Chapter 170 - Dead Man tell no Tales
Chapter 170 Dead Man tell no Tales
Lin Mengya could see from Baishao’s expression that she had her reasons.
She just smiled and stopped pursuing the matter.
“Oh yes, Master, Madame Wang is still lying in the small room. Would she… would she really resurrect?”
At the mention of Madame Wang, Baishao and Baisu’s expression froze.
Baizhi was the only one out of the four who was oblivious and was still happily eating.
“I’ve no idea, but she cannot be left there any longer. Let me think of a place where we can resettle her.”
Baiji had claimed that the death-pretending drug had started to take effect.
However, miraculously, Madame Wang was still breathing weakly.
If not for Baisu’s careful observation that made her realize that Madame Wang was breathing, they would not believe that she had risen from the dead.
“But Master, why don’t you send Madame Wang home?”
Baiji shot a glance at Lin Mengya. Seeing that her master had managed to revive Madame Wang’s life after working so hard to save her life, it was time to send her home to recuperate.
However, Lin Mengya apparently did not have the intention to do so.
“I would go all the way if I intend to save her life. Moreover, she could lose her life anytime given the state she’s in now. Be discreet and careful of what you stay. In fact, to the outsiders, just say that Madame Wang had passed away.”
Having done some investigation on Madame Wang’s family background, Lin Mengya discovered that she had come from a family of valiant army generals.
She was doted upon by her parents because she was the firstborn in the family.
When she first met Wang Hanlin, he was still a poor scholar.
However, Madame Wang was a strong-headed girl. When her family failed to break them up, they yielded to her wishes and eventually, this was how Wang Hanlin obtained his current status and position.
Therefore, Madame Wang was naturally the assertive one at home.
Wang Hanlin, being a man who achieved his status relying on his wife’s family, could not help but have that bit of bitterness in him.
Although Lin Mengya did not know the full picture of the Wang family, she had the feeling that if she were to send Madame Wang back to her home, she would surely die.
“Er… Master, please excuse me!”
“Retch—Me too!”
While they were pondering over the matter of Madame Wang, Baiji and Baishao suddenly felt nauseous and quickly excused themselves.
“What’s happening to them?”
Lin Mengya shot a puzzled look at Qinghu, who pointed towards Baizhi.
“I have no idea too. It’s so strange.”
With a piece of pig’s heart in between her chopsticks, Baizhi looked at Lin Mengya with a perplexed expression.
Only at this moment did Lin Mengya see that sitting on the table were dishes made out of pig’s heart, pig’s liver, pig’s lungs and a big plate of braised pig’s intestines.
She snapped her head towards Qinghu only to catch the mocking smile on his face before he managed to hide it. Instantly, Lin Mengya threw her chopsticks at him.
“You did it on purpose, didn’t you?”
Qinghu dodged Lin Mengya’s chopsticks and continued drinking the fragrant tea in an elegant manner.
“As long as we follow you around, this kind of things are bound to happen in the future. Don’t tell me they would be fasting if this happens?”
Qinghu’s reasoning made sense. However, she had to go slow with them regarding this matter.
The four maidservants, apart from Baisu, had grown up like flowers in a greenhouse in this sense.
“You’re right. Such things may happen often. Oh yes, is there any progress on the investigation I asked you to do? Any news?”
The courtyards had been swept clean by the servants and Lin Mengya, being under house arrest, had the gates to her courtyard shut tight.
At this moment, Qinghu was the only one who could go in and out of the mansion freely to gather information.
“As you’ve expected, Wang Hanlin was indeed not as faithful to his wife as it appeared to be on the surface.”
Qinghu had first checked out Wang Hanlin.
“He owns a second house in the west of the city. I’ve checked out that place. Not only were there two beautiful ladies who were his concubines, they had actually borne and raised his children. From this, one could safely say that this arrangement had been around for quite some time. Wang Hanlin was very secretive about this so nobody had yet to find out. The neighbors also said that the ladies and children in the house do not come out often.”
Had Lord Wang gone to inform his concubines of the news of the death of Madame Wang so quickly?
What a hypocrite Wang Hanlin was! He was indeed heartless.
“Do Wang Han line and his wife not have any children?”
Qinghu shook his head and continued, “They only have one daughter, who did not come to attend the banquet in Prince Yu’s mansion because she was not feeling well. It was said that Madame Wang’s daughter was not someone to be trifled with too, and she would be getting married very soon.”
Now that the news of Madame Wang’s death had spread, so Miss Wang had to observe a year of mourning period before she could get married.
When Lin Mengya heard that Madame Wang’s daughter was not to be trifled with, she immediately had an idea.
“Please invite Miss Wang to come over to meet me in a while. I’ve something to discuss with her.”
The moment Qinghu saw the wicked smile on Lin Mengya’s face, he immediately knew that she had something up her sleeves.
“You are really a wicked girl.”
Having filled her stomach and quenched her thirst, Lin Mengya managed to sleep very soundly that night.
After Lin Mengya woke up the next morning and when two maidservants were getting her ready with cleaning up and changing, Lin Zhongyu dashed into her room.
“Elder Sister, Elder Sister, have you heard?”
