Qinghu had given Lin Mengya ideas again. To him, everyone else was a fleeting cloud other than his lass.
However, there was no way Lin Mengya could bring herself to be so heartless. Baizhi's protectiveness over her had surpassed that of a sister.
She would never sacrifice Baizhi for anything.
"From the way King Ming was acting, he was set on getting his hands on Baizhi. It was not that there were no other women in the western vassal state. Why would he want a Dajin woman as a wife?"
Baizhi was still laughing in a carefree manner in the garden.
Compared to Lin Mengya, Baizhi behaved more like a girl at her age. She was full of sunshine, sweetness and brilliant smiles.
She supposed Baizhi would be able to maintain her exceptional nature even if she were to live in affliction and suffering.
There was not a day when Lin Mengya did not think that Baizhi was the strongest of them in her courtyard.
"No! There's no way I would allow Baizhi to marry Hu Tianbei!"
Lin Mengya had made up her mind as she got up from her seat. She tidied up the place and left Liuxin Courtyard without bringing anyone with her.
It looked like she had to discuss with Long Tianhao with regard to this matter so they could arrive at the best strategy.
She began walking briskly and soon arrived at Long Tianhao's study.
She was about to knock on the door but she suddenly hesitated.
After all, she was the reason for this trouble.
Was she being too unreasonable if she wanted Long Tianhao to salvage the situation now?
As this thought came to mind, she decided against the idea. However, as she turned around, Long Tianhao's voice echoed through the air.
"Who's there?"
She was totally unprepared now that she was found out.
Lin Mengya braced herself as she lightly pushed open the door to Long Tianhao's study.
"It's me. Your Highness, the Prince."
This was the first time in her life that Lin Mengya had sincerely come to ask someone for a favor.
She put on a sweet smile on her face, as she tried to portray a meek and harmless image.
At this moment, Long Tianhao was sitting at the study table and going through the documents. He lifted his gaze to her and said casually,
"What's the matter? Just say it. That smile on your face-- doesn't suit you."
The smile on Lin Mengya's face froze instantly.
She could not imagine the Long Tianhao, who pulled a straight face all day long, was also very good at sarcasm.
"Your Highness, I indeed have a favor to ask of you. I was wondering if you can help."
Long Tianhao lifted his head and glanced at her, then gave her a serious nod.
Weighing her options, she finally bit the bullet and said,
"I want to talk about Baizhi. She's not just my maidservant, but she is also like a sister to me. I don't wish for her to marry for convenience. All the more, I don't want her to suffer."
He was surprised that Lin Mengya asked his favor for the sake of her maidservant.
After careful consideration, however, it was within her expectation after all.
Long Tianhao put down the brush in his hand and walked up to her. He reached into his clothes and took out a secret letter.
"This is..."
"This letter recorded all the proof of Hu Lunan's evil plan of usurping the throne over the years. I suppose you know how to make good use of it at this moment, right?"
She turned to look at the letter in surprise. She had not imagined that things would work out so easily.
"No, Your Highness. The letter is too valuable to be wasted on this issue! I can't..."
Every piece of information was obtained at the expense of countless sacrifices.
Being in Prince Yu's Mansion, Lin Mengya was well aware of how precious and important these things were.
However, Long Tianhao was determined in his attitude.
He grabbed her hand and stuffed the letter into her hands forcefully.
"If you don't make use of it, it would be a piece of useless paper. You may go now, I'm busy with other business."
Long Tianhao was not even giving her a chance to turn down his offer of the letter. He did not even give her a frown.
Lin Mengya opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Eventually, she excused herself from the prince, holding tightly to the secret letter.
She could still feel the warmth of Long Tianhao's touch on her finger. Although his hand was at the same temperature as her body temperature, at the moment when they touched, it felt like hot iron searing onto her heart.
Long Tianhao, who could have gained much more benefits using this secret letter, had so easily passed the letter on to her.
To her, Baizhi was very important. However, to Long Tianhao, Baizhi did not mean anything.
Why did Long Tianhao do this?
At this juncture, the clear-headed Lin Mengya starting to feel perplexed.
She could longer convince herself that Long Tianhao to her was simply her boss who provided food for her.
Lin Mengya was so confused that she was making circles in the garden.
She was totally oblivious to the pair of malicious eyes following her around all that time.
At the mini pavilion in the garden, Lin Mengya rested her head on the table. The gentle breeze blowing on her face took away the heat away from her cheeks.
Lin Mengya, whose total age taking into consideration her present and past life was approaching forty, yet she could feel herself blushing from the mere touch with Prince Yu.
She put her palm to her smooth cheeks. She was by no means still a bashful adolescent girl.
Lin Mengya was so engrossed in her emotions that she was unaware of the pair of scheming eyes which was fixed on the secret letter in her hand.
