However, if she wanted to go out, at least she couldn’t let the spies outside find out about her purpose.
Otherwise, it could give rise to other contingencies.
“It’s going to be the annual Spring Sacrificial Rite a few days later, right?” Lin Mengya rolled her eyes, suddenly turned to look at Qinghu, and asked.
Qinghu hesitated for a moment before nodding his head.
“How time flies. I got married after the last Spring Sacrificial Rite. Unexpectedly, it has been a year. Why don’t we mobilize the members of our mansion for a lively Spring Sacrificial Rite so as to ward off ill luck?” Lin Mengya said with a smile.
The Spring Sacrificial Rite was a special festival of Dajin.
Generally speaking, the Spring Sacrificial Rite was held in the last month of spring when everything came back to life and people started to sow.
At this time, people prayed for favorable weather and a good harvest this year.
As such, the Spring Sacrificial Rite celebration was even grander than that of the Spring Festival.
It would be reasonable no matter how many people came in and out of the mansion when they were preparing for the Spring Sacrificial Rite.
Although the spies were formidable, there were a limited number of them.
Moreover, if she only did some common things every time she went out, they would gradually lose interest in tracking her.
After all, the Spring Sacrificial Rite was approaching, and people jostled one another on the streets and could even lose their shoes in the crowd.
Besides, the Shangguan Family had stirred up such trouble during this period. Part of the spies had to ambush around the Shen’s Mansion and the Shangguan’s Mansion, as common people were not competent at tracking and investigating.
“That’s a good idea. However, we must leave after the Spring Sacrificial Rite. I’ve prepared everything we need on the way, and our followers have found out the whereabouts of the Seven Poisons Sacred Grass. Once we set off, we will arrive there as soon as possible,” Qinghu said.
Although Lin Mengya had been prepared for this, when she suddenly heard that she was really leaving, she had a mixed feeling and showed a bitter smile.
In the end, she swallowed back the words on the tip of her tongue and said with a reluctant smile, “Okay, I see.”
Qinghu, who felt the same way at the moment, sighed and left her quietly.
As Lin Mengya expected, on the second day of the Spring Sacrificial Rite, as the streets became crowded, many of the spies outside the mansion retreated one after another.
It was extremely abnormal, as it was easier for them to mingle with the crowd and watch over her.
However, the retreat of the spies meant that the spies watching over the Lin Family were gradually decreasing probably because of the Shangguan Family, which was in the teeth of the storm.
“Miss! Miss!” There came a voice.
Lin Mengya, who was playing chess with her father in the study, raised her head and glanced confusedly at the maid, who had just run in.
The maid, who showed an anxious look on her flushed face at this moment, was none other than Baizhi, who was fond of eating and gossip.
“What did you hear this time? My father is here. Keep Cool and tell me,” Lin Mengya said.
It was rare for her and her father to have time to sit down and play chess.
Hearing Baizhi shout, Lin Muzhi, who had focused on the game, also looked up.
Although Baizhi had been used to getting along with Lin Mengya causally, she was overwhelmed by Lin Muzhi’s prestige over the years and immediately lowered her head.
After greeting and bowing timidly to Lin Muzhi, she whispered a few words in Lin Mengya’s ear hurriedly.
“Really?” Lin Mengya seemed to have expected this and just asked casually.
At the thought that the news she brought was not shocking enough, Baizhi quickly nodded her head heavily and widened her eyes to make her words sound more convincing.
“It’s just an unconvincing rumor. But don’t disclose your identity outside, got it?” Lin Mengya said.
Many of the spies had left. Besides, her maids, who had stayed in the mansion recently, felt terribly bored indeed.
As such, Lin Mengya decided to stop keeping them in the mansion and allowed them to get in and out freely in the name of preparing for the Spring Sacrificial Rite. However, they were not allowed to mention to outsiders that they were members of Marquis Zhennan’s Mansion.
Her maids hurriedly agreed, especially Baiji, who had sneaked back to the drugstore to visit her parents these days.
Lin Mengya wanted to settle her family members in the drugstore after she left.
But her father wanted to take her brother back to their hometown to stay away from the trouble.
After all, the Capital City was no longer a safe place, but it would be a heavy burden for them to take Baiji and the other girls with them.
By now, Lin Mengya was known to be protective of her companions.
It was hard to say if those people would hurt Baiji and the others after she disappeared.
Moreover, they had to take Moyan with them. It was the best choice to settle them in the drugstore for the time being.
