“Third Brother Gou, if you have any difficulties, feel free to let me know. Since my brother and you are close friends, my father and I will appreciate your help very much no matter what news you bring,” Lin Mengya said sincerely.

After all, Gou An was an innocent outsider in this matter.

If it weren’t for his close relationship with her brother, he would not have gotten involved in this mess.

Therefore, even if he did not bring good news, she had to be grateful to him for what he had done.

“Alas, Sister Lin, please don’t say that. Back then, Second Senior Fellow Apprentice and I practiced martial arts in the same sect and he took good care of me, so I should certainly take all risks to save him. I planned to go to confront Eldest Senior Fellow Apprentice in person, and he agreed to come with me to explain what has happened. Unexpectedly, we had an accident on the way here. Now, Eldest Senior Fellow Apprentice is in imminent danger, so I’m afraid he can’t come to give you an explanation,” Gou An said.

Lin Mengya finally realized why a few days ago Gou An sent a message that he had found a solution but seemed to be in a difficult position today.

Exchanging glances with her father, who also looked confused, Lin Mengya involuntarily inquired about the cause and effect of the whole thing. “What happened?”

Speaking of this, Gou An gritted his teeth with his face turning livid with rage.

“Despite his identity as a high official of the Nan’an State, my Eldest Senior Fellow Apprentice is open and aboveboard. I don’t believe he has betrayed Second Senior Fellow Apprentice, let alone Fourth Junior Fellow Apprentice. So I went to meet Eldest Senior Fellow Apprentice in private. As I expected, he was unaware of what had happened, and he said he had been sent away these days. Learning that the token of their sworn brotherhood was used as evidence against Second Senior Fellow Apprentice, he was anxious and intended to come to the Capital City in secret with me to solve the problem. Unexpectedly, we were hunted on the way. Eldest Senior Fellow Apprentice, who was seriously injured, is now recovering in a residence in the suburbs of the Capital City. I can only enter the Capital City in advance and discuss countermeasures with you,” he said seriously.

His Eldest Senior Fellow Apprentice must have been injured seriously.

Lin Mengya and her father did not expect things would come to this.

They had thought Lin Nansheng had been betrayed by his Eldest Senior Fellow Apprentice. However, his Eldest Senior Fellow Apprentice was actually an innocent pawn.

“I’m sorry for implicating you two. I’m wondering how your Eldest Senior Fellow Apprentice is now?” Lin Mengya asked.

At this moment, her suspicion that the Eldest Senior Fellow Apprentice could have evil designs had been dispelled.

Despite the tension between Dajin and the Nan’an State, the Eldest Senior Fellow Apprentice didn’t hesitate to come in secret to prove her brother’s innocence and even suffered such a serious injury.

His openness proved that he was definitely not a person obsessed with the desire for power.

Therefore, she decided to save him!

“My Eldest Senior Fellow Apprentice is proficient in martial arts and was caught off guard on the way here. At present, although his wounds have been dressed, the strong poison in his wounds almost killed him,” Gou An said.

Hearing him mention poison, Lin Mengya immediately had some confidence.

Around the world, there was probably no poison other than the mutated poison in her body she couldn’t handle.

“Since he’s poisoned, I can handle it. I’ll give you the antidote, and you can feed him some after returning. I’ll find an opportunity to go to your place to heal him in the next couple of days. So I hope you could send someone to keep in contact with me these days. I will find this opportunity as soon as possible,” Lin Mengya said.

Although it would attract attention if she went out now, she had to go to treat the Eldest Senior Fellow Apprentice, who came to help her brother.

Lin Mengya sent someone to fetch the fine antidote and ointment for external injuries in her room and gave Gou An careful instructions. After that, she saw Gou An, who kept expressing his gratitude, off.

Then only Lin Mengya and her father were left in the study.

The news brought by Gou An just now made them even frown more tightly.

“Who do you think did this?” Lin Muzhi asked.

He, who was more proficient in handling this kind of tricky problem than the ways of the world, hit the nail on the head as soon as he spoke.

Lin Mengya racked her brain for various possibilities and finally found a clue.

She said, “I don’t think it’s done by His Majesty. The most likely suspect is the Shangguan Family. But I’m puzzled why the Shangguan Family insists on driving our family into a tight corner at this time. Are they unaware of His Majesty’s intention, or are they powerful enough to ignore His Majesty’s intention?”

Lin Mengya was well aware that the Shangguan Family had been trying to bring down the Lin Family.

But they were not reckless people. Even the Empress managed to get everything she wanted through meticulous plans over the years.

