The Dramatic Crown Princess Wants to Poison Me!

Chapter 116: Chapter 116: I’m Not a Child

Xia Wenjin smiled and said, ”Then thank you for your concern. Let’s talk about this later. Today is the day for casting lots. Hurry up and get ready to go see the excitement!”

As she spoke, she was about to step out when Huangfu Jingchen grabbed her arm and said, ”Wait!”

Xia Wenjin gently pulled away without a trace and said, ”What’s wrong?”

Huangfu Jingchen didn’t seem to mind this small detail. With a somewhat serious expression, he said, ”Last night, I walked around the temple and found some places very strange!”

”How strange?”

Huangfu Jingchen pondered, ”I can’t say for sure, but there are women on this mountain!”

Xia Wenjin paused and said, ”What’s wrong with having women?”

Huangfu Jingchen reminded her, ”This is a Buddhist Temple!”

Xia Wenjin laughed, ”You forgot. Today is the day for casting lots. Many incense guests come early just to draw a lot today. Quite a few people even stay at the temple.”

”They are not staying here!”

”Naturally, this is where the men stay. It would be chaotic for women to stay here, so there must be another place!” Xia Wenjin still found it normal.

Huangfu Jingchen, seeing Xia Wenjin’s indifferent attitude, anxiously said, ”But, but... those don’t look like... decent people!”

Xia Wenjin’s eyes flashed. She turned to Huangfu Jingchen, winked, and said playfully, ”Oh, Brother Zheng, you can tell at a glance who is not decent? Tell me, what does ’not decent’ mean?”

Huangfu Jingchen’s expression turned slightly cold, ”You don’t believe me?”

Xia Wenjin laughed, ”I do, but hearing the words ’not decent’ from your mouth is so novel that I want to understand more deeply!”

Huangfu Jingchen looked at her with a hint of doubt in his eyes and said, ”All this time, haven’t you been treating me like a child?”

She looked at him with a mix of jest, teasing, and a hint of the elder looking at the younger.

Though she sometimes acted recklessly, her intentional and unintentional actions often placed her ahead of him, as if protecting him like an elder would a junior.

Even though she behaved casually and joked wildly, she was very restrained and distant when something serious happened.

”Uh...” Xia Wenjin paused, thinking carefully, and realized it was true. After all, when she died in her past life, she was twenty-five. Looking at an eighteen-year-old man now, wouldn’t she see him as a child? But in reality, she isn’t even sixteen yet.

Seeing her hesitation, Huangfu Jingchen coldly said, ”I’m not a child anymore.”

Xia Wenjin was slightly taken aback, looked at his resolute eyes, and considered her own mindset. She felt a bit inappropriate. She awkwardly tried to explain, ”Well... maybe it’s because I am very experienced in the Jianghu, and you’re new to the world, so many things are unfamiliar, causing me to have this thought. Just a little, just a little bit!”

Huangfu Jingchen had nothing to say. Being new to the world, he had been deceived even out of his clothes by her, embarrassed in every way. No wonder in her eyes he seemed as naive as a child?

Seeing his displeased face, Xia Wenjin quickly added, ”Actually, you are quite impressive. With my experience in the Jianghu, not many people can catch up with me if I decide to escape. Yet, you managed to chase me across hundreds of miles without losing track. I was preconceived. Rest assured, it won’t happen again in the future!”

With her words, Huangfu Jingchen’s expression softened a bit, though his mood remained somewhat low.

Xia Wenjin’s eyes blinked rapidly, her pupils darted around. She leaned closer, tugging at his sleeve, and said, ”Tell me, what did you find?”

Huangfu Jingchen turned his head, seeing her bright eyes looking at him. It was no longer an adult looking at a child, but with curiosity, inquiry, and a hint of appeasement, asking for a ceasefire. His mood quickly calmed, and he said, ”Last night, I was just looking around without any purpose, but on the roof of one house, I vaguely heard laughter, women’s laughter. It’s normal for female incense guests to come and stay as the lot-drawing day approaches, but I felt that laughter was far too improper for a Buddhist Temple, so I went to investigate. I remember it was northeast, in one of the Zen Temples, there were four or five women, dressed... seductively, behaving frivolously, laughing wantonly, like... people from a brothel. There were also men’s voices inside...

Xia Wenjin pondered, ”Though some may bring their families to draw lots, there shouldn’t be such audacious flirting in a temple. That is indeed odd, but...” She paused, looking at Huangfu Jingchen, ”The person we’re looking for definitely isn’t among them!”

Huangfu Jingchen asked, ”Why?”

”The missing village women were all daughters of ordinary farmers. They wouldn’t be able to act so brazenly, dressed seductively, and behave frivolously, serving others actively,” Xia Wenjin explained.

Huangfu Jingchen nodded seriously, ”So, there are only two possibilities. Either someone indeed brought their family but ignored the temple’s sanctity, or those women were originally from a brothel, brought up the mountain.”

Xia Wenjin’s eyes flickered with light, but she looked at Huangfu Jingchen and asked, ”So you’re suggesting...”

Huangfu Jingchen’s face turned even more serious as he said slowly, ”This Shian Temple is renowned and should be a solemn and orderly temple. If our suspicion is true, there are only two possibilities. Either someone in the temple is breaking the rules, and the management is chaotic, allowing mischief-makers an opportunity, or... the entire temple has issues!”

Xia Wenjin’s eyes deepened as she nodded solemnly, ”Let’s investigate carefully. But for now, let’s go see the lot-drawing event first.”

Huangfu Jingchen lowered his eyes and saw a hint of a smile in Xia Wenjin’s. But it was no longer a teasing, playful smile, but one of equality, seeking his opinion, making the gloom and discontent he felt from being treated like a child vanish, his mood brightened.

In fact, he had said those words earlier partly because Xia Wenjin’s attitude made him slightly displeased, but also because his mindset had changed; he didn’t want to be underestimated by her.

He understood very well that the reason Xia Wenjin treated him like a junior was that some of his behaviors, in her eyes, seemed childish.

After all, in front of someone with rich experience and knowledge of the Jianghu, his actions as a newcomer must appear very naive.

He would work hard to change her perception of him.

He didn’t want to be seen as a junior, a child, or an immature person. Therefore, he needed to ensure his behavior was no longer simple and naive.