Chapter 455 Feeling Grieved and Hopeless

There was a tinge of helplessness in Lin Mengya’s tone of voice as if she was put in a difficult position.

If Hongyu were still that very intelligent girl when Lin Mengya first met her in the Huichun House, she would be able to tell that Lin Mengya was setting a trap for her.

However, her mind had been preoccupied with thoughts of pleading for Sumei’s survival.

At this moment, Hongyu would even leap off a high cliff without hesitation.

“Your Highness, if you spare us out of your magnanimity, I’m willing to hand over all the evidence Sumei is holding!”

Hongyu continued to plead and kowtow, hoping the Lin Mengya would give her a promise.

However, while Lin Mengya looked at this pathetic woman in front of her, she did not feel any pity and compassion.

These two sisters had brought this upon themselves after all.

Their survival would depend on their luck.

“It was fate that allowed us to get acquainted after all. You may go see your younger sister in a while. However, regardless of whether she agreed to this or not, I’ve to send you away today. I’m sure you are aware of what kind of place this is.”

Lin Mengya did not sound like she was rushing this, instead, she sounded like she did not really care if Hongyu got to see her sister.

Hongyu nodded vigorously as if she was afraid Lin Mengya would go back to her words. With gratitude, she turned around and walked out of Lin Mengya’s room.

Looking at the graceful figure of Hongyu leave and disappear eventually, Lin Mengya let out a soft sigh suddenly.

“Has your heart softened?”

Long Tianyu set down a chess piece onto the chessboard and gazed at Lin Mengya with a look which seemed to say that he understood her sentiments.

Lin Mengya shook her head and turned her attention back to the chessboard.

“Everyone has his or her own fate. I just felt that it was such as waste for Hongyu,” commented Lin Mengya.

Having arrived at this situation today, if she still had a woman’s kindness in her, she would be the one to taste the bitter fruit of defeat eventually.

Lin Mengya had wanted to spare Hongyu, but it seemed that it was not necessary now.

The two of them continued with their game of chess. Despite being very cautious, Lin Mengya still lagged far behind Long Tianyu in terms of her skill in chess.

The final result was that she was completely runover without any suspense.

To bad that the disparity could not simply be made up by intelligence.

Having lost the game, Lin Mengya did not appear angry on the surface, but she could not help feeling dissatisfied in her heart.

Just when she was pestering Long Tianyu to play another game of chess with her, the old maidservant who had been on the lookout for what was happening in Sumei’s room came running in to make a report.

When she saw that the princess was playing chess with the prince, she turned to Baishao and spoke to her, fearing that she would be interrupting them.

“Alright, you may go and continue to watch her.”

Baishao nodded as the servant ran off, grinning.

Everyone knew that Miss Baishao was the princess’s trusted aid, so now was the best time for anyone to make his presence noticed by her.

“What’s happened?”

Without lifting her head, Lin Mengya asked, while still keeping her focus on the chessboard.

“The old maid had come to report that a quarrel had ensued in Sumei’s room. Master, would you like to go over to stop them?”

Baishao always took instructions from Lin Mengya. Once she got to know what happened, she naturally reported it to her master first of all.

“Stop them? That’s not necessary. Just send someone to keep a lookout. It’s not time for me to act yet. If Hongyu decided to leave, send someone to see her out of the city.”

All that happened was within her expectation.

Sumei would hold on dearly to the piece of evidence as if it were her life. Whoever tried to force her to take it out would become her enemy in her eyes.

Even if this person was her sister who was willing to sacrifice her life for Sumei.

Lin Mengya fiddled with the black chess piece in her hand and a mocking smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

If nothing accidental happened, tonight would the night she would witness a tragedy of internecine strife when one’s kindness was repaid with enmity.

Just as Lin Mengya had predicted, Sumei and Hongyu had gotten into a fight. Eventually, Hongyu had dashed out of Sumei’s room with swollen and bloodshot eyes, seemingly heartbroken.

Lin Mengya had given Baishao instructions to prepare the horse carriage earlier on so that they could send Hongyu out of the city once she came out of the room.

Not long after, however, a crestfallen Sumei also exited from her room.

The only difference was that she had tried to avoid the crowd, but slipped out of Prince Shen’s Mansion through the back gate in a hurry.

The guards who were supposed to be patrolling the back gate seemed to have some mutual agreement with her because they seemed to have changed their shift and gone elsewhere at that moment when Sumei slipped out.

After playing chess for the entire day, Lin Mengya was feeling a little exhausted.

However, it was her body that was exhausted, not her mind. Games that involved strategizing and calculations like chess were indeed more energy-sapping than physical work.

“Don’t alert the kitten, but don’t let her escape as well. Given how crafty she is, we may waste all our effort if we are careless.”

Baishao listened carefully to Lin Mengya’s instructions as she waited on Lin Mengya to wash her arms and hands.

Some time ago, she had overheard the conversation between her masters, but it sounded puzzling for her.

