“What’s the matter?”
Long Tianyu involuntarily softened his voice, as if fearful of scaring Lin Mengya.
Long Tianyu didn’t realize that his impression on Lin Mengya had changed a bit again.
Lin Mengya curled her finger. Indulged by Long Tianyu intentionally or unintentionally, Lin Mengya became increasingly audacious.
“Come on. Tell me what did you do to the man?”
As soon as Long Tianyu stood in front of Lin Mengya, the girl pounced on him.
He reflexively caught her slender figure and let her hang herself on him like a monkey.
“Which man?”
His deep voice came into Lin Mengya’s ear.
Lin Mengya only felt an itch on her back and all of her strength seemed to be depleted.
She really adored Long Tianyu’s addictive voice which was as deep and magnificent as cello music.
It was a pity that this guy had never spoken honeyed words.
Otherwise, his charm must be doubled.
“The man we found in the farmhouse where Hongyu was detained! You didn’t kill him, did you?”
Lin Mengya refused to get off Long Tianyu. She poked Long Tianyu’s chest with her left hand, feigned a serious face and questioned him.
Long Tianyu enjoyed seeing her acting rascally in this way. Anyway he didn’t find her heavy, so he just kept holding her in his arms.
“He’s just a pawn, and doesn’t know much.”
Long Tianyu would certainly not miss this opportunity easily.
The man driven by lust had certainly experienced the darkest time of his life.
Before Long Tianyu’s lackeys tortured him, he had told them everything he knew without holding anything back.
“I knew it. But didn’t he tell anything useful? Are you sure?”
Lin Mengya didn’t believe it. She glared at Long Tianyu with her big eyes full of doubts and pouted, obviously not satisfied with his answer.
After a moment, Long Tianyu failed to resist and could only give in. He shook his head helplessly. There were fewer and fewer things he could hide from Lin Mengya.
“He didn’t tell anything confidential. But one thing he told is related to you.”
“Related to me? What is it?”
Long Tianyu put her gently on the chair, bent down, and said slowly.
He said that he heard from the inspector that they knew your background long ago, and there must be someone to take your place later. Moreover, they’ve found the witness and physical evidence to prove that you are not Princess Anle.”
Lin Mengya had expected the physical evidence.
But she didn’t expect the witness. In the Jin State, not to mention unrelated people, there were only a few people in her family knew her mother’s identity.
What was more, she believed that those people should be her parents’ trusted followers. Otherwise, when the Empress insisted on granting her father a marriage, she would have not used her mother’s low origin as an excuse.
It could never be faked that her mother gave birth to her.
Therefore, they could only make an issue of her mother’s identity.
“Has it reminded you of any clues? If there some clues, we can take precautions.”
Long Tianyu looked at her puzzled face and suggested.
Trying hard to search for memories, Lin Mengya failed to think of any useful clues, so she could only shake her head.
“No. You know, I wasn’t in charge of the inner courtyard of Lin Family. Now my father is probably the only one knowing my mother’s identity. There’s supposed to be few people knowing what happened more than ten years ago. Besides, my stepmother dismissed plenty of old servants after marrying into our mansion. Even if they are still alive, they should be at least forty or fifty years old now. So I think the one behind the man should have looked for witnesses among them.”
This was the most tricky point. Even Zuo Qiuchen and Zuo Qiuyu had only seen her mother when they were children.
Alas, so tricky.
Seeing Lin Mengya in distress, Long Tianyu couldn’t bear it.
He patted her little head lovingly with his big hand and smiled.
There weren’t many opportunities to baffle her, so he had better not tell her the precautions he had taken.
It was quite a pleasure for him to see her distressed and puzzled face every day.
After taking a rest for the night, they saw Zuo Qiuyu chuckle to himself the next day. Obviously their plan to divert those, who tracked them, worked.
“Why do you show such a wicked smile? Did a beauty throw herself at you last night?”
Lin Mengya couldn’t help teasing Zuo Qiuyu. However, this guy leaned against the window of Lin Mengya’s carriage and whispered.
“Yesterday I saw those pawns directly chase eastward without entering the city. I don’t think they can return in less than three or five months.”
Speaking of the sinister character, Zuo Qiuyu and Zuo Qiuchen could definitely be traced to the same origin.
Zuo Qiuyu must have instructed his lackeys to go to the most perilous places. Now that they knew that they were being tracked by some people, they would probably trap those people on the way.
Meanwhile, Sumei was guarded strictly by their servants. Lin Mengya personally instructed to pick a few sturdy old maids to guard her.
Even if she went to toilet, she should be watched. In no more than three days, Lin Mengya intended to make her suffer in silence and stop making trouble.
