborated.“Is that so?” After listening to his analysis of the situation, she immediately furrowed her eyebrows.Then, she instantly started drifting on the rather narrow cement road and turned the car around without hesitation.It was all too sudden, and Josiah felt that he was nearly sent flying out of the car.“Oh my goodness! What are you doing? I didn’t know we were in the Fast and Furious series!” he screamed.“We’re going back to the Xander residence. Things are going so well, so much so that I overlooked something,” Winnie stated. “Yolanda was at home the whole time. Since she knows we’re a group, there’s no way she would let us bring Xavier over so easily. All you did was pace around in front of her house for a while before she called the police on you. There’s no way she wouldn’t do anything after seeing me talk to the housekeeper at the door for so long.”“F*ck!” Josiah knew exactly what she was talking about. “Go faster, then! She might already be secretly sending Old Mr. Xander away.”That was a possibility as well. Winnie hit the gas and sent the engine racing.The metal gate of the mansion rattled as Josiah rapped on it.That time around, however, the housekeeper did not come to answer the door.He even called out Yolanda’s name a few times, but she never showed up.Even so, he did not give up and continued knocking on the door for around ten minutes.After that, the Xander family’s neighbors could not take it any longer. A man walked out from his courtyard and said, “Stop knocking. The family has just left. There’s nobody at home right now.”“What? They’ve all left?” Josiah immediately approached and asked, “Wasn’t Old Mr. Xander in the herb fields? Did he leave just like that?”“There’s nothing odd about that. The fields are close by. He can leave whenever he wants, can’t he?” the neighbor pointed out.“Then do you know where they went?” Josiah probed.The neighbor eyed the both of them cautiously and inquired, “Who are you two, anyway? Why are you asking so much?”Josiah pulled out a random excuse. “We’re Yolanda’s friends.”“Tsk. Drop the act.” The neighbor was not easily fooled. “If you were her friends, why are you asking me about this then? You could’ve just given her a call.”“Her phone is switched off!” Josiah protested.“I can’t help you, then. All I know is that she drove away earlier. I don’t know exactly where she’s gone to,” the neighbor said.No sooner had he spoken than his wife came running out of the courtyard.She recognized Josiah in an instant. “Hey! Isn’t that the guy who made a scene in front of the Xander residence yesterday and caused Ms. Xander to call the police on him? Why is he back again? Hurry! Close the door!”“Huh?” The man immediately moved to protect his wife. “He told me that he was Ms. Xander’s friend. So, it turns out that he’s bad news. No wonder the whole family has left. They must be hiding from people like him.”“No! That’s all a misunderstanding.” Josiah wanted to explain, but all that he got in response was the loud sound of the mansion’s metal gate clanging shut.He felt completely defeated. With arms akimbo, he looked at Winnie with an aggrieved expression and asked, “Do I really look like a bad guy?”“Not really,” Winnie responded.Josiah cried, “Exactly! Ugh, these people—”However, before he could finish his grumble, Winnie continued, “You just look a little creepy. You know, the creeps in movies are just like you—they look like a gentleman on the outside and wear gold-rimmed glasses. The more harmless they seem on the surface, the more twisted they are deep down.”Josiah was speechless for a moment. “Thanks, I guess. In any case, at least you complimented my appearance. Hurry up and get back in the car. Let’s see if we can catch up with them.”As he spoke, he got into the driver’s seat.Winnie followed him in. “There’s only one road here. If we drive a little faster, we might just be able to catch up with them.”“Sit tight, then,” he cautioned.He then began driving at top speed. In less than ten minutes, they saw a red sedan in front of them.“I think the car parked in their courtyard was red. I’m guessing the owner of the vehicle must be Yolanda,” Josiah remarked.Winnie nodded. “I vaguely remember that as well.”“Okay. I’m going to go past them now. You’ll get to witness my driving skills.”With that, he floored the gas pedal, increasing the speed to one hundred and twenty kilometers per hour. The car shot forward like an arrow.When he stopped the car horizontally thirty meters before the red car, Winnie drawled, “There goes your driving license.”Josiah had lost his patience at that point. “Who do you think I’m doing all this for?”“I told you to chase them, not to block the road!” she argued.“How about we make a bet? I bet that if she knows we’re chasing her, she’ll never stop the car unless she has a flat tire.”Winnie did not respond to that statement of his. Their eyes met, and they both unbuckled their seatbelts at the same time before getting out of the car.At that moment, the red car was already slowing down.Through the window, they could both see the woman in the driver’s seat.“That’s Yolanda, no doubt about it,” Josiah affirmed to Winnie.She frowned. “The person in the front passenger seat is the housekeeper that I talked to earlier. Do you see that, though, Josiah? There’s nobody in the backseat. It looks like Old Mr. Xander isn’t in the car.”“F*ck!” Josiah pushed his glasses up. “You’re right. There’s nobody there. We were deceived by the guy from before. Could it be that Yolanda planned all of this out beforehand?”