The atmosphere in the tent came to a standstill. Faced with the problem regarding Yue Ting, most of the people quietly believed that this was a punishment the heavens had meted out for this lecherous prince.
Lin Mengya remained quietly on her seat. She had just shut up the mouths of King Ming and the Crown Prince by making a few statements.
The two men looked at each other for a moment. Although King Ming was not resigned to the outcome, he could not think of any other way to make things difficult to Lin Mengya. He had to hold his displeasure in.
He had been running his country of the western vassal state the way he wanted over the years. Even the Emperor of Dajin treated him like a brother every time they met.
Never did he expect that he would fall into the hands of a young woman.
“Your Highness, the Crown Prince, the western vassal state guards were stirring up a commotion, pressing Princess Yu to be accountable. They’ve even barged into Prince Yu’s tent!”
An imperial guard who entered the tent abruptly reported to them.
Before the Crown Prince had time to react, Lin Mengya smacked her hand on the table with great force.
“Is this how the royals of the western vassal state conduct yourselves? While one of you is trying to put me down by threats over here, your men are taking the opportunity to break into my tent. Is this justifiable?”
King Ming was stuck dumb by Lin Mengya’s questioning.
What was intended as a confrontation from the leader of the western vassal state, had now turned around. At this moment, Lin Mengya seemed to have the upper hand in the entire matter.
“Father, the Crown Prince, please listen to what Ming Yue has to say.”
All of a sudden, Ming Yue who had blended into the corner of the wall stood up.
She looked towards the direction where King Ming and the Crown Prince with a pair of crescent-shaped eyes, which were so full of life that they seemed to be able to speak.
From the moment Lin Mengya set her eyes on Ming Yue, she knew that Ming Yue was not as simple as she seemed. In fact, Lin Mengya had observed that even the Crown Prince had a second look at Ming Yue because she had such attractive eyes.
“I suppose it’s just a misunderstanding.”
It appeared that nothing could be done to salvage the situation with regards to Hu Lunan’s serious injury.
However, why were the western vassal state guards barging into Prince Yu’s tent?
The sudden turn of events had not just brought distress to King Ming alone.
The composed manner with which Princess Ming Yue spoke did not betray any emotion of exasperation, despite knowing that her brother was severely injured.
“Second Elder Brother is unruly, so it was likely he had offended someone. My father was doing this out of his love for a son. Please excuse my father if he acted impetuously.”
Her eyes sparkled and with gentleness as if there were ripples in her eyes. At the same time, her eyes betrayed a tinge of melancholy, so much so that the people’s hearts were melted, no matter how hard-hearted they were.
With her gentle words, she had provided all three of them a way out of this difficult and awkward situation.
The Crown Prince had long been mesmerized by this beauty, so much so that he could not deny her request.
“What Princess Ming Yue says is right. Perhaps it is all a misunderstanding. Moreover, we haven’t arrived at a conclusion on the matter regarding the Second Prince. If we continue to argue over this matter here, won’t we be giving the perpetrator a chance to cause further harm? What’s most important at the moment is to tend to Second Prince’s injuries.”
The Crown Prince, bewitched at this moment, changed his attitude and began to ease up with his tone of voice.
Lin Mengya laughed secretly to herself but kept her eyes fixed on King Ming, giving him a look which was neither haughty nor humble.
Eventually, King Ming seemed to be distracted by some other matter, and he no longer looked distressed.
“The Crown Prince and Ming Yue are right. I’ve wronged Princess Yu. Please excuse me for my reckless behavior. It was really because of my love for my son that I behaved in this way.”
Lin Mengya knew not to push further since King Ming had backed off.
She nodded her head, but kept her head high with pride, as if she had just made a difficult decision to give in.
“However, we cannot just let go of the matter. It’s good that Prince Yu is here. Since this entire episode had started because of all you, you will be in charge of finding out the culprit.”
The Crown Prince immediately targeted Long Tianhao, who had just entered the tent.
From the words of the Crown Prince, one could tell that he was still siding King Ming of the western vassal state. An idea was conceived in Lin Mengya’s mind almost immediately.
“Your Highness, the Crown Prince, please lay down the reward and punishment clearly so that everyone would be convicted. If my husband finds the culprit, how would you reward him?”
Could he be targeting Long Tianhao, now that he failed to bring Lin Mengya down?
Such a bargain was not possible in the world. The plan of the Crown Prince was obviously not thorough and well thought.
“This…” The Crown Prince hesitated. There was not to be any reward. The Crown Prince was not expecting Long Tianhao to be able to hand over the culprit, then he would make things even more difficult for him.
“If Prince Yu is able to hand over the culprit, I will fulfill any wish he makes. What do you think of this reward?”
Any wish?
Lin Mengya was laughing inside scornfully.
Was the Crown Prince so sure that she was unable to catch the culprit?
“Prince Yu is young, intelligent and talented. I’m sure he will find the culprit. However, if the killer is too cunning, are we going to keep waiting indefinitely for him to be found?”
So he had wanted a time limit.
The Crown Prince pondered for a while and pretended to look as if he was put in a difficult position.
“Alright, the limit will be three days. If Prince Yu is unable to hand over the killer after three days, I would have to interrogate Princess Yu.”
How unreasonable of the Crown Prince! It was obvious that he thought Lin Mengya was the culprit.
