Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Lin Hongqiu’s voice was not soft, and outside, many high-ranking officials and nobles who knew Li Mingxiao had already knelt down. Originally intending only to watch the commotion, they now shivered helplessly on the ground. Who could have imagined that the person dining with Lin Qing was none other than the reigning emperor!

At the same time, a large number of imperial guards rushed in from all directions, surrounding the entire Yongfu Pavilion tightly, capturing all the guards of the Marquis’s residence.

How could the emperor travel with only one person? At most, the guards were either openly visible or secretly concealed. Even when Lin Hongqiu brought people to the door, some guards had already been sent to summon reinforcements.

Lin Hongqiu never imagined Lin Qing had dug such a deep pit for him—he actually insulted the emperor by calling him Lin Qing’s lover!

The emperor wanted the names of those nobles, but would he dare to say them? He wouldn’t dare!

Lin Hongqiu’s face turned pale; his head was bruised, and large beads of sweat trickled down the wound on his forehead, causing him to grimace in pain.

Seeing him in such a state, Li Mingxiao was too indifferent to pay him any mind and instead turned to Lin Qing. “Lin Qing, what do you think?”

Lin Qing had been quietly standing aside, watching the spectacle unfold. Now that Li Mingxiao asked, all eyes turned to her.

She wanted to curse.

What did she think? She didn’t think anything!

The case was assigned to her by the emperor; the arrest was ordered by the emperor; the information was leaked by Madam Wang; the trouble was caused by Lin Hongqiu himself. What did any of it have to do with her? She was merely a minor deputy commissioner of the Heavenly Prosperity Division, powerless and insignificant. So fragile—how could this concern her?

“I believe that with the intellect of the Marquis of Yongning, he wouldn’t be capable of pinning this accusation on me. As for that Lady Liu, she has likely been silenced by now.”

Li Mingxiao glanced at Lin Hongqiu but said nothing. Lin Hongqiu understood the implication and shrank his neck. “Lady Liu was flogged to death for stealing my wife’s dowry…”

Lady Liu’s death and the news of the true and false heiress happened almost simultaneously. Lin Hongqiu had wanted to inquire further, but she was already dead—a mere corpse. So when the Ministry of Justice came to arrest someone, he panicked and hid her away.

Li Mingxiao restrained himself from kicking Lin Hongqiu away. Such a blatant plot to murder and silence a witness, and yet he still fell for it! He had seen fools before, but never this foolish.

At that moment, Lin Junrou and Prince Rui arrived.

Lin Junrou wore a snow-white dress, delicate and frail, her features beautiful but tear-stained, like a small white flower battered by a storm.

She hurried forward, knelt beside Lin Hongqiu, tears falling down her cheeks. She lifted her face slightly, revealing a slender, pale neck. “Your Majesty, I am Lin Junrou, daughter of the household. My father could not bear for me to carry the disgrace of being an illegitimate child, so he hurried here to confront Deputy Commissioner Lin. My father’s love for his daughter is sincere, but I take responsibility for his faults. I am willing to bear the punishment in his stead. I beseech Your Majesty for mercy.”

Lin Qing curled her lips in disdain. If Li Mingxiao punished her, it would mean he lacked understanding. Had he truly wished to punish the Marquis of Yongning’s house, Lin Hongqiu’s stupidity alone would have already brought it down.

The old Marquis of Yongning had once been a figure of local influence. Unfortunately, his descendants were all failures. The old Marquis must have foreseen this, for before he died, he dragged his ailing body to the palace to kneel before the late emperor, exchanging his lifetime merits for a century of peace for the Marquis’s household.

With the late emperor’s edict, Li Mingxiao had cleaned up countless messes on behalf of the Yongning Marquis’s family. Yet years later, the Yongning Marquis’s household aided Prince Rui in usurping the throne.

Lin Qing even felt sorry for Li Mingxiao.

Li Mingxiao naturally understood the meaning behind Lin Junrou’s words, and even sensed something deeper that displeased him. He bypassed Lin Junrou and looked toward Prince Rui. “Zeyuan is here as well.”

“Your younger brother greets the elder brother,” said Prince Rui, named Li Chenxuan, courtesy name Zeyuan. Though not born of the empress, he had been adopted under her name since childhood and was therefore a full brother to Li Mingxiao.

Li Chenxuan smiled. “I was dining upstairs with colleagues when I heard the commotion below and learned that my elder brother had arrived. At the entrance, I met Miss Lin and came down with her.”

Li Mingxiao’s expression softened slightly. “You heard about it?”

“Your younger brother believes the Marquis of Lin is kind-hearted and straightforward. His coming to trouble Commissioner Lin has two reasons. One is his love for his daughter. Regardless of whether Miss Lin is truly a member of the Marquis’s family, she has lived there for over ten years. If the identity of an illegitimate child is confirmed, her reputation is completely ruined. The second is that the Marquis has likely been manipulated. Causing trouble for Commissioner Lin is minor; the real problem lies with the Wang Duan case.”

All eyes fell again on the trembling Lin Hongqiu.

“He is my concubine Zhang’s doing,” Lin Hongqiu shivered. “She said that if a scapegoat wasn’t found to restore Junrou’s reputation, she’d be finished. Lin Qing has a small official rank and no backing; she’s the perfect target.” With those words, he completely lost hope, curling into a ball.

Seeing Li Mingxiao nod at Lin Qing, she immediately ordered Meng Jie, the guard at the door, “Meng Jie, fetch a squad from the Heavenly Prosperity Guard. Accompany the Marquis of Lin to the Yongning Marquis’s residence and arrest Zhang for interrogation.”