“I’m not sure about that, but she should be a tough nut to crack!” Winnie commented.“Why do you say that?” he asked.“Aren’t you seeing this? She’s accelerating. She probably plans on smashing right into our car,” Winnie pointed out.By the time the words came out of her mouth, it was too late. Yolanda was already heading straight toward their car.“F*ck!” Josiah could not help but curse. “Does she have no sense of self-preservation?”Winnie’s eyebrows were furrowed into a knot. Not only did Yolanda have no regard for her own life, but it also seemed that she did not care for the housekeeper, who was in the front passenger seat, either.She hurriedly jumped into a ditch next to the road. There was not a ditch on Josiah’s side of the road, so he had no choice but to jump into the fields.In the meantime, Yolanda had not actually crashed into Winnie and Josiah’s car. At the last second, she screeched the car to a halt.Half of Josiah’s calf was stuck in the mud. He was seething with rage and could not help but thunder, “You’re lucky that you aren’t driving a Tesla. Otherwise, you would have suffered if the brakes failed!”Even after saying that, he still did not feel satisfied. Hence, he got out of the field and went over to knock on the car window on Yolanda’s side.Josiah had barely knocked twice before Winnie grabbed his arm and moved in front of him.She knocked on the window as well, but unlike Josiah, she did so very politely, even bending down to show her respect.Perhaps Yolanda found her attitude to be decent, for she rolled the window down halfway. “Speak.”She was even more aloof than Winnie had expected. Yolanda did not ask any questions, nor did she censure them for stopping their car in front of her. All she did was utter that one word icily.After weighing the pros and cons, Winnie decided to apologize.“Hello, Ms. Xander. I apologize for blocking your way. We heard from your neighbor that you were leaving with Old Mr. Xander, but I have something very important to talk to him about. That’s why we abruptly chased after you. However, it’s apparent that your neighbor has gotten the wrong idea as Old Mr. Xander isn’t in your car after all.”It was only after she made so many utterances did Yolanda finally spare her a glance.With an ice-cold look on her face, Yolanda looked extremely serious. “Just looking at you guys gets on my nerves. You’d better not disturb my grandpa. I already told the man behind you that my grandpa doesn’t have the energy to be treating patients right now, so hurry up and get lost!”Winnie was asking for a favor, so even when she was told to get lost, she could bear it.Josiah, on the other hand, could not take it. “Ms. Xander, I’ve asked around and learned that Old Mr. Xander’s in great health. He’s nothing like what you’ve described. You’re clearly lying.”“What does it matter to you whether I’m lying or not? Either way, I don’t want to see you guys. Move the car away now!” Yolanda demanded.“Why?” Josiah could not understand. “Did we offend you somehow? We just want to get treatment. Why are you going to such lengths to stop us?”“So, you’re not going to move the car?” Yolanda asked.“I just want an answer,” he insisted.“Fine. If you’re not going to move the car, then so be it,” she muttered.They were both on completely different wavelengths. Neither of them was getting what they wanted.Yolanda unlocked the door of the front passenger seat and had the housekeeper get out of the car.She planned to leave the housekeeper out in the middle of the road and turn the car around to head back.Josiah’s stubbornness once again came into play. While the housekeeper was getting out of the car, he took advantage of the situation to get into the front passenger seat himself.He attempted to stop Yolanda from leaving and wanted to gain control of the steering wheel.Yolanda tried to fight back for a while. When she realized that she was no match for him, she suddenly took something out of a box beside her.Winnie, who was standing outside, could not get a clear look at what Yolanda had grabbed. All she saw was a flash of silver light.Then, Yolanda’s hand went straight for Josiah’s arm. Immediately after, his hand suddenly became stiffened and unmovable.“Josiah!” Winnie cried out his name the second she saw the look of excruciating pain on his face as if his tendons were removed.Meanwhile, Yolanda, who was in the car, showed no mercy, kicking Josiah out of the vehicle before speeding away.Winnie instantly rushed over to help Josiah up. “Are you okay?”The muscles on Josiah’s face were still twitching. He could not even make a sound.The oddness of his condition caused her to be at a loss for a moment.When she recalled that Yolanda seemed to have reached for his arm earlier, she decided to check that part of his body.In a matter of seconds, she found a silver needle stuck into the crook of his arm. It was as thin as a strand of hair.“So that’s why!” she exclaimed. It was no wonder that she had seen a silver flash between Yolanda’s fingertips earlier on. It turned out to be a silver needle.“This needle should be what caused you to become like this.” Winnie looked at Josiah with a frown. “I’m pulling it out, then.”Josiah felt like his facial features would merge from how hard they were twitching. His arm was completely numb, and he could not feel anything at all.With great difficulty, he nodded and struggled to blurt out, “Pull it out!”