Xiao Yan rolled his eyes. "Don't talk nonsense. This Duke never hits women."
A-Tuo Jianghua brushed aside the branches and got up on her own. "I'm busy today, I won't argue with you." With that, she ran ahead.
Xiao Yan threw away the branch in his hand and said sullenly, "They really don't know what's good for them." He then followed after him.
The two found the rabbit in a vegetable garden.
The rabbit was lazily grazing on the tender green grass. When it saw the two of them coming, it tried to run away, but Xiao Yan was quick-witted and caught it, lifting it up.
He looked it over from left to right, but found nothing special about this rabbit that it had been given the important task of continuing the family line.
He was about to ask A-Tuo Jiang Hua when he turned around and there was no trace of the girl behind him.
"Wow, what a huge watermelon!" Suddenly, an exclamation rang out from the left front.
A vein throbbed on his forehead. He looked toward the source of the sound and saw Atuo Jianghua squatting in the watermelon patch, deftly picking two round watermelons.
Xiao Yan: "..."
He coughed lightly and reminded him, "Your act of taking without asking is called stealing."
A Tuo Jianghua glanced around and, seeing no one was there, said matter-of-factly, "Originally, I wanted to invite you to have some melon since you helped me find the rabbit, but the Duke of Jingguo is such a noble person, he probably wouldn't bother with it. Forget it, I'll take it back and invite Nong Nong and the Regent to have some."
After saying that, he picked up a watermelon in each hand and swaggered out of the vegetable garden.
Xiao Yan: "..."
As the two reached the exit of the back mountain, Gu Linchao and Wen Nongnong happened to be walking over from the back mountain.
Upon seeing Xiao Yan, Wen Nongnong was quite surprised, "Why is Uncle here too?"
Xiao Yan said with a half-smile, "Of course I came with Hengzhi, but someone was too impatient and abandoned me halfway there." As he said this, he glanced at the person with great resentment.
"You're really shameless. I kindly accompanied you here, and you abandoned me halfway through. How could you do something so heartless?"
Wen Nong Nong understood the meaning behind his words and couldn't help but look at Gu Lin Chao in surprise.
"Your Highness, are you in such a hurry to see Abbot Xuanqing?"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yan chuckled, "Girl, you actually think that Hengzhi's trip is to see that old monk Xuanqing?"
Wen Nongnong's eyes widened. "Isn't that right? Then..." At this point, she suddenly remembered something, shook Gu Linchao's arm, and looked at him questioningly. "So, Your Highness came here specifically to see me?"
Gu Linchao's handsome face flushed. He didn't answer his question, but instead glanced coldly at Xiao Yan. "I didn't ask you to come with me. You insisted on coming yourself. You rode your horse slowly, and now you're blaming others?"
Wen Nongnong immediately chimed in, "That's right, Uncle was clearly bored and insisted on following the Prince. He rode so slowly that he couldn't catch up with the Prince, and then he blamed the Prince for not waiting for him."
Xiao Yan: "..."
Realizing what was happening, he roared angrily, "So, you two are teaming up against me now, huh?"
"No, we were just telling the truth. It's just that my uncle can't stand the truth," Wen Nongnong said innocently.
A smile flickered in Gu Linchao's eyes as he looked down at her. "Let's go."
“Okay.” Wen Nongnong took his arm.
Gu Linchao paused, reminding her, "Nongnong, this is a sacred Buddhist site; you mustn't do this." Besides, there are so many people around.
Wen Nong Nong blinked, then suddenly tiptoed close to his ear and whispered, "So you mean that just because it's not a Buddhist sanctuary, you can do whatever you want with me?"
Gu Linchao: "..."
He didn't mean that.
But the girl's warm breath suddenly entered his ear, making it itch all the way to his heart. For a moment, he forgot to refute her.
Wen Nong Nong took his silence as acquiescence.
She stepped back with satisfaction and said considerately, "Your Highness, please go first."
Seeing the girl suddenly become so considerate, Gu Linchao felt a little uncomfortable.
Looking at the distance that had suddenly widened between them, he felt a sudden sense of loss.
He pursed his lips, but ultimately said nothing, and took the lead.
"Nongnong, Nongnong, look at the watermelons I picked." At this moment, Atuo Jianghua, holding watermelons, came up to Wen Nongnong and showed her the two big watermelons in her arms like a treasure.
Wen Nongnong was quite surprised when she saw it. "Where did you pick it?"
“There are many more in the vegetable garden over there, but I picked the two biggest and roundest ones,” Atuo Jianghua said with a hint of pride.
Wen Nongnong: "..."
I wanted to call her behavior theft, but seeing how excited she was, I didn't want to discourage her. I thought to myself that I would tell Abbot Xuanqing later and give her some more silver to buy the two watermelons.
She took a watermelon from her arms, thought for a moment, and said, "Next time, before you go to pick one, you have to tell the temple manager and get permission before you can go."
Atuo Jianghua nodded, "I understand."
Back at the Zen temple, Wen Nongnong asked Lüqiao to fetch two basins of well water and soaked two watermelons in them, planning to eat them later.
"Why do we give watermelons a bath?" Atuo Jianghua asked curiously.
Xiao Yan, who was playing with the rabbit nearby, twitched at the corner of his mouth upon hearing this and couldn't help but say, "You're so ignorant, aren't you? Have you ever heard of chilled watermelon?"
Atuo Jianghua shook her head, looking completely bewildered. "What do you mean? What is chilled watermelon?"
"Iced watermelon is the best, but unfortunately there's no ice here, so Nong Nong soaks it in well water instead. It tastes better when it's ice-cold. Of course, it's not as good as ice-cold watermelon, but it's still much better than eating it straight away."
Atuo Jianghua was amazed. "I never imagined there were so many rules about eating a watermelon."
Her naive and unworldly demeanor amused Xiao Yan.
But considering she came from Xinjiang, it didn't seem so strange.
While the three of them were enjoying the cool shade under the trees in the courtyard, Gu Linchao sat inside the house, listening to Si Yi report on the events of the past few days.
Speaking of last night's events, Si Yi said somewhat cautiously, "The person behind this is clearly trying to frame Prince Jue. I wonder what their intentions are?"
Gu Linchao already knew the whole story, and upon hearing what he said, he asked, "Why are you so certain that this was someone else trying to frame Prince Jue, rather than Prince Jue himself doing it?"
Si paused for a moment before replying, "The princess said that she was abducted to Juezhou by Prince Jue last time. If he wanted to threaten the prince, last time would have been a perfect opportunity. There's no need to go through all that trouble to abduct her again. Something's clearly wrong. It must be someone behind the scenes trying to frame Prince Jue."
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