“What fine words—’the dead cannot return’! What fine reasoning—’it cannot be blamed on him’!” Lin Qingyue sneered with biting mockery.
“Very well, I shall help you all. After all, Lin Rufeng is the legitimate son of the Hou estate. His life is indeed… ‘precious’.”
“Shen Mo, rather than destroying both jade and stone…” She approached Shen Mo once more, whispering words unknown to others.
Shen Mo, who had nearly lost all humanity, gradually calmed, his gaze steadying on Lin Qingyue.
Moments later, he declared loudly: “Very well. I am willing to relinquish my hatred and spare Lin Rufeng.”
Simultaneously, his fangs retracted, and his vertical pupils slowly reshaped into human ones.
Only one shrill voice persisted in protest: “Shen Mo, she’s deceiving you! Don’t be fooled, Shen Mo, Shen Mo!”
“Insufferable noise!” Lin Qingyue struck the top of “Lin Rufeng’s” head with her palm, sending him flying several yards backward. At the same time, a distorted, massive serpent shadow erupted from Lin Rufeng’s body, stretched violently, and swiftly slithered away.
“Evil spirit, where do you think you’re fleeing!” Xie Shouzheng shouted, leading his subordinates from the Xuanjing Office in pursuit beyond the Hou estate.
Lin Rufeng lay motionless on the ground.
“Feng’er!” Zhou Shi could not restrain her reproach toward Lin Qingyue. “How could you strike your elder brother so harshly? If anything happens to him, how shall I go on living?”
Lin Qingyue replied, “He won’t die. He’s merely unconscious. Carry him back to his room to rest. By tomorrow, he will have recovered.”
“Truly?” Zhou Shi sighed in immediate relief. “Yue’er, Mother knew you would not disregard your brother’s life!”
“Is it truly resolved?” Lin Xiao remained uneasy, first instructing others to examine Lin Rufeng. Indeed, they found him still breathing, merely unconscious.
Lin Xiao hastily ordered, “Take the eldest young master to rest.”
The personnel from the City Guard Camp dispersed as the matter concluded.
Some hot-blooded among them spat toward the Hou estate’s main gate before leaving: “Truly, good deeds go unrewarded, while scourges live for a thousand years!”
But what could be done?
Even if the Hou estate now paled in comparison to its ancestral glory, it remained an influential household, with its legitimate daughter being Jin Wang’s consort.
Even if Lin Rufeng’s vile deeds were exposed, he would only suffer some damage to his reputation—nothing that could truly harm him. He might even continue to live in wealth and luxury, relying on his ancestral privileges for the remainder of his life.
“Yue’er, how did you come to learn such methods for dealing with evil spirits?” Only after his son’s matter was settled did Lin Xiao remember to show concern for Lin Qingyue.
Lin Qingyue dismissed it casually: “I learned them among the common folk, of course. In my youth, I encountered an extraordinary person who taught me some skills. If Father wishes to know more, we would have to start from the matter of your daughter’s origins.”
In the presence of Dongfang Yan, how would Lin Xiao dare broach the subject of origins? To mention it would risk exposing Lin Ruzhen’s identity as a false noble daughter.
In this era of strictly defined social classes, even those from humble backgrounds were scorned—how much more so others?
Once Lin Ruzhen’s true origins were revealed, the aristocratic circles would no longer tolerate her.
That carefully cultivated pawn, nurtured by the Lin family for over a decade, would become utterly useless!
Lin Xiao hurriedly said, “Since it was a chance encounter, consider it your fortune. However, the Mystic Arts are mostly needed by lowly peddlers and laborers. You are a Wangfei (Prince’s consort); your focus should be on serving His Highness and winning over the imperial clan.”
Lin Qingyue sneered coldly, “Hah~ What do you call this? Burning bridges after crossing the river?”
“Yue’er! How dare you speak to your father like that?”
Dongfang Yan, oblivious to the tension between father and daughter, recalled something else and asked Lin Qingyue:
“What did you say to Shen Mo’s ghost earlier? He actually obeyed your command and left without a fuss?”