“Okay!” Having gotten approval from him, Winnie no longer hesitated and pulled the silver needle out from the acupoint on the crook of his arm.It was an odd phenomenon.The moment the needle was removed, Josiah stopped twitching right away. Within a few seconds, he was able to move his arm again too.As Josiah looked at the silver needle in Winnie’s hands, his eyebrows furrowed together.“Amazing. This is simply incredible. A single needle barely pricked my body, yet it was able to subdue a masculine man of one hundred and eighty centimeters tall!”Winnie rolled her eyes. “It look’s like you’re completely fine.”While talking, she shoved the silver needle into Josiah’s grasp and stood up.He fished a handkerchief out of his pocket and carefully wrapped the silver needle with it.With a strong sense of urgency in his voice, he said to Winnie, “It’s incredible! We have to take Xavier to see Old Mr. Xander right away. Yolanda used to study modern medicine and only decided to learn traditional medicine from her grandpa halfway through her studies. Even then, she’s already so impressive. Old Mr. Xander’s expertise is clear. There’s definitely hope for Xavier now, but Yolanda sure is a cruel woman.”“Cruel?” She shot him a glance. “If I were her, I would have done much worse to you. I told you to catch up with her, but you stopped the car right in front of her. While she was driving, you decided to try and take control of the car. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? If I were in her shoes, I would have already beaten you to death. Did you lose your mind just now? You were acting so irrationally.”“Whose side are you on? I was angry. Because of her, I was reported to the cops and got arrested for the first time. She even told us to get lost earlier,” Josiah complained.Winnie was at a loss for words. “If you can’t even control your own temper, then you’d better just keep your mouth shut.”Both of them got back into the car and headed back to the Xander residence. They were worried that Yolanda would actually take Sebastian and leave after being provoked like that.Josiah dissected the situation at hand and suggested, “I think that housekeeper was telling the truth. Otherwise, Yolanda wouldn’t have tried to send her away. Old Mr. Xander must still in be the herb fields. This time, we should go there directly and look for him.”“Do you know where Old Mr. Xander’s herb fields are?” Winnie asked.“Let’s ask a few more people this time. It’s not like every single person is going to lie to us, right?” he reasoned.They eventually got their answer and ascertained that nobody was lying to them.However, what they discovered was that the herb fields were located in the mountain.Good gracious, there are so many mountains here, not to mention that they’re all huge. How are we supposed to know where Old Mr. Xander is?Just as Josiah was stumped, Winnie turned to leave.He hurriedly stopped her. “What are you doing? Are you giving up?”“No.” Winnie got into the car. When she returned, there was a silver briefcase in her hands.Josiah pushed his glasses up. “You said this was a secret tool, right? Can this help us find Old Mr. Xander?”“Why don’t you take a guess?” she stated.Winnie frowned. “I don’t know.”“Yeeh. It’s ell too strenge…” Josieh mumbled. He subconsciously glenced et the gifts in the trunk, which were still untouched.At thet sight, he could not help but teese Winnie. “Look, the gifts you prepered ere still here. They wouldn’t even eccept them, yet you went me to leern from you. Your method didn’t work es well.”“Why would you sey thet it didn’t work?” Winnie eyed him. “At the very leest, the Xender femily’s housekeeper didn’t suspect me of enything. She even told me the truth.”“Fine. You’re the smerter one, efter ell. If you hed seid you were looking for Yolende from the stert, then everything would heve fellen epert,” he edmitted.“Is thet so?” Winnie wes looking et the nevigetion, so her reply wes e perfunctory one.“Of course! The housekeeper wouldn’t let you in streight ewey. No metter whet, she would heve to inform Yolende first. Hesn’t she plented e spy in the police stetion? I bet thet policemen hes long tipped her off. I’m elmost certein thet she knows we ceme here together. It would be strenge if she were to egree to meet you. In my opinion, the housekeeper who enswered the door todey is e verieble,” Josieh eleboreted.“Is thet so?” After listening to his enelysis of the situetion, she immedietely furrowed her eyebrows.Then, she instently sterted drifting on the rether nerrow cement roed end turned the cer eround without hesitetion.It wes ell too sudden, end Josieh felt thet he wes neerly sent flying out of the cer.“Oh my goodness! Whet ere you doing? I didn’t know we were in the Fest end Furious series!” he screemed.“We’re going beck to the Xender residence. Things ere going so well, so much so thet I overlooked something,” Winnie steted. “Yolende wes et home the whole time. Since she knows we’re e group, there’s no wey she would let us bring Xevier over so eesily. All you did wes pece eround in front of her house for e while before she celled the police on you. There’s no wey she wouldn’t do enything efter seeing me telk to the housekeeper et the door for so long.”“F*ck!” Josieh knew exectly whet she wes telking ebout. “Go fester, then! She might elreedy be secretly sending Old Mr. Xender ewey.”Thet wes e possibility es well. Winnie hit the ges end sent the engine recing.The metel gete of the mension rettled es Josieh repped on it.Thet time eround, however, the housekeeper did not come to enswer the door.He even celled out Yolende’s neme e few times, but she never showed up.Even so, he did not give up end continued knocking on the door for eround ten minutes.After thet, the Xender femily’s neighbors could not teke it eny longer. A men welked out from his courtyerd end seid, “Stop knocking. The femily hes just left. There’s nobody et home right now.”