Chapter 54: One Must Know Their Place
Lin Tingting’s expression turned grave. “I just don’t know if the news from Second Brother is accurate. It was clearly supposed to be the Crown Prince, so how did it turn into Sun Chengye?”
Madam Zhou didn’t know either. “Let’s wait for your Second Brother to come back and ask him.”
Before long, Lin Ningkun came in with a dark face. Madam Zhou happily went up to greet him. “Kun’er…”
“Look at the mess you’ve made. Our Lin Family was nearly destroyed by you.” Lin Ningkun ignored Madam Zhou’s enthusiasm and yelled directly at Lin Tingting.
He then fiercely threw a pair of embroidered shoes at Lin Tingting.
Jiang Ruanxi hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, but she could imagine how furious Lin Ningkun’s expression was now.
“Lin Ningkun, what are you doing?” Lin Tingting huffed angrily from the pain, calling him by his full name.
But after seeing that pair of shoes, her eyes contracted sharply, and she quickly lowered her head.
“Kun’er, what are you doing? How can you be so fierce to your sister? We’re still counting on Tingting to connect with the Crown Prince. Why are you yelling at her?”
Madam Zhou stood up to speak for Lin Tingting.
Hearing this, Lin Tingting, who had just been frightened, became much bolder.
She straightened her back.
“Exactly, Second Brother. Be a bit more polite to me. Once I connect with the Crown Prince, the Lin Family’s future prospects won’t need to depend on anyone’s face anymore.”
Lin Ningkun’s lips curled in scorn.
“Third Sister, you’re still dreaming even now. Do you think the Crown Prince would really like a woman who wears a pair of broken shoes?”
Lin Tingting knew Lin Ningkun was referring to her matter with Sun Chengye.
She hadn’t expected him to describe her as so dirty. Her expression instantly became extremely twisted and ferocious, her voice laced with anger and trembling. “Second Brother, do you know what you’re saying?”
Madam Zhou also felt Lin Ningkun had gone too far and chimed in.
“Exactly, Kun’er, you’ve gone too far. No matter what, Tingting is still your sister. How can you say that about her?”
“Mother, do you know why the Crown Prince still hasn’t taken a wife even now?”
Not only did the Lin Family mother and daughter not know about this, even Jiang Ruanxi was unclear.
After all, in her previous life, she had stayed deep in the inner residence and only heard fragments about the Crown Prince.
“Isn’t it because the Crown Prince hasn’t found a woman he likes?” Madam Zhou said.
“Mother, the Crown Prince not having found someone is secondary. Since ancient times, the royal family marries for equal status. The most crucial thing is for the Emperor and the Empress to be satisfied.”
After sitting down and gulping a cup of water, Lin Ningkun continued coldly, “Have you heard about the legitimate daughter of Grand Tutor Tian’s family two years ago?”
Madam Zhou didn’t understand why he suddenly brought this up.
“You mean that Tian Rong who was said to have gone mad and then committed suicide?”
“Exactly. But Mother, have you ever thought why a perfectly fine person would suddenly go mad, even to the point of committing suicide? I heard that Grand Tutor Tian’s legitimate daughter was unwilling to marry the Crown Prince and was caught by him in the act while eloping with another man.”
Madam Zhou was stunned.
Then she showed a face of scorn. “Is she brainless? Not choosing the Crown Prince but picking another man.”
“Mother, not everyone is willing to be the Crown Princess. That legitimate daughter of Grand Tutor Tian’s family was just like that. The Crown Prince caught his fiancée cuckolding him on the spot, so he was naturally heartbroken and has avoided women ever since.
He even intensely hates women. All these years, the Empress has introduced countless noblewomen to him, but none have caught the Crown Prince’s eye.”
“Then isn’t that perfect? As long as I can catch the Crown Prince’s eye, won’t our Lin Family rise meteorically and soar to the skies?”
Looking at her confident and naive appearance, Lin Ningkun still had a cold face and directly doused her with a basin of cold water.
“Third Sister, you’re really thinking too naively. Before, I didn’t know about your matter with Sun Chengye, so I pushed you toward the Crown Prince. But now, it seems we can’t.”
Lin Tingting’s face turned ugly, and she said agitatedly, “Second Brother, what do you mean?”
“The Crown Prince isn’t married, but his manor isn’t without concubines either. It’s said the Crown Prince avoids women, so the concubines in his manor are no different from decorations. But who knew those concubines couldn’t stand loneliness and were found having affairs with other men, so the Crown Prince executed them with extreme punishment.
Now the Crown Prince extremely despises women who are unfaithful, so if he finds out about your matter with Sun Chengye, not to mention whether Third Sister your life can be preserved, it might even implicate our Dingning Marquis Manor.”
Thinking of their plotted scheme, fortunately it hadn’t succeeded, or the consequences would be unthinkable.
She had no ideas left but was unwilling to give up. Sitting beside Li Ningkun, she asked, “Then what do we do? Are we just going to give up this opportunity now?”
Lin Tingting felt equally uncomfortable. Watching such a good opportunity slip away right before her eyes would be even more painful than killing her.
“Mother, the big picture is more important.” Lin Ningkun was still quite clear-headed now.
“I just heard that the Crown Prince is looking for the person who wrote the note. Apparently, that note saved the Crown Prince.”
He then turned to look at Lin Tingting.
“Now, as long as you pretend that note was written by you, if the Crown Prince takes a liking to you, then we have nothing to say. But if the Crown Prince doesn’t take a liking to you, our Dingning Marquis Manor is at least his savior, so I’m sure the Crown Prince will feel grateful. Then my promotion will naturally follow.”
Jiang Ruanxi frowned. Although she had written the note to the Crown Prince, she had never thought of having any involvement with him or using it to claim credit before him. But if someone used this to approach the Crown Prince, that would touch her bottom line.
“But Second Brother, if I could marry the Crown Prince…”
Lin Tingting was still unwilling.
Lin Ningkun directly interrupted her, looking at her impatiently.
“Third Sister, one must know their place. Things that don’t belong to you can’t be obtained no matter how hard you force it.”
Jiang Ruanxi couldn’t listen anymore, but one thing she understood very well was that she absolutely wouldn’t let Lin Tingting succeed.
“Hong Ye, come here.”
Jiang Ruanxi whispered a few words in her ear. Hong Ye nodded. “Madam, I’ll go right now.”
Hong Ye took a page of paper and went out.
There were assassins at Guangming Temple. Although the Crown Prince wasn’t injured, he was disturbed, so he specially had all the temple’s guests copy a page of Buddhist scripture.
Those in the know understood what was happening. Jiang Ruanxi didn’t want too much involvement with the Crown Prince but also didn’t want to benefit Lin Tingting, so she personally copied a page and had Hong Ye send it over.
As dawn was about to break, the Crown Prince summoned Jiang Xuerou.
