Chapter 138: Lure The Snake Out Of Its Hole
“Stinky girl, come back, come back to me!” Cui Shi was stunned for a moment, then snapped back to see only Lin Xin’s graceful receding figure, and hurriedly jumped up to chase after her.
“Zi Yuan, what’s going on here?” Gao Yong stared dumbfounded at the scene, then turned to look blankly at Mo Ziyuan.
Mo Ziyuan smiled, “Probably she had some harvest from going into the mountains yesterday and wants to show it to Old Cui!”
Thinking of the two ginseng roots that saved Meng Yixuan, Gao Yong immediately felt his guess made a lot of sense.
Looking at the person who was deceived away, Mo Ziyuan mysteriously curled up the corner of his mouth.
At this time, a clamor of villagers sounded outside the door, then moved off into the distance.
“What’s going on outside?” Chu Yu got up later than the two of them, and as soon as he left the room, he heard the noisy sounds outside and curiously asked.
“No idea,” Gao Yong inexplicably shook his head.
As they spoke, the rest of the people also got up, Mo Ziyuan’s gaze darkened, “Brothers, there’s something I need to tell you, let’s go inside first.”
“What is it, so mysterious, can’t you just say it outside?” Gao Yong complained while following behind him into the main hall.
After everyone had come in, Mo Ziyuan closed the door, looked solemnly at the group, and slowly said: “Yesterday at noon, someone placed a five-step viper that had been given sleeping potion at Miss Lin’s doorstep. At the time in Miss Lin’s home, besides herself, there were Old Cui, Lin Nan, and Lin Tao.”
As soon as the last two words came out, everyone’s faces changed.
“Five-step viper? And drugged?” Fu Jing subconsciously repeated.
Mo Ziyuan looked at his inexplicable expression, “Before discovering that snake, the Lin Duo and Lin Zhi sisters had been to Miss Lin’s home, but they only stood at the door, said a couple of words, and didn’t go in.”
Fu Jing’s face turned deathly pale.
Gao Yong blustered, “That snake wasn’t placed at Miss Lin’s doorstep by those shameless two sisters, was it! These people are too evil, if it bit someone, wouldn’t it be a dead end!”
Mo Ziyuan stared straight at Fu Jing, “Don’t you have anything to say?”
“I······” Fu Jing licked his lips, and when he saw everyone looking at him strangely, his face grew worse, finally he closed his eyes and said, “Those two sisters were indeed sent by me, but I didn’t tell them to put the venomous snake at Miss Lin’s doorstep.”
“What? Why did you do that?”
“What did you send Lin Duo and Lin Zhi to Miss Lin for?”
Everyone’s gazes became strange, Fu Jing couldn’t stand being stared at like that, and forcefully flicked his sleeve, “Lin Duo and Lin Zhi both harbor deep resentment toward her, so I found those sisters, I just didn’t want Lin Xin to have it easy, I wanted her to make a fool of herself, but that snake really wasn’t placed by them on my orders, why are you all looking at me like that?!”
The more he spoke, the more Fu Jing felt everyone’s gazes toward him carried suspicion, and by the end it was almost a low roar.
Mo Ziyuan quietly looked at him, and after a long time said, “After we discovered that snake, Old Cui pointed out it had been given sleeping potion, a very common sleeping potion with no way to trace it, later we tied up Lin Duo and forced her to say it was you who told her and Lin Zhi to cause trouble for Miss Lin, at that time I guessed if the snake wasn’t one you got to drug and hand over to them.”
As Mo Ziyuan narrated, everyone’s gazes toward Fu Jing became even stranger.
Seeing everyone’s reactions, Mo Ziyuan chuckled softly, “But Miss Lin firmly told me that the person who bribed Lin Duo and Lin Zhi was definitely you, but the one who released the snake absolutely wouldn’t be you, she said that although she hasn’t interacted much with you this time, she could roughly tell you’re an upright person, bribing Lin Duo and them should already be your limit.”
As his words fell, Fu Jing’s eyes suddenly reddened, he didn’t expect that when even his brothers who had gone through life and death with him thought it was him trying to harm someone, the one who believed in him most was actually Lin Xin whom he had been targeting, this gave him a very special feeling, somewhat aggrieved, somewhat happy, in short, a mix of emotions.
“Uh,” Gao Yong scratched his head, “That makes sense, Fu Jing really isn’t that kind of petty person.”
The others didn’t say anything, but in their hearts they quite agreed with Lin Xin’s words, after all no one hopes that someone they’ve lived with day and night and shared life and death with would want to harm a brother’s beloved, let alone harm the only heir of His Majesty today.
“Alright, now let’s analyze who exactly placed that snake and who it was targeting.” Mo Ziyuan spoke again only after everyone had digested the earlier news.
Among this group, if talking about using one’s brain, Fu Jing was top-notch, and soon he proposed several possibilities:
First, the snake was placed by villagers, targeting Lin Xin, everyone knows this time that Lin Xin’s temperament isn’t one to swallow her anger, those in the village who love to take small advantages and gossip behind backs, almost all who provoked her have been taught a lesson, very possibly taking advantage of there being many strangers in the village to strike at her;
Second, the snake was placed by a remnant of the Third Prince’s faction, with the goal of poisoning the Imperial Grandson;
Third, the snake was placed by a family wanting to become the imperial in-laws, as long as the Imperial Grandson is gone, a child with their family bloodline might ascend to the throne;
Fourth, the snake was placed by someone from a family wanting to marry Mo Ziyuan, just to bite Lin Xin to death and take her place.
“For now I can only think of this much, if anyone else thinks of something, just add it.” Fu Jing said.
“I think this is already comprehensive, the urgent matter now is to find this person, Miss Lin and I both lean more toward it being done by someone among the forbidden guards who came with me this time.”
“I also think the one who acted is among the forbidden guards who came, but this person won’t be easy to find.” Zhou Qi said thoughtfully.
“Hard to find or not, we have to find the person, otherwise with someone hiding in the dark waiting for a chance to strike, we’ll really be defenseless.” This was Meng Yixuan speaking.
“I do have an idea, but it has some risk.” Meng Yichen touched his nose and said softly.
“What idea?” Everyone asked in unison.
“Lure the snake out of its hole.”
“Lure the snake out of its hole? No, too dangerous, I disagree.” Meng Yixuan was the first to state his position.
“I also think it’s not feasible, this bait is indeed too dangerous.” Chu Yu was second.
“I actually think this method can work, but now we’ve sorted out two targets, we still need to discuss who will be the bait.” As soon as Fu Jing finished speaking, it immediately drew a bunch of eye-rolls.
“Don’t look at me like that, let’s think about the plan first, later I’ll talk to Miss Lin and see what she thinks, if she’s willing to be this bait, it should be twice the result with half the effort.” Fu Jing added.
“What if something happens? Who’s going to take responsibility, you? Or you?” Mo Ziyuan’s eyes reddened, glaring straight at Fu Jing and Meng Yichen.
Thanks to Shan Yang Zhi Ge Yu Yan Jing De Gu Shi, Luo Ye Zhi Qiu-Ad, Mmy Dang, Xiao X-EA, Jing Ting Hua Yu, and book friend 946855 for their votes, thanks to caroletu for the reward, thank you all for your support, very grateful!
