Chapter 118 Yue Mansions Past
Chapter 118 Yue Mansions Past
Once Lin Mengya entered the tent, what came into sight was Uncle Yue sitting on a chair.
It had only been a few days since she last saw Uncle Yue, but he seemed to have aged a lot.
"Daddy, are you alright, Daddy?"
Yue Qi dashed across the tent and threw herself into Uncle Yue’s arms. However, she was not shedding a tear.
"Qi’er, Daddy’s alright. How is your elder sister?"
Since Yue Ting’s mishap, Uncle Yue had been shutting himself up in the tent. Regardless of the rampant rumors, he held on to the belief that his daughter would never do such things as what was rumored.
Nevertheless, whatever happened had already happened. He could not bring himself to face up to the people.
"Elder Sister... She is alright. Elder Sister Lin had been taking very good care of her. All the people from Prince Yu’s Mansion treated her kindly."
Yue Qi stole a glance at Lin Mengya, and then determinedly hid her sorrowful countenance.
She knew that Elder Sister Lin was right. She was her daddy’s only hope now, so she had to be strong. She would not allow becoming the laughingstock of the people all around anymore.
"That’s good, that’s good. You may go, Daddy has something to discuss with Princess Yu."
Yue Qi nodded and left the tent.
Finally, Lin Mengya and Mr. Yue were the only ones left in the tent of the Yues.
"Rest assured, Uncle Yue. I’ll make sure that Elder Sister Yue Ting will not suffer any further wrong while she stays with me."
Sitting on the chair, Lin Mengya quietly offered some words of comfort.
However, Mr. Yue was wearing a miserable look of deep regret on his face as he took in a deep breath.
"This is all my fault; it’s all my fault!"
His aged voice was filled with sorrow and remorse, while Lin Mengya chose to keep quiet. She did not expect Mr. Yue to suddenly raise the secret from ten years ago.
"Actually, my wife did not give birth to Ting’er and Qi’er, or I should say, they were not born of this evil woman!"
Lin Mengya could sense an awkward atmosphere.
There was a reason for Mr. Yue to take a few concubines.
When Mr. Yue was younger, he was listed among the most good-looking men. He was also learned in all kinds of knowledge, but he was definitely not a promiscuous man.
"How could..."
"When Meiyi and I were first married, we lived like a loving couple. Although subsequently, we bore our two daughters, Ting’er and Qi’er, we continued to live a sweet, wonderful life together until the summer 10 years ago.
That year, his wife’s health deteriorated quickly after giving birth to Yue Qi.
During that one month’s time when she was recuperating in her mother’s house, the grievous news of her sister’s drowning came to her one day.
Because Mrs. Yue had a very close relationship with her sister, she could not take the blow and her health deteriorated further. Subsequently, she remained in her mother’s house for half a year to recuperate.
Mr. Yue who loved his wife dearly was agreeable to her extended stay at her mother’s house.
Little did he expect that Mrs. Yue’s temperament changed drastically when returned from her mother’s house. This Mr. Yue realized over time.
In the past, Mrs. Yue always handed the household matters to the servants of the house due to her poor health.
Even if the servants were unable to perform the tasks to perfection, she would merely nag a little about it.
However, after she returned from recuperating at her mother’s house, there was once she beat two maidservants to death for no apparent reason. The much stranger thing was that these two maidservants were once her confidantes.
That was not all. An even greater change in her was the attitude in which she treated her two daughters and Mr. Yue.
As a scholarly person, Mr. Yue had first been attracted to Mrs. Yue mostly because she was gentle, meek and virtuous.
Their elder daughter was gradually growing to be like her mother under her guidance.
Even though she was still little, she was well versed with the etiquettes and was very well-mannered.
However, ever since Mrs. Yue returned, not only was she full of criticisms for her eldest daughter, she also found all kinds of reasons to punish her.
Under such a demanding education, Yue Ting flourished even more and was becoming even more excellent.
However, the more she flourished, the more Mrs. Yue seemed to lose her liking for her.
If she even treated her own daughter in this way, her attitude towards Mr. Yue was said to be increasingly overbearing and unreasonable.
Since Mr. Yue loved his wife deeply, he convinced himself that the reason his wife’s temperament had changed so drastically was merely because of her sister’s death.
Little did he expect that his forbearance had worsened Mrs. Yue’s temper.
At first, his sons from other concubines were raised together with his two daughters in the same house.
However, Mrs. Yue, using the reason that the children from the lawful wife and the concubines were not the same, threw the children of the concubine out to the outer courtyards for them to be raised outside her house.
It became a common and regular practice for Mrs. Yue to cut the allowance to the concubines.
If Mr. Yue expressed any dissatisfaction on what she did, Mrs. Yue would throw a tantrum and he would back off because of his love for his wife.
No matter how much a person’s temperament changes, her nature would not change. Is this person really Mrs. Yue?"
Lin Mengya immediately saw through the suspicious nature of this matter.
Mr. Yue nodded and continued.
"I had a similar suspicion. I heard that my wife has a younger sister who has the exact temperament of the current Mrs. Yue. She is my wife’s twin. I initially thought that they had been switched. My wife’s younger sister had not been married, but my wife had given birth to my daughters. What I did was that I engaged midwife to do an investigation."
