“I’ve entered the palace once to pay my respect to the Empress with my father. Oh, yes, she rewarded me with a lot of things. After we came back, my father always reminds me to appreciate the Empress’s grace, and he asked me to wear them at regular times. Why? What’s wrong?”

Shangguan Hui carefully looked at her clothes and jewelry. She had carefully checked these things before, and there were no problems at all. But the way Lin Mengya looked at her made her feel that something was wrong.

“You’re talented. As I expected, the Empress would try to drag you over to her side. It seems that you have been targeted by her. Recently, have people often mentioned political affairs in front of you?”

Shangguan Hui was so talented and scheming. How could the Empress let her do whatever she wanted without interfering?

All the previous indulgences were just for training her into the best pawn. Shangguan Hui thought for a while, and suddenly, her expression changed. It was a little unbelievable for her.

“Impossible! It can’t be her!”

Lin Mengya looked at Shangguan Hui and sighed quietly. The thoughts of people were hard to predict. Lin Mengya had experienced the pain of being betrayed by her trusted friends.

So, she naturally knew how heartbroken Shangguan Hui was.

“I think you should be more careful. My invitation card to you seems not a bad thing now. It is up to you whether you can seek benefit in risk.”

The Empress didn’t necessarily know that Shangguan Hui liked her brother, but she must have noticed her resourcefulness.

If not, she would have not bought the person close to Shangguan Hui deliberately to reveal the matter to her. She wanted Shangguan Hui to figure out the pros and cons herself and act according to her plan.

However, there should be a lot of advisers around the Empress. There must be a reason for Shangguan Hui to stand out in the eyes of the Empress. Why did she value her so much?

Lin Mengya looked Shangguan Hui up and down again. Maybe there was something she didn’t know.

Or, had she put the cart before the horse in this matter?

If the Empress had known the candidates for her brother’s wife in advance and leaked the information to Shangguan Hui, it could explain the matter. After all, no matter how powerful the counselors around the Empress were, they could do little about the matters of the ladies in boudoirs. Who of them could be a match for Shangguan Hui?

“I know. By the way, there seems to be something abnormal in the palace these days. The Empress invited a monk to the Huguo Temple together with her to pray. I don’t know where he came from, but I’ve met him several times. The monk looks somewhat evil.”

Shangguan Hui was indeed excellent. After a short trance, she had regained her usual shrewdness.

The Empress intended to cultivate her, and this was not a bad thing. If she could really become a member of the Empress’s inner circle, then her value to Lin Mengya would be even greater.

Besides, she also understood the reason why the Empress needed to get rid of Miss Jin. She just wanted Lin Nansheng to marry one of her people. If so, Shangguan Hui must run faster to avoid others getting the ring before her.

“A monk? Isn’t she going to the Huguo Temple to pray? Is he a monk of the Huguo Temple?”

Shangguan Hui shook her head. She felt the monk was weird. He did not look like a compassionate monk.

“No, I don’t know what place she invited the monk from. My aunt in the palace told me that not long after this monk arrived, he said that a little palace maid was a demon. As a result, the girl disappeared soon. A compassionate monk will definitely not do this kind of thing. Besides, he smells weird too. I can’t tell what kind of smell it is, but every time I smell it, I feel very strange. It is not the fragrance of sandalwood or any makeup. In short, it makes people inexplicably feel disgusted.”

After listening to Shangguan Hui’s words, Lin Mengya suddenly remembered something.

She asked Hongyu to get the special decree from the Empress quickly, and then she asked Shangguan Hui to smell it to see whether it was the weird smell of the monk.

“This is it! Although it is very weak, I am sure it is the smell of the monk. It’s strange. This is clearly a decree from the Empress. How could it be contaminated with that monk’s scent?”

Shangguan Hui was full of doubts, and the questions in Lin Mengya’s mind were no less than hers.

“This time, will he go to the Huguo Temple with the Empress?”

Shangguan Hui nodded. After Lin Mengya’s reminder, she suddenly found that since she had come back from the palace last time after meeting the Empress, her family seemed to have paid more attention to her.

They would tell her whatever happened in the capital. All these seemed to have been arranged by the Empress deliberately. But she and Lin Mengya would benefit from it in the end.

“Please pay more attention to him for me. I’m afraid this person will harm me. By the way, since you are here, I can’t keep you in suspense all the time. I have to ask you a question. If I let you and Miss Jin marry my brother together, will you feel wronged?”