She shouldn’t have insisted on following them. She deserved it.
“Let’s go.”
Lin Mengya sat in the carriage and said. The hidden danger brought by Sumei was gone for the moment.
The problems she needed to deal with would probably come one after another.
She was wondering what kind of gift her mother’s family members had prepared for greeting her, their niece.
After leaving the City of Hui, they spent several days on the way and got farther and farther away from Wangtian City.
What Lin Mengya had seen and heard along the way gave her a new understanding of Lintian City.
She finally understood why her cousin Chen could inherit the throne justifiably with the people’s support of the Nation of Lintian.
The folk customs here were opener and steadier than that in the Jin State.
The life here contained a more heroic spirit of making a living at sea. The officials were less influential here, and the system was less feudal than that of the Jin State.
She heard from her cousin Yu that the government imposed a fishing tax on every family which owned a ship on the sea.
However, they had a low income sometimes. If the government insisted on imposing taxes, every household would drive their ship to the sea for tax evasion.
As soon as the cops entered the village, the whole village became empty. If the cops drove a ship to chase them, how many ships could they catch up in the vast sea?
Moreover, the ships of each household were only registered, and were not allowed to be requisitioned or damaged at will.
In this way, the officials collecting the fishing tax humbled themselves before the fishermen, for fear that they would sail away.
Although her cousin Yu told her about it like telling a joke, it revealed the information that the fishermen were not exactly afraid of the officials of the present dynasty.
Despite the disadvantages, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages for her cousin Chen at present.
After all, although he had ascended the throne for several years, his actual control of the Nation of Lintian was far from meeting his anticipation.
During the five or six years, only sixty percent of cities were under the direct control of her cousin Chen.
Moreover, as they approached the old capital, there were fewer and fewer cities under the direct control of her cousin Chen.
She heard from her cousin Yu that most of the officials were appointed by the former emperor.
In this case, the officials were inextricably linked to the old forces in the old capital.
Now she realized why her cousin Chen strove to control the Pavilion of Herbs.
This divided situation would cause major problems sooner or later.
“The boundary of Yulong Prefecture is in front. Let’s be more careful. The governor of Yulong Prefecture is my elder brother’s sworn enemy. In the battle for the throne at that time, if it weren’t for my elder brother’s cautiousness at every step, he would probably have inherited the throne.”
In an instant, Zuo Qiuyu looked a little unnatural.
His eyes were filled with numerous helplessness and resentment, but he could not show them.
A trace of puzzlement rose in Long Tianyu’s heart. If the governor of Yulong Prefecture was qualified to inherit the throne, he must at least be a prince.
However, according to the regulations of officials of various dynasties, the members of the royal family were not allowed to serve as court officials except for their respective fiefs.
Now he became the governor of Yulong Prefecture. Wasn’t it the violation of the feudal order?
Nevertheless, Long Tianyu immediately figured it out. The governor of Yulong Prefecture probably intended to displease Zuo Qiuchen and embarrass him.
“It doesn’t matter. Let’s enter the city.”
In the battle for the throne, the result justified the means. Moreover, with his resourcefulness, it was only a matter of time for Zuo Qiuchen to unify the Nation of Lintian.
What was more, he humiliated Zuo Qiuchen by such superficial and vulgar means, which was enough to show that he was arrogant and not worth fearing.
In any case, if they wanted to arrive at the old capital early, Yulong Prefecture was a must pass.
There was going to be a big event in the Pavilion of Herbs, so the close relatives of all mansions would also pass by here.
Upon their arrival at the City of Yu, the first city of Yulong Prefecture, they saw plenty of aristocrats of the Lintian Nation dressed in fine clothes shuttling in and out of the city gate.
After exchanging glances, both Long Tianyu and Zuo Qiuyu instructed their lackeys to slow down, line up behind the team and enter the city behind others.
They moved quickly. Soon the team of Long Tianyu and Zuo Qiuyu walked to the front.
The soldier guarding the gate looked up at the childe on the horse, and said very respectfully with a flattering smile.
“Mister, I pay you my respects. May I trouble you to show me the invitation for registration, so as not to delay your journey.”
“Invitation? What invitation?”
He had never heard from Zuo Qiuyu that people needed to get in and out of the city with an invitation.
The soldier was tactful, presumably because plenty of big shots had come these days and he did not dare to offend them easily. He had to show a flattering smile and said.
“Mister, don’t make fun of me. It’s the invitation sent by our governor to the governors of all prefectures half a year ago. Mister, did you forget it? Unfortunately, I got the order that no one could enter the city without the invitation.”
