As Jiang Si reacted, Jiang Zhan’s heart sank. He slammed his fist on the table, exclaiming, “How could such a fiasco occur with high-quality vegetarian cuisine? I’ll go settle accounts with those baldy monks!”
“Second Brother Jiang, please calm down,” Jiang Zhan’s temple throbbed with anger as he replied, “Seventh Brother Yu, why are you stopping me? Their food reeks of decay. It’s disgusting! I won’t be satisfied until I give those baldy monks a good thrashing.”
Just thinking about it made his stomach churn again.
Yu Jin glanced at Jiang Si and asked Jiang Zhan with a half-smile, “Second Brother Jiang, can you be certain that the putrid smell in the food comes from animal carcasses, or could it be… human?”
Jiang Zhan froze, his handsome face turning deathly pale after a moment. “Seventh Brother Yu, such jokes can be deadly!”
“Indeed, perhaps someone has already died,” Yu Jin leaned back lazily.
“Wait, let me process this,” Jiang Zhan closed his eyes briefly, then suddenly stood up and quickly walked to the door, closing it. He leaned against the wooden door, drenched in cold sweat.
“Fourth Sister, I really can’t smell anything,” Jiang Zhan rubbed his nose and looked at Yu Jin. “Seventh Brother Yu, what about you?”
Yu Jin shook his head, “I can’t smell it either.” He then gazed deeply at Jiang Si and said without hesitation, “But I believe what Miss Jiang says.”
Jiang Zhan blinked, nearly bursting into tears. Damn it, he believed her too!
“So, you’re saying I ate food cooked in water that had corpses soaking in it?” Jiang Zhan looked at his calm little sister with an expression of near breakdown.
“It’s just a possibility,” Jiang Si said reluctantly.
Jiang Zhan’s eyes lit up with hope, “Are there other possibilities?”
“Perhaps it’s the corpses of cats or dogs…”
Jiang Zhan crouched on the ground, covering his mouth. Just let him die!
“What about the other dishes?” Yu Jin suddenly asked.
Rather than dwelling on the disgust of eating these dishes, he was more interested in understanding what was happening. Of course, the key was that he hadn’t eaten—ahem, such an unkind thought naturally couldn’t be expressed.
Jiang Si picked up a piece of braised tofu closest to her and sniffed it, then put it down and smelled the other dishes one by one. Finally, she stated confidently, “The other dishes are fine. Only the vegetable soup has an odd smell.”
Yu Jin breathed a sigh of relief, “Then let’s eat first and discuss this later.”
Jiang Zhan’s face wrinkled like a bitter gourd, “Don’t mention ‘eating.’ I just want to vomit.”
Jiang Si nodded, “Mm, let’s eat first.” They needed energy to discuss other matters.
The two of them picked up their chopsticks and began eating quietly.
Jiang Zhan stood up, his face devoid of hope, “You two eat slowly. I need to go out and clear my head.”
In the blink of an eye, only two people remained in the room.
Yu Jin put down his chopsticks, “How long do you plan to stay at Lingwu Temple?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Why don’t we go to an inn instead?”
Jiang Si gave Yu Jin a cool look and bluntly said, “Young Master Yu, you’re being overly familiar given our short acquaintance.”
“Overly familiar?” Yu Jin suddenly leaned forward and whispered, “That night—”
“Shut up!” Jiang Si’s face turned red with anger. “Young Master Yu, how are you any different from a scoundrel? Disregarding a lady’s feelings and doing whatever you please. If it were your sister being so casually treated by another man, what would you do?”
Yu Jin stared intently at Jiang Si, suddenly reaching out to hold her hand, asking earnestly, “What are your true feelings?”
Jiang Si was momentarily dazed by his sincerity.
Jiang Zhan pushed open the door, “Have you finished eating?”
Jiang Si tensed up and hurriedly said, “We’re done.” Only then did she realize she had forgotten to withdraw her hand?
Under the table, the young woman tried to pull her hand back forcefully, but the large hand gripped even tighter.
“Not yet finished,” Yu Jin said nonchalantly.
But in his heart, he was overjoyed.
He had a vague understanding of her feelings after that night when he had acted a bit roguishly.
He didn’t believe that a girl with such strong opinions would tolerate a man she didn’t like touching her so casually, as she was doing now.
This girl’s words didn’t match her heart. What would happen if she admitted her feelings for him?
Jiang Si glared at Yu Jin, as if guessing his thoughts, and coldly thought two words: I’d die.
Not only would she die of heartbreak for foolishly falling in love, but she would also meet a bad end because of the damned identity of the Seventh Prince’s consort.
“Seventh Brother Yu, I’m truly amazed. You can still eat in this situation.”
Only then did Yu Jin release Jiang Si’s hand, flashing a brilliant smile at Jiang Zhan, “Well, then let’s stop eating.”
Jiang Zhan was momentarily stunned.
Why smile so charmingly for no reason? His sister was still here!
“I’ve been thinking,” Jiang Zhan analyzed seriously, “since only the vegetable soup has an odd smell and the other dishes are fine, either the water used to make the soup is the problem, or the water used to irrigate the wild vegetables is the issue. What do you think?”
Yu Jin nodded, “Second Brother Jiang makes a good point. However—what does this have to do with us? In my opinion, since the food doesn’t suit our taste, we should leave here as soon as possible.”
Jiang Si rarely agreed with Yu Jin, “That’s right, Second Brother. Since the water here isn’t clean, we should go stay at an inn.”
Her purpose for coming here was clear, and she didn’t want to create unnecessary complications.
Jiang Zhan frowned, “Aren’t you curious? What if someone died?”
Both of them shook their heads.
“Alright then, Fourth Sister, you take a nap, and we’ll leave this afternoon,” Jiang Zhan compromised, seeing no one agreed with him.
Jiang Si stood up, “Then I’ll go rest.”
Yu Jin also stood, “I won’t disturb you anymore, Second Brother Jiang. You vomited so much earlier, drink some hot water and rest.”
“Don’t mention water…”
Jiang Zhan didn’t have the energy to call his servant A-Ji to clean up the mess on the table. After the two left, he simply lay down on the bed and closed his eyes in frustration.
A noise made Jiang Zhan open his eyes.
Before him stood a woman with disheveled hair, her body dripping wet.
“Who are you?” Jiang Zhan was startled.
The woman raised her pale hand to brush aside the long hair covering her face, revealing a ghastly white, bloated face. She grinned hideously at Jiang Zhan, “You drank my bathwater, so you must take responsibility…”
Jiang Zhan sat up abruptly, gasping for air.
Outside the window, the sun shone brightly at its zenith, but he felt as if he had fallen into an icy pit in the dead of winter, chilled to the bone.
After much internal struggle, Jiang Zhan got out of bed.
He had to investigate; otherwise, he’d never sleep soundly again.
Walking out of the room, looking at the other quietly closed doors, Second Young Master Jiang wiped away a tear.
Of course, they could leave with peace of mind—they hadn’t drunk a female ghost’s bathwater!
The temple was still bustling at this time. As Jiang Zhan walked out, he saw a monk carrying a food box to deliver vegetarian meals to other worshippers.
Jiang Zhan approached him, lavishing praise on the vegetable soup until the monk beamed with joy. Then he seized the opportunity to ask, “Besides the wild vegetables being delicious on their own, perhaps there’s some secret to the water used for the soup?”
The monk smiled modestly, “Just as we use spring water to make tea for our esteemed guests, the wild vegetables for the soup are specially irrigated with water from a well dug in the back mountain. That’s why the vegetables taste so good.”
Jiang Zhan cursed inwardly: Damn it, they didn’t wash today’s vegetables!