Nothing in the campground could escape Hu Tianbei, and he was in control of everything there.
Not to mention that the Crown Prince had been in contact with Ming Yue, he would have known even if a mosquito were to fly past.
“Isn’t father also collaborating with the Crown Prince? Why can’t I do the same?”
In the western vassal state, women were held with high regards too.
However, in the eyes of her king father, Princess Ming Yue was merely a tool to consolidate the king’s position and secure the land of the western vassal state.
For this reason, she had to pick the best husband if possible.
After all the time spent observing, she concluded that Long Tianhao was the only man qualified to be her husband.
Unfortunately, he already had Princess Yu, who was Lin Mengya, by his side.
“Long Tianhao is not like any man from the noble families of the western vassal state. If you toy with his feelings, you would end up in a bad state.”
Hu Tianbei looked at his younger sister coldly. He was afraid that she would have to learn her lesson the hard way, otherwise, she would never learn that there were some men whom she should never offend.
Ming Yue seemed not to take her brother’s words to heart. On the other hand, she had made up her mind to get her hands on Long Tianhao.
“Is Princess Ming Yue an old acquaintance, Your Highness?”
Actually, Lin Mengya did not need to think hard before she concluded that those two did not have much interaction.
It was only because of how Princess Ming Yue tried to look attractive that made her a little uneasy and displeased.
While she was resigned to being beaten by Princess Linlang, she would not settle for being beaten by Princess Ming Yue.
“I don’t even know her. She is the princess of the western vassal state and this is my first encounter with her.”
To Long Tianhao, every other woman was just another woman. They were not different from one another in his eyes.
Apart from Lin Mengya, he did not find any other woman adorable.
In other words, there were only two categories for the opposite gender in the prince’s mind.
One was Lin Mengya, and the rest were classified as others.
“Oh, so what do you think of Princess Ming Yue’s looks, Your Highness?”
Even Lin Mengya found it difficult to conceal her tone of displeasure towards her.
When she thought of how beautiful Princess Ming Yue looked under the moonlight a moment ago, she could not let go of the feeling of displeasure.
Long Tianhao, however, began to frown.
“I don’t know, I didn’t look at her.”
His voice was plain and impassive. Although he was not even speaking sweet words, Lin Mengya could not help feeling happy when she heard his reply.
It was useless for Princess Ming Yue to doll herself up or behave in a demure way just to attract attention because she was not going to leave any impression in Long Tianhao’s mind.
“King Ming must have struck a deal with the Crown Prince and they are allies now. I just don’t know what the price the Crown Prince promised him was.”
King Ming was a very shrewd opponent. Although he did not agree with her proposal, neither did he reject it immediately. This went to show that he was considering the options to see which would reap the most benefits.
Therefore, they could be considered to be the passive party.
What if King Ming became fickle and began asking for a high price in exchange, this transaction might still fail.
“I suppose the Crown Prince wouldn’t be able to offer something extremely precious.”
Long Tianhao said quietly after pondering for a while.
The Crown Prince was definitely not a generous person, so what he was offering King Ming should be limited.
“No matter what his terms are, we have to find them out. Do you have any idea how we can go about doing it?”
Seeing Lin Mengya’s expectant eyes looking at himself, Long Tianhao instinctively nodded with certainty.
“Alright, I’ll try my best to find out for you.”
The moment they entered the campground, they realized that the campground which was pitch dark was now brightly lit with torches.
Countless imperial guards in small groups were shuttling back and forth in the campground.
From what they heard, the guards seemed to be trying to capture someone.
In the midst of the chaos, Long Tianhao and Lin Mengya secretly approached their tent.
“Try not to come out of the tent once you enter.”
Long Tianhao instructed Lin Mengya quietly and Lin Mengya responded by nodding. Then Long Tianhao pushed her into the tent, turned and disappeared into the crowd of imperial guards.
What exactly happened during this period of time when they went out?
All the people in the tent had not gone to sleep.
When Lin Mengya, who was clad in a black cape returned, Baiji came to her to help her undress.
Although it was chaotic outside the tent, there was peace within it.
Elder Sister Yue Ting, who was on the bed had woken up, but she was still looking very pale.
“You’re awake, Elder Sister Yue Ting!”
Lin Mengya, pleasantly surprised, walked up to her. However, Yue Ting’s face was drained of its colors and her eyes were lifeless.
Nevertheless, she still forced a smile when she saw Lin Mengya.
“Ya’er, you saved my life yet again.”
Some words did not need to be spoken aloud. Suddenly, tears started welling at the corners of Yue Ting’s eyes.
Her small white hands were holding tightly to the crumpled blanket as she sobbed.
“Look at the state I’m in now, it’s better for me to die than to live!”
While she could bear the physical pain, she was unable to erase the shame that had been engraved in her heart.
When she woke up a while ago, Yue Qi had told her that Hu Lunan, the man who violated her, had been murdered.
But so what? How could she possibly pretend that all that happened did not happen?
“Please don’t say that, Elder Sister Yue Ting. There is hope as long as you continue to live on. Let whatever happened be a nightmare, please? Now you’ve awakened from the nightmare. No one will bring harm upon you ever again.”
