Chapter 267: Chapter 267: Drugging

After the punishment was over, Jiang Qin thought she could see a hint of soul-crushing despair in Long Hao’s irritated expression.

Yes, the kind of despair that comes from utter public humiliation.

Everyone was trying to stifle their laughter, and failing miserably.

After the rewards and punishments were over, the director, with a grand wave of his hand, had chairs set up and invited everyone to sample the dishes.

But not many people ate.

After all, most of them weren’t used to dining with strangers. Besides, at this point, no one really had an appetite.

Jiang Qin was also a little tired and was eager to get back to her cottage to wash up and rest.

After Yun Xie snuck in, they cuddled for a while before she started writing, as her novel was still ongoing.

She was currently on the fifth story arc.

She planned to conclude the novel after ten arcs.

As the word count grew and its stats improved, *Strange Tales* began to appear frequently on recommendation lists.

Lately on the Star Network, more and more people had started to discuss what exactly ghosts and monsters were.

[I’m starting to think that Fox Demons are just Beastmen with fox Genes.]

[Not at all. We Beastmen with fox genes don’t have Charm Class Spells, and we certainly don’t eat human hearts.]

[Do people really become ghosts when they die? I got really interested in the topic when Jiang Qin was explaining the Ghost Festival, but she didn’t really talk about it much after that.

She just provided some materials for the Ancient Culture Research Institute to publish, but when all was said and done, they were still just legends.]

[I hope there are ghosts after death, but my rational mind tells me it’s just the wishful thinking of the living who can’t accept it.]

[If ghosts really existed, the world would have descended into chaos long ago. Their powers are so strange and unpredictable.

So, everyone should just trust in science and treat the novel as a story. Don’t overthink it.]

[I bet all these monsters and things were just inspired by us Beastmen.]

[You’d be wrong about that. Anyone who’s looked into the history of the mother planet would know that in ancient times, there were even more legends about ghosts and monsters than what’s in this novel.

I heard there was even a book called the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* that recorded many Alien Beasts.]

…

There were countless reviews like these.

The book sparked the desire in many people to explore the history of humanity on the mother planet during ancient times.

Recently, all the archaeology-related books in the library had been checked out.

There were also people who wanted to find the mother planet and excavate the ruins of its civilization.

Some even went online to call for the old, established families to release their private collections of historical documents, hoping it would help people better understand the past.

And surprisingly, some families actually responded.

The Wen Family, for example, photocopied the contents of several ancient texts and published them on the Star Network.

The information they provided wasn’t very substantial, though.

Jiang Qin was also paying attention to the discussions on the Star Network. After all, she still needed reputation value to get the next compensation package from the system.

Promoting ancient culture was one way she could earn reputation value.

The current progress bar was almost full. She estimated it would be filled after the two shows she had lined up for filming were broadcast.

But she might not have to wait that long. The popularity of *Strange Tales* was on a steady, positive rise, so she might just accumulate enough reputation value from it alone.

***

On the third day of the livestream, Jiang Qin woke up early. It was the designated date day.

She and Jiang Qingfeng were old partners by now, so they were very casual and comfortable with each other.

They planned to walk around the town for a bit, take a scenic Flying Car ride, and then head back.

Throughout the day, Jiang Qingfeng remained a man of few words, but he was very attentive, took good care of her, and even tried to start conversations.

She could tell he’d been working on it.

After dark, they returned to the village.

But they found everyone gathered at the village entrance. Even the Law Enforcement Team was there…

Realizing something was wrong, Jiang Qin quickly went forward, gently tugged on the corner of Ni Jia’s sleeve in the crowd, and asked, “What happened?”

When Ni Jia saw that the person pulling his sleeve was Jiang Qin, his impatience instantly turned to enthusiasm.

“That S-level female drugged Su Haoyang. He’s already been sent to the hospital. The Law Enforcement Team is here to get the details.”

“What?!” Jiang Qin was in disbelief.

“Is… is this for real?”

Ni Jia also found it a bit hard to believe. “I think it’s outrageous too. Everyone knows that female came here for the Young Marshal, but she ended up using an illegal drug on Su Haoyang.

I hear the drug is pretty potent. I don’t know if the hospital can even counteract its effects.”

At this moment, Natalie had completely lost her previous high-and-mighty sense of superiority and was shouting hoarsely:

“I didn’t drug him!! He’s trying to frame me!!!”

“He’s an S-level male, but besides being young, what does he have? I, Natalie, can have any male I want. There’s no need for me to drug him!!”

“He’s just using this trashy scheme to try and marry into my family! It’s a conspiracy!!!”

“But Miss Natalie, our investigation has already revealed that you were the one who purchased this illegal drug. That is a fact.”

’It’s not like she bought the drug herself and had someone else use it to frame her, right?’

So, the members of the Law Enforcement Team all felt that this female from the Empire was just trying to make excuses for her actions.

Although females held a high status in the Interstellar era, an Imperial female drugging an outstanding Federation Beastman was a different matter entirely.

The Federation would definitely see this through to the end!

After all, no matter how great an S-level female was, she had nothing to do with their Federation. But a genius student from Federation University was an asset to the Federation.

“I admit it, I did buy the illegal drug, but I never intended to use it on that pretty-boy male!!”

“Then may I ask, Miss Natalie, what did you intend to use the illegal drug for?” the Law Enforcement Team captain pressed on.

Natalie froze, her face full of grief and indignation, but she didn’t reveal its purpose.

“Miss, if you continue to be uncooperative, we’ll have to take you back to the Law Enforcement Department. After all, what we’ve found is that the amount of the drug in Su Haoyang’s system is the exact amount you purchased.

If you want to prove your innocence, in addition to stating your intended use, you’ll also need to produce the portion you bought.

Otherwise, we will arrest you on charges of coercing a male and malicious poisoning.”

Natalie gritted her teeth and said, “That drug, I bought it for Young Marshal Jiang.

I was supposed to put it in his water yesterday. The plan was for me to bring it to him to drink while he was cooking.

But when I went to use it yesterday, I found the drug was missing! So someone must have stolen it to frame me!!”

“Do you have any evidence, or a suspect in mind?”

Natalie shot Jiang Qingfeng a hateful glare and seethed, “I do!”

“Young Marshal Jiang doesn’t like me. He likes that sickly-looking Federation female.

So I suspect he found the drug I’d temporarily stored in the coffee table cabinet yesterday and decided to get revenge on me!!”

Jiang Qin: ’…Can’t she just make her point without resorting to personal attacks?’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep