Lord Lin's voice showed his exhaustion, as well as some of his old anger.

The anger, obviously, was coming from Tenth n.o.ble Son's stance about staying in the Jinyun Hall.

The sudden shock of having a secret uncovered had already turned to silence. When Lord Lin recalled what had happened, he felt somewhat regretful.

Miss Jun's threats were scary, but not unavoidable. If he had just directly taken her from the start, she would not have been able to bring out the threat.

It was very obvious that for Miss Jun, it was indeed a secret. Besides her, no one else knew. Otherwise, she would not have ask the Jinyun Hall to send back the young miss of the Fang Family, and also written down something.

The Jinyun Hall did not have any final proceedings at all. If you lost they took the money, if you won they gave you money. Since it was like that, what she wrote was naturally the secret, so that the Fang Family could threaten him at the right time.

At that time, if he had only been more firm in taking Miss Jun away, and that brat from the Fang Family, then when the time came and that girl was frightened and scared with no way out and used the secret to threaten him, at worst he would have just taken her life to stop her from speaking. Then the threat wouldn't be a threat.

If only he could've stopped the secret from coming out, if only he hadn't given Miss Jun the chance to say it.

It was foreseeable. The Jinyun Hall had decided not to be a roadblock, so Miss Jun took the opportunity to write down the secret.

The pity was that Ning Yunzhao had suddenly appeared and stopped them, and then the Jinyun Hall suddenly changed their stance and stuck their foot in.

Now, the die has been cast.

Lord Lin thought of how when he brought his daughter back, his wife had fainted out of shock and anger. Then he thought of how when his daughter woke up, the house was turned upside down. No one made food, and no one wanted to eat.

"Has Tenth n.o.ble Son eaten?" he asked ill-temperedly. "Pardon me for the slight, we have not prepared food here."

Ning Yunzhao ignored Lord Lin's resentment.

"Could Lord Lin permit me to ask more questions on what had happened?" he asked directly.

Lord Lin was infuriated.

"What's there to ask, haven't we admitted it all already?" he shouted.

"Admitting it and knowing it is not the same," replied Ning Yunzhao. "Lord Lin seems not to have asked, so I did. Miss Lin wanted to be my concubine."

He spoke so suddenly, with such surprising words, that Lord Lin, who had not eaten for a time, felt dizzy.

What did this mean?

No matter what it meant, it was much too shameful to talk about the private affairs of men and women, marriage.

Why would Ning Yunzhao, who was normally the most respectful of propriety, say this?

"Really, how shameless," was Lord Lin's only response.

Ning Yunzhao did not feel that it was directed at him. He had just said that it was Miss Lin who wanted to be his concubine, not he who wanted Miss Lin to be his concubine.

What other people thought about him was not related to him. He would not feel ashamed because of it.

"Such behavior is not very good," he said with a nod. "But Lord Lin, don't be too strict."

Why would he be strict? He never wanted to be, who would be strict on themselves. Can't you two not bully people like this?

Hearing that on a day such as this, Lord Lin could only feel depressed.

"Although it's like that, I cannot avoid being implicated in my little sister's mistakes," Ning Yunzhao continued.

Little Sister?

Lord Lin stared.

"Miss Lin bore affection for me. She told my little sister she didn't want to become a wife of the Ning Family, but to be by my side as a concubine. Intending to curry favor with Yanyan, who hates Miss Jun and intended to teach her a lesson, the two people with different goals were involved in what had happened today," Ning Yunzhao said.

Lord Lin was in shock.

He basically knew that the one who had added drugs and found a man to have a secret meeting with was his own daughter, but he didn't know why.

Although it was hard to understand, he also knew that girls' hearts were sometimes hard to understand. And now that Miss Lin was incredibly upset and crying without rest, he didn't feel like asking her.

He didn't think that it was actually...

So what that Miss Jun had said was true. The Ning Family's son's name was on the line. Although it wasn't Tenth n.o.ble Son Ning himself who had made such an agreement, there definitely was someone from the Ning Family involved.

"Because this involves another person's reputation."

Lord Lin thought of the words that girl had said, and thought of Ning Yunzhao's first words when he appeared.

Why do others still have their good name, while the Lin Family's is dog b.u.t.t? Why are the only one out of luck me?

Is that fair?

Lord Lin was enraged.

"So Jin'er was lured in by you all along. No wonder she did such a thing," he yelled.

"Lord Lin, that is wrong," Ning Yunzhao contradicted calmly. "Something that someone does is their own choice; you cannot blame others."

Still playing the gentleman! Lord Lin trembled in anger.

"If it weren't for your compelling, why would Jin'er do such a thing?" he bellowed.

"If Lord Lin goes and kills Miss Jun, our Ning Family will let you be worry free," Ning Yunzhao suddenly said.

Lord Lin froze, his churning emotions settling down.

Kill Miss Jun?

This really was not a bad proposal.

Killing her would not only avenge his daughter, but would turn that secret into a secret forever.

Moreover, the Ning Family also wanted this Miss Jun to disappear, they would cooperate with him...

Lord Lin suddenly realized something.

Why? If your Ning Family wanted her to disappear, then do it yourselves. Making me a tool, who would believe you.

And if that girl knew the secret, that meant that other people also knew the secret. Eliminating that girl might not only not eliminate the secret, but instead might attract a bigger crisis.

The one I'm afraid of is not that Miss Jun, but her backer.

Even if you could guarantee I would be worry free, wouldn't I have to pay a big price for my crime? And it would still be beneficial for your Ning Family.

I was a fool.

"You see, while it is a very alluring argument, in the end deciding whether to do it or not is all up to you, Lord," Ning Yunzhao said, unhurried.

You played me.

Lord Lin's face reddened then paled; he was unable to stop the curses in his heart. But he could not help but admit that what Ning Yunzhao said was right.

"That is because I am an adult. Jin'er, she, she is a child," he said sorrowfully.

What does a child know? Since she was a child, it's hard for her not to make some mistakes. Treating a child so, couldn't you be more generous to a child?

"Even if it's a child, a wrong is a wrong," Ning Yunzhao said. "Since she has already received a lesson for her mistake, I didn't come here today to interrogate her or force her to take responsibility. Because I know the truth, so I came to tell Lord Lin. At the same time, this matter has some relation to my little sister, but whoever made the mistake is responsible. We won't s.h.i.+ft the blame but we won't overblame her; her punishment will be carried out by the Ning Family."

Lord Lin scoffed.

"Punishment? How are you going to punish her?"

"Lord will see," Ning Yunzhao just said. Without saying anything else, he left after respectfully bidding farewell.

Lord Lin did not see him off, standing in the study and watching him till he disappeared from view.

His mind was a mess, thinking of what that young man had just said.

The Ning Family would punish Ning Yunyan?

Then aren't they punis.h.i.+ng Ning Yunyan because of Jun Zhenzhen?

What a farce! The Ning Family would punish their own precious chlid because of Jun Zhenzhen?

You think anyone would believe that?

Whether Lord Lin believed it or not, Ning Yunzhao did not care. If he had heard this, he wouldn't believe it either.

Because he still hadn't spoken to the Ning Family about this.

Ning Yunzhao stood outside the Lin Family's gate, watching the night enshroud the silent streets.