Baiji’s parents were strangers in the Capital City. Under Lin Mengya’s deliberate protection, almost no one in the Capital City knew their relationship with Baiji.
With them, who were reliable, around, she could set her mind at ease.
Baizhi nodded as a hint that she understood.
Watching Baizhi leave while murmuring, Lin Mengya smiled casually and put down a chess piece.
“Ya’er, are you going to keep your conversation from me?” Lin Muzhi asked, not interfering too much in his daughter’s girlish behavior.
In fact, Ya’er had been sensible since she was a child. Moreover, she had become increasingly smart and sensible since she returned to normal from an imbecile.
She would not hide anything he could know from him.
After thinking for a while, Lin Muzhi also put down a chess piece. What was more, his excellent hearing had enabled him to hear Baizhi’s whisper.
“Father, given your excellent hearing, how could you fail to hear it? However, this rumor is implausible and unconvincing,” Lin Mengya said.
Although she appeared to be at a disadvantage after losing a large amount of chess pieces, her father, who made steady moves, seemed to be losing his chess pieces.
Her strategies were cunning and changeable. Although her father met changes with constancy, he still gradually got lost when confronting her, who kept trying to pry into his intention in various ways.
He was like a man walking in the desert. If he got lost, he could only end up being surrounded by the sand and dying in the wild wind.
The game was set.
“A dragon is devoured by a wolf and a tiger. No one other than you can come up with this plan. Nevertheless, aren’t you afraid this trick will be seen through? After all, many people in the Capital City know there is a white tiger and a white wolf in our mansion,” Lin Muzhi said.
Although he was focused on the game, he still hit the nail on the head when giving Lin Mengya advice.
“You’re wrong, there is only a white dog and a big white cat in our mansion. Moreover, Snow and the baby tiger can’t fly, while the good show is put on in the sky. How can our two pets do that?” Lin Mengya said.
In fact, few people could tell whether Snow and the baby tiger were a tiger and a wolf when they were young.
Moreover, after they grew up a little, Lin Mengya locked the two of them in another courtyard for the sake of safety every time there came visitors.
What was more, no one in the Capital City expected that the two of them, that turned over to show their bellies and grunted the moment they saw Lin Mengya, were the real kings of the forest.
Not to mention Zhu Yan’s disdain for them, even Lin Mengya sometimes wondered if they were actually not a tiger and a wolf.
As such, even if some unlucky guys witnessed the fierce fight between them and a dragon in the dark, they probably would not suspect her.
“Alas, what a cunning girl!” Lin Muzhi said helplessly with a sigh.
His daughter completely took after his wife in her way of thinking.
Only she could come up with such a cunning trick and send someone to carry it out.
“Father, you lost!” Lin Mengya lifted her head excitedly, glanced triumphantly at her father, and said.
This was the first time she had defeated her father, a master in chess, in recent days.
Lin Muzhi, who didn’t care much about the outcome, watched his daughter pick up his chess pieces one by one, reached out to pick up the hot tea put aside and said, “His Majesty will probably consider the Shangguan Family as a greater threat. Their Valiant Tiger Army has been famous for being brave and skillful in warfare, and their name as the Hungry Wolf Star will gradually become a thorn in His Majesty’s flesh!” Hearing her father’s words, Lin Mengya lifted her head and looked at her father meaningfully.
She patted the nonexistent dust off her palm and continued saying with a tremendously complacent smile, “Aren’t they powerful and daring enough to exterminate Lord Shen’s family regardless of the consequence that they will fall out with His Majesty? I’d like to see if they can maintain their position after being suspected by His Majesty.”
Perhaps the Emperor couldn’t make up his mind to deal with the Shangguan Family because he suspected that they exterminated the Shen Family.
But now the Shangguan Family, which had led a fierce army, seemed to show a sign of overthrowing their master. In this case, she would like to see if the extremely suspicious Emperor would really smile it away.
Although this rumor could only be spread secretly, the Emperor, who had deployed his spies all over the Capital City, got the news as soon as it went out.
In the imperial study, the Emperor was frowning, while Long Tianyu, dressed in a black court robe, expressionlessly finished reading the secret report presented by a spy.
“Yu’er, what do you think of this?” The Emperor asked.
Long Tianyu, who had stayed up all night, encountered such a thing after hurrying back from the government office.
Despite his indifferent look, when he saw in the secret report that there seemed to be an abnormal phenomenon, where a dragon was devoured by a tiger and a wolf, he involuntarily thought of an extremely charming but cunning person.
Could it have something to do with her?