However, she was gradually getting the hang of it over the past few days, perhaps because she had been by her master’s side and was subtly influenced by her.

For example, she was beginning to understand the circumstances.

Her master had let Hongyu and Sumei go so that she could lure the mastermind behind them, who was more difficult to deal with.

“Rest assured; that won’t happen.”

Long Tianyu was also standing by the window and looking out.

Both Hongyu and Sumei had the tail left by him and Zuo Qiuchen behind them.

Even he did not have a clear idea of the method used by Lintian’s emperor, but he was fully aware of the capability of his own follower.

There were few who had the capability to find their traces.

“While one covets the gains ahead, he is unaware of the danger behind. I wonder who the real prey is this time. Baishao, get ready. I’m going to bring you all to watch a real-life drama.”

Lin Mengya grinned cheekily at Long Tianyu, as if she was up to no good.

He had wanted to ask her to stay, but at this moment, he had stopped himself by swallowing his words.

Long Tianyu shook his head. He realized that it was getting increasingly difficult for him to turn down her requests.

Forget it; anyway they would be leaving this place soon. Would there be any harm fulfilling her requests?

At sunset, a horse carriage was running along a small country lane which was filled with potholes and it wobbled from the unevenness of the ground.

The coachman was none other than the most famous coachman in Wangtian City, Old Man Tian. At this moment, he was smoking from the smoking pouch and there were some questions in his mind.

This job had been assigned to him from the extremely powerful Prince Shen’s Mansion.

It was a rare opportunity to get business from the royal family, but the old man had initially wanted to reject this offer. However, the offer was really too attractive and he eventually gave in.

For the sake of earning money, Old Man Tian had finally taken up the deal.

However, before he set out, the fairy-like lady had given him some instructions, but it did not make him feel any more comfortable.

He wished there would not be any accidents.

Old Man Tian could not bear to hear the sound of weeping that went on and off from within the horse carriage.

The lady was very beautiful to behold. Although she was clad in plain clothes, an experienced man like Old Man Tian could tell that she was not a commoner.

She had a pair of swollen almond eyes and she had not stopped crying since she got up the horse carriage.

Old Man Tian was getting irritated from the sound of non-stop weeping, but she was his customer and moreover she had come out from the prince’s mansion, he had no choice but to attend to her cautiously.

For this reason, he had to endure this despite feeling unhappy.

After all, Ten Mile-slope was just ahead. The person who engaged his service had said that he could return to the city once he dropped the lady there.

Nevertheless, the person who engaged his service had forbidden him from taking the public road. He had given Old Man Tian instructions to take the shortcut that took a shorter time to reach the destination.

Although this country lane was bumpy, he had saved much time traveling this way.

This only thing was that it had been exceptionally quietly here today.

The horse carriage had been on the road for quite some time, but he had not spotted any other travelers. Old Man Tian could not help but feel an uneasiness about this.

“Go!”

He lifted high into the air the horsewhip, which he had been using for half of his life, before he brought it down and coincidentally, the whip landed on the shaft of the cart.

The horse was his means to make a living and he would not bear to whip it.

He had meant this to be a warning or reminder for his old partner to speed up so that they could go home to rest as early as possible.

Thank goodness they were approaching Ten-mile Pavilion.

Old Man Tian would try his best to get back to the city before the city gates shut.

By then, he would go to Prince Shen’s Mansion to ask for the remaining portion of the fee. That way, he would have enough money for his son to marry a wife.

At the thought, Old Man Tian’s mood lifted just a little.

The young lady in the horse carriage looked rather pitiful. However, who wouldn’t have their fair share of sad stories these days?

Hongyu did not know how long she had been crying. Despite the sting in her swollen eyes, she was unable to stop her tears from welling up.

How did Sumei end up this way?

How did the little lass who always trailed behind her in her memory turn into this insensible and unreasonable girl?

She had kindly tried to coax her sister to handover that evidence, so both of them could leave and go somewhere far away to start their lives anew.

Never would she expect her little sister to accuse her disregarding what her sister thought was good for her.

Sumei had accused her of taking Lin Mengya’s bribe and had come to her to force her to hand over the evidence.

She was not so much bothered by Sumei’s accusation, but Sumei had forced her sister up the road to ruin for the sake of pursuing her unattainable wish.

Hongyu had thought that Sumei would at least consider their kinship.

Little did she expect that to Sumei, she was an obstacle to achieving her dream.

This was ridiculous! She had given her all for this little sister of hers. She had even gone to the extent of requiting Lin Mengya’s kindness with enmity. Hongyu felt as if half of her life had been wasted.

She thought all her tears would have been spent in that dark courtesan house where the bawd nurtured the underage courtesans.

It was at this moment that she learned that after her heart had broken into pieces, the blood from her heart could turn into tears in her eyes. Her heart was utterly shattered.

Forget it, for the road ahead of her was still far. She would just take it as that she had never had a relative like Sumei.

Nevertheless, she could not help feeling perplexed and lost about her future. Where was her final destination?