As he spoke, his face was filled with suspicion and puzzlement.
"The midwife claimed that after checking on her, she concluded that she was one who had been through childbirth. From then on, I put away my suspicion. However, the response of my wife to what happened to Yue Ting the other day made me believe that she cannot be my Meiyi!"
What kind of mother would mock at her own daughter right after she had been sexually assaulted?
Lin Mengya pondered over this matter and indeed the impression that her father and brother used to sing praises about Mrs. Yue being a gentle and virtuous person.
This was one of the main reasons they had secured the marriage arrangement for her brother with the Yues.
Now, however, this so-called Mrs. Yue was nothing like the Mrs. Yue they knew.
"Did you think that something was fishy at that time?"
Mr. Yue nodded, but the pain and sorrow on his face were unmistakable. However, there was a determined look in his eyes.
"Meiyi and I were so in love with each other. For these past years, this woman had ruined the beautiful image in Meiyi in my heart. Therefore, I would like to ask Princess Yu to do me a favor."
Lin Mengya nodded. She could guess what Mr. Yue wanted her to do without hearing it from him.
She bent her knees slightly as she bowed politely to Mr. Yue. She was still the distinguished Princess Yu before the eyes of many.
However, she would forever be the well-mannered junior before Uncle Yue.
"Rest assured, Uncle Yue. Mengya will make a thorough investigation of this matter and render justice back to the Yues."
How despicable to have switched Mrs. Yue for her sister! By the time Lin Mengya exited from the tent of the Yues, she had not calmed down and was still fuming.
As Lin Mengya walked away in her green cape, she looked like a jade-green wave flowing through space.
At that juncture, Lin Mengya’s elegant but unapproachable air about her had put all the gossips to a stop.
No one could figure out why Princess Yu was so upset and angry after visiting the Yue Family’s tent.
It seemed that the mystery had been solved.
How did someone manage to drug Elder Sister Yue Ting? How did no one discover that she was missing? Why did Mrs. Yue try to broadcast this matter?
It was all because of this woman, who was supposedly Elder Sister’s birth mother, but was in fact in her aunt!
It was no wonder this Mrs. Yue opposed to the engagement between her elder brother and Elder Sister Yue Ting.
The true reason was that Elder Sister Yue Ting was not even her own daughter!
She took into consideration that her words might be overheard by Elder Sister Yue Ting and it would inevitably upset her further.
With such thoughts, Lin Mengya turned and headed towards Long Qinghan’s tent.
"Princess Yu has arrived..."
A young eunuch cried out, so the two men in the tent stopped in the midst of their discussion on certain matters and turned to look towards the entrance of the tent.
A figure in green entered, whose expression was cold and severe. Even Long Qinghan shuddered at the sight of her face.
His initial intention at teasing her quickly disappeared.
Why did these two people love to go to other people’s tent?
Unfortunately, there was no way he could deny these two people access to his tent.
"Your Highness, Prince Yu, may I do something while staying in this tent?"
Lin Mengya was seeking permission from Long Tianhao, who nodded. They had totally ignored Long Qinghan, who was on the bed.
"Excuse me, the two of you. This place seems to be my tent, isn’t it?"
This was outrageous! Why did nobody care that he was the host here?"
All of a sudden, a killer look from the couple shot from their eyes onto Long Qinghan.
He, who was had been shot with the looks could only quietly lie on the bed, pretending to be a dead man.
"I’m drunk, so you two, just do what you want, do what you want!"
How could there be such unreasonable people in the world?
Long Tianhao did not bother about his younger brother, who was playing a fool on the bed, but turned to look at Lin Mengya with a puzzled expression.
Whoever had stepped on her toes again this time?
"Are you there, Qinghu?"
"Of course I am. Wherever you are, I’ll be there."
A lanky, handsome figure appeared behind Lin Mengya in an instant. He threw a glance at each of the two men in the tent.
He stood before Lin Mengya with a brilliant smile on his face.
"I’d like you to investigate a matter. As quickly as possible, I’d like you to get to the bottom of what’s written in here, following at the requirement written within."
From inside her sleeve, Lin Mengya took out a letter sealed with wax.
It was a letter written by Mr. Yue and it contained information about the address, as well as the unique characteristics of Mrs. Yue. He believed that the woman who died then was, in fact, the real Mrs. Yue.
Lin Mengya wanted Qinghu to handle this matter. On one hand, he was capable of completing the task well, on the other hand, she wanted this to be kept a secret from the others.
"Alright, this is a small matter, but who would protect you when I’m gone?"
He said with a serious expression on his face. In fact, Qinghu’s heart was much assured when Lin Mengya had Ye by her side. He could go about his other business from then on.
He had made the statement just to provoke Long Tianhao.
Just as he expected, even before he could finish his sentence, Long Tianhao’s face fell.
"Rest assured. Even if you were dead, my wife would still be safe and sound."
There was a chilly tone in Long Tianhao’s voice.
It seemed that he was going to twist and break Qinghu’s neck in the next moment.
Unfortunately, being engrossed in her thoughts, Lin Mengya did not even notice the crossfire of words between those two men.
"Rest assure, Ye will make sure I’m safe. Go quickly, just be very careful!"
No matter whether her suspicion turned out to be true, she was certain that the current Mrs. Yue was working together with the Crown Prince.