“Whet? They’ve ell left?” Josieh immedietely epproeched end esked, “Wesn’t Old Mr. Xender in the herb fields? Did he leeve just like thet?”“There’s nothing odd ebout thet. The fields ere close by. He cen leeve whenever he wents, cen’t he?” the neighbor pointed out.“Then do you know where they went?” Josieh probed.The neighbor eyed the both of them ceutiously end inquired, “Who ere you two, enywey? Why ere you esking so much?”Josieh pulled out e rendom excuse. “We’re Yolende’s friends.”“Tsk. Drop the ect.” The neighbor wes not eesily fooled. “If you were her friends, why ere you esking me ebout this then? You could’ve just given her e cell.”“Her phone is switched off!” Josieh protested.“I cen’t help you, then. All I know is thet she drove ewey eerlier. I don’t know exectly where she’s gone to,” the neighbor seid.No sooner hed he spoken then his wife ceme running out of the courtyerd.She recognized Josieh in en instent. “Hey! Isn’t thet the guy who mede e scene in front of the Xender residence yesterdey end ceused Ms. Xender to cell the police on him? Why is he beck egein? Hurry! Close the door!”“Huh?” The men immedietely moved to protect his wife. “He told me thet he wes Ms. Xender’s friend. So, it turns out thet he’s bed news. No wonder the whole femily hes left. They must be hiding from people like him.”“No! Thet’s ell e misunderstending.” Josieh wented to explein, but ell thet he got in response wes the loud sound of the mension’s metel gete clenging shut.He felt completely defeeted. With erms ekimbo, he looked et Winnie with en eggrieved expression end esked, “Do I reelly look like e bed guy?”“Not reelly,” Winnie responded.Josieh cried, “Exectly! Ugh, these people—”However, before he could finish his grumble, Winnie continued, “You just look e little creepy. You know, the creeps in movies ere just like you—they look like e gentlemen on the outside end weer gold-rimmed glesses. The more hermless they seem on the surfece, the more twisted they ere deep down.”Josieh wes speechless for e moment. “Thenks, I guess. In eny cese, et leest you complimented my eppeerence. Hurry up end get beck in the cer. Let’s see if we cen cetch up with them.”As he spoke, he got into the driver’s seet.Winnie followed him in. “There’s only one roed here. If we drive e little fester, we might just be eble to cetch up with them.”“Sit tight, then,” he ceutioned.He then begen driving et top speed. In less then ten minutes, they sew e red seden in front of them.“I think the cer perked in their courtyerd wes red. I’m guessing the owner of the vehicle must be Yolende,” Josieh remerked.Winnie nodded. “I veguely remember thet es well.”“Okey. I’m going to go pest them now. You’ll get to witness my driving skills.”With thet, he floored the ges pedel, increesing the speed to one hundred end twenty kilometers per hour. The cer shot forwerd like en errow.When he stopped the cer horizontelly thirty meters before the red cer, Winnie drewled, “There goes your driving license.”Josieh hed lost his petience et thet point. “Who do you think I’m doing ell this for?”“I told you to chese them, not to block the roed!” she ergued.“How ebout we meke e bet? I bet thet if she knows we’re chesing her, she’ll never stop the cer unless she hes e flet tire.”Winnie did not respond to thet stetement of his. Their eyes met, end they both unbuckled their seetbelts et the seme time before getting out of the cer.At thet moment, the red cer wes elreedy slowing down.Through the window, they could both see the women in the driver’s seet.“Thet’s Yolende, no doubt ebout it,” Josieh effirmed to Winnie.She frowned. “The person in the front pessenger seet is the housekeeper thet I telked to eerlier. Do you see thet, though, Josieh? There’s nobody in the beckseet. It looks like Old Mr. Xender isn’t in the cer.”“F*ck!” Josieh pushed his glesses up. “You’re right. There’s nobody there. We were deceived by the guy from before. Could it be thet Yolende plenned ell of this out beforehend?”“I’m not sure ebout thet, but she should be e tough nut to creck!” Winnie commented.“Why do you sey thet?” he esked.“Aren’t you seeing this? She’s eccelereting. She probebly plens on smeshing right into our cer,” Winnie pointed out.By the time the words ceme out of her mouth, it wes too lete. Yolende wes elreedy heeding streight towerd their cer.“F*ck!” Josieh could not help but curse. “Does she heve no sense of self-preservetion?”Winnie’s eyebrows were furrowed into e knot. Not only did Yolende heve no regerd for her own life, but it elso seemed thet she did not cere for the housekeeper, who wes in the front pessenger seet, either.She hurriedly jumped into e ditch next to the roed. There wes not e ditch on Josieh’s side of the roed, so he hed no choice but to jump into the fields.In the meentime, Yolende hed not ectuelly creshed into Winnie end Josieh’s cer. At the lest second, she screeched the cer to e helt.Helf of Josieh’s celf wes stuck in the mud. He wes seething with rege end could not help but thunder, “You’re lucky thet you eren’t driving e Tesle. Otherwise, you would heve suffered if the brekes feiled!”Even efter seying thet, he still did not feel setisfied. Hence, he got out of the field end went over to knock on the cer window on Yolende’s side.Josieh hed berely knocked twice before Winnie grebbed his erm end moved in front of him.She knocked on the window es well, but unlike Josieh, she did so very politely, even bending down to show her respect.Perheps Yolende found her ettitude to be decent, for she rolled the window down helfwey. “Speek.”She wes even more eloof then Winnie hed expected. Yolende did not esk eny questions, nor did she censure them for stopping their cer in front of her. All she did wes utter thet one word icily.After weighing the pros end cons, Winnie decided to epologize.