Uncle

After arriving in China, they headed for the Chinese Ministry of Magic, located in Beijing, the capital of Huaxia.

But in truth, "Chinese Ministry of Magic" was merely the European wizarding world's name for the Chinese magical government. In China's magical world, they preferred to call themselves the "Cultivation World," just as Indians called theirs the "Disciple World," Africa called theirs the "Witchcraft World," and even America's Ministry of Magic had to add the word "Congress" to its name.

The Chinese Ministry of Magic was called the "Inner Court." In any case, when he followed his parents into the so-called Inner Court, the magnificent magical facilities and buildings completely overturned Sherlock's expectations. Unlike the British Ministry of Magic, with its gloomy corridors lined with fireplaces, China's Inner Court looked remarkably like an ancient Chinese emperor's imperial city.

The only difference was that every staff member wore neat Zhongshan suits, giving Sherlock a familiar sense of warmth.

After registering their wands, Fumengde also took his family to register as foreign wizards. They received foreign wizard certificates before setting off for their final destination in China.

"The Daba Mountains, Sichuan!"

"I never expected Laike'er to be hiding here!"

It was January, just after Christmas. Unlike England's bleak cold and snow-covered landscapes, Sichuan's beautiful surroundings let Aili truly enjoy the feeling of spring in the air.

"Here... it's still the first month of the Chinese lunar year. Christmas and the Chinese New Year are only about a month apart. As far as I know, they celebrated the New Year just last week, so today should be the seventh day of the first lunar month—January 7th."

Sherlock's family sat in a flying rickshaw. Its appearance resembled the many rickshaws seen in Shanghai, Tianjin, and Beiping during the early nineteenth century, except every puller here was a magical puppet—a humanoid doll constructed from iron and special stone.

They wore broad straw hats. All one had to do was toss Jialong Currency onto the hat and tell them where to go, and the puppets would pull the rickshaw to their intended destination.

Except they did not run on the ground. They ran straight through the sky.

This mode of transportation, akin to a taxi in the magical world, was strictly controlled by the Inner Court of the Chinese Cultivation World.

And ordinary people—right, "ordinary people" was what the Chinese Cultivation World called Muggles.

Ordinary people could not see these rickshaws racing through the sky.

The four members of Sherlock's family sat in the same spacious rickshaw, pulled by two magical puppets in front.

After hearing Sherlock explain the Spring Festival and the joyous holiday people were currently celebrating, Aili could not help asking, "You seem to know a lot about this country?"

"Uh... since I knew we were coming here on holiday, I read up on a lot of books beforehand. If someone greets you during the Spring Festival, you have to say 'Xinnian hao.' It means roughly the same thing as 'Merry Christmas.'"

"Remember, it's 'Xinnian hao!'" Sherlock pronounced those words in Chinese.

"Wow! Brother, look—why do I feel like the villages below are even livelier than the cities? And there are so many red papers pasted everywhere down there."

Seeing his sister's puzzled gaze, Sherlock began explaining the legends of the Spring Festival, spring couplets, and the character for good fortune bit by bit. He also explained that during the Spring Festival, China's countryside actually had a far stronger festive atmosphere than its cities...

"We've arrived at our destination... beautiful Sichuan, the Daba Mountains!"

Though it was clearly January, it felt as though they had entered a primeval forest in spring.

Sherlock could not resist frightening his sister. "As Sichuan's most pristine mountain range, full of wildlife, the Daba Mountains have many unbelievable beasts inside. Aside from tigers and pandas, there are also plenty of magical creatures. Mr. Newt, the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, even spent a whole year in the Daba Mountains while writing his book."

"Wow!" Sherlock found it strange that his sister did not look frightened in the slightest. It seemed that ever since she was little, she had only been curious about ferocious beasts, monstrous snakes, and the like. She really was not afraid of them.

"Aren't you scared? Some of those fierce things eat people!"

"Then, Brother... give me Camilla. Camilla will protect me!"

Sherlock had brought along his pet, Camilla the golden python, on this trip. When Axinsha said she wanted to take her, Sherlock could feel Camilla shudder in his arms as she hissed in snake language, "Don't want to... don't want to!"

"Enough, hurry up and follow us. Axinsha, listen to your brother. This is a very beautiful but dangerous forest. Don't forget that you are all descendants of wizards. Magical creatures are very sensitive to the magic in wizards' bodies."

Fumengde could not help lecturing his two children.

At the same time, his wife Aili cast a concealment charm, a Muggle-repelling charm, and a protective charm on everyone.

It had to be said that in terms of spellcasting and knowledge, Father was far inferior to Mother. But when it came to courage and cunning, Mother could not compare to Father. The two of them truly complemented each other.

Since Fumengde had originally instructed the rickshaw to take them deep into the Daba Mountains, they chose to walk the remaining distance out of fear of exposing his younger brother Laike'er's trail. They proceeded according to the markers Laike'er had provided in his letter.

About two hours later, they finally reached the place where Laike'er had secluded himself.

There stood a tree stump nearly five meters in diameter, severed cleanly across its middle. Where the stump met the earth, its thick roots exposed a black hollow.

From the outside, it seemed unfathomably deep.

And a man who looked familiar yet was actually a stranger stood outside the hollow, waiting for Fumengde's family to arrive.

Sherlock found him familiar because he had seen him in the family photo albums. The man was his uncle, his father's younger brother, Laike'er Mephisto.

Yet he was also a stranger, because Sherlock had not seen his uncle since he was one year old, while Axinsha had never seen Uncle Laike'er since the day she was born.

He had been away from home without news for roughly four years.

"Brother!"

"Big Brother!"

The brothers had not seen each other in four years, so they immediately embraced warmly. Laike'er respectfully greeted his sister-in-law Aili. His clothes were plain but clean, and both his body and appearance were well kept. Even though he had been living in hiding and seclusion, he did not seem to have suffered too badly.

Then he turned his gaze toward Sherlock and Axinsha. His eyes were full of affection for Axinsha, because he had never seen his niece since the moment she was born. This was their first meeting.

Axinsha had always been brave and fearless, though she was somewhat shy. Faced with her biological uncle's affectionate gaze, she bashfully hid behind Sherlock.

Then Laike'er looked at Sherlock with approval and said, "I knew it. You would become the finest man in the family, both now and in the future."