“I appreciate that you can forgive her for what she had done to you. What’s more, she is a member of our family anyway. I am going to trust you to make the decision on her marriage, and having her marriage planned and prepared by you is a blessing to her. But, Ya’er, I heard that His Majesty is going to choose someone else as the new Princess Yu. Do you know it?” Lin Muzhi said.
He had always shown little concern for everything of his youngest daughter.
Although Lin Mengya thought it strange, she still had to swallow her doubt.
“I know it. Father, don’t worry. I have thought it through. Moreover, although His Majesty wants to choose someone else as the new Princess Yu, I am still the Vice Princess anyway and the new Princess Yu cannot do anything to me,” she said, thinking it was better to keep her and Long Tianyu’s plan secret from her father.
Although her father was thoroughly disappointed in the Emperor, he was essentially a loyal military official, who would probably disagree with her reckless plan.
As such, she, who didn’t want her father to focus on her problem, shifted the topic to her brother composedly. “By the way, father, I have been to the prison to visit brother. Unexpectedly, he told me to turn to his fellow apprentices. How come I was unaware of his experience of learning martial arts outside?”
It had baffled Lin Mengya. Besides, her brother suggested his Eldest Senior Fellow Apprentice betrayed him and caused him to be framed.
In this case, who was his Eldest Senior Fellow Apprentice?
As expected, her father’s face darkened the moment she asked about it.
After looking around alertly and making sure that there was no eavesdropper, her father slowly told her the key point. “Back then, your brother was so young that it was inconvenient for me to take him directly to the military camp. Therefore, he joined the sect of an old friend of mine. This person was proficient in martial arts skills as well as open and aboveboard, so he had plenty of disciples. Nevertheless, he accepted congenial people rather than qualified people as his disciples. As such, he accepted seven disciples in total in the end. Your brother was the second disciple he accepted, and the first disciple he accepted was the heir of Song Yan, Commandery Prince Lian of the Nan’an State. Now, Song Yan and his son have wielded the military force of the entire Nan’an State, and even the Emperor of the Nan’an State has to obey them.”
Lin Mengya was enlightened by her father’s explanation.
If her brother was proved to be colluding with the current power holder of the Nan’an State, he would be convicted of treason.
Moreover, her brother was an old acquaintance of the heir of Commandery Prince Lian of the Nan’an State, which was enough to cause her brother to be slandered.
Ordinary people considered childhood friendship as the most precious, not to mention her brother who was sentimental.
Those people used such contemptible means to set up her brother!
“I didn’t expect this. My stupid brother, who intended to take the blame for this sort of person, is simply the biggest idiot around the world!” Lin Mengya said indignantly.
She handled matters in a different way from her brother.
In her opinion, if someone betrayed her, she didn’t have to show any mercy to the person.
However, her brother always kept others’ kindness to him in his mind and even made concessions out of mercy when he was framed.
It was reasonable for a fool like him to be framed!
“That’s not necessarily true. I heard him mention unintentionally the heir had once saved his life. Nevertheless, Sheng’er was indeed careless on this matter. I have told him to keep their relationship a secret. Unexpectedly, someone still managed to find evidence against him,” her father said.
Speaking of this, Lin Nansheng took after Lin Muzhi in his temperament.
Lin Mengya thought helplessly that she appreciated her family members except for their excessive integrity sometimes.
Then she said, “But father, it’s impossible for others to learn this matter even I was unaware of. So if the news was not leaked by brother, it means that the heir of Commandery Prince Lian of the Nan’an State has an ulterior motive. Those people cooperated with the heir to frame brother as they planned. I’m afraid that it will be difficult for brother to get off. If we want to save him, we probably have to find some clues in the Nan’an State.”
Her brother was upset after being betrayed by his old friend, but more importantly, the heir would definitely produce a series of false evidence to frame her brother.
Moreover, given her brother’s character, he must have let his guard down completely at that time.
In this way, it must be easy for the heir to produce false evidence against her brother.
It would be difficult for them to reverse the verdict for her brother.
“We can’t rush on this matter. I’ve sent someone to pay a visit to the lords today. We had better watch for our chance before figuring out their intention,” Lin Muzhi said.
He was indeed worthy of his reputation as a veteran general who had spent many years on the battlefield. At this time, he clearly knew that more preparation might quicken the speed of their work.
No matter how anxious they were, they could only be fooled around by the wire-puller at the moment.
It was better to start with investigating evidence and think of a way to reverse them one by one.
