After waiting for a while, Aunt Mary came down from upstairs wearing a light gray dress.
She glanced at Anna who looked a little strange, and said to Lu Li, "Let's go, I'll take you to old Henry's place."
Before leaving the house, Anna disappeared and Mary touched the place where Anna had been in surprise.
"Ana, are you still there?"
"Um."
Anna's voice came from the air behind her palm.
The two people on the surface went to the carriage house to retrieve the carriage and drove to old Henry's residence.
The people they are looking for live on the outskirts of Himfast, and most of the people living here are civilians - just like the closer Belfast is to the top of the mountain, the identity of the residents becomes more different.
Ten minutes later, the carriage stopped in front of a house.
Mary stepped forward and knocked on the door. After a while, the door opened, revealing a neatly dressed and anxious face.
Mary and Henry Sr. seemed to have a good relationship. She asked Sr. Henry what happened, and Sr. Henry told her that his son, Henry Sr., had not come back all day last night. He was about to go out to visit the tavern where his son often boxed.
Mary asked Old Henry to take it easy and looked at Lu Li asking if he could let Old Henry find his son first.
Lu Li nodded, indicating that they could go together.
It would be much faster if there was a carriage.
"Thank you so much. You guys are looking for me because you have something to do. I will go with you when I find little Henry."
The father relaxed a little and stepped into the carriage with Mary.
Anna didn't stay in the carriage. No one could see her, but she sat outside the carriage next to Lu Li who was driving the carriage.
After a while, the carriage stopped at the door of the tavern leading to the basement.
Old Henry jumped off the carriage and entered the deepest door below. After waiting quietly for a few minutes, Old Henry returned to the ground with a worried look on his face: "They said Henry left the tavern last night..."
"Maybe you went to play with your friends, young man..." Aunt Mary comforted old Henry.
"No...he never stays out too late."
Mary pursed her lips: "Or maybe he found a girlfriend? Think carefully about whether he has done anything unusual recently."
Old Henry was startled, obviously thinking of something. The worry on his face gradually faded, and he couldn't help but laugh and curse: "This little bastard..."
Mary smiled softly: "He is already nineteen years old. He has reached his age."
"Forget it, let's not talk about that little bastard." Old Henry waved his hand. "Mary, what's the matter with you coming to see me today? You also have a strange face."
Mary looked at Lu Li and found that his attention was not on the two of them. Following his gaze, she saw a dark alley next to the basement bar.
Dark alleys like these can be found everywhere in the city, so there's nothing strange about them.
After a pause, she continued to introduce Lu Li to Old Henry: "This friend has some questions about gardening that he would like to consult."
"You have found the right person. You can't find anyone more professional than me in the whole of Himfast." Old Henry assured him, patting his chest.
Mary also smiled and said: "Except for some big words, what he said is almost true. There are not many people in Himfast who are more professional than old Henry."
An ordinary gardener cannot buy a house.
"Hey! It's not good to tear me down in front of others." Old Henry complained loudly.
Lu Li had already looked away, and after a brief tidying up, he told Old Henry about transporting Annie back to Belfast.
"Belfast...I have been there, when the sea was still blue and the sky was cyan. Sorry, it is easy for people to remember the past when they get older. You have to tell me about the tree in detail before I can judge.
Can it be transported?"
Just as Lu Li was about to speak, Mary interrupted him and said, "Get in the carriage, let's go to Mrs. An Lei's manor."
Old Henry muttered thoughtfully: "Where is it...I probably know which one you are talking about."
They returned to the carriage, and as Lu Li pulled up the reins, the carriage slowly left the basement bar.
And that quiet dark alley.
…
"I came here a year ago, but it feels like I've been away for a long time."
A sigh came from the carriage parked outside the manor gate.
"Since the plants stopped growing, the city has become ugly and ugly, and I have lost my job... That little bastard refused to learn gardening from me before. It seems he is right."
The three people got off the carriage, and the old gatekeeper who had already heard the movement outside opened the door.
Each held an umbrella and came to the Elm Annie. Old Henry looked at the disturbed earth pit strangely, then raised his head and looked at the five or six meter high dead tree.
"Is it alive?"
Lu Li spoke and recounted Anna's question.
"I don't know, maybe alive or dead. You know, you can't see the plants anymore."
Old Henry observed the elm tree and said without looking back: "How do you want to take it back?"
"How to take it back?"
Old Henry turned back to look at Lu Li: "Break off the branches that won't affect you, keep only the trunk and part of the branches and send them to Belfast. Then you can find a truck and take them back."
As he finished speaking, he suddenly felt the coolness seeping into his clothes.
"Besides." Anna, who was hiding in the void, didn't need to say anything, so Lu Li asked directly.
"Keep it as intact as possible and transport it to Belfast. I have a way, but it will be very expensive... That's not right. It should be cheaper. After all, there is no business now."
"When can it be done?"
"Any time. Compared to this, do you have a specific location to put it?"
"not yet."
Lu Li has not decided on the location of the refuge site yet.
"First decide where to put it. A tree must be connected to the earth to survive." Old Henry said a proverb, or the first half of the proverb.
Lu Li nodded, that was all he could do.
He tilted his head slightly and looked in the direction from which the chill was coming.
Mary seemed to feel something and said to old Henry: "Let's leave and let these young people stay for a while."
"Them?" Old Henry muttered strangely, but still followed Mary and walked away. The two figures holding umbrellas walked away.
Anna's words rang in Lu Li's ears: "Do we have to wait a long time?"
"After we get back, we will go to the elm forest." Lu Li said.
"Well... let's go back then."
After a brief exchange, Lu Li walked towards Mary and Old Henry. He told Mary that he should put an oil lamp under the elm tree when night fell - although he was not sure whether this behavior would be useful.
"I will take good care of Anne for you." Mary nodded.
Back outside the gate, Lu Li stood in front of the carriage, thought for a moment and said to Old Henry: "You can go to the police station, where they may know about your son's situation."
Old Henry was stunned. When he wanted to ask something else, Lu Li had already got on the carriage.
Mary was stunned, Anna's farewell voice just now sounded quietly in her ears.
Under the gaze of two complicated eyes, the carriage on the long street disappeared into the rain.