Originally, Lin Mengya had planned to discuss it with Shangguan Hui when the matter was finalized. But since the Empress had known about it, she must cut the knot with a sharp knife.

Otherwise, there might be accidents later. After the Empress solved all the urgent problems in hand, the first thing she would do would be to manipulate Lin Mengya’s brother’s marriage.

If so, there would never be days of peace for the Lin family. Shangguan Hui did not reject, but her eyes darkened, and her expression was a bit bitter.

“Since you have said so, I have no reason not to agree. Don’t worry. I am not a narrow-minded woman. Even if she is the wife and I am the concubine, I will have no complaints as long as I can marry him.”

Lin Mengya felt deep guilty in her heart. After all, under Shangguan Hui’s condition and the Empress’s appreciation, she could marry into the royal family if she wanted to, let alone a small general’s mansion.

Unexpectedly, for the sake of her brother, she was willing to share him and his love with another woman. Although Shangguan Hui decided it by herself, Lin Mengya knew that she was the biggest promoter.

“Sorry.” Her apology was hypocritical. Lin Mengya knew that all of this stemmed from her selfishness.

In a certain way, she and the Empress were actually the same kind of people.

For their own benefit, they could sacrifice anyone. The difference was that the Empress always used altisonant reasons, while Lin Mengya was so blunt even when she used others.

Speaking of which, neither of them was a good person.

“No need to apologize. It is my own choice. Besides, most young men of the influential families in the capital have concubines. We’re not as lucky as you. I envy you. Prince Yu treats you with all his heart.”

After talking about this, Shangguan Hui felt at ease. To be honest, after Lin Mengya had been away for a few months, she was afraid that she had forgotten their agreement.

Now, Shangguan Hui finally rested assured. To Lin Mengya, she was even more loyal. Lin Mengya smiled but did not reply.

This kind of wholehearted love might not be a good thing in this time and space. One man’s trash was another man’s treasure. To defend this hard-won love, she didn’t know there were how many difficulties she had to overcome.

Shangguan Hui was smart, so she naturally understood it. After talking with Lin Mengya for a while, she left.

Lin Mengya was sitting alone in the drawing-room, thinking, and the four girls were also sent out by her. The monk who suddenly appeared, the palace maid who disappeared, and the strange fragrance.

All of this made Lin Mengya feel uneasy from the bottom of her heart.

“Roar!”

Just as she was pondering, suddenly, roars of a tiger that could pierce the clouds sounded from outside.

“Howl!”

Immediately afterward, there came the howls of a wolf. Suddenly, two lightning-like shadows rushed towards Lin Mengya in an instant, and she couldn’t even see their movement clearly. But the bloody and cruel scene others might have expected did not appear. The two beasts put their big heads on Lin Mengya’s knees obediently.

They stuck out their tongues and licked Lin Mengya’s small face passionately. The two big guys didn’t stop until she giggled because of the itches. They then laid on the ground lazily, but their expressions were still submissive.

“Are you done playing outside? Do you still know where your home is? I have been back for so long, but you two have never come home to see me. Did someone abduct you and run away?”

Lin Mengya patted the heads of the two guys lightly, but the words were said to the stiff figure outside. Since Zhu Yan had lived with the baby tiger and Snow, this guy seemed to have found the joy of life again.

It was said that he had personally taken the two guys to hunt in the forest in the outskirts, generating big tumult in the originally quiet forest. Fortunately, the two little guys had been raised by humans. Although they would not take the initiative to get close to others, at least they would not take the initiative to attack strangers.

Lin Mengya felt that such an environment would help restore the wildness of the two little guys, so she hadn’t interfered. She hadn’t expected Zhu Yan and the two beasts to play so madly that they had lived in the woods for half a month.

She had thought that Zhu Yan, who used to be so proud, was going to be the ancient version of Tarzan!

“Groan…”

Being blamed by Lin Mengya, the two clever little guys groaned as if playing cute. Looking at their flattering actions, Zhu Yan snorted outside.

Then he couldn’t help but walk up to Lin Mengya. In addition to contempt, there was deep jealousy in his eyes.

“Two stinky beasts! Isn’t she just a woman? Why are you so obedient to her?” They were still in a love-hate relationship. But today the two beasts were in a good mood, so they just glanced contemptuously at Zhu Yan’s thin body with their huge eyes. After Lin Mengya started to stroke them, they began to squint and snore comfortably.

Zhu Yan’s face had already been tanned by the sun. But suddenly, his face became even darker.