Chapter 80 Dont You Dare Go Out and Look For Women?
She had sent Qinghu to protect Long Tianyi, but everything happened in haste.
At that time, all she thought about was to return to Prince Yu’s Mansion as soon as possible, lest she made Concubine De anxious.
Never had she expected to be stopped by Long Qinghan’s horse carriage.
He had tossed her a bag of clothes and directed the horse carriage to the inn.
However, they did not check in to the inn but merely got into another horse carriage and headed straight home as fast as they could.
It was only after she entered the mansion that she realized that the entire Mansion was in a chaotic panic over her disappearance.
After an agonizing search by Concubine De, she sent for all the tip-top guards from the mansion, and almost mobilized Yulin Guards, to comb through the entire capital city.
When Lin Mengya entered the house, the young maid serving Concubine De quietly informed her that Madam Lin had been bad mouthing her by accusing her of the shameful act of infidelity.
It was said that she failed in her plan to elope with her man and was imprisoned.
Lin Mengya was naturally infuriated when she heard those accusations.
How dare Madam Lin Bad-mouthed her without any worries of the backfiring.
Nevertheless, she was aware that the grievances between her and Shangguan Qing were countless, less what happened today.
"This was Third Brother’s will. However, there’s one more thing I’ve to let you know beforehand..."
"The Prince is back! Princess, the Prince has arrived at the mansion!"
The servant who was guarding the gates dashed into Liuxin Courtyard.
However, her expression appeared a bit off. She seemed to be trying to avoid Lin Mengya and looked scared.
"Has the Prince returned? Why do you look all jittery?"
Baiji rebuked the servant for being so restless. After she tried to calm her nerves, knowing that she must have acted too nervously, she said,
"The Prince did not return alone... He... brought a lady back with him!"
The servant’s words sent Lin Mengya into a daze instantly.
Long Tianyi was back, and he brought back a woman with him?
Long Qinghan’s eyes looked perplexed.
"Cough, cough," Long Qinghan looked away and let out some light coughs, as if to say that this had nothing to do with him.
"This was what I was going to tell you about. During King Ming’s visit to the capital city this time, he had specially gifted us a few beautiful ladies to the Crown Prince as well as all the princes."
"Which is to say that included you?"
There was coldness in Lin Mengya’s tone. Long Qinghan forced a nod straight away.
"Alright, since every prince received the same gift, I’ve nothing to say."
Long Qinghan raised his brows.
He had heard Lin Kui saying that this Third Sister-in-law both beautiful and intelligent, but she also got jealous easily. Even Miss Jiang was forced to submit to her.
At this rate, it seemed that Third Elder Brother would have a hard time since he openly brought a beautiful woman home, making a big deal out of it.
"Third Sister-in-law, I’ve something else to attend to, so I’ll take my leave!"
Long Qinghan, sensing that a storm was brooding, quickly sneaked away. He was glad he did not let out more than he should.
In his own garden, he stood facing Liuxin Courtyard and began gloating over what was going on to happen in there.
In his heart, he was thinking that it was a good thing to have a lively wife who made the entire mansion come to life. It made him think about if he should also marry a wife soon.
"Don’t get angry, Miss. I suppose the prince would not have accepted the gift of the woman willingly."
Lin Mengya told the servant guarding the gate to leave, and she turned to sit down on a chair.
She tightened her face, but not out of jealousy.
How had she thought that Long Tianhao was in danger and had sent Qinghu to protect him?
She did not expect him to be enjoying himself instead. All her worrying and concern had come to nothing.
"Qinghu! Damn fox! Come out!"
Hearing the frustration in Lin Mengya’s voice, a cheeky Qinghu appeared before her in a flash.
"Wah! I can smell the sour jealousy! Had someone broken a bottle of vinegar? Sniff, sniff."
Qinghu sniffed the air and pinched his nose, pretending to have smelt a sour smell.
Lin Mengya glared at him, but at the same time came to realize that she was indeed reacting unexpectedly herself.
Isn’t this just regarding a woman? Moreover, as a prince, Long Tianyi would one day have three to four wives and concubines.
After all, her status as the princess was but for show.
Why did she not make herself look magnanimous? Her angry face would only betray her jealousy.
In fact, she was only feeling the grievance of having to go out and running errands while Long Qinghan only had to stay at home and enjoy life.
"I’m not jealous; I don’t have the energy to be jealous. What did you find out when you went to the inn?"
Qinghu turned serious and pondered for a while before he started to make his report.
"There was no ambush at the in, neither did I see those people who tried to take you captive. Prince Yu was having a feast with King Ming. Oh, and the beauty by the name of Hongyu was very lovable!"
He began to fool again towards the end.
Lin Mengya could not help but rolled her eyes at him. She could not be bothered about this fellow.
"So it seemed that we’ve wrongly accused the Crown Prince?"
