Unexpectedly, Lin Mengya decisively sent for the families of those women. In a short while, a few men with their faces darkening hurried to the riverside.
However, because they were separated by the river, it was inconvenient for them to talk with each other.
Before long, a few village elders, who seemed to enjoy high prestige, were led to the entrance of the isolated campsite by Li Jia.
Lin Mengya sat there, remaining calm and composed. Her gentle eyes somehow became much sharper.
Meanwhile, the women who had been eloquent a moment ago, were all looking at Lin Mengya with their heads down and maintaining a discreet silence.
“Your Highness, it’s my wife’s fault. Please spare her life for the sake of our baby.”
Compared with the women who were easily provoked, these men were very reasonable.
Apart from anything else, based on the scene in front of them, they could tell that if the babies were really taken away from Princess Yu, there would probably be only one way, that led to death, in front of the babies.
Therefore, the man had to admit his wife’s mistake at the beginning of the conversation. At least, he had to save his wife.
“It’s not that I don’t want to save her, but that she courts death. I had better leave your wife’s business to you.”
Lin Mengya rarely said something so harsh.
However, as soon as she said that, the man’s face was covered with a thin layer of cold sweat.
They had clearly learned about Princess Yu’s heroic deeds.
Now that she said something so harsh, she must have been annoyed by his wife.
He immediately put on a stern face, gave his timid wife a hard look, and then said with a bitter smile.
“You’re right, Your Highness. But our baby is still young. Please forgive her for the sake of our baby.”
In fact, those women were only incited to do so.
They only intended to force Lin Mengya to find out the person behind what had happened to Madam Wu.
Unfortunately, probably because of being restricted by conditions, they used a clumsy tactic.
Lin Mengya was not a sentimental person. If the culprit wanted to knock her down in this round, it was not the best choice to make use of these timid and indecisive women.
As soon as the women’s husbands showed up as she asked, the group of women immediately acted like mice in front of cats. The person behind the scenes probably stamped her foot with fury now.
In a dead silence, no one dared to talk before Lin Mengya said something.
Looking around, Lin Mengya knew that now it was the right time to end the farce.
After pretending to hesitate for a while, she said slowly.
“I can forget what happened today, but if anything like this happens again, your life and death will be determined by fate.”
Lin Mengya spoke slowly, but every word of hers was warning the women.
The result obviously made the women and their husbands feel relieved.
If the women were really driven out, no one knew what would happen to them.
The atmosphere gradually eased.
But before everyone could let out a sigh of relief, a crazy figure ran out from behind the tent.
Lin Mengya looked towards the figure with rapt attention, only to see that the figure knelt down in front of her with a thud.
Meanwhile, the person grabbed the edge of Lin Mengya’s clothes hard with both hands so that Lin Mengya couldn’t move at all at the moment.
Lin Mengya frowned impatiently and looked at the woman kneeling at her feet in confusion.
“Madam Wu, you haven’t recovered yet. What are you doing?”
She asked in a low voice and found that Madam Wu’s face was pale. Didn’t she tell Madam Wu to stay in the tent for a rest-cure as much as possible? Why did Madam Wu appear in front of her at this moment?
Besides, Madam Wu was sobbing in a low voice, as if she had suffered a great grievance.
“Your Highness, I was hurt by someone evil and almost died. Now I have a chance to take revenge. Please uphold justice for me, Your Highness.”
Madam Wu’s words immediately attracted everyone’s attention.
Lin Mengya frowned tightly. Moreover, she had foreseen what Madam Wu was going to say.
But before she could stop Madam Wu, Madam Wu raised her tearful face and said in a loud voice with great grief and indignation.
“Someone saw that it was Madam Xiao who entered my tent that night, and after checking the time, I found it was exactly the time when someone pricked me with needles. So the culprit must be Madam Xiao. However, she is the daughter-in-law of the Xiao family, while I am just a country woman. Your Highness, please uphold justice for me!”
Everyone looked at Madam Wu, who was kneeling on the ground, in shock.
What? It turned out to be Madam Xiao!
Nevertheless, Madam Wu’s words rankled in the minds of the families of those country gentlemen.
It was true that the members of the isolated camp were mostly the mesdames and babies of some high-ranking officials’ families. If what Madam Wu said was true, didn’t they suffer all sorts of injustice here?
Some people suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.
At the same time, the descendants of those notable families felt that they were suspected unreasonably.
