The Dramatic Crown Princess Wants to Poison Me!-Chapter 100: Give It a Try

The villager cautiously reached in and caught one, then closed the cage door tightly, finally opening his palm. The sparrow shook its wings and flew skyward.

It turned in the air, flying towards the southeast.

Just as it flew straight ahead, a sound echoed in the air, a stone shot out rapidly, hitting the sparrow, and it fell to the ground.

Xia Wenjin gave Huangfu Jingchen a thumbs-up, then said to the villager, "The second one!"

There were five in total in the cage.

The villager caught another one, releasing it carefully as before.

The sparrow first swayed in the villager’s palm, then flapped its wings and flew out.

Similarly, it flew towards the southeast.

The third one, under the villager’s watchful gaze, also flew towards the southeast as expected.

...

Someone shouted, "These sparrows have indeed been trained, they only fly in one direction!"

Xia Wenjin chuckled, "You’ve noticed? Now you know why every time the Wang Family makes a fuss, a woman disappears from the village? It’s because someone wants you to focus on the Wang Family, thinking it’s their doing, just a simple trick to disguise their identity and purpose."

"That Liu San is truly despicable, no wonder he suddenly became rich, he sold information for silver."

"Let’s find him, find out who has done such heinous deeds, and where are those girls now?"

"Yes, beat that bastard, that traitor!"

"I think he deserves to be thrown into the river!"

...

Watching the villagers’ angry reactions, Xia Wenjin slowly said, "It’s no use asking him!"

Butcher Zhang had already reached the door, turned back after listening, "Why is it no use? Lord, if he doesn’t know, who will?"

Xia Wenjin shook his head, "Think about it, someone who could orchestrate such a plan, taking away so many women, even the county sent investigators who couldn’t uncover anything, leaving only the belief that the River God took them as brides. Would they easily reveal their location to Liu San?"

Someone asked, "Then what do we do? Liu San must know something, right?"

The village chief also said, "Yes, if we don’t find Liu San, who else do we find? He’s our only lead now, isn’t he?"

Butcher Zhang was so anxious he almost jumped, "Lord, who do we find? My Zhu’er is still in their hands! She’s a young girl..." meaning the longer she’s gone, the worse it is for Zhu’er.

A girl in the hands of bad people faces not just threats to her life.

Butcher Zhang said desperately, "I’ll ask first." As Butcher Zhang went in, a few other villagers also hurried in, all of whom had missing women from their families.

The courtyard echoed once more with Liu San’s wails, but this time, no one sympathized with him.

Xia Wenjin stood at the gate, watching Liu San being beaten by the villagers, as Liu San desperately shouted, "I confess, I confess..."

According to Liu San, when the Wang Family came to River Mouth Village to make trouble that night, he got up in the middle of the night and found shadows passing by his house. Out of curiosity, he followed them and saw someone carrying a sack, which seemed to contain a person.

He was discovered, and those people drew out bright knives. Terrified, he kneel down and begged for his life.

They didn’t kill him, but threatened him that if he dared to speak, they would kill him and his entire family.

According to Zhang San, those people were agile, appearing and disappearing like ghosts. The next night, they suddenly appeared in his room, first assessing which family’s girl looked good, then handed him a cage of sparrows, instructing him to release one sparrow whenever the Wang Family caused a fuss, promising him benefits.

After releasing the first sparrow, he was utterly terrified, especially upon learning another girl had disappeared that day. But the next night, someone came to his house again, telling him his reward was in a stone cave behind his house, and that he could collect it the next day. For special matters, he could throw oil-paper wrapped notes into the river near his home.

The first time he felt a piece of silver in the stone cave, the weight drove away his fear and extinguished his conscience. From then on, he always fetched silver from the cave, and threw oil-paper packages into the river whenever necessary, never seeing those people again.

It turns out Liu San didn’t know who those people were, and the clue was lost.

Yet Liu San deserved death; even a rabbit wouldn’t eat the grass around its burrow, but he harmed the villagers.

Seeing the villagers’ righteous indignation, charging forward to beat Liu San again, Xia Wenjin’s clear voice reached them, "Don’t beat him to death, if you do, it’ll be too easy on him. Keep him alive and send him to the County Government!"

Watching as Xia Wenjin and Huangfu Jingchen turned to leave, Butcher Zhang panicked, "Lord, you’re just leaving, what about my Zhu’er?"

Xia Wenjin said, "We have to look for clues!"

Butcher Zhang said hopelessly, "Are there any clues left!"

"Of course there are!" Xia Wenjin raised the sparrow cage in her hand. There was only one sparrow left inside, and the villager was too quick; had she not been fast, even this one would have flown away.

Butcher Zhang’s eyes lit up with hope, "Are you going to follow the direction the sparrow flies?"

Xia Wenjin said, "I can’t outrun a sparrow, but I’ll follow its lead."

"I’ll go with you!" Butcher Zhang immediately said, "I have strength, let me bring my butcher’s knife!"

"You can’t go!" Xia Wenjin stopped him, "Haven’t you heard? Those people are agile, appearing like ghosts."

"I’m not afraid, Zhu’er is missing, as her father, I can’t just wait!"

Xia Wenjin helplessly said, "Following us will slow us down!"

Although the truth hurts, at this moment, it’s the most useful!

Butcher Zhang paused, stopping despairingly.

Xia Wenjin said to the village chief, "First, send Liu San to the government. You wait here; within three days, you’ll have news."

The village chief quickly nodded in agreement.

Xia Wenjin looked at Huangfu Jingchen, smiled, "Brother Zheng, let’s go!"

Huangfu Jingchen rubbed his arms, murmured, "Don’t call me that!"

The two had already walked some distance in the time it took for those few words. Butcher Zhang saw their quick pace and felt even more despondent.

Xia Wenjin playfully said, "So should I call you Brother Huang?"

"Shut up!" Huangfu Jingchen said with a stern face.

Her voice, whether calling him Brother Huang or Brother Zheng, carried a gentle softness despite her teasingly mischievous tone. Every call from her rosy lips made Huangfu Jingchen’s heart skip.

Her charming eyebrows and playful demeanor were more graceful and bright than that of a girl.

More and more often, he would even blur the fact he was a man, entranced by her radiant beauty.

He had no choice but to wear a stern expression to hide his increasingly rapid heartbeat.