“Bang.” Lin Mengya felt a burning pain in her cheek.

The Empress presumably had a deep hatred for her so that the Empress slapped her personally.

Truth be told, she did not have any favorable impression of this Empress who was neither smart nor merciful.

If it were not for her intention to lure the Empress out personally, she would not have put on such a show.

“Bitch, sure enough, all members of the Fengyu Court are coquettes. If I disfigure you, the little son of bitch will probably be distressed. I heard that you are brought into the imperial palace by him from outside. Both he and His Majesty are bewitched by the coquettes from the Fengyu Court!” The Empress said.

She suddenly drew an extremely sharp gold hairpin out of nowhere.

There was a trace of madness in her eyes, although the sharp leaves of the gold hairpin in her hand had scratched her hand and left bloodstains on it, and her dark red blood dripped from her snow-white wrist.

Lin Mengya did not panic at all when she saw the Empress getting closer and closer to her with the gold hairpin.

Lin Mengya suddenly got up and knocked down the people next to her. While the Empress was screaming, she jumped into the pool quickly.

The cool water immediately filled her mouth and nose. She found it increasingly difficult to breathe, but she could not move with her hands and feet tied up.

Baisu would definitely come to save her, but it would take some time.

Hearing someone shouting, she, who was under the water, finally put her mind at ease.

Fortunately, her effort did not go to waste.

Chocking from a lack of oxygen made her gradually lose her composure.

It was impossible for her to estimate the time wrongly. But if Baisu was delayed, would she drown?

She, whose mind was occupied with a multitude of thoughts, was gradually overwhelmed by pain.

Just when Lin Mengya couldn’t stand it anymore, a pair of hands pulled her out of the pool.

Coughing and taking deep breaths, Lin Mengya was relieved to survive a close shave once again.

It was no wonder that in all kinds of ghost stories, the ghosts dying from drowning always harbored the deepest resentment.

Probably no ghost could bear such misery before dying.

“Miss, Miss!” There came Baisu’s voice.

Then Baisu came into her sight with an anxious look.

However, Lin Mengya, who kept coughing after being choked by water, found it extremely difficult to answer.

She waved her hand as a hint that she was fine.

Then she turned around, only to see a strange face.

“Miss, this is a guard of His Majesty, and he saved you.” Baisu whispered an explanation in Lin Mengya’s ear.

The man turned out to be a guard of the Emperor.

Lin Mengya, who was slow-witted at the moment, did not realize what had happened until the guard disappeared from her sight.

The Emperor’s guard saved her ahead of Baisu.

Didn’t it mean that the Emperor and she actually had the same plan?

Lin Mengya felt like weeping but had no tears at the thought that she had almost sacrificed her ravishing face and drowned.

In actuality, the Emperor also had this plan. Nevertheless, she took action ahead of him, so he made use of this to push things through?

Lin Mengya, who did not know whether to laugh or cry, went back to the Fengyu Court with Baisu’s help. It seemed that she should change her habit of taking the lead in future.

She almost forgot how scheming the Emperor was.

How could the Emperor be unaware of the little trick she came up with?

“Rest assured, Miss. The Empress won’t be able to get off this time,” Baisu said resentfully.

Lin Mengya took action personally and managed to trap the Empress by inflicting an injury on herself.

God knew how nervous she was at the sight that Lin Mengya jumped into the pool with her hands tied up.

Fortunately, the guard showed up in time, and Lin Mengya was safe and sound.

Otherwise, she would definitely kill those scourges and then commit suicide as an apology.

“Of course. To catch a thief, you must find the stolen goods. To accuse people of adultery, you must catch the adulterers on the scene. The Empress could shift all the blame before, but now it’s impossible for her, who was caught red-handed, to get away with that,” Lin Mengya said.

This time, the Empress, who not only secretly got out of the Linqiu Pavilion against the Emperor’s order but also attempted to kill her to keep her mouth shut, should receive combined punishment for several offenses.

She would like to see how the Empress would explain to the Emperor later!

In the east hall where the Emperor dealt with political affairs, Lin Mengya knelt respectfully on the ground, pretending to be a person meekly submitting to oppression.

Apart from her, Madame Jingrou and the Empress’s servants were also here.

Madame Jingrou sat quietly next to the Emperor, occasionally glancing at Lin Mengya and at the Empress.

Although she had won this battle, she, who had cultivated her mind and restrained herself over the years, did not reveal a triumphant expression.

From this point of view, it could be seen that Madame Jingrou was much more deep-minded than the Empress.

“What happened? Yunsheng, tell me,” the Emperor asked.

He still wore a silver mask, but looked much better than before.

After glancing at the Empress coldly, he eventually fixed his eyes on Lin Mengya with a touch of inadvertent appreciation that attracted no attention.

