Chapter 363 A Mansion of Conspiracy

If she just took the medicine yesterday, she would definitely shed blood today.

But why did Lin Mengwu smell no blood at all?

Lin Mengya was wondering if the medicine wasn’t prepared for Lin Mengwu or Shangguan Qing.

“My lady? Steward Deng’s back with our prince’s words for you.”

Baizhi looked concerned. She tried to pull Lin Mengya’s arms.

Baizhi found that Lin Mengya’s mind was always wandering since she was back in the mansion. And her face grew grimmer.

“Let go and have a look.”

Lin Mengya didn’t look well. She used to be a confident person, and she believed that she could see through those who tried to plot against her.

However, this time when she was back in Marquis Zhennan’s Mansion, she felt quite uneasy.

It seemed that everything was getting further and further from her guess.

She hadn’t made a single mistake so far, but why was everything going against her assumption?

Lin Mengya was pulled back to reality. She went to the side room of the villa with Baizhi.

Steward Deng was already there when Shangguan Qing and Lin Mengwu left.

Steward Deng saluted Lin Mengya with full respect and told her all the information he had collected so far.

“My lady, the woman you asked me to follow doesn’t live here. She lives in an alley with a young man. It might be her son, and he looked really sick. I happened to hear him cough intensely. She had been taking care of her son as soon as she was back and never left the place ever since.”

Steward Deng’s reply was just as Lin Mengya had expected.

The young man had to be Ms. Tian’s son.

She heard that her son was weak since he was a kid. He was sick in bed now. Ms. Tian had to feed the family on her own. That was why she came back here to work for Shangguan Qing.

There had to be something that Shangguan Qing wanted from Ms. Tian, and she didn’t want to give it to her. That was why Ms. Tian ended up like this.

Now that Lin Mengya had known about Ms. Tian’s hardships and why she was being manipulated by others, Lin Mengya felt much better inside.

Ms. Tian used to be her nanny. She couldn’t watch the poor old woman being stuck in trouble.

And her searching job was not getting anywhere at this moment.

She didn’t find a single trace. She was even thinking about digging in those rat holes.

She could have had Steward Deng give Ms. Tian some money, but her son was so sick now that, as a doctor, she couldn’t bear to watch him die.

After everything was prepared by Baizhi, Lin Mengya and Steward Deng sneaked out of the mansion through the backdoor. They were going to visit Ms. Tian and her son.

In the luxurious room, smoke was rising straight from the censer that was forged into an animal head.

Shangguan Qing had finished listening to the report from all the servants. The expression on her face didn’t change any.

“We were right. She went out to see the servant. The young skunk and the old skunk are together at this moment. That would save us lots of work.”

Lin Mengwu sounded vicious and ruthless.

But she seemed paler than she was in the yard this morning when she visited Lin Mengya.

Lying on her mother’s comfortable carved bed, her beautiful face was already twisted. She seemed to have lost her sanity.

“You should take a good rest, or you may hurt yourself.”

Shangguan Qing sounded calm, trying not to blame Lin Mengwu.

Lin Mengwu fearfully looked at her mother, who used to love her so much.

Her slender fingers were firmly grabbing the silk quilt.

“Mother… I…”

The poor daughter was calling her mother, but she immediately closed her mouth the moment she saw her mother’s sharps eyes.

She grievingly looked at her mother, whom she knew she had failed this time.

“What a shame! What kind of man is Liu Er? How could you give yourself to him? He’s a hooligan and you’re bearing his bastard child! He almost got caught in your room! Did you know that all our servants were complaining about him? For all these years, we’ve been trying to take charge of the family. Now you almost let Liu Er almost ruin our plan!”

Lin Mengwu felt so wronged. Liu Er was just a notorious hooligan in Capital City, living on abducting and trafficking women.

A month ago, Lin Mengwu sneaked out of the mansion. Liu Er met her and abducted her to an old mansion.

He found the woman so beautiful that he didn’t want to give her to others, not before he took a bite of her.

Lin Mengwu tried to struggle. She knew that she couldn’t live with being raped by a hooligan, so she told Liu Er who she really was. The man was so brazen that he wanted to be the son-in-law of the family.

