Chapter 139: If You’re Late, It’ll Be Thankless Effort
“Zi Yuan, calm down a bit.” Gao Yong and Chu Yu each held down one of Mo Ziyuan’s shoulders, seeing his state as if he was about to rush over and hit someone the next second.
“I can’t calm down.” Mo Ziyuan struggled hard for a moment, “We still don’t know the situation of the person who gave up, we don’t know how many people they have in total, and we don’t know what kind of methods they have. In this situation, you let Xin’er go act as this bait, and you have the face to suggest it.”
Fu Jing’s face became extremely ugly. In his view, protecting the Imperial Grandson—oh no, now it should be the Prince—protecting His Highness the Prince was the top priority. If the other party’s target was him, he would stand up without hesitation to act as this bait.
“Then what do you say to do? That person has been hiding in the dark. If we don’t find the person while still in the village, it will be easier for him to succeed on the road when we return to the capital. If something really happens to His Highness the Prince, who will take the responsibility? You?” Fu Jing also roared.
“I’ll take it if I have to!” Mo Ziyuan roared back without showing any weakness.
“What gives you the right? Just your mouth?”
“If something really happens, I absolutely won’t implicate you.”
The people who hadn’t even started looking for the poisoner had already started arguing like enemies. Gao Yong and the others looked at this one, then that one, scratched their heads, and didn’t know who to help.
“This matter has a great relationship with Miss Lin. Whether to go act as this bait or not, shouldn’t we ask her herself?” Meng Yichen’s voice suddenly rang out, immediately drawing an angry glare from Mo Ziyuan.
“You don’t need to look at me like that,” Meng Yichen’s voice turned cold, “If you truly understand Miss Lin, you’ll know she’s not the type to avoid things when they arise. Taking the initiative to strike is what she would do. If you let her choose, she would definitely choose to act as this bait.”
“You!”
“Don’t you-yours me. When it concerns Miss Lin, you reject her participation without even discussing it with her, which shows that in your heart, you haven’t placed her on an equal position with yourself. You’re not as respectful of her as you show,” Meng Yichen’s voice rarely carried anger, “Mo Ziyuan, just based on this, you’re not worthy of her!”
“You!” Mo Ziyuan wanted to refute his words, but after racking his brains, he couldn’t find anything to counter. Just as Meng Yichen said, he could stop Xin’er to her face, but he couldn’t make decisions for her. No matter what his starting point was, he had no right to decide for Xin’er.
“Go talk to Miss Lin!” Meng Yixuan gave his younger brother a complex look, walked over, and patted Mo Ziyuan’s shoulder.
“……Alright, I’ll go right now.” Mo Ziyuan finally agreed, turned around to find Lin Xin.
The remaining people looked at each other, exchanging doubts with their gazes. They had all just felt the sharp confrontation between Meng Yichen and Mo Ziyuan—although the fuse was whether Miss Lin would act as this bait, it actually had nothing to do with whether she would or not.
“Alright, let’s first think about how to cooperate with Miss Lin afterwards to find that person hiding in the dark!” Meng Yixuan coughed dryly to break the slightly heavy atmosphere in the room.
“Yeah, good, I have an idea…” Everyone quickly launched into a heated discussion, as if the earlier tension had never existed.
Mo Ziyuan, who had gone to Lin Xin’s home, was shut out. He only learned from the villagers’ discussions that she had just gone to the town with Cui Shi, bringing Nan Nan and Tao Tao.
For a moment, Mo Ziyuan actually felt relieved. He had just been quite defeated by Meng Yichen’s words and needed some time to carefully think about what problems existed in his interactions with Lin Xin.
He knew well that sustaining a relationship required more than just the momentary heartbeat when two people met; more importantly, it was maintaining that heartbeat in future interactions. This was a process requiring active participation from both sides. If one side lost heart, even if they reluctantly married, the final outcome would only be mutual respect as guests, or superficial harmony with separate dreams while sharing a bed—or worse, hoping the other would die early, just like his father.
He walked alone up the mountain and found a quiet place with few people to sit down. Meng Yichen’s words kept echoing back and forth in his mind, causing him to doubt himself. He cared about her, that was beyond doubt, but his previous idea was indeed to stop the matter before Lin Xin knew about it, because he knew she would definitely choose to agree to be this bait.
So the problem troubling him now emerged: he was clearly worried about her safety, so he preemptively stopped her before she knew, but he also had to admit that in this matter, he truly hadn’t respected her wishes. Could it be that deep down, he really hadn’t placed her on an equal position with himself?
Just as Mo Ziyuan fell into self-doubt, a sudden clamor came from the distance. He stood up irritably and looked over. Through the obstruction of the trees, he vaguely saw a group of people coming out from deep in the woods, and it seemed someone was being carried.
His eyesight was good. When they got a bit closer, he saw that the person being carried was Lin Duo. He looked carefully at the group and didn’t see Lin Zhi; she must have gone back home first to report the news, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many people coming into the mountain to search.
“Young Master Mo, came into the mountain!” The villager leading the way saw Mo Ziyuan standing there and greeted him.
“Yeah, came in to see if there’s any prey to hunt.” He glanced at the crowd not far behind, “You all are…”
“Hey, isn’t it Duo Yatou from Lin Laosan’s family? Don’t know what got into her, running into the mountain in the middle of the night, even the deep mountain. Ended up encountering a pack of hyenas. Sigh! The person’s been torn up beyond recognition, don’t know if she’ll even survive.” The villager sighed.
“I see, then you all hurry and take her to find a doctor. If you delay, your efforts will be wasted.” Mo Ziyuan realized at once that after he left last night, Lin Xin had already taught them a lesson. His gaze flickered, and he said calmly.
“Who says otherwise! But that little girl doesn’t know what possessed her, insisting on having Lin Nan’s Master treat her wounds. With their family’s situation, would Lin Nan’s Master even pay attention to her!”
“Oh, good thing you ran into me. Early this morning Old Cui took Xin’er, Nan Nan, and Tao Tao to the town. You won’t find them, so hurry and go see another doctor!”
“Whoa, lucky we ran into you, Young Master Mo. Otherwise, we really planned to take her to Old Cui. After all, she’s injured quite badly, and Old Cui’s medical skill is recognized by everyone as impressive. I’ll go tell her right now, to avoid not finding them and delaying her treatment.”
“Exactly, hurry and go!” Mo Ziyuan finally understood the reason Lin Xin had left with Cui Shi: this was to avoid Lin Duo coming to ask him to treat her wounds!