All of a sudden, there was a misunderstanding between the two sides, which made it difficult to deal with this matter.
“Oh? Is this true? Do you have any evidence, Madam Wu? If you have any, I will definitely seek justice for you in spite of your identities. Everyone here is a citizen of Dajin. Since you are both citizens of Dajin, you are not classified into an aristocrat and a civilian. If you have any evidence, just show it.”
After Madam Wu finished speaking, Lin Mengya, who had been gloomy, gradually calmed down.
However, Lin Mengya’s calmness made it more difficult for the others to figure out what she was thinking.
Her words were so polite and earnest that it was difficult to find out any slip to retort.
Nevertheless, since Lin Mengya said so, as long as Madam Wu presented the evidence, she would definitely be able to bring down Madam Xiao.
However, Madam Wu raised her head and looked at Lin Mengya with tears in her eyes without mentioning anything about the evidence.
“If you have any grievances, just say it. Besides, so many people around here can bear witness to it.”
The woman, who had just been forgiven by Lin Mengya, stepped forward and tried to smooth things over at this moment.
However, she seemed to be and was actually helping Madam Wu.
Madam Wu looked at her in trouble and then looked at Lin Mengya with fear.
Finally, she seemed to have made a decision, stood up straight and looked at Lin Mengya.
“Your Highness, you said that you would uphold justice for me. However, you shouldn’t have promised me here, while having released Madam Xiao in secret! I know that you have always been close to her. However, if you insist on giving her unprincipled support, I’m afraid that you will let us down.”
This time Lin Mengya was confused by her words.
She had never met Madam Xiao since yesterday. How could she give her unprincipled support?
However, before she could speak, a burst of noise suddenly came from another corner of the isolated campsite.
Lin Mengya turned around, only to see Madam Xiao, with her baby in her arms and a blank look, pushed and walking up to her.
“Your Highness, we just intercepted a woman over there. She said that she got out of the camp under your order, but she was stopped by us.”
An unfamiliar guard came to report. However, at this moment, his words instantly ignited the little bit of dissatisfaction unable to be ignored in people’s hearts like pouring oil on the fire.
Lin Mengya’s righteous image in their minds began to come apart gradually.
If she could not give a suitable answer, no one would remember what Lin Mengya had done for them after today. Everyone would think that she was a muddleheaded person who only harbored those close to her indiscriminately.
It was not until this moment that Lin Mengya clearly realized that the culprit indeed used the vicious tactic perfectly.
Looking at the increasing dissatisfaction in people’s eyes, she knew that if she lost the popular support at this time, all her and Long Tianyu’s efforts would be wasted.
An anxious look gradually appeared on Lin Mengya’s perfect and delicate face.
Madam Xiao came to realize that she seemed to have brought much pressure on Princess Yu.
However, as a woman, she knew nothing about these schemes and intrigues.
In the crowd, under the reproachful and even a little vicious gazes of the crowd, she could only tightly hold her baby in her arms and endure it silently with her thin and weak figure.
But compared with what Lin Mengya was suffering, this was just a drop in the bucket.
All people stared at her with obvious suspicion, blame and even hatred in their eyes. They no longer tried to hide their feelings.
Madam Wu’s tears had won the sympathy of too many people.
But at this moment, Lin Mengya, who remained indifferent, seemed to have a guilty conscience.
Sitting on the stone, Lin Mengya just frowned and said nothing with a gloomy face.
Hearing Madam Wu crying, more and more people somehow felt angry.
They seemed to have confirmed that Madam Xiao was the culprit hurting Madam Wu.
More and more people began to fix their fierce eyes on Madam Xiao, who was also pitiful and innocent.
She looked around in horror and did not understand why these people, who were still as close as relatives last night, now looked at her with disgust as if looking at an enemy.
Surrounded by people, Madam Xiao had no way out at this moment.
But the crowd kept gathering around Madam Xiao intentionally or unintentionally.
The poor woman inadvertently became the public enemy of almost everyone.
“No, we can’t keep waiting here. if it goes on like this, both my cousin-in-law and Mengya will be in danger!”
Outside the crowd, Xiao Yixin was anxious to rush forward to help Lin Mengya out.
However, it was rare that Baili Rui, who had been standing here for a long time, reached out to stop him.
“Sir, why do you…”
Xiao Yixin looked at Baili Rui in confusion, only to see that although the latter looked solemn, he did not show much worry.