Humph! What a despicable approach.
“Alright! Three days will be the limit. If we’re unable to catch the culprit, I would carry the blame, even though I am innocent.”
Lin Mengya had to say the last bit to mock the Crown Prince of his injustice.
By so doing, she stirred up dissatisfaction and doubts about the Crown Prince’s judgment in the many noble families.
No matter what, Lin Mengya and Long Tianhao were the close family members of the Crown Prince after all.
He was willing to sacrifice his close family members for them to be a scapegoat for the sake of his securing some short term benefits. He was so heartless!
Lin Mengya’s words instantly provoked the anger of the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince, in turn, saw the disappointment on the faces of his subjects and was taken aback.
“Since time is running short, please excuse us for taking our leave now.”
Lin Mengya and Long Tianhao exited the tent before the Crown Prince could explain himself.
A feeling of hatred for Lin Mengya arose from the heart of the Crown Prince.
This woman had been upsetting all his plans.
He could not wait to see how Lin Mengya would escape this time!
Lin Mengya and Long Tianhao strode out of the tent one after another.
Long Tianhao had been keeping a straight face all these while as if he was totally unaffected by what happened.
It was only until the two of them had gone out of sight from the Crown Prince that Long Tianhao breathed a sigh.
“Did the Crown Prince make things difficult for you?”
He was initially discussing some matters with Qinghan in his tent when all of a sudden, the guard he put in charge of watching over Lin Mengya rushed over to report to him what happened.
The guard said that Lin Mengya had been brought to the Crown Prince’s tent, where King Ming was as well.
Long Tianhao immediately knew something had gone wrong. He was sure it had something to do with Hu Lunan.
King Ming was a tough person to deal with. Moreover, the Crown Prince had been eyeing on her for a long time.
“No, they are not qualified to make things difficult for me yet.”
Perhaps, the Emperor was aware of the weakness of the Crown Prince, so the Emperor had made an exception and promoted Lin Mengya to be the first-rate consort, which meant that her rank was equal to the Crown Prince’s consort.
For this reason, even if the Crown Prince wanted to convict her of a crime, he needed to hand her over to be questioned by Patrich’s Court.
After the Patrich’s Courts convicted her, she would then be handed to the Ministry of Appointments in Imperial China.
After this, the Emperor had to personally approve and sign the document before she was finally convicted.
The Crown Prince had merely wanted to put Lin Mengya and Long Tianhao down. If he really went deeper, perhaps even the Queen would not have the authority to convict them.
This was of course just speaking theoretically.
The Queen could practically still punish the princess.
“Alright, rest assured that I will find the culprit.”
The worry on Long Tianhao’s face touched Lin Mengya a little.
She did not expect such an impassive looking man to be worrying so much over her.
“I’ve made preparation with regards to the killer.”
Lin Mengya smiled mysteriously, tugged on Long Tianhao’s clothes and walked towards a quiet and discreet corner.
“This…”
This was a tent for storing the grains.
Although it was spacious, it was very basic.
Lin Mengya lifted the curtain to the entrance and in it were a few dancers who were lying there, unconscious.
“They are the dancers entertaining Hu Lunan in his tent that day. You would be surprised to learn their true identities.”
Qinghu was the one who stumbled upon them.
It could be a coincidence, but it could also be someone’s intention that they were there.
These three women were Peach Blossom Dock’s assassins.
Qinghu spotted the sigh of Peach Blossom Dock on them when he was helping Lin Mengya settling these dancers.
He said these were specialized killers belonging to Meimen Department of Peach Blossom Dock.
Not only were their looks alluring, but they were also ruthless when they attack. They specialize in targeting lecherous men.
Now they had been captured by her.
As the saying went that the heavens would not allow even the blind sparrow to starve to death, just when Lin Mengya was about to fall asleep, someone provided a pillow for her to lay her head.
“I see, but what has the Peach Blossom Dock to do with our problem?”
While Long Tianhao listened patiently to Lin Mengya explaining to him the cause of effect of the incident, at the end of it all, he still looked so tense.
Wherever these were assassins of the Peach Blossom Dock, there was bound to be treacherous plots and schemes of murders.
It was very likely that they were on a mission targeting Hu Lunan.
“Are you not afraid they would turn around and point their finger at you? What if they insisted that they did not do it, what will you do?”
Long Tianhao furrowed his brows as his mind searched for a solution.
Lin Mengya let go of the curtain so it fell. These women would not wake up in a few hours since Qinghu had punched their acupoints.
“That would depend on Qinghu. He knew clearly the weaknesses of the killers. As long as we can prove that they are killers working for Peach Blossom Dock…”
“King Ming would be much more desperate than us in taking their lives.”
Nodding, Lin Mengya thought to make other people the scapegoats seemed to do the trick all the time.
Besides, Qinghu had once told her that the Peach Blossom Dock killers were extremely evil and their hands were full of men’s blood.
This was especially true for killers belonging to this Meimen Department. To be part of it, the killers were expected to kill their lovers and close family to qualify.
What kind of savage beasts would even not spare the lives of their loved ones?
For this reason, she was not sympathetic towards them, neither would she think it was a pity to get rid of them.
“I would like us to work together on a plan so that the people who were hiding in the dark and waiting for us to help accomplish their mission, would be exposed!”