Lin Mengya coaxed as she held on tightly to Yue Ting’s slender and weakened body. Hu Lunan was truly deserving of death.
However, Elder Sister Yue Ting had been completely ruined. She was no longer that beautiful and kind young lady.
“Oh, what’s happening? Why is there such a chaos outside?”
Lin Zhongyu, who had remained silent while seated by the side, cut in to explain.
“Right after you left, a tumult broke out where the Crown Prince was. It was rumored that there was an assassin. At this moment, the Crown Prince is going around to check on every tent with his men.”
Lin Mengya pondered for a while and thought that something was not right.
How was it even possible for an assassin to enter the campground when the security was so tight, not to mention an assassin trying to attack the Crown Prince?
“Did any strange person come in here after I left?”
The four maidservants pondered for a moment, and then shook their heads in unison.
“Can you think harder? Did anyone come?”
All the people in the tent tried to think harder.
Finally, Yue Qi said with some hesitation,
“After Elder Sister Lin left, my sister’s personal maid, Bilian came to deliver a bowl of tonic soup under daddy’s instruction.”
Elder Sister Yue Ting’s personal maidservant? She even brought a bowl of tonic soup?
“But Bilian had been bringing over tonic soup in the last few days. I suppose it’s nothing strange?”
Yue Qi’s voice sounded fearful as she thought that Bilian was indeed her elder sister’s confidante.
“What did she use to carry the bowl of tonic soup?”
Lin Mengya immediately asked as she smelt something fishy.
Yue Qi went to the corner of the tent to pick up a red wooden meal box and brought it to Lin Mengya.
The octagonal box was one that was commonly seen.
Lin Mengya took over the meal box and studied it by turning and looking at it at different angles. As time was running out, she suddenly dashed the box onto the floor.
“Crash!” and the meal box broke into pieces. At that instant, they realized that besides the broken pieces of the box, there was a piece of clothing meant to be worn in the night.
“How…? This is indeed…”
The corners of Lin Mengya turned up into a cold smile.
It seemed that Crown Prince was getting impatient, that he had to resort to this to deal with her.
Without saying anything, she held up the piece of clothing to be worn in the dark and walked behind the privacy screen.
Within a short time, she put on the piece of night clothing under her other layers of clothing.
“Take a look and tell me if you could tell any difference?”
After Lin Mengya finished changing, she walked out from behind the privacy screen.
The piece of night clothing was so thin that with the loose out layers of clothing, one could hardly see it.
“Why don’t you throw it away instead of putting it on as the innermost layer of your clothing?”
Baizhi quietly asked in puzzlement.
“Since someone had brought this here, he would have a way to blame it on me. On the other hand, no one would dare search my body, so I’ve put it on me.”
The tent was only this big so no matter where they tried to hide the piece of clothing, it would still be found.
However, no one would dare to lay a finger on Princess Yu.
Just when they finished speaking, a voice echoed from outside.
“Princess Yu, there was a break-in and an attempt to assassinate the Crown Prince, so we have to search every tent on the campground. Please let us in.”
Although the guards were given permission to search the tents, this was a tent housing the women, so the guards could not simply enter without permission.
Lin Mengya delayed for a moment before sending Baishao to answer the door.
When Baishao lifted the curtain to the tent, she saw a dozen imperial guards with torches in their hands standing just outside.
She frowned slightly then raised her brows and said,
“Our Princess is not any commoner. Once you’re in there, be very careful not to break anything, because if you do, you wouldn’t be able to pay for it.”
These guards were the Crown Prince’s men, so Baishao thought it unnecessary to be kind to them.
Immediately, the guards’ faces looked awkward and embarrassed.
While the other people had welcomed the search with smiles on their faces, the guards met with a rebuff when they came to Princess Yu’s tent.
Princess Yu was indeed unique.
“Rest assured, miss, we will certainly be very careful.” “Surely the princess could not be compared to other people. We will be extra careful.”
Baishao led some of the guards into the tent. As they entered a pungent smell of medicine went into their noses and the imperial guards reflectively furrowed their brows.
Since the male guards had to respect the females in the tent, the bed was concealed behind the privacy screen. Apart from that, the other interior parts of the tent were open to them.
“Greetings to Your Highness, the Princess. Please forgive us for the disturbance.”
Although the Crown Prince and Prince Yu did not get along, these guards did not have the audacity to take the matter into their own hands.
They knew best not to offend Princess Yu.
“Erm, I know that you’re just carrying out orders. Baiji and Baishao, try your best to accommodate the search from the imperial guards.”
Behind the privacy screen, Lin Mengya sat on a chair, while Yue Qi held on to Yue Ting, supporting her. They waited patiently for the result of the search.
Although Lin Mengya managed to scare the guards, they proceeded their search meticulously.
“Please open the cupboard over here, so we can search its inside.”
Looking reluctant on her face, Baiji opened the small cupboard where Princess Yu usually kept her clothes.
One by one, the guards took out the pieces of clothing and spread them out on the table.
“We had a look and there are no problems whatsoever.”
“Of course, there are no problems,” thought Lin Mengya as she continued putting on a formidable facade.