Lin Zhongyu, who was apparently rejoicing over someone’s mishap, came into the room making a lot of noise.
“Did you stumble upon some gold? What are you so excited?”
Once Lin Mengya was done with grooming herself, she dragged Xiaoyu to the table to have breakfast with her.
“I heard that before they reached the prison yesterday, that lass passed away. The Crown Prince was furious, but what could he do?”
Lin Zhongyu narrated to Lin Mengya how Xing’er had suddenly died and how the Crown Prince was totally enraged.
The moment Xing’er died, they lost all evidence to convict any culprit.
It looked like the Crown Prince’s plan to cause the downfall of Prince Yu and the Jiang Family through Xing’er’s words was not successful. His plan would have to be delayed.
“Have you found out the cause of death?”
The Crown Prince would surely take this opportunity to investigate further.
With a strange look on his face, Ling Zhongyu abruptly raised his thumb to Lin Mengya.
“Elder Sister, when did you do that? I found that Xing’er had died from a strong poison. I heard that her heart and all her arteries had been severed due to concussion before she breathed her last. There was no way she could have survived.”
Lin Zhongyu admired Lin Mengya to the point of idolizing her.
For god’s sake, there were so many people escorting Xing’er, including a group of imperial guards sent by the Crown Prince to protect her.
To Lin Zhongyu, no one would have the ability to dispose of Xing’er other than his elder sister.
“Me? I didn’t do anything. She died because of her sad fate.”
Although she attributed Xing’er death to her fate, Lin Mengya was hiding something behind her smile as she spoke.
“Tell it to me, Elder Sister. I’m dying of curiosity.”
Lin Zhongyu pouted as he tugged on Lin Mengya’s sleeve, pleading.
“I can’t let the cat out. Rest assured that I’ll tell you when the time is right.”
Things had turned out the way Lin Mengya expected and she smiled with satisfaction.
She could relax for now.
The Crown Prince and his supporters would definitely not let the matter rest yet.
Nevertheless, Lin Mengya was not going to sit around and allow them to scheme against her.
The Crown Prince had been summoned by the Queen into the palace early this morning.
Xing’er’s sudden death had caught them unprepared.
In his wrath, the Crown Prince almost commanded for all the escorts to be slain.
The Crown Prince would have shed much blood if not for his companion who stopped him in time.
“Greetings of peace to Mother, the Queen.”
As the Crown Prince arrived at the palace, he came up to the Queen and bowed to her respectfully, kneeling down on the ground.
There was a look of disappointment in the Queen’s eyes.
Nevertheless, she maintained her composure and elegance in response.
“You may rise. So, I heard that Xing’er died.”
She did not sound furious, nor was she rebuking the Crown Prince.
She spoke with such indifference as if she was discussing some other people’s business.
However, the Crown Prince’s heart sank.
He knew his mother’s character well.
If she showed her temper, it was not so bad. On the other hand, she keeping quiet meant she was truly upset.
The Crown Prince trembled and continued, “I’ve been a disappointment, Mother. It’s all because of my incapability.”
“You are certainly incapable, but the more useless people are your advisors.”
The Queen’s words pierced right into the bones.
It did not matter whether it was his son kneeling before her, she would not spare him his pride.
If the Crown Prince did not rise to the occasion, he would be replaced by other princes.
This was the cruel reality of life on earth.
“Please forgive me, Mother! Please punish me for overlooking the details!”
As the Crown Prince continued kneeling on the floor and pleading, he was beginning to tremble all over.
He knew very well that the reason his mother could maintain her position as the Queen for so many years was not just because she was of noble birth.
More importantly, it was because she was brutal and intelligent.
“It wasn’t because you neglected the details, rather, you have never really thought over and planned how to go about doing things. Did you think could tackle Lin Mengya with your antics? Use your brains! She is not like those half-witted women in your mansion.”.
The Queen had realized since a while back that the newly emerged Lin Mengya was not as simple as she appeared to be.
Was it possible for that man’s daughter to be an ordinary persona?
“Yes, it’s all my fault, Mother. Please mete out the punishment on me accordingly.”
By now, the Prince’s face had drained of its colors. He had been committing so many grave mistakes recently that they were more severe than his past mistakes added together.
The Queen had always been intolerant of mistakes, even if they were committed by her own son.
“Find an opportunity to get rid of that daughter of the Jiangsu if you think she’s useless. Thank goodness that Ming Yue was still quite witty, but she is a foreigner from the western vassal state after all. You may continue to work through her but be careful that you’re not being used by her instead.”
She gazed at her son. He was after all her only hope.
If it were another person who had committed these mistakes, she would have abandoned him long ago.
If some other princes were to take over the Crown Prince’s position, it would surely not be as advantageous to her as if her own son were the Crown Prince.
“Perhaps your plan might still work on regular people, but you can’t be using these tricks on the the people in Prince Yu’s mansion.”
The Queen, having been in the palace so long, had seen countless conspiracies and evil scheming.
From the moment the Crown Prince and Ming Yue started persuading her to attend the banquet in Prince Yu’s Mansion, she had guessed as much that the Crown Prince and Ming Yue were planning to carry out their plans.
What she did not expect was that this son, whom she spent so much effort in raising and nurturing, had turned out to be so useless.