Chapter 338 - Strife Open and Secret
Till now, Qiu Yu still remembered the scene when Lin Mengya held on so tightly to the knife when he got to the alley.
No matter how strong she looked, she was still a human, and there was a limit to her patience.
Sadness gradually snaked out of Qiu Yu’s eyes.
“Have a good sleep. You won’t feel that sad after a good rest.”
Whether Lin Mengya heard his gentle, comforting words, Qiu Yu did not know. But there were no signs of life on her pale face.
Qiu Yu sighed and had to get out of the room.
Outside the room stood a line of figures dressed in white. Their comely and common faces looked very serious.
Their only master was Qiu Yu, who just came out of the room.
“Second Master, news from the house, that if you fail to find it within half a year, Big Master said that you have to get back then.”
Qiu Yu looked indifferent and arrogant, as his gentle facial expression disappeared.
He coolly glanced at the subordinate in front of him. Immediately, that subordinate kept quiet.
“I can handle my own stuff. You are not to be either a megaphone or a monitor here. Do your duty and watch her. No one is allowed to get close to this room, do you understand me?”
His subordinates kneeling on the ground, instantly went about to perform their duties.
In a minute, those figures in white had scattered to every corner of the yard.
Standing on the vacant land in the yard, Qiu Yu seemed to be having some internal conflict, which could be seen from his expression.
He originally thought that he could find something in the Palace. But unexpectedly, he got nothing, even though he had made a huge effort, for such a long time.
No, he might still get something.
Looking at the closed door, Qiu Yu shook his head, and then left to brew medicine for Lin Mengya, personally.
Lin Mengya who was in a coma, had no idea that her disappearance had created a huge disturbance in the turbulent Capital City.
A band of imperial guards were sentenced to death or put into jail, because of serious neglect of duty. Following that, many provincial administrators were investigated into, and charged for corruption or murder.
Confiscation of items and arrests were carried out throughout the cities of Dajin.
Arresting those administrators meant routing out all bosses behind them. But this time, for no reason, their bosses, who usually shielded them, became clay figures.
Folks all clapped and cheered while all the fatuous officials were worried about their own welfare.
But what they did not expect, was that the government took such large-scale measures just because a woman went missing.
Spring was here, but it still felt chilly outside the room.
Spring seemed to approach very slowly this year.
Inside the study room of Long Tianyu, Long Qinghan wore a blue robe with delicate auspicious clouds, embroidered with silver filaments.
His long, inky hair was tucked under a Kylin jade crown, which made him look like a noble gentleman.
But at the moment, this beautiful man, who had attracted the affections of many young ladies, was jumping agitatedly around a small stove.
“Third brother, it’s so cold here. Third sister-in-law always has a warm house. Why don’t you move over to live there for a few days?”
Steward Deng, who was standing aside with his hands at his side, regretted agreeing to let the seventh prince in.
Princess Yu was a taboo subject in the whole of Prince Yu’s Mansion, and no one dared to mention her name.
But the seventh prince not only monopolized the only stove in the room, but also dared to mention Princess Yu’s name, so publicly.
“Gosh.” Steward Deng sighed silently. Based on past experience, he believed that Prince Yu would glare at the seventh prince and then throw him a tough task.
Long Qinghan, who did not know that he was playing with fire, was watching his third brother at the moment.
Followers of the Crown Prince were feeling all like a cat on hot bricks, because the administrators were frequently being interrogated. If any further actions were taken, the Crown Prince might be ousted from his position.
But Long Tianyu had given instructions for all actions to cease this morning. Long Qinghan did not understand why.
Although the partners of the Crown Prince found no evidence to prove that Long Tianyu was behind all this raids, Long Qinghan knew clearly that Long Tianyu was the one who delivered that detailed information about the corrupted administrators to those governors in various ways.
Without his information, how would they be able to pull out those borers in the country, as if God was helping them?
Today, a group of guards would be beheaded for serious misconduct. They had no idea how concrete evidence against their well-arranged secret deals had been revealed to the general of imperial guards.
Besides, they were made known to all the commandants in public.
Long Qinghan opened his folding fan with a ‘shua’ sound, which covered his snicker.