However, Qinghu shook his head as a look of doubt flashed across his eyes.
"No, the Crown Prince was not at the inn. Apart from King Ming and those women whom he was presenting as gifts, there were no other people around."
How could that be? Unless King Ming had come to the capital city plotting something.
"Oh yes, did you see King Ming? How is he like?"
Qinghu perked up and replied,
"He is a greatly talented and ambitious man. I’m afraid the western foreign land was not able to satisfy his big appetite. However, he doesn’t seem to be a scheming person. On the contrary, he was forthcoming, like a true warrior. I was thinking perhaps those people who kidnapped you were pretending to be the people of the western foreign land.
Lin Mengya pondered for a second but eventually shook her head.
Different characters could emerge from the same father.
Even if the father was a great hero, there was still the possibility that his sons would turn out to be useless.
What she feared most was that even King Ming was not sure who these people were and what they did.
"Forget it. I think we would need more time to investigate this matter. Go back and rest now that everyone’s exhausted."
However, Lin Zhongyu and three other maids still refused to leave as they wanted to stay behind in Lin Mengya’s room.
Qinghu was the only who left and went to the room prepared specially for him.
Watching Qinghu go, Lin Mengya thought he looked so carefree, yet she could not help but feel a sense of gratefulness towards him.
"Baiji, would you go get some ointment for wounds and send them over to Qinghu?"
Baiji nodded and took out the box of medications and ointments.
Qinghu always put on a brave front whenever he was injured. It was only because Lin Mengya was so attentive that she realized that Qinghu was injured, even though he had muffled the smell of blood and ointment.
"Big sister, in future, can you please let me tag along everywhere you go? When Biji told me that you went missing, I was so terrified!"
From how Lin Zhongyu’s tiny face was drained of its colors, she really appeared to be in shock.
Lin Mengya patted her head as if to say that even she did not expect this to happen abruptly, how could she bring Xiaoyu along, risking her safety?
"Princess, the Prince had sent word that he is coming to rest here."
The voice of a servant sounded from outside.
Lin Mengya frowned and answered,
"Lock the gates and tell all the servants not to open the gates, especially not to let the Prince in."
Everyone in the house gave each other a look of shock.
The Prince, who had brought back some gentile woman, must have really offended his princess!
Long Tianhao was half drunk when he returned from the inn.
King Ming was a generous man. While they found the cups too small for drinking wine, he had ordered the cups to be replaced by big bowls.
Fortunately, he was a drinker and he was not much affected by a large amount of alcohol intake.
"Prince, that beauty presented to you as a gift..."
Steward Deng’s hesitant voice sounded.
He looked intently at his master with worry.
The princess was definitely a fierce character.
At this moment, there was not even one concubine in the Prince’s Mansion. Even if he were to have concubines in the future, the princess would make his life very difficult.
Although the Prince’s servants were naturally hoping that he would take in more wives and concubines.
Unfortunately, the princess was not an easy character and it would be difficult to live harmoniously with her.
What was worse was that the Prince had actually brought back with him a woman after a short period of three months after they got married.
Sigh, likely there would not be peace in Mansion in the days to come.
"Just settle the woman somewhere else. I’m not allowing her to step into my courtyard."
In fact, the prince was totally not interested in the woman named Hongyu.
Moreover, a foreign woman might turn out to be a spy.
The prince was definitely not going to let his wife become a sharp knife which threatened his life all the time.
"Yes. Is Your Highness still planning to take a rest in the princess’s courtyard?"
From the moment Lin Mengya went missing that afternoon. Lin Kui had sent word to him to inform him.
At that time, he was unable to go to her rescue immediately, which was why he had sent from his sixth younger brother to bring her back.
However, the fact that his princess had been taken hostage and returned home late would result in people spreading rumors about it.
At the time of commotion, an idea came to him, which was to send his Sixth Younger Brother to bring along those dresses as gifts.
This was the reason he had come to find out the details from Lin Mengya about what happened after she was taken captive.
"I’m going to Liuxin Courtyard."
Long Tianhao, whose handsome face from flushed from the wine, strode in the direction of Liuxin Courtyard
It was pomegranate wine which was sweet but strong.
He had used his energy to dissipate some of the sensations of drunkenness. Otherwise, he would have been bad drunk by now.
"The Prince is here, open the door!"
Steward Deng cried as he knocked on the door, but the courtyard remained quiet.
He turned to look at his master but it looked like the Prince was not planning on turning back anytime soon.
Steward Deng forced himself to continue knocking on the door.
"Open the door, the Prince is here. Are all the people in the courtyard deaf?"
Once he finished speaking, the lights in the houses within the courtyard were extinguished.
Even all the night lights hanging from the roof was extinguished in an instant.
Immediately, the entire Liuxin Courtyard was covered in darkness apart from the two lanterns hanging at the main gates, which were swaying in the night wind.
There was going to be trouble.