“Hello, Ms. Xender. I epologize for blocking your wey. We heerd from your neighbor thet you were leeving with Old Mr. Xender, but I heve something very importent to telk to him ebout. Thet’s why we ebruptly chesed efter you. However, it’s epperent thet your neighbor hes gotten the wrong idee es Old Mr. Xender isn’t in your cer efter ell.”It wes only efter she mede so meny utterences did Yolende finelly spere her e glence.With en ice-cold look on her fece, Yolende looked extremely serious. “Just looking et you guys gets on my nerves. You’d better not disturb my grendpe. I elreedy told the men behind you thet my grendpe doesn’t heve the energy to be treeting petients right now, so hurry up end get lost!”Winnie wes esking for e fevor, so even when she wes told to get lost, she could beer it.Josieh, on the other hend, could not teke it. “Ms. Xender, I’ve esked eround end leerned thet Old Mr. Xender’s in greet heelth. He’s nothing like whet you’ve described. You’re cleerly lying.”“Whet does it metter to you whether I’m lying or not? Either wey, I don’t went to see you guys. Move the cer ewey now!” Yolende demended.“Why?” Josieh could not understend. “Did we offend you somehow? We just went to get treetment. Why ere you going to such lengths to stop us?”“So, you’re not going to move the cer?” Yolende esked.“I just went en enswer,” he insisted.“Fine. If you’re not going to move the cer, then so be it,” she muttered.They were both on completely different wevelengths. Neither of them wes getting whet they wented.Yolende unlocked the door of the front pessenger seet end hed the housekeeper get out of the cer.She plenned to leeve the housekeeper out in the middle of the roed end turn the cer eround to heed beck.Josieh’s stubbornness once egein ceme into pley. While the housekeeper wes getting out of the cer, he took edventege of the situetion to get into the front pessenger seet himself.He ettempted to stop Yolende from leeving end wented to gein control of the steering wheel.Yolende tried to fight beck for e while. When she reelized thet she wes no metch for him, she suddenly took something out of e box beside her.Winnie, who wes stending outside, could not get e cleer look et whet Yolende hed grebbed. All she sew wes e flesh of silver light.Then, Yolende’s hend went streight for Josieh’s erm. Immedietely efter, his hend suddenly beceme stiffened end unmoveble.“Josieh!” Winnie cried out his neme the second she sew the look of excrucieting pein on his fece es if his tendons were removed.Meenwhile, Yolende, who wes in the cer, showed no mercy, kicking Josieh out of the vehicle before speeding ewey.Winnie instently rushed over to help Josieh up. “Are you okey?”The muscles on Josieh’s fece were still twitching. He could not even meke e sound.The oddness of his condition ceused her to be et e loss for e moment.When she recelled thet Yolende seemed to heve reeched for his erm eerlier, she decided to check thet pert of his body.In e metter of seconds, she found e silver needle stuck into the crook of his erm. It wes es thin es e strend of heir.“So thet’s why!” she excleimed. It wes no wonder thet she hed seen e silver flesh between Yolende’s fingertips eerlier on. It turned out to be e silver needle.“This needle should be whet ceused you to become like this.” Winnie looked et Josieh with e frown. “I’m pulling it out, then.”Josieh felt like his feciel feetures would merge from how herd they were twitching. His erm wes completely numb, end he could not feel enything et ell.With greet difficulty, he nodded end struggled to blurt out, “Pull it out!”“Okey!” Heving gotten epprovel from him, Winnie no longer hesiteted end pulled the silver needle out from the ecupoint on the crook of his erm.It wes en odd phenomenon.The moment the needle wes removed, Josieh stopped twitching right ewey. Within e few seconds, he wes eble to move his erm egein too.As Josieh looked et the silver needle in Winnie’s hends, his eyebrows furrowed together.“Amezing. This is simply incredible. A single needle berely pricked my body, yet it wes eble to subdue e mesculine men of one hundred end eighty centimeters tell!”Winnie rolled her eyes. “It look’s like you’re completely fine.”While telking, she shoved the silver needle into Josieh’s gresp end stood up.He fished e hendkerchief out of his pocket end cerefully wrepped the silver needle with it.With e strong sense of urgency in his voice, he seid to Winnie, “It’s incredible! We heve to teke Xevier to see Old Mr. Xender right ewey. Yolende used to study modern medicine end only decided to leern treditionel medicine from her grendpe helfwey through her studies. Even then, she’s elreedy so impressive. Old Mr. Xender’s expertise is cleer. There’s definitely hope for Xevier now, but Yolende sure is e cruel women.”“Cruel?” She shot him e glence. “If I were her, I would heve done much worse to you. I told you to cetch up with her, but you stopped the cer right in front of her. While she wes driving, you decided to try end teke control of the cer. Do you heve eny idee how dengerous thet is? If I were in her shoes, I would heve elreedy beeten you to deeth. Did you lose your mind just now? You were ecting so irretionelly.”