Chapter 265 Producing a Gossip
Long Tianyu already discovered that something was wrong, when he got up in the morning.
The first weird indication was that a couple of his servants were sighing silently, and shaking their heads, secretly.
And the second one was that Lin Mengya was still in bed. She always got up early, in the past.
There were only a few affairs for her to handle personally, but she rarely stayed in bed. So Long Tianyu, who was going to talk over things with the other officials, decided to stay in her room, after breakfast.
But the room was hot, so he moved his writing brushes, ink sticks, paper and inkstones to the pavilion in the yard. When he got there, he came to realize what luxury really was.
Around the pavilion was the hot spring water that flowed in from outside. The heat of the spring water overwhelmed the coldness in the pavilion.
It was no wonder that Qinghu and Lin Zhongyu secretly went to his bathing pool the other day. He saw the results eventually.
Snow had stopped falling. Colorful flowers could be seen. They had made a great effort.
When he returned his attention from the yard to the document, Long Tianyu caught a glimpse of a small head.
He was familiar with the owner of the head. Baizhi, who was always with Lin Mengya, seemed to be looking at him.
Long Tianyu pretended to be going through the document, as if nothing was amiss. But actually, most of his attention was focused on the main room, where Lin Mengya was.
“What is she planning again?”
“Okay, okay, His Highness is reading a book in the pavilion. He’s busy now. Master, do I need to go out and take another look?”
Lin Mengya came to realize that her servants loved gossiping very much.
Last night, she said that there would be a show today. That was when they cheered up, and were eager to know all the details.
Lin Mengya had nothing to do with them. “Don’t they know the fact that haste makes waste?”
“Alright, just stay here and wait. I’ve told an old woman, early this morning, to wait at the door. Don’t worry. You will be the first one to be informed if there’s something. You won’t miss out on anything.”
Baishao pressed Baizhi’s forehead. They were talking so loudly that Lin Mengya could not focus on her reading. But in fact, Lin Mengya sitting by the window, was also waiting, like Baizhi.
Everything was already prepared, and she was just looking forward to the show.
Soon, there came a piece of news. The old woman waiting at the door, hurried to the room from outside. She looked extremely excited, and looked like she picked up a gold ingot.
“Heavens! Big news! Luckily, Master isn’t here. Today, there is a piece of gossip spreading about our house.”
Apparently, the old woman failed to see Long Tianyu sitting in the pavilion, and then vividly recounted her story.
“You know, by Baishao’s order, I worked at the door today. Guess what? When I opened the door, a man who was dressed like a woman, rushed over to me immediately. I thought that not everyone is allowed into Prince Yu’s Mansion, so I stopped him. But do you know what he told me? He said that last night, Miss Jiang went to look for the most popular male prostitute. And what’s worse, Miss Jiang’s fiance likes that prostitute, too. Coincidently, they met each other last night. Hey, he also told me that, when Miss Jiang’s fiance broke into the room, Miss Jiang was naked and holding on tightly to the prostitute. My goodness, both of them then started to fight. As a result, their fight was too violent, and he was told to report here.”
In the yard, that woman was still telling the story, while in the main room, everyone was laughing.
Lin Mengya just turned over the pages of her book, and showed no reaction. But in fact, she felt her anger had been discharged. All of this had been arranged by her.
Her plan was perfect, and no one would know she was the one who had done this.
After all, everyone believed that Jiang Ruqin went to that pimp.
Qinghu told her that the pimp was really enchanting. Although she would not let Jiang Ruqin off this time, she also would not go to that extent.
But something like a push was necessary. She had spent a lot of money on that pimp just for one night. She had to get something back.
Gossip and rumor always spreads fast. Just over breakfast, it had already spread like wild fire all over the Capital City.
The latest news came from everywhere.
Last night, Lin Mengya ordered someone to place Jiang Ruqin on the pimp’s bed, and then to leak the information to her fiance. So there was some ‘catting around’.
That popular pimp was a sort of god son of Qinghu. He was clever, neat, and soon, put all of the contradictions on Jiang Ruqin.