Meng Jie saluted. “Yes, ma’am!” Then he grabbed Lin Hongqiu and set off.

Li Chenxuan watched Lin Qing arrange the tasks one by one and smiled. “I’ve heard of Commissioner Lin’s skill. Three years ago, during the bandit suppression at Wuwang Mountain, she single-handedly wiped out a bandit camp of a thousand men with just her sword. If she failed to stop the Marquis’s guards today, it must be because those guards were formidable. Commissioner Lin, are you injured? We must have the imperial physician treat you properly later.”

Lin Qing’s scalp tingled. She cursed inwardly. Lin Hongqiu was a fool; what good guards could he possibly have? A bunch of useless drunkards. That fox-faced Prince Chenxuan, saying this, if the imperial physician saw it, she’d surely be punished by Li Mingxiao.

“That small skirmish is nothing compared to the prince’s bravery. Especially in the battle before the new year, when he led just a hundred cavalry in a surprise raid on Gouyue, burning nearly a thousand provisions. Such a miracle earns my utmost respect. Yet, one thing puzzles me. Since the prince is here, may I ask him to explain?”

Without waiting for Li Chenxuan’s response, Lin Qing continued, “Gouyue’s terrain is unique—easy to defend, difficult to attack. To besiege the city, one must pass through the Hundred Men Valley, a treacherous place known as the Valley of a Hundred Bones, flanked by cliffs, filled with poisonous traps, and guarded by Gouyue scouts in ambush. How did the prince manage to get through, and by surprise?”

Li Chenxuan said, “I too have long been troubled by this. One day, I happened to rescue a girl. She was skilled in medicine and familiar with the terrain. She helped me greatly.”

Lin Qing suddenly understood. “So that’s why the prince’s feelings for that girl are so special.”

In the original story, that girl was Lin Junrou’s rival—a vicious female antagonist skilled in poison arts, who had laid many traps for Lin Junrou.

She cast a meaningful glance at Lin Junrou, who trembled slightly, biting her lip as if she might faint at any moment.

Li Chenxuan’s expression darkened, his smile fading as he looked at Lin Junrou with unspoken words in his eyes.

Curious, Lin Qing blinked. “Why have you stopped smiling, Your Highness? Are you naturally so solemn?”

Li Chenxuan replied, “Commissioner Lin’s sharp tongue commands my respect, though I wonder…”

Li Mingxiao slammed his fan on the table with a sharp crack, causing Li Chenxuan to swallow his remaining words.

Li Mingxiao then looked at Lin Qing. “Lin Qing, you’ve been neglecting your martial training lately. That’s unacceptable. From now on, you will spend an extra hour each day training at Yude Garden.”

Yude Garden was where the princes were taught martial arts. Because Li Mingxiao had yet to name an empress, only some royal children were training there, and the oldest among them was about Lin Qing’s age.

What could Lin Qing do? Li Mingxiao clearly saw through her deliberate sabotage of Lin Hongqiu. She could only accept it with a bitter smile. An hour of extra training was not much, but after that, she still had official duties to attend to. Just thinking about it exhausted her.

Li Mingxiao turned to Li Chenxuan, his earlier gentleness gone. “Zeyuan, such great merit done by that girl—why have you never mentioned her before?”

Li Chenxuan hurried to explain, “She has not adapted well to the capital’s climate and has been ill in the prince’s mansion since arriving. I intended to wait until she recovered before bringing her to pay respects to Your Majesty.”

Li Mingxiao neither believed nor doubted him, but his gaze deepened. “Send the imperial physician to check on her. We must not mistreat someone who has served Dayuan well.”

Li Chenxuan quietly acknowledged, aware that from now on there would be a barrier between him and the emperor.

Li Mingxiao stood and headed for the door. Passing Lin Qing, he tapped her on the head with his fan tip. “What are you daydreaming about? Return to the palace.”

Lin Qing rubbed her aching forehead. “Yes.”

After they left, only Li Chenxuan and Lin Junrou remained in the private room. Li Chenxuan’s smile vanished completely; his eyes darkened like a brewing storm.

He had underestimated Lin Qing. A mere casual remark was enough to put Li Mingxiao on guard against him.

“Your Highness, I will take my leave.” Lin Junrou’s face was pale, nearly colorless.

Li Chenxuan snapped back to himself and quickly embraced her. “Junrou, there is nothing between that woman and me. My heart belongs only to you.”

Tears streamed down Lin Junrou’s face. “But perhaps I am not truly the Marquis’s daughter. If I really am an illegitimate child…”

“That will never be. You will always be the true daughter of the Marquis, my future princess! No one can replace you; only you are the rightful blood of the Marquis’s family.” Li Chenxuan’s gaze turned dark and vicious as it drifted toward the door through which Lin Qing had left.

“But the emperor already knows. He will surely have Lin Qing investigate thoroughly. If…” Lin Junrou lowered her head, her scattered hair hiding the hatred in her eyes. If only Lin Qing had stopped Madam Wang from revealing the secret of the swapped girls, she would still be the proud daughter of the Marquis’s household, not in this miserable state.

She could not imagine what would become of her if the label of illegitimate child were pinned on her.

“Rest assured, as long as Lin Qing dies, I will find a way to blame him,” Li Chenxuan said with growing hatred. After all, Wang Duan was his source of wealth. Without Wang Duan, he would have to find another way to fund his private army.

If Lin Qing did not die, his grudge would never be settled.