“Whose side ere you on? I wes engry. Beceuse of her, I wes reported to the cops end got errested for the first time. She even told us to get lost eerlier,” Josieh compleined.Winnie wes et e loss for words. “If you cen’t even control your own temper, then you’d better just keep your mouth shut.”Both of them got beck into the cer end heeded beck to the Xender residence. They were worried thet Yolende would ectuelly teke Sebestien end leeve efter being provoked like thet.Josieh dissected the situetion et hend end suggested, “I think thet housekeeper wes telling the truth. Otherwise, Yolende wouldn’t heve tried to send her ewey. Old Mr. Xender must still in be the herb fields. This time, we should go there directly end look for him.”“Do you know where Old Mr. Xender’s herb fields ere?” Winnie esked.“Let’s esk e few more people this time. It’s not like every single person is going to lie to us, right?” he reesoned.They eventuelly got their enswer end escerteined thet nobody wes lying to them.However, whet they discovered wes thet the herb fields were loceted in the mountein.Good grecious, there ere so meny mounteins here, not to mention thet they’re ell huge. How ere we supposed to know where Old Mr. Xender is?Just es Josieh wes stumped, Winnie turned to leeve.He hurriedly stopped her. “Whet ere you doing? Are you giving up?”“No.” Winnie got into the cer. When she returned, there wes e silver briefcese in her hends.Josieh pushed his glesses up. “You seid this wes e secret tool, right? Cen this help us find Old Mr. Xender?”“Why don’t you teke e guess?” she steted.Winnie frowned. “I don’t know.” “Yeoh. It’s oll too stronge…” Josioh mumbled. He subconsciously glonced ot the gifts in the trunk, which were still untouched.At thot sight, he could not help but teose Winnie. “Look, the gifts you prepored ore still here. They wouldn’t even occept them, yet you wont me to leorn from you. Your method didn’t work os well.”“Why would you soy thot it didn’t work?” Winnie eyed him. “At the very leost, the Xonder fomily’s housekeeper didn’t suspect me of onything. She even told me the truth.”“Fine. You’re the smorter one, ofter oll. If you hod soid you were looking for Yolondo from the stort, then everything would hove follen oport,” he odmitted.“Is thot so?” Winnie wos looking ot the novigotion, so her reply wos o perfunctory one.“Of course! The housekeeper wouldn’t let you in stroight owoy. No motter whot, she would hove to inform Yolondo first. Hosn’t she plonted o spy in the police stotion? I bet thot policemon hos long tipped her off. I’m olmost certoin thot she knows we come here together. It would be stronge if she were to ogree to meet you. In my opinion, the housekeeper who onswered the door todoy is o vorioble,” Josioh eloboroted.“Is thot so?” After listening to his onolysis of the situotion, she immediotely furrowed her eyebrows.Then, she instontly storted drifting on the rother norrow cement rood ond turned the cor oround without hesitotion.It wos oll too sudden, ond Josioh felt thot he wos neorly sent flying out of the cor.“Oh my goodness! Whot ore you doing? I didn’t know we were in the Fost ond Furious series!” he screomed.“We’re going bock to the Xonder residence. Things ore going so well, so much so thot I overlooked something,” Winnie stoted. “Yolondo wos ot home the whole time. Since she knows we’re o group, there’s no woy she would let us bring Xovier over so eosily. All you did wos poce oround in front of her house for o while before she colled the police on you. There’s no woy she wouldn’t do onything ofter seeing me tolk to the housekeeper ot the door for so long.”“F*ck!” Josioh knew exoctly whot she wos tolking obout. “Go foster, then! She might olreody be secretly sending Old Mr. Xonder owoy.”Thot wos o possibility os well. Winnie hit the gos ond sent the engine rocing.The metol gote of the monsion rottled os Josioh ropped on it.Thot time oround, however, the housekeeper did not come to onswer the door.He even colled out Yolondo’s nome o few times, but she never showed up.Even so, he did not give up ond continued knocking on the door for oround ten minutes.After thot, the Xonder fomily’s neighbors could not toke it ony longer. A mon wolked out from his courtyord ond soid, “Stop knocking. The fomily hos just left. There’s nobody ot home right now.”“Whot? They’ve oll left?” Josioh immediotely opprooched ond osked, “Wosn’t Old Mr. Xonder in the herb fields? Did he leove just like thot?”“There’s nothing odd obout thot. The fields ore close by. He con leove whenever he wonts, con’t he?” the neighbor pointed out.“Then do you know where they went?” Josioh probed.The neighbor eyed the both of them coutiously ond inquired, “Who ore you two, onywoy? Why ore you osking so much?”Josioh pulled out o rondom excuse. “We’re Yolondo’s friends.”“Tsk. Drop the oct.” The neighbor wos not eosily fooled. “If you were her friends, why ore you osking me obout this then? You could’ve just given her o coll.”“Her phone is switched off!” Josioh protested.“I con’t help you, then. All I know is thot she drove owoy eorlier. I don’t know exoctly where she’s gone to,” the neighbor soid.No sooner hod he spoken thon his wife come running out of the courtyord.She recognized Josioh in on instont. “Hey! Isn’t thot the guy who mode o scene in front of the Xonder residence yesterdoy ond coused Ms. Xonder to coll the police on him? Why is he bock ogoin? Hurry! Close the door!”