He knew that he should rape her first so that the family would have to agree to their marriage because these noble families wouldn’t allow their daughters to bear a child without a wedding.

When Lin Mengwu was back with Liu Er, she was already two-weeks pregnant.

Shangguan Qing was shocked and angry when she found out the truth.

The hooligan had ruined her most precious sweetheart. There was a time when she really wanted to kill him.

Liu Er was as arrogant as he was sly.

He knew that Mrs. Lin wouldn’t hurt him as long as Lin Mengwu was bearing his child. Therefore, he rode roughshod over all the other servants and tried his best to keep the baby.

Lin Mengwu’s coming back home was not in his plan.

He knew Lin Mengya because the woman was now even more famous than her brother, the young general.

Shangguan Qin knew Lin Mengya’s temperament well. She had Liu Er pretend to be a gatekeeper to avoid the confrontation.

She found the time had come when Liu Er offended Lin Mengya. She took the opportunity and made Lin Mengwu drink the abortion soup, which she had been carefully preparing for a long time.

Lin Mengya didn’t smell the blood because the empress had someone send two things.

One was the Flora Incense burning in the censer. It had taken Lin Mengwu a whole night to cover up the smell of blood.

The empress had also sent some tonics, which helped Lin Mengwu quickly recover from the abortion so that she could take a shower and get dressed to meet others.

Lin Mengwu was no longer a virgin. She had to hide that fact when she got married in the future. Moreover, she wouldn’t have any chance to get married into a noble family.

She could only get married to an ordinary man, hoping that the man wouldn’t mind it for the sake of her background.

Shanggaun Qing found it so bothersome.

“Mother, I know I disgraced you, but I promise I will destroy Lin Mengya and avenge us. She was the one that brought us sufferings. It was her fault that I was grounded, and…”

“Enough!”

Shangguan Qing smacked the desk. She looked gloomier than ever.

The empress sent someone to teach her how to deal with this.

They knew that Lin Mengya was a clever woman who was good at medicine. She let Lin Mengya become aware of the abortion medicine on purpose.

She did call Ms. Tian back.

She threatened Ms. Tian with her son’s life and asked her to poison Lin Mengya’s food.

Ms. Tian refused her.

That was also not Shangguan Qing’s trump card.

As soon as Lin Mengya went out of this place, someone would have Prince Yu’s Mansion informed.

The empress had prepared for everything. Lin Mengya could never imagine that every step she took was getting her closer to the trap set by the empress.

She felt that all of these were so hard to set up, but she was willing to do it for the sake of her daughter.

The empress said that she could let Lin Mengwu get married to a prominent official who had lost his wife, as long as Shangguan Qing could help her get rid of Lin Mengya.

She didn’t want her daughter to marry a widow, but it was much better than marrying an ordinary person.

Lin Mengya had no idea how she was being plotted against, and she didn’t know that she was going to face great danger.

She bought some pastries and silk in the market. After she made sure no one was following her, she went to Ms. Tian’s place by carriage.

“Be careful.”

Steward Deng supported the two women and helped them to get down from the carriage.

Lin Mengya felt sad for Ms. Tian when she saw how shabby her place was.

Ms. Tian had spent her best days on Lin Mengwu and her brother. Lin Mengwu felt so sorry that the poor old woman ended up in such a shabby place.

Lin Mengya crept across the rugged courtyard and stopped at the crumbling door. She knocked lightly on it.

“Ms. Tian, are you home?”

Ms. Tian’s voice came from inside.

“Who’s there?”

A rough, dry hand opened the door slowly. When she saw the woman hidden inside the hood of a cloak, she was shocked numb.

“Ya’er… no… Princess, how did you find this place?”

Lin Mengya’s nickname slipped out of her mouth.

She opened the door with a shocked face. Lin Mengya was standing in front of her, smiling.

“There is no princess here. You can call me Ya’er. Bring all the presents inside. I know your son is sick, so I think I need to visit you.”

Lin Mengya supported Ms. Tian as they walked into the room.

The empty room made Lin Mengya’s eyes sore.

No wonder Ms. Tian couldn’t take her sick son to a doctor.

There wasn’t a single valuable item in this room. The cotton jacket on Ms. Tian was so patchy that Lin Mengya’s heart ached when she saw it.