Lin Qingyue flicked her sleeve casually and brushed it off: “Oh, it was nothing. I just told him to be magnanimous, let go of his hatred, and move on to reincarnation.”
Hah~ As if!
“Your Highness!” Lin Ruzhen, who had been hiding in the attic to avoid danger, rushed out to make her presence known now that the crisis outside had passed.
Hearing that delicate, frail call, Dongfang Yan remembered the strange spell Lin Qingyue had cast on Lin Ruzhen.
“Lin Qingyue, remove the spell from Zhen’er.”
“What spell?” Lin Xiao looked utterly confused.
Dongfang Yan briefly explained the situation and then said to Lin Qingyue, “Lift the spell and promise this prince that you will never use such despicable means to harm anyone again. I will let bygones be bygones regarding what happened before.”
“Ah!” Lin Ruzhen covered her mouth in shock. “So it was sister who harmed me?”
Tears immediately welled up in her eyes: “Sister, even if I’ve done something wrong, you can hit or scold me. Why use such means to hurt me? Do you know how much pain I was in? I couldn’t sleep all night, and my entire tongue was so swollen I couldn’t speak. Thankfully, Prince Jin summoned the imperial physician to treat me. The swelling subsided, the pain stopped, and I can barely speak now.”
Lin Qingyue chuckled: “With all this nonsense, it seems you’re still not in enough pain.”
“Lin Qingyue!” Dongfang Yan’s face turned cold again. “Why must you always speak so harshly?”
When looking at Lin Qingyue alone, he found her intelligent and composed, occasionally even surprising him pleasantly.
But whenever she was with Lin Ruzhen, her sharp tongue and mean-spiritedness ruined all the previous goodwill.
“I’ve said it before—this spell has no cure. Unless she starts being honest from now on and stops lying through her teeth, every lie she tells will cause a festering sore in her mouth. Over time, even her tongue will rot away. No matter how skilled the physician, they can only provide temporary relief at best; they cannot cure the root cause.”
Dongfang Yan declared, “Lin Qingyue, your heart is too malicious, and you are adept at using spells to harm others. Allowing you to remain free, who knows what atrocities you might commit in the future? Guards, seize the princess consort and lock her in the manor’s dungeon!”
“Your Highness!” Zhou Shi suddenly stepped forward, speaking up for Lin Qingyue for the first time in her life. “You and Yue’er are husband and wife, bound by a marriage decreed by the emperor. You must not turn into enemies. As for Zhen’er…”
She glanced at Lin Ruzhen, no longer with the same doting and blind trust as before.
“Zhen’er might indeed have told some lies…”
“Madam!” Lin Xiao hurriedly tried to stop her.
He had his own selfish motives. One daughter was already despised by the prince; he couldn’t afford to tarnish the other’s reputation.
With tears in her eyes, Zhou Shi said, “Marquis, you don’t know this. Earlier, when Feng’er was possessed by an evil spirit and went mad, hurting people, I tried to save Zhen’er out of kindness. But she pushed me away instead. If Yue’er hadn’t arrived in time, I might already be dead!”
If Dongfang Yan hadn’t been present, she would have been tempted to add: After all, she’s not my own flesh and blood—a thankless wretch that can never be tamed!
Lin Xiao was astonished upon hearing this: “Is that true? Your mother treated you so well, Zhen’er, and you actually pushed her to her death?”
Lin Ruzhen instinctively defended herself: “I didn’t, it wasn’t intentional, Mother lost her footing and fell outside the door herself… Ah, it hurts!”
Her previously subsided tongue swelled up again. Lin Ruzhen covered her mouth, trembling in pain.
Lin Qingyue smiled and held up three fingers: “That statement just now contained three lies: ‘I didn’t’, ‘it wasn’t intentional’, and ‘Mother lost her footing and fell outside the door herself’.”
“Since the imperial physician has examined you, the medical records must document how many sores originally grew in your mouth. Now we just need to check whether three new sores have appeared to verify your lies!”
She gazed smilingly at Dongfang Yan: “Did you really think you understood her? You can’t even tell when she’s lying!”