“Your Majesty, I was under orders to patrol the imperial palace. Unexpectedly, I discovered the master of the Linqiu Pavilion intended to drown Helan, a palace maid of the Fengyu Court, at the north of the garden. I hurried over to rescue her, and I know nothing other than that,” Yunsheng, the guard who got Lin Mengya out of the pool, said.

He, who made a flawless statement and was keenly aware of what he should and should not say, did live up to his reputation as the Emperor’s guard.

“Oh? Is that so? Helan, tell me,” the Emperor said, while inadvertently flipping through a book on the desk.

But no one in the main hall dared to say anything.

Lin Mengya immediately made a bow and feigned an aggrieved look naturally by raising her tearful face without shedding the tears in her eyes. Sure enough, after putting on too many shows, she became a good actress.

She said, “Your Majesty, I suffered a grievance indeed. This morning, I was instructed by Madame to attend to the Linqiu Pavilion. I have no idea what I did to offend Her Grace so that I suffered this unexpected misfortune. Please make a thorough investigation and uphold justice for me.”

Before she could finish her words, she was interrupted by the crazy Empress, “Nonsense! Your Majesty, as a humble maid, she dared to insult me! How could I, who have married into the imperial palace and served you over the years, let a humble maid humiliate me? According to the rules in the imperial palace, she should be put to death by dismemberment!”

The Empress expressed her evil intention in a vicious tone.

Lin Mengya glanced at the Empress, only to see her distorted face and her eyes full of crazy hatred.

The Empress indeed had every reason to hate her and go crazy.

However, it would only put the Empress in everlasting perdition.

“Helan, who went against her superior, should indeed be punished. But Yao Lu, have you forgotten my decree?” The Emperor said.

The first half of his words reignited the hope of the Empress.

But the latter half of his words disappointed her again.

“Your… Madame, according to His Majesty’s decree, you have neither a title nor definite rank now, so you aren’t exactly an imperial concubine. However, Miss Helan is a third-rank female officer serving Madam Jingrou. Madame, do you make a mistake about this?” A eunuch standing beside the Emperor spoke slowly and clearly.

The Empress froze on the spot as if struck by lightning.

It was not until now that she realized the current situation.

Her husband no longer cared about her.

“Haha… hahaha… Wanyan Ziyang, we have been married for thirty years, but I have never seen through your heart,” Yao Lu said and burst into tremendously bitter laughter.

After all, she was a pitiful woman who thought she could get everything she wanted with the backing of the Yao Family but fell for a man she should not have loved.

All the unrelated people silently got out of the east hall.

In fact, Lin Mengya wanted to follow them out, but every time she looked at Madame Jingrou, Madame Jingrou looked pleadingly at her as if begging her to stay.

Lin Mengya had never seen such a helpless look in Madame Jingrou’s eyes.

Instinctively, she slowed down and stayed in the main hall.

Although Yao Lu collapsed on the ground, she still fixed her eyes on the Emperor, reluctant to look away.

Perhaps she had both affection and hatred for him. No one could easily forget someone to whom she was devoted.

Lin Mengya could empathize with Yao Lu’s feeling, but she had to say that Yao Lu brought this upon herself.

The Emperor said nothing, but stopped flipping through the book in his hands.

After the others left the hall, Lin Mengya relaxed a little, raised her head and secretly watched the Emperor.

After a moment’s silence, the Emperor put down the book in his hands, raised his hand, and took off the mask covering half of his face, revealing a ferocious and ugly scar across his right cheek.

Even Lin Mengya could not help but gasp with surprise.

It had to take a few years to restore his disfigured face.

Judging from his scar, he must have been injured severely back then.

Lin Mengya inadvertently glanced at Madame Jingrou, only to see that her watery eyes had been filled with tears.

Even Lin Mengya, as an outsider, involuntarily shuddered at her distress and sadness.

The Emperor turned to look at Madame Jingrou with his cold dark eyes softening, and reached out his finger to gently wipe off the tears at the corners of her eyes.

“Rou’er, stop crying. It doesn’t hurt anymore,” he said in a deep and affectionate tone like a piece of ice over the years that melted in an instant.

It was the first time for Lin Mengya to see the Emperor act so gently and cautiously as if caring for a rare treasure.

“How could it not hurt? It’s been twenty years, during which I was torn with grief every day as if the scar were in my heart. Yao Lu, I’ve never hated you, although you made us separate from our son. But why did you hurt him?” Madame Jingrou said each word with hatred.

She rarely spoke gruffly with a stern countenance, but the moment the Emperor took off his mask, she seemed to have turned into a completely different person.

Lin Mengya had thought that only Madame Hui got involved in the relationship between Madame Jingrou and the Emperor.

Unexpectedly, the Empress also got involved in it.