Although the Lin Family had lost power, it did not mean that this was the best time to bring the Lin Family down.

The Emperor detained her brother without interrogating him, which indicated that the Emperor hadn’t made the decision.

Wasn’t the Shangguan Family afraid of enraging the Emperor by acting rashly and almost killing someone from the Nan’an State at this moment?

“No, in my opinion, their target is probably the Nan’an State. Since Gou An is trustworthy as you said, there should be no outsider aware that he went to ask the heir of Commandery Prince Lian of the Nan’an State for help, unless they had kept an eye on the Nan’an State so that they acted so fast,” Lin Muzhi said.

What he said was exactly what Lin Mengya was thinking.

If this was the case, it was no wonder that the heir of Commandery Prince Lian was hunted within Dajin.

“Do they intend to provoke the Nan’an State and start a war? Even if they want the military power, once they succeed in doing that, the commander will not necessarily be one of them!” Lin Mengya said fearfully.

If the heir of Commandery Prince Lian of the Nan’an State was really killed this time, the Nan’an State would certainly not let it go.

When the time came, the civilians would be plunged into misery and suffering.

“Ya’er, you don’t know Shangguan Lei. He once killed the surrendering soldiers in three cities in a battle. This was the reason why the late Emperor sent him to a temple to cultivate his moral quality. But for this reason, all forces are afraid of his ruthless means. As such, if the Nan’an State tries to invade our country, in order to deter them from invasion, His Majesty is most likely to appoint him, the homicidal maniac, as the commander,” Lin Muzhi said with a frown, seeming to be worried about this as well.

Although Lin Mengya had never seen the cruel side of General Shangguan Lei, she could imagine it based on the means of Shangguan Qing and the Empress.

A person like him might be a valiant general in a campaign to take cities and seize territory, but what the country needed most now was maintaining a stable situation.

If he gained military power, it would definitely cause a catastrophe!

“In this case, we can’t allow him to gain military power. But he may not be able to gain military power successfully by only setting up our family. The Jin Family of military officers for generations and the other generals, who are experienced in military operations and much younger than him, may not be inferior to him!” As soon as Lin Mengya finished speaking, both Lin Muzhi and she had a bad intuition.

In order to get military power, Shangguan Lei managed to set them up. How could he let the other military officers go?

“Go to those lords’ mansions and find out if anything goes wrong these days!” Lin Mengya quickly sent some servants to gather information.

At present, the Lin Family had attracted all attention, so even if the Shangguan Family took actions in secret, it would not be discovered easily.

Nevertheless, once the Shangguan Family found an opportunity to bring down their opponents, it would be too late to stop them.

Lin Mengya and her father were anxious when waiting for news.

Both of them didn’t want those lords to be implicated.

However, as it was getting late, Lin Mengya became increasingly worried.

If those lords were fine, the servants she sent would have come back earlier. But they hadn’t come back yet, which meant the situation could be complicated.

Hopefully, she could warn those lords against the Shangguan Family so that they wouldn’t be caught off guard.

“Master, First Miss, they’re back.” They finally heard a voice from outside.

Lin Mengya perked up and immediately called them in to report.

However, only one of them came back, and he was dodging her eyes, seeming to be afraid of something.

“What happened? Tell me quickly. Where are the others?” Lin Mengya couldn’t help urging the servant to report, but he just knelt on the ground, trembling and unable to speak.

In the end, Lin Mengya’s fierce glare made him speak in a trembling voice, “We… we went to those lords’ mansions and found nothing unusual. It’s only… only when we arrived at Hussar General Shen’s mansion that we found… that all the members of his mansion have… been killed!”

The servant seemed to have been scared out of his wits by what had just happened, so he said intermittently while trembling terribly.

Both Lin Muzhi and Lin Mengya were stunned and could hardly believe it.

“Lord Shen could compare with me in martial arts, and he has always been cautious. Are you sure that all of them have been killed?” Lin Muzhi opened his eyes wide in dismay and asked.

Lord Shen had been his intimate friend over the years.

The two of them had supported each other on the battlefield many times, and had managed to pass through dangerous crises safely by risking their lives to protect each other.

Learning that his old friend had suffered such an unexpected misfortune, Lin Muzhi felt a mixture of grief and anger.

“Master, the 15 members of Lord Shen’s family have been beheaded. When we entered the courtyard, we found all of their bodies were kneeling in the courtyard, which was quite horrifying,” the servant said in a trembling voice, seeming to be extremely reluctant to recall what had happened.

However, Lin Muzhi felt everything in front of him went black. He didn’t expect Lord Shen, who was an unyielding man, would suffer such a humiliation!