Chapter 426 (1/2)

“Let’s better leave them be. Let’s wait until we arrive at the nation of Lintian to find a place to settle them. What do you think?”

Lin Mengya’s tone of negotiation softened the severe expression on Long Tianyu’s face.

He pondered for a moment and eventually nodded, but he did not even glance at the weeping girl.

“Alright, since my elder brother had agreed, you may follow us for the time being. Hongyu, you and sister may travel with us in the same horse carriage.”

Hongyu gazed at Yuan Lin with eyes filled with gratitude. If not for her, Yuan Mei might really have killed Sumei, who kept pestering him.

On the other hand, Sumei had stopped crying and broke into a smile as she thanked the two Masters Yuan profusely.

What Hongyu was most worried about was that her little sister might be harboring wrong intentions.

Alas, she could only wish that her little sister was just by fits and snatches.

The horse carriage which was not especially spacious to start with had three more people added to it. Apart from Xiu, who was welcomed in there, Hongyu and Sumei could only confine themselves to one corner.

Lin Mengya did not like the frail-looking Sumei who kept pestering them.

However, she did not want to express her dislike in the presence of Hongyu lest she should embarrass her.

Once the horse carriage exited Square Town, Lin Mengya used her wish to breathe fresh air as an excuse to get out of the horse carriage and found a horse to ride on instead.

“Stop looking like victim. The younger of the Yuan brothers may be taken in by you, but not other people. Elder Sister Hongyu, please discipline your younger sister, otherwise don’t blame me if I don’t spare her feelings.”

Xiu commented with an innocent smile on her adorable face.

“Miss Xiu, actually, I was just… terrified.”

Sumei smiled awkwardly as she tried to explain herself and drops of tears were seeping out of her watery eyes.

She looked so pitiful, curling up as a ball, as if Xiu had bullied her.

“Terrified? If you were terrified, why did you hang on so tightly to Elder Brother Yuan’s leg instead of other people’s leg? Even if I believe that you were terrified, we will soon cross the borders into the Nation of Lintian. You and your elder sister would be able to find your livelihood there. Rest assured that no one would know what your elder sister used to do. How about that?”

Xiu suggested cheekily, but her eyes were piercingly sharp as she spoke.

“That won’t do! Since Young Master Yuan said he would keep me, I belong to him now. Moreover, she is not my sister, but a filthy woman! If I lived with her, who knows if I might turn into the kind of woman she was…”

“Slap!” Xiu gave Sumei a tight slap without mercy.

The smile on Xiu’s face disappeared instantly and her piercing glare went right through Sumei’s heart like a sharpened dagger.

“Don’t forget what you did when we were locked up together! While you keep saying that she is a filthy woman. If it’s not for her, who knows if you would have been sold to a brothel by now!”

Sumei stared at Xiu in a daze. Her lips quivered but no words came out of her mouth.

Xiu looked at the pretentious girl with disdain. She did not want to be too direct otherwise it would make things difficult for Hongyu.

“You’d better behave wisely and sensibly if you don’t want me to expose you and tell everybody about those things.”

When Xiu was done talking, she turned her head to look out of the window.

Baishao and Hongyu did not know what exactly happened between the two of them, but Baishao could tell that Sumei was not as innocent as she appeared to be.

Lin Mengya rode the horse with ease, while Long Tianyu and Qiu Yu were riding one on her right and the other on her left.

The silence between the three of them was bizarre. No one was willing to be the first to break the awkward silence.

However, both Long Tianyu and Qiu Yu took turns peeking at Lin Mengya. Occasional, their eyes would meet and they would give each other a glare, as if they were challenging each other.

“There’s something I want to tell you both,” Lin Mengya decided to remind Long Tianyu and Qiu Yu after she calmed her thoughts.

“What is it?” The two men asked simultaneously, though not out of good rapport.

Nevertheless, when they realized that they had spoken at the same time, they childishly gave each other a hard glare.

“Someone is watching me. Last night, I met the owner of Huichun House. Initially, I thought I could keep my identity from him, but he already knew my real identity.”

In that instant, Long Tianyu and Qiu Yu’s expressions were frozen.

Both of them had fallen into the whirlpool of the power struggle for the throne. They could smell the crisis in Lin Mengya’s words.

“Could it be the Crown Prince’s men?” Qiu Yu asked softly as if he was facing an enemy after hesitating for a moment.

“It shouldn’t be. The Crown Prince does not have such capabilities. What else did you find out, Mengya?”

Long Tianyu stopped arguing with Qiu Yu at the mention of serious business.

Although the Crown Prince had created lots of trouble for them, Long Tianyu was aware of the capabilities of the Queen and the Crown Prince.

If the Crown Prince could reach them so far, the mother-and-son pair would not have done these things in the dark when the emperor was still ill.