After all, he was paid. He wasn’t actually seducing a decent lady.
When Jiang Ruqin was caught, someone shouted that she must not be a virgin, since she already seduced Prince Yu in his mansion.
On that day, many servants from Prince Yu’s Mansion, also witnessed Jiang Ruqin coming back in a messy dress. News traveled fast, and then Jiang Ruqin became known as some sort of a slut. No one would care whether she was innocent or not.
“His Highness is here now. Master, will he—”
Baiji frowned slightly, and looked at the pavilion as if she was implying something. She said worriedly.
“He won’t . If he would, I’ll take the responsibility.”
Lin Mengya was not worried at all, and actually, she wanted to know whether Long Tianyu would shield his cousin or not.
Other people would never know the truth, but only Long Tianyu would know. If he thought she was wrong, she would take the responsibility and give Jiang Ruqin an account.
Lin Nansheng was right that it was extremely dangerous to enter the Palace. She chose to do this at the moment, because she wanted to test Long Tianyu’s faith in her.
Those old female servants and maids were already talking about Jiang Ruqin.
Long Tianyu sat in the pavilion, and his eyes had a meaningful look in them.
“Your Highness, do you want me—”
Lin Kui was with him and hesitantly asked.
“No. Just tell them to be careful. I don’t want to hear anything about Mengya.”
Lin Kui nodded and felt at ease.
Long Tianyu continued to read, while in his heart, he was silently interested in the goings on.
In fact, yesterday, when he came back, he already heard that Concubine De and Jiang Ruqin had insulted Lin Nansheng. He knew Lin Mengya was a powerful woman, much like a cat.
Anyone who stood against her, had to prepare herself to bleed, at least.
And, he believed that Lin Mengya would not make Jiang Ruqin suffer in such an embarrassing way. But if she wanted to get married, those noble families would not accept her. Jiang Ruqin had to marry an ordinary man, after everything was over.
The Jiang family was already in danger but they did not notice that. If they really had the support from noble families in the court by marriage, the Shanggaun family would soon start plotting against the Jiang family.
“Did she do this deliberately or just scored a lucky hit?” Long Tianyu was not certain.
Lin Mengya was eating sunflower seeds and hearing salacious stories in the Capital City, the whole morning. It was time to do something serious, she supposed.
Jiang Ruqin was living in Prince Yu’s Mansion, so she was sent back here.
At present, it was a mess at Art Courtyard. Prince Yu could not spare the time to deal with these household affairs, while she was Princess Yu and it was her duty to handle it. Concubine De was trying hard to suppress this gossip, but to her surprise, Jiang Ruqin’s fiance took off his gloves, to ask for a justice.
Lin Mengya would not have liked to miss the opportunity to add insult to injury.
“Let’s go to Art Courtyard and have a look.”
Lin Mengya, followed by the four maids, walked out of the Liuxin Courtyard, in a big group.
But someone was looking at her back, with his eyes deep and full of worries.
“Lin Kui, follow them.”
Even Long Tianyu was not clear about Concubine De’s temperament. Recently, she often did absurd stuff.
Lin Mengya’s visit at the moment, might lead to her hatred erupting and earn her more kicks.
Lin Kui nodded and left to follow Lin Mengya.
Long Tianyu returned to read his documents but found it was boring. Last time, Lin Mengya sent Baizhi to ask him to come back, but he was delayed by something else, and failed to return.
This time, he really wanted to see how Lin Mengya was going to take her revenge on her enemy, in words, personally.
An invisible smile emerged secretly at the corner of his mouth.
On the way to Art Courtyard, everyone was talking about the affair of Jiang Ruqin. The gossip spread fast and there were different versions of it.
Lin Mengya had already heard three versions of it. Jiang Ruqin wanted to elope. Jiang Ruqin was too lonely. There was even one version saying that Jiang Ruqin went there, to learn how to seduce a man.
Anyway, all kinds of dirty words were used to describe Jiang Ruqin. All she needed now was a red mark on her breasts and a shame parade.