When the person, who was secretly observing her in hiding, was about to dash towards Lin Mengya to snatch away that letter from her hand, a dark figure suddenly appeared.
"Who's that?!"
The dark figure bellowed as it moved with lightning speed.
Before Lin Mengya could react, the two people were already entangled in a fight.
The noise from the fighting finally brought Lin Mengya back to reality.
She quickly hid the letter in her bosom. However, the two fighting people brought a frown to her face.
"Stop!"
Lin Mengya's voice stopped the two people in the fight. The face of the man in black was veiled, while the other person was none other than the usually cheeky Qinghu.
At this moment, however, Qinghu's brows were locking into a frown and he had his eyes fixed on the man in black with an unfriendly glare.
He appeared to be wary of how his opponent was also highly skilled in martial arts.
"Lass, this man had been sneaking up on you. I could see he's harboring something against you!"
Qinghu took one quick step and came between Lin Mengya and the mysterious man, while he stood guard over Lin Mengya.
However, Lin Mengya raised two fingers to wave at Qinghu to dismiss his exaggerated move.
"I believe you don't mean any harm, but who exactly are you? Why are you following me?"
Qinghu could play a fool all he wanted, but Lin Mengya was absolutely clear-minded at any moment.
She did not know any kungfu skills. If not for Qinghu and Baisu, who were always by her side, it would be easy to take her life.
This was the reason she believed that this man in black was not here to kill or harm her.
"Greetings to Prince Yu. I'm a secret agent of Prince Yu, Ye. Prince Yu had instructed me to protect you."
Secret agent? It was no wonder she did not realize that someone was following her.
Did Long Tianhao make this arrangement to protect her? After pondering for a moment, she suddenly felt a warm current flowing through her heart.
"Hey, it's it sufficient for me to protect little lass. Why do we need a burden like you to be around?"
Although they were supposed to do the same job, Qinghu did not seem to like the idea, although this guy indeed was very skilled in martial arts.
Given that he was veiled and was dressed so weirdly, Qinghu did not think he was someone harmless.
"Alright, I guess you're not a burden, but a loudspeaker."
As Ye glared at Qinghu to shut him up, Lin Mengya threw a doubtful look to the secret agent who named Ye.
"I would think a secret agent would not show himself so easily. Unless there was someone else here just now?"
Ye had heard that Princess Yu was a very intelligent woman. He did not believe at the beginning.
It seemed that she was as people described.
Ye nodded, turned to Qinghu and said with a whisper,
"That was someone who was going to harm the princess. When I was about to get hold of him, he scared himself away."
Ye looked towards Qinghu, indicating that he was talking about Qinghu, and Lin Mengya could not help but immediately gave Qinghu an accusing look.
Not only did he not achieve something, but he was also ruining a plan. Why was Lin Mengya surrounded by a bunch of useless people?
Sigh! What was wrong with her luck? Why did every outstanding talent who come to her turn into a disaster?
"I... I wasn't aware. I thought he was going to attack you!"
Qinghu tried to argue but Lin Menga's imposing mannerism had managed to repress him. He could only swallow his pride and hide his presence.
"He was not to blame really. Whoever that person was, he was not skilled in kungfu, but very skilled with his light footwork. I only realized his presence rather late. If he was thinking of hurting you, I would have realized at the last minute."
He was honest with his assessment of the situation. He did not add nor subtract from the facts.
Lin Mengya gave Qinghu a doubtful look when she saw him nodding ceaselessly, trying very hard to look pitiful so he could be spared from her accusation.
Sighing helplessly, Lin Mengya rubbed her aching temple and instructedly said,
"Now that I know about this, I'm afraid the enemy had taken all the necessary precautions. It would be extremely difficult to spot him next time."
In fact, Lin Mengya had guessed who this person was a good while ago.
She did not expose this fact because it was not the time to do it.
"Thank you very much for what you did today."
Ye bowed gently and in the twinkling of an eye, he completely vanished.
"This guy is really good at the skill of invasion."
Qinghu only started to praise Ye for his skills after he vanished.
Lin Mengya cast a look at Qinghu and asked,
"Skill of evasion? Isn't that a trick for fooling people?
However, Qinghu shook his head mysteriously and with a low voice, he said,
"The origin of the skill of invasion dates far back in the history of the bohemian. It is one of the most mysterious martial skills of all time. Actually, the skill of invasion requires one to camouflage himself using his environment. In the past, the most skillful killers of Peach Blossom Dock had picked up the basics of the skill of invasion. This is precisely the reason why the killers of Peach Blossom Dock rarely failed in their mission."
Qinghu secretly laughed when he saw the suspicious expression on Lin Mengya's face. He then disappeared from before her eyes in an instant.
She rubbed her eyes vigorously but was realized that Qinghu had vanished into thin air.
"Where did you go?"
In the next second, Qinghu had appeared before her eyes again.