Lin Mengya said, “Father, you got a point. I was too reckless. By the way, father, what about Madam Qing…”
Lin Mengya had said Madam Qing was no longer a member of the Lin Family, and she meant it.
But they still needed to write a proper bill of divorcement and think of a way to send it to the Shangguan Family.
“She’s no longer a member of our Lin Family, so we have no scruples. Given what she has done, we don’t have to show her any respect!” At the mention of Madam Qing, her father said with a frosty look.
Lin Mengya knew what her father meant, but the Shangguan Family would not accept the bill of divorcement easily.
She said, “Father, you don’t know the Shangguan Family is no longer what it used to be after the master of their family returned. Besides, they came here several times to stir up trouble. I believe that the Shangguan Family won’t let us off easily.”
Lin Mengya had seen through the members of the Shangguan Family after several battles with them.
Both the Empress and Madam Qing were extremely greedy people.
Madam Qing had transferred some of the Lin Family’s assets to the Shangguan Family by making use of her power of running the Lin Family, while the Empress was also overweeningly ambitious and intended to usurp the throne.
At present, others considered the Lin Family was in a precarious situation. If the Shangguan Family did not try to take this opportunity to swallow up the Lin Family’s assets, they would be total fools.
Lin Muzhi said, “I have my ways to deal with it. Ya’er, in fact, I should have told you earlier, but you were so young at that time that it was inconvenient for me to tell you about it. When the Shangguan Family asked me to marry Shangguan Qing, we made an agreement that if she did anything harmful to the Lin Family, I could divorce her immediately. Over the years, she has been increasingly aggressive and domineering, but I tried every means to endure it in order to find out one thing. Now, I have got clues. In this case, I won’t allow the vicious woman to continue staying in our family!”
Lin Mengya was a little surprised when she heard the news.
She did not expect her father had made such an agreement with the Shangguan Family.
But what was the thing important enough to make her father sacrifice his marriage to investigate?
She said, “In this case, it’s easy to deal with it. But I’m confused. I heard that even the Empress failed to make you marry Shangguan Qing back then. What made you change your mind later?”
To be honest, her father did love her mother the most.
But after all, Madam Qing and her father had been married for more than ten years, so she was astonished at her father’s ruthless decision.
Lin Muzhi took a deep look at his daughter, seeming to be trying to see another face deeply rooted in his heart through her face.
He said, “The cause of your mother’s death. Nevertheless, she passed away a long time ago, so although I’ve been trying to find out the truth, I only got some clues.”
The cause of her mother’s… death!
But she clearly remembered that her mother died of metrorrhagia after giving birth, how could it…
No! Suddenly, Lin Mengya thought of an extremely crucial point.
When she found Ms. Tian, she had heard from Ms. Tian that her mother was healthy before giving birth and even expressed her reluctance to leave her children.
Could it be that her mother knew someone was going to kill her back then?
“Ya’er? Ya’er?” Seeing his daughter lost in thought, Lin Muzhi thought that she was shocked at this. He involuntarily called her name, but saw there seemed to be a hint of sorrow in her blank eyes.
“Oh… I’m fine. But, father, I may have figured out the reason for Shangguan Qing’s temperament changes,” Lin Mengya said.
She did not know how to express her feelings at the moment.
Although she had all the memories of the original Lin Mengya, she had no impression of one thing: the reason why she became an imbecile back then.
But just now, as a door to her memories she thought she had browsed through was suddenly opened, all of those critical parts, that had been missing, gushed into her mind.
Covering her aching head, Lin Mengya rubbed the part between her eyebrows.
She didn’t expect this was the truth.
“Ya’er, what’s wrong with you?” Seeing Lin Mengya’s face turn deathly pale all of a sudden, Lin Muzhi asked with concern for her health and instructed her maids to take her back for a rest.
But Lin Mengya unusually kept silent on the way back, as her mind was in turmoil.
She was escorted back to Grace Butterfly Courtyard by Hongyu and the other maids like a walking dead.
She rarely behaved like this, sitting in the chair with blank eyes as if she were in another world. Even Baizhi, who grew up with her, had never seen her behave like this.
It was after an unknown period of time; even the sky had changed from bright to dim, and then from dim to completely dark.
Even when Long Tianyu quietly sneaked into her room, Lin Mengya was still sitting there in a daze, seeming to be focusing on the candle flame or lost in her thought so that she had lost her perception of the outside world.