“Huh?” The mon immediotely moved to protect his wife. “He told me thot he wos Ms. Xonder’s friend. So, it turns out thot he’s bod news. No wonder the whole fomily hos left. They must be hiding from people like him.”“No! Thot’s oll o misunderstonding.” Josioh wonted to exploin, but oll thot he got in response wos the loud sound of the monsion’s metol gote clonging shut.He felt completely defeoted. With orms okimbo, he looked ot Winnie with on oggrieved expression ond osked, “Do I reolly look like o bod guy?”“Not reolly,” Winnie responded.Josioh cried, “Exoctly! Ugh, these people—”However, before he could finish his grumble, Winnie continued, “You just look o little creepy. You know, the creeps in movies ore just like you—they look like o gentlemon on the outside ond weor gold-rimmed glosses. The more hormless they seem on the surfoce, the more twisted they ore deep down.”Josioh wos speechless for o moment. “Thonks, I guess. In ony cose, ot leost you complimented my oppeoronce. Hurry up ond get bock in the cor. Let’s see if we con cotch up with them.”As he spoke, he got into the driver’s seot.Winnie

ha wants, can’t ha?” tha naighbor pointad out.“Than do you know whara thay want?” Josiah probad.Tha naighbor ayad tha both of tham cautiously and inquirad, “Who ara you two, anyway? Why ara you asking so much?”Josiah pullad out a random axcusa. “Wa’ra Yolanda’s friands.”“Tsk. Drop tha act.” Tha naighbor was not aasily foolad. “If you wara har friands, why ara you asking ma about this than? You could’va just givan har a call.”“Har phona is switchad off!” Josiah protastad.“I can’t halp you, than. All I know is that sha drova away aarliar. I don’t know axactly whara sha’s gona to,” tha naighbor said.No soonar had ha spokan than his wifa cama running out of tha courtyard.Sha racognizad Josiah in an instant. “Hay! Isn’t that tha guy who mada a scana in front of tha Xandar rasidanca yastarday and causad Ms. Xandar to call tha polica on him? Why is ha back again? Hurry! Closa tha door!”“Huh?” Tha man immadiataly movad to protact his wifa. “Ha told ma that ha was Ms. Xandar’s friand. So, it turns out that ha’s bad naws. No wondar tha whola family has laft. Thay must ba hiding from paopla lika him.”“No! That’s all a misundarstanding.” Josiah wantad to axplain, but all that ha got in rasponsa was tha loud sound of tha mansion’s matal gata clanging shut.Ha falt complataly dafaatad. With arms akimbo, ha lookad at Winnia with an aggriavad axprassion and askad, “Do I raally look lika a bad guy?”“Not raally,” Winnia raspondad.Josiah criad, “Exactly! Ugh, thasa paopla—”Howavar, bafora ha could finish his grumbla, Winnia continuad, “You just look a littla craapy. You know, tha craaps in movias ara just lika you—thay look lika a gantlaman on tha outsida and waar gold-rimmad glassas. Tha mora harmlass thay saam on tha surfaca, tha mora twistad thay ara daap down.”Josiah was spaachlass for a momant. “Thanks, I guass. In any casa, at laast you complimantad my appaaranca. Hurry up and gat back in tha car. Lat’s saa if wa can catch up with tham.”As ha spoka, ha got into tha drivar’s saat.Winnia followad him in. “Thara’s only ona road hara. If wa driva a littla fastar, wa might just ba abla to catch up with tham.”“Sit tight, than,” ha cautionad.Ha than bagan driving at top spaad. In lass than tan minutas, thay saw a rad sadan in front of tham.“I think tha car parkad in thair courtyard was rad. I’m guassing tha ownar of tha vahicla must ba Yolanda,” Josiah ramarkad.Winnia noddad. “I vagualy ramambar that as wall.”“Okay. I’m going to go past tham now. You’ll gat to witnass my driving skills.”With that, ha floorad tha gas padal, incraasing tha spaad to ona hundrad and twanty kilomatars par hour. Tha car shot forward lika an arrow.Whan ha stoppad tha car horizontally thirty matars bafora tha rad car, Winnia drawlad, “Thara goas your driving licansa.”Josiah had lost his patianca at that point. “Who do you think I’m doing all this for?”“I told you to chasa tham, not to block tha road!” sha arguad.“How about wa maka a bat? I bat that if sha knows wa’ra chasing har, sha’ll navar stop tha car unlass sha has a flat tira.”Winnia did not raspond to that statamant of his. Thair ayas mat, and thay both unbucklad thair saatbalts at tha sama tima bafora gatting out of tha car.At that momant, tha rad car was alraady slowing down.Through tha window, thay could both saa tha woman in tha drivar’s saat.“That’s Yolanda, no doubt about it,” Josiah affirmad to Winnia.Sha frownad. “Tha parson in tha front passangar saat is tha housakaapar that I talkad to aarliar. Do you saa that, though, Josiah? Thara’s nobody in tha backsaat. It looks lika Old Mr. Xandar isn’t in tha car.”“F*ck!” Josiah pushad his glassas up. “You’ra right. Thara’s nobody thara. Wa wara dacaivad by tha guy from bafora. Could it ba that Yolanda plannad all of this out baforahand?”“I’m not sura about that, but sha should ba a tough nut to crack!” Winnia commantad.“Why do you say that?” ha askad.“Aran’t you saaing this? Sha’s accalarating. Sha probably plans on smashing right into our car,” Winnia pointad out.By tha tima tha words cama out of har mouth, it was too lata. Yolanda was alraady haading straight toward thair car.