Chapter 136: Take Me Back, I’m Scared!
Lin Xin believed her words; she didn’t have the courage to lie in this situation.
So now the question is, who exactly released that snake?
She had a good idea who sent Lin Duo to cause her trouble—it was probably Fu Jing. Could the venomous snake also be his doing? Did he think arranging for Lin Duo wasn’t enough, so he personally arranged a venomous snake himself?
Mo Ziyuan in the tree had a similar thought to hers, but he thought even more deeply. Fu Jing wasn’t like Gao Yong, who had firmly stood with the Crown Prince’s faction from the beginning; he joined later.
The Fu family had once been a prestigious clan, and unlike the Mo family, his family ancestors had produced several Grand Tutors, truly a noble scholarly household.
Unfortunately, the later generations failed to inherit the ancestors’ talents. Each generation became less scholarly, and by Fu Jing’s father’s generation, they abandoned books for other pursuits but still achieved nothing notable.
Fu Jing was the most promising grandson of the Fu family in recent generations. Not only was his kung fu decent, but his literary talent was also quite impressive. He originally planned to take the imperial examination route to bring the Fu family back to its original path.
But at that time, the Grand Tutor controlled court affairs and had more than once expressed a desire to win over the Fu family.
The master of the Fu family, that is, Fu Jing’s grandfather, supported the orthodox heir, the Crown Prince, and did not accept the overtures from the Grand Tutor and the Third Prince. After that, the Fu family was deliberately suppressed.
Meng Yixuan and Fu Jing studied under the same martial master, so they were nominal fellow disciples. The Meng family was also a staunch supporter of the Crown Prince. After learning about the Fu family’s situation, they recommended Fu Jing to the Crown Prince.
In this way, Fu Jing joined their small group.
Now Mo Ziyuan suspected whether Fu Jing was truly loyal to the Crown Prince’s side. After all, Lin Tao was also at Lin Xin’s home. Maybe that snake wasn’t targeting Lin Xin, but what about Lin Tao?
First bribe Lin Duo to make a show of it, then he makes sneaky moves from behind.
Thinking of this, Mo Ziyuan immediately broke out in a cold sweat. If he hadn’t discovered it early, and the sleeping potion on the snake hadn’t fully dissipated, perhaps Lin Tao would already be a corpse by now. How would he explain that to Your Majesty? Lin Xin’s family couldn’t escape involvement either; even if they didn’t die, they’d be skinned alive.
Plus her unverified background.
The more Mo Ziyuan thought, the more afraid he became. He broke a branch from the tree and struck the back of Lin Duo’s neck, knocking her out. Then he leaped down from the tree.
“What happened? Is there something up there?” Lin Xin looked up at the branch where he had been.
“No, I have something to tell you.” Mo Ziyuan urgently pulled Lin Xin into his arms and held her tightly.
Lin Xin instinctively struggled a bit, but after hearing his rapid and intense heartbeat, she gave up and obediently nestled in his arms.
The two hugged like this for a good while before Mo Ziyuan barely calmed his emotions. He loosened his hold on Lin Xin a little, but one hand remained firmly around her waist.
“What’s wrong with you?” Sensing his unrest, Lin Xin asked.
“I…” Mo Ziyuan stiffly explained his suspicions to Lin Xin. After finishing, he stubbornly pulled her back into his arms and said with a fierce front but weak heart: “You can’t let go of me because of Fu Jing. I won’t allow it!”
Lin Xin amusingly patted his back. “Don’t worry, I won’t take it out on you.”
“Oh!” Mo Ziyuan rested his head on her shoulder and responded listlessly.
“Alright, let’s talk about serious matters. I don’t think this was necessarily Fu Jing’s doing. Of course, he can’t escape responsibility for directing Lin Duo, but releasing the snake might not really be him.”
“Why?”
“Intuition. Although I haven’t interacted with him much, I can feel he’s actually a pretty pure person. Whether he likes or dislikes someone is all on his face. He occasionally plays some small tricks, but he couldn’t do truly bad things.”
“Hmph, you sure understand him.” Mo Ziyuan said sourly.
“That’s enough from you!” Lin Xin gently patted his head. “Now we need to find the person who released the snake. Whether that person is targeting me or Tao Tao, having someone hiding in the dark ready to bite us at any moment feels really bad.”
“If it’s not Fu Jing, then it should be one of the people who came with me to pick up Tao Tao and return to the capital. I didn’t expect that even after the Third Prince is dead, someone is still so persistent about killing Your Majesty’s heir. Isn’t he afraid of being exterminated along with his nine clans?” Mo Ziyuan said angrily.
“It might not necessarily be a die-hard loyalist of the Third Prince. Think the other way around. Didn’t you say Tao Tao is the nailed-down Crown Prince candidate? Couldn’t it be someone who wants to be empress targeting Tao Tao?” Lin Xin offered another line of thinking.
“This…” Mo Ziyuan was speechless; he actually thought Lin Xin made damn good sense.
“So go investigate! I think this person came back with you, so start checking them first!”
“Okay.” Mo Ziyuan turned to leave, then stopped and pointed at Lin Duo. “What about her?”
“You don’t need to worry about her. Have you forgotten what I’m capable of?” Lin Xin asked with a smile.
Mo Ziyuan also laughed. He was really quite foolish. Lin Xin had the Sleeve Universe ability; taking a person down the mountain was a piece of cake. After all, that’s how Lin Duo had been brought up here.
“Alright then, be extra careful by yourself. Hurry home once you’re done. I need to head back first.” He instructed her worriedly.
“I know, you go!”
Mo Ziyuan hugged her tightly again before reluctantly going down the mountain.
Once his footsteps could no longer be heard, Lin Xin turned to look at Lin Duo, her gaze full of cold menace. “Lin Duo, oh Lin Duo, I was even prepared to let you go, but you jumped out to court death yourself. If I keep tolerating this, you’ll probably think I really have a good temper! Since you’re so incorrigible, you shouldn’t come out to harm people anymore. Just stay home peacefully and enjoy your family’s care! Hmph!”
Lin Xin waved her hand, and the vines binding Lin Duo automatically loosened, then wrapped around her wrist, wagging playfully.
“Alright, alright.” Lin Xin felt tickled by it, patted it, and sent it some wood-element energy. The little vine twisted happily and only shrank back to its spot after a good while.
At this moment, Lin Zhi, lying on the ground, groaned and slowly opened her eyes.
When she saw her surroundings clearly, she widened her eyes in terror and let out a shrill scream.
Mo Ziyuan hadn’t hit Lin Duo too hard to knock her out. Awakened by Lin Zhi’s scream, she discovered that she, who should have been tied up, was lying under the tree. Her hair and the vines on her body were gone. Her first thought was to run away quickly.
Then she heard Lin Zhi’s scream.
Looking toward the sound, she saw Lin Zhi’s small body curled up, hands hugging her head as she screamed desperately.
Lin Duo scrambled to her side and slapped her face twice hard. “Stupid girl, scream again and you’ll attract the wolf pack. If you want to die, don’t drag me down with you!”
Seeing it was Lin Duo in front of her, Lin Zhi ignored the palm prints on her face and buried herself in Lin Duo’s arms, sobbing: “Sis, sis, where is this? How did we get here? Sis, take me back quickly, I’m scared!”
