Chapter 700 - Calm Down
Chapter 700 Calm Down
However, Lin Mengya had calmed down at this moment.
She knew very well that even if they got into trouble, she could only make things worse if she lost her composure.
Lin Mengya, who was tapping her smooth forehead lightly with her index finger and pondering quietly, was at her peak.
She said, “Qinghu, you lead some people to the Shen’s Mansion to coordinate with my father. Remember, just watch over my father in secret and don’t alert the enemy. If my father really gets into trouble, you can use the enemy’s strength against the enemy.”
Seeing Lin Mengya return to normal, Qinghu could not help showing a wicked smile.
That was the spirit. The young lady, who was able to trick him with a smile so that he admired her from the bottom of his heart, had come back.
“Tell Zhu Yan to come over. I’ll assign him a task,” Lin Mengya gave an instruction.
After Qinghu went out quietly with his followers, Hongyu and the other three maids stayed by Lin Mengya’s side as her most capable assistants.
After a while, Zhu Yan appeared in front of Lin Mengya with a reluctant look on his face.
Although the young man still had difficulty in getting along with the others after living in Lin Mengya’s courtyard for a period of time, he had been used to this kind of unrestrained life.
Lin Mengya lifted her head, glanced at Zhu Yan, who had obviously grown taller and sturdier, and said to him with a meaningful smile on her pretty face, “I heard from the others that you’ve felt bored recently and want something to do?”
After they returned to Marquis Zhennan’s Mansion, Zhu Yan didn’t have to take Yinghua to meet his mother in the woods outside the city in the name of hunting on the first and fifteenth days of every month because Yinghua had been sent away.
It made Zhu Yan, who would like to keep himself busy, feel extremely bored.
He looked vigilantly at Lin Mengya, the only person he was wary of in the mansion.
Every time he saw Lin Mengya, he somehow felt that she had seen through his mind, and he had a strong aversion to this feeling.
“In fact, I won’t put you in a difficult position. I know that you’ve taken good care of Snow and the baby tiger, so I think only you can perform this task. If you make it, I can allow you to go out for a few days. Can you agree to help me on this condition?” Lin Mengya said like an evil spirit in hell trying to lure people into depravity.
She always knew exactly what everyone’s strongest desire was.
Zhu Yan cautiously glanced at Lin Mengya, but he did not immediately consent to her request.
Instead, he stared suspiciously at Lin Mengya with folded arms. Recently, she had given repeated instructions that they were not allowed to get out of the mansion at will.
In this case, what did she mean by promising to let him go out?
“What exactly do you want me to do?” Zhu Yan asked.
In the face of Zhu Yan, who had obviously taken the bait, Lin Mengya deliberated for a while before speaking slowly with a cunning smile, “Nothing difficult. I just want you to put on a show with Snow and the baby tiger. Rest assured. They are so close to you that they won’t hurt you.”
Not to mention Zhu Yan, even the others in the room could sense the raging fire behind Lin Mengya.
Amid the flames, a shadow, which looked like Lin Mengya, was waving a flaming chain, seeming to be looking for her prey…
The others could not help shrinking their necks, wondering what she was up to.
“It’s an easy job. I’ll do as you ask on one condition: if I make it, you should let me go out for half a month and bear all the costs.” Zhu Yan lifted his chin and solemnly negotiated with Lin Mengya.
However, Lin Mengya didn’t intend to bargain at all. She looked at him with a smile, then stretched out her palm to give him a high five and said, “No problem. Deal!”
The crisp sound caused by the high five stunned Zhu Yan.
She directly consented to his condition. He should have asked for more just now, shouldn’t he?
Before Zhu Yan reacted, Lin Mengya waved her hand as a hint for Zhu Yan to come close to her ear.
After she gave him some instructions, he showed a big smile, revealing his glistening silvery white canine teeth which made his smile wicked.
“It’s a piece of cake!” He agreed with certainty.
Both of them showed tacit expressions, puzzling those around them.
Nevertheless, they only knew that from a certain point of view, Zhu Yan and Lin Mengya were basically the same kind of people, who could never get tired of watching the fun.
It was quiet at night. Lin Mengya yawned slightly after arranging everything.
Waiting was useful. Not long after she gave Zhu Yan instructions, Long Tianyu sent someone to inform her that he was kept in the Imperial Palace by his father tonight to discuss something important and that she should go to bed earlier.