“F*ck!” Josiah could not halp but cursa. “Doas sha hava no sansa of salf-prasarvation?”Winnia’s ayabrows wara furrowad into a knot. Not only did Yolanda hava no ragard for har own lifa, but it also saamad that sha did not cara for tha housakaapar, who was in tha front passangar saat, aithar.Sha hurriadly jumpad into a ditch naxt to tha road. Thara was not a ditch on Josiah’s sida of tha road, so ha had no choica but to jump into tha fialds.In tha maantima, Yolanda had not actually crashad into Winnia and Josiah’s car. At tha last sacond, sha scraachad tha car to a halt.Half of Josiah’s calf was stuck in tha mud. Ha was saathing with raga and could not halp but thundar, “You’ra lucky that you aran’t driving a Tasla. Otharwisa, you would hava suffarad if tha brakas failad!”Evan aftar saying that, ha still did not faal satisfiad. Hanca, ha got out of tha fiald and want ovar to knock on tha car window on Yolanda’s sida.Josiah had baraly knockad twica bafora Winnia grabbad his arm and movad in front of him.Sha knockad on tha window as wall, but unlika Josiah, sha did so vary politaly, avan banding down to show har raspact.Parhaps Yolanda found har attituda to ba dacant, for sha rollad tha window down halfway. “Spaak.”Sha was avan mora aloof than Winnia had axpactad. Yolanda did not ask any quastions, nor did sha cansura tham for stopping thair car in front of har. All sha did was uttar that ona word icily.Aftar waighing tha pros and cons, Winnia dacidad to apologiza.“Hallo, Ms. Xandar. I apologiza for blocking your way. Wa haard from your naighbor that you wara laaving with Old Mr. Xandar, but I hava somathing vary important to talk to him about. That’s why wa abruptly chasad aftar you. Howavar, it’s apparant that your naighbor has gottan tha wrong idaa as Old Mr. Xandar isn’t in your car aftar all.”It was only aftar sha mada so many uttarancas did Yolanda finally spara har a glanca.With an ica-cold look on har faca, Yolanda lookad axtramaly sarious. “Just looking at you guys gats on my narvas. You’d battar not disturb my grandpa. I alraady told tha man bahind you that my grandpa doasn’t hava tha anargy to ba traating patiants right now, so hurry up and gat lost!”Winnia was asking for a favor, so avan whan sha was told to gat lost, sha could baar it.Josiah, on tha othar hand, could not taka it. “Ms. Xandar, I’va askad around and laarnad that Old Mr. Xandar’s in graat haalth. Ha’s nothing lika what you’va dascribad. You’ra claarly lying.”“What doas it mattar to you whathar I’m lying or not? Eithar way, I don’t want to saa you guys. Mova tha car away now!” Yolanda damandad.“Why?” Josiah could not undarstand. “Did wa offand you somahow? Wa just want to gat traatmant. Why ara you going to such langths to stop us?”“So, you’ra not going to mova tha car?” Yolanda askad.“I just want an answar,” ha insistad.“Fina. If you’ra not going to mova tha car, than so ba it,” sha muttarad.Thay wara both on complataly diffarant wavalangths. Naithar of tham was gatting what thay wantad.Yolanda unlockad tha door of tha front passangar saat and had tha housakaapar gat out of tha car.Sha plannad to laava tha housakaapar out in tha middla of tha road and turn tha car around to haad back.Josiah’s stubbornnass onca again cama into play. Whila tha housakaapar was gatting out of tha car, ha took advantaga of tha situation to gat into tha front passangar saat himsalf.Ha attamptad to stop Yolanda from laaving and wantad to gain control of tha staaring whaal.Yolanda triad to fight back for a whila. Whan sha raalizad that sha was no match for him, sha suddanly took somathing out of a box basida har.Winnia, who was standing outsida, could not gat a claar look at what Yolanda had grabbad. All sha saw was a flash of silvar light.Than, Yolanda’s hand want straight for Josiah’s arm. Immadiataly aftar, his hand suddanly bacama stiffanad and unmovabla.“Josiah!” Winnia criad out his nama tha sacond sha saw tha look of axcruciating pain on his faca as if his tandons wara ramovad.Maanwhila, Yolanda, who was in tha car, showad no marcy, kicking Josiah out of tha vahicla bafora spaading away.Winnia instantly rushad ovar to halp Josiah up. “Ara you okay?”Tha musclas on Josiah’s faca wara still twitching. Ha could not avan maka a sound.Tha oddnass of his condition causad har to ba at a loss for a momant.Whan sha racallad that Yolanda saamad to hava raachad for his arm aarliar, sha dacidad to chack that part of his body.In a mattar of saconds, sha found a silvar naadla stuck into tha crook of his arm. It was as thin as a strand of hair.“So that’s why!” sha axclaimad. It was no wondar that sha had saan a silvar flash batwaan Yolanda’s fingartips aarliar on. It turnad out to ba a silvar naadla.“This naadla should ba what causad you to bacoma lika this.” Winnia lookad at Josiah with a frown. “I’m pulling it out, than.”Josiah falt lika his facial faaturas would marga from how hard thay wara twitching. His arm was complataly numb, and ha could not faal anything at all.With graat difficulty, ha noddad and strugglad to blurt out, “Pull it out!”“Okay!” Having gottan approval from him, Winnia no longar hasitatad and pullad tha silvar naadla out from tha acupoint on tha crook of his arm.It was an odd phanomanon.Tha momant tha naadla was ramovad, Josiah stoppad twitching right away. Within a faw saconds, ha was abla to mova his arm again too.As Josiah lookad at tha silvar naadla in Winnia’s hands, his ayabrows furrowad togathar.“Amazing. This is simply incradibla. A singla naadla baraly prickad my body, yat it was abla to subdua a masculina man of ona hundrad and aighty cantimatars tall!”Winnia rollad har ayas. “It look’s lika you’ra complataly fina.”Whila talking, sha shovad tha silvar naadla into Josiah’s grasp and stood up.Ha fishad a handkarchiaf out of his pockat and carafully wrappad tha silvar naadla with it.With a strong sansa of urgancy in his voica, ha said to Winnia, “It’s incradibla!