He already realized that after lying low for many years, Long Tianyu actually had already developed competitive powers against the Crown Prince.
Long Tianyu did not have any ambitions to sit on the throne, though he looked like an outstanding leader.
If the Emperor had not fallen ill so suddenly, he would not have been forced by the Crown Prince to take action to start a fight.
But Long Qinghan thought that things were becoming more interesting.
If the Crown Prince was defeated this time, it was uncertain which one among those princes would take his place!
But— Long Qinghan and steward Deng felt a little confused about Long Tianyu’s reaction at the same time.
“It’s not right. Why did he have no reaction up till now?”
“Why is he just sitting in front of his desk and looking at the letter?”
At this time, Long Tianyu was reading the letter in his hands, over and over again. But there was an icy feeling wrapping around his heart.
We will let you know later, about how he got this letter. The contents in the letter was challenging his pride.
“Lin Mengya is in Number thirteen, Willows Tang.” This short sentence seemed to be sneering at Long Tianyu.
In recent days, Long Tianyu had almost sent out everyone in the Capital City, but still found no traces of Lin Mengya.
He was almost certain that the letter was a challenge thrown at him, from the Crown Prince.
That was because Long Tianyu was very sure that someone supporting the Crown Prince, took Lin Mengya away that day.
Otherwise, who could know that Lin Mengya came out of the palace on that day? If the Crown Prince was not happy with this, he would not have sent someone to stalk them.
They had their chance when Long Tianyu relaxed his guard a little, and went off to buy the lantern, and took Lin Mengya away.
“Shit! My carelessness caused Lin Mengya’s life to be in danger.”
“Third brother, what’s this? Is that something that is able to defeat you?”
Long Qinghan was curious, and just as he was about to get the letter on the table, Long Tianyu slammed his fists on the table.
Long Qinghan hurriedly retracted his hand. His eyes were still watching Long Tianyu with curiosity.
“Third brother seems very abnormal today.”
Long Tianyu got up and walked to the window of his study room.
Although the Crown Prince looked normal on the surface, it was still a well-known fact that it was chaotic inside the palace.
The disappearance of Lin Mengya was just one of the reasons why Long Tianyu chose to take action now.
He received news from the Palace that the Emperor’s illness was worsening day by day. If he did not make preparations as early as possible, someone would make an attempt to achieve their wild ambition.
“Qinghan, do you still remember the warning father gave us, the last time we saw him?”
Long Qinghan’s expression changed and a cunning light could be seen in his eyes.
“The Crown Prince and the Emperor, they can’t wait any more. If there’s something wrong with father, Dajin may suffer a large change.”
Long Tianyu rarely mentioned these things, because he did not want to fight for power and position.
Compared with the high position and supreme honor in the court, fighting in the battlefield was more desirable for him.
But life did not go as he wanted.
“It won’t happen. As long as we’re still alive, they won’t have the chance to gain any extra advantages. But third brother, now that you know they can’t suppress their desires, why did you stop us?”
Long Tianyu was shocked by the letter, because it was clear in its purpose.
The Crown Prince chose to deliver this letter now, because he wanted Long Tianyu to know that the Crown Prince would release Lin Mengya, if he stopped his activities.
Perhaps it was a conspiracy to invite Long Tianyu to get a taste of his own medicine.
Long Tianyu knew that he had to think carefully about the two possibilities. It was not time to let the Crown Prince and the Emperor do what they wanted.
“We don’t need to go on now. What they have done these years already led to lots of voices of protest. They’re just having wishful thoughts that they can control the whole government alone. Now, lots of things have been made public. Their bases will be shaken by others, even without my interference.”
“Threatening me to make me stop? No way!”
Long Tianyu was very familiar with their wild ambitions. If he did stop for the sake of Lin Mengya’s safety, this would confirm that Lin Mengya was his sole weakness.
Then, it was not a big deal when they refused to let go of Lin Mengya. After all, they would be crazy if they were to release Lin Mengya.
Long Tianyu had to move on, to completely remove all those barriers, and then, Lin Mengya would not be in anymore danger.
Long Tianyu silently clenched his fists tightly. “Night, I hope you can do it, and bring Lin Mengya back to me safely.”