Although he didn’t come back, she felt greatly relieved.
Recalling what had happened today, Lin Mengya realized that she had lost her composure.
She knocked her head with her knuckles. Perhaps because she was getting increasingly weak, she became so overanxious that she made a fuss over such a thing and almost lost control of herself.
She rubbed her sore glabella, thinking she was running out of energy. She wondered what would become of herself in the end.
“First Miss, Master is back with the others.” Lin Mengya was lying on the couch and resting her mind with her eyes closed in Grace Butterfly Courtyard, when she heard an attendant’s voice from outside.
Lin Mengya opened her eyes immediately and ran out of Grace Butterfly Courtyard even without putting on her shoes.
In her father’s study, her father, who was safe and sound, was talking with Qinghu with his head down.
Lin Mengya came over in a hurry, temporarily interrupting them, who were having a conversation in low voices.
“All of you may leave now. I can take care of my father.” After dismissing the servants, Lin Mengya stepped forward and looked her father up and down.
It was only when she made sure he was safe and sound that she felt relieved.
“Look at you, you still act like a child. Come on, go to fetch First Miss’s shoes,” Lin Muzhi involuntarily said with concern at the sight of her bare feet under her dress.
Despite the fatigue between his eyebrows, he cared about his daughter the most.
“I’m fine. I just left in a hurry. Oh, father, did you find any clues during this visit?” Lin Mengya asked.
She sat in a chair, while Hongyu was trying to help her gently put on a pair of soft shoes they brought.
Seeing that his daughter was in such a hurry, Lin Muzhi could not help smiling bitterly, thinking she must have been terribly worried.
“Yes, I found some clues. If it weren’t for the help of this young man beside you, I wouldn’t have been able to return safely today. After nightfall, I sneaked into Brother Shen’s mansion to check around. The inner courtyard was in a mess. It seemed that Brother Shen was subdued by force. But before I left, I accidentally saw a few people sneak into Brother Shen’s mansion silently and seem to be searching something,” Lin Muzhi said while trying hard to recall what he had seen.
Lin Mengya was also lost in thought.
She had thought it was Shangguan Lei who exterminated the Shen Family so that he could have one less competitor.
Could the culprit be someone else?
“Father, do you know who exterminated the Shen Family and who sneaked into the Shen’s Mansion?” Lin Mengya asked.
Lin Muzhi pondered for a moment before replying slowly, “In Brother Shen’s study, I found a joint report recommending Lord Jin as the successor to me. I suppose this report brought him the fatal disaster. Moreover, although Brother Shen and his family members were beheaded, I examined their bodies when no one noticed it, and found that they were all killed by the Thunder Palm, Shangguan Lei’s unique skill, and the culprit probably humiliated them by making them kneel after killing them with the intention of warning those who are still alive.”
All kinds of thoughts quietly gathered in Lin Mengya’s mind and merged into a mess.
Meanwhile, the answer, which was the closest to the truth, gradually came to light after her painstaking analysis.
She said, “Father, as you said, Shangguan Lei might intend to warn us. I heard from you that although Lord Shen was a loyal official, he was upright and not very powerful, so he didn’t have an extensive network in the imperial court. It’s reasonable for the Shangguan Family to make him their first target. But I’m confused why those killers sent others to search for what they wanted in the middle of the night instead of taking it away when they went to kill Lord Shen.”
It was extremely unreasonable.
If Lord Shen was killed, made to kneel and beheaded before being discovered by the servants she sent, the killers had plenty of time.
If they killed Lord Shen in order to get the joint report in his hands, why did they leave it behind instead of taking it away?
Since her father could discover it, so could the Emperor.
If Shangguan Lei was behind this, wouldn’t he expose his identity in this way?
However, her father was certain that all 15 members of Lord Shen’s family were killed by the Shangguan Family’s unique skill.
It was another unreasonable point.
Since they were killed by the Shangguan Family’s unique skill, the killers must be very close to Shangguan Lei.
Otherwise, others had neither the chance nor the guts to steal the unique skill of the Shangguan Family.
Her father said, “Lord Shen has left the army for a long time, so he didn’t know the secrets of the army. Those people were definitely not after an ordinary thing. But Lord Shen has remained uncorrupted and rejected illegally gotten wealth. So I’m also curious about what they were after.”