"M-miss, we really mustn't say things like that.
The princes are all precious. How could they possibly drop dead?"
Chun Tao's little face instantly went deathly pale.
Oh no. I'd better tell the main kitchen to prepare a whole banquet of brains for Miss right away.
After being kidnapped, Miss seems to have gone even crazier.
"Then that decent-looking, bullied dead... man we met at the Cloud Fragrance House the other night-has there been any news about him?"
Jiang Yourning couldn't help asking regretfully.
Just what you'd expect from the male lead. Even without the female lead saving him, he still didn't die. What a shame~
"Miss, right now, everyone's only talking about our Jiang Residence and the Duke's Estate."
Chun Tao continued answering obediently.
"All right, I'm going to sleep for a while. Don't disturb me unless I call you. You may go."
Jiang Yourning nodded.
It looked like she would have to find someone well-informed and ask around.
As soon as Chun Tao left, Jiang Yourning swiftly opened the System Shop.
She found the paltry handful of things she had looted from the Duke's Estate yesterday and exchanged them all for points.
Two thousand in total.
Jiang Yourning couldn't help frowning.
"That's it? I barely broke even. What a massive loss."
Fortunately, Jiang Yourning wasn't one to dwell on things.
At least she had earned a little extra after covering the points spent on the invisibility cloak.
No one came at noon, so Jiang Yourning rewarded herself with a luxurious seafood feast she would never even have dared dream of before.
Sea cucumber, abalone, king crab...
After thoroughly enjoying her meal, Jiang Yourning still had plenty left over. She stored it in her inventory, planning to tackle another round that afternoon.
Fifty points for a meal that would have cost tens of thousands in the modern world-Jiang Yourning didn't consider that a loss at all.
After all, money flowed like water in this book's world. It wasn't as though she wouldn't be able to get her hands on gold later.
Over the next two days, because of her kidnapping, Jiang Yourning received the highest level of care and affection in the entire household.
That should have been wonderful, but Jiang Yourning was officially forbidden from going out.
The reason was simple.
Furious over his younger sister's kidnapping, Jiang Li led a squad of men in a search for suspicious people throughout the city and beyond.
Anyone who looked like a bad person was taken straight back to the Court of Judicial Review without another word and interrogated about any crimes they might have committed.
In just a few days, public safety throughout the capital rose another notch.
In the shadowy corners, every illicit operation was forced to shut down. The people who had kidnapped Jiang Yourning had their ancestors cursed going back eighteen generations and then some.
Finally, five or six days later, Jiang Yourning was allowed out.
With Jiang Li personally escorting them, Lin Xiangyin took Jiang Yourning and Jiang Wanrong out of the city in a grand procession to offer incense and worship at Huayin Temple.
I wonder how far the main plot has progressed. There hasn't been any news about that bastard male lead these past few days, either. I wonder if he's as miserable as I hoped.
Jiang Yourning couldn't help sighing. She lifted a corner of the carriage curtain and surveyed the scenery outside the city.
Hearing this, Jiang Wanrong was also taken aback.
She had long since banished the man she had seen at the Spring House that day beyond the nine heavens.
Why was her little sister bringing him up again today?
It seemed her grudge against him ran unusually deep.
After they arrived at Huayin Temple, the abbot came to receive them in person.
Lin Xiangyin took her two daughters to offer incense in the Mahavira Hall and made a donation before agreeing to let them look around.
"Ningning, stay with your sister, and don't cause any trouble."
Before letting her daughters leave, Lin Xiangyin reminded them once more, still uneasy.
"Don't worry, Mother. We'll find a little monk to guide us. Nothing will happen."
Jiang Yourning smiled, her eyes curving into crescents.
As a corporate drudge who had worked herself to the bone and visited a temple every year to burn incense and pray, Jiang Yourning felt coming here was no different from coming home.
It simply couldn't have felt more welcoming.
Master Yuanji, the kindly-looking abbot, spoke slowly:
"Amitabha. Please rest assured, benefactor. This humble monk has arranged for his youngest disciple to accompany the two young benefactors on their walk. Nothing untoward will happen."
"Then I'm sorry for the trouble, Master."
Lin Xiangyin's tone was unusually gentle. She looked no different from the poised, distinguished mistresses of other noble households.
Jiang Yourning and Jiang Wanrong walked out of the Mahavira Hall to find a sweet, adorable Novice Monk waiting at the entrance.
"Where would you two benefactors like to go? I'll show you around."
The Novice Monk grinned, looking impossibly endearing.
With a cute little boy suddenly appearing before her, his smooth bald scalp gleaming in the sunlight, Jiang Yourning could hardly look away.
They say a bald head is the true test of a handsome man. Who knew it worked on little tykes too?
"How old are you this year, little monk?"
Jiang Yourning chuckled and, unable to restrain her wicked claws, pinched the Novice Monk's cheeks.
Oho, these feel lovely. So springy and bouncy, just packed with collagen.
"Five yearsh old. Men and women mushtn't touch. Lady benefactor, pleash behave yourshelf."
With his cheeks being pinched, the Novice Monk squeezed out those words.
"All right, tell me your name, and big sister will let go."
Jiang Yourning smiled, her eyes curving into crescents.
"Wu... Wukong."
This time, the Novice Monk managed to pronounce his name fairly clearly.
Jiang Yourning's hand froze, and she quickly released him. Though she was still joking, she hastily backed up two steps, nearly landing on her backside.
"Wukong, do you happen to have a junior fellow disciple named Wuneng?"
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