The Dramatic Crown Princess Wants to Poison Me!

Chapter 96: Chapter 96: The Village in an Uproar

Xia Wenjin said, ”Is Shian Temple very famous?”

The village chief replied, ”Of course, it’s famous throughout the county. It’s said that in all of Yunfeng County, there are few temples comparable to Shian Temple.”

Huangfu Jingchen said, ”I’ve heard that in all the temples of Nanxia, as long as a monk from Bodhi Temple has visited and recognized it, it becomes a branch under Bodhi, a Royal Temple branch.”

Xia Wenjin laughed, ”Didn’t they say the high monk they found is from Bodhi Temple?” She was also curious if the first line of that poem had anything to do with her name.

Huangfu Jingchen thought for a moment and said, ”Let’s go to Shian Temple tomorrow!”

The village chief was curious, ”You’re not going to negotiate with the River God?”

Huangfu Jingchen replied in a gentle tone, ”That high monk who spoke of the River God taking a wife told us to find him at Shian Temple.”

”Ah? When did he say that?” Didn’t they all not see that high monk?

Xia Wenjin, seeing the village chief’s anxious expression, explained, ”The penultimate characters of that poem spell out: ’Heavenly God River Shian Temple See Me.’ Since the high monk left a message, we have to go and take a look.”

Hearing it was a message left by the high monk, the village chief dared not say anything further, nodding hesitantly.

That night was uneventful.

However, the next morning, River Mouth Village was in chaos.

Early the next morning, Butcher Zhang, with red eyes, stormed into the village chief’s house holding a knife. The big man was in tears.

The village chief frowned, ”What’s going on?”

Butcher Zhang cried with a gaping mouth, his daughter Zhang Erzhu had disappeared the night before.

Someone beside him said, ”Zhang Caifai, I told you yesterday to bring Erzhu here, but you refused. There are government officers here, and the girls brought here are all very safe. You didn’t listen, and now your daughter is missing. Where are you going to find her now?”

Hearing the commotion, Huangfu Jingchen and Xia Wenjin came out and asked, ”What’s going on?”

The villagers discussed loudly about Butcher Zhang’s missing daughter.

Huangfu Jingchen looked at Butcher Zhang, ”What’s the situation?”

”Quickly tell the official what’s happening?”

Butcher Zhang wiped his tears and said, ”Yesterday, I stood guard with a butcher’s knife at Zhu’er’s door all night without sleeping. When I saw dawn, I felt relieved and went to wake Zhu’er up, but when I called, no one answered. I opened the door to find her room empty.”

His eyes were bloodshot as he spoke, both alarmed and heartbroken.

Huangfu Jingchen said, ”Take us to your house to see!”

The village chief asked, ”Lord, should we send these girls back home or keep them here?”

Huangfu Jingchen turned and said, ”Send them back home first and bring them over again at dusk!”

Butcher Zhang, seeing that the other girls were indeed unharmed, couldn’t help but feel sorrowful for his missing daughter as he led Huangfu Jingchen and Xia Wenjin to his house, followed by curious villagers and, naturally, the village chief as well.

Butcher Zhang’s home was in the north of the village, consisting of three mud houses. River Mouth Village had houses built along the river in a disorderly yet organized manner.

When they arrived at his house, his wife had already fainted from crying, and his young son was wailing, the family was in chaos.

Guided by Butcher Zhang, Xia Wenjin went to Zhang Erzhu’s room. The blankets were spread out but not messy, indicating she was taken in her sleep.

According to Butcher Zhang, he stood guard outside the room all night, and his wife stayed with their young son next door, none of them heard any sound.

Xia Wenjin carefully inspected the room, occasionally asking questions to the butcher and his wife.

The villagers whispered, ”The River God is an immortal, of course, he comes and goes without a trace; how could there be any sound?”

”Butcher Zhang is usually fierce, even ghosts fear him, he personally guarded the door, and people still disappeared, this can’t be done by humans, it must be the work of an immortal.”

”Yes, yes, yes, the Wang family indeed is a jinx, drown her in the river!”

”Let’s go, let’s go, we’ll do it together!”

”With the government officer here, it might not be easy!”

”Even with the officer here, didn’t the River God still capture people?”

”Let’s go, let’s go, to Wang Dazhu’s house.”

...

The villagers got louder and were about to leave when Huangfu Jingchen shouted, ”Stop!”

In the end, they feared the ”government officer’s” authority and stopped, but their eyes showed disagreement, clearly indicating that if nothing was found, they would go drown Wang Yue’e and give her to the River God.

Xia Wenjin came out of the room, walked forward slowly, and looked at the villagers with varied expressions, saying slowly, ”Do you really think this is the work of the River God?”

”Of course, it’s the River God, how could it be false? Couldn’t you see, the door was locked, and Zhang Caifai stood guard, where could she have gone? How could she suddenly disappear?”

”The door was intact, but the window was tampered with.”

”The window?” The villagers found it strange, wasn’t the window closed?

Xia Wenjin’s gaze swept over them, ”If it were you, would you not latch the window when you sleep?”

Thinking about it, the villagers agreed it was unthinkable; several young women had gone missing in the village, everyone knew, and Wang had returned to the village causing a scene just yesterday, possibly causing trouble at night, who wouldn’t lock doors and windows tightly?

Mrs. Zhang also said, ”I latched it; I latched the window.”

One villager, unconvinced, said, ”The window was latched, but now it’s open; doesn’t that prove the River God’s divine power? Otherwise, how can something latched from inside be opened?”

”Ordinary people certainly can’t open it, but it’s not impossible,” Xia Wenjin countered, ”You said the River God has great powers, if it really were the River God, he could come and go without a trace, even with the window latched, why open it? This suggests it wasn’t the River God, but a human.”

”Isn’t it unlikely?”

Even the village chief said, ”How is this possible? Wasn’t Zhang Caifai right outside the door, how could he not hear anything?”

Huangfu Jingchen’s voice was cold and penetrating, ”When you came in, did none of you smell a very faint fragrance?”

The crowd shook their heads.

Someone even said, ”What fragrance? There was nothing!”

Xia Wenjin glanced at Huangfu Jingchen in surprise; she had a keen sense of smell and detected it the moment she entered the yard, so she searched the room thoroughly, unexpectedly, Huangfu Jingchen had noticed it too.

Huangfu Jingchen said, ”This suggests there was an anesthetic in the room, which has a very faint smell and, having been aired overnight, is hard to detect.”

Xia Wenjin chuckled lightly, ”Does the River God need to use an anesthetic?”

The villagers looked at each other in doubt.

The village chief, after all, was sharp, immediately caught the key point, ”If it’s the work of a person, and we’ve had someone standing guard at the village entrance all along, doesn’t it mean it’s done by someone from the village?” As he spoke, his gaze swept over the villagers present, his eyes now carrying a hint of sharpness.