bookcurios Chapter 1391 Suppression
Chapter 1391 Suppression
To be able to silently commit murder in the inner quarters of the Prime Minister's residence, surrounded by layers of secret guards, and to keep the entire inner quarters deathly silent, is something no ordinary assassin could do.
The other party's target is probably not just Meng Xiang's family, but also her.
Just then, a series of hurried footsteps sounded outside, and a guard rushed in, his face grave: "Reporting to the Lady Marquis, we found more than a dozen servants' corpses in the woodshed, all with their throats slit, and..."
The guard paused, seemingly hesitant.
"And what?" Lin Yiwan pressed.
"Moreover, these servants are all veterans of the Prime Minister's residence and are Madam Meng's confidants," the guard said in a deep voice.
Lin Yiwan's face instantly turned ugly.
Were they all killed by Madam Meng's trusted confidants?
So, the other party's target was Meng Yunshang and her daughter from the very beginning?
If you want to kill them, you can just do it directly. Why go through all the trouble of killing all your trusted confidants and then making them take poison?
Unless... the other party is trying to frame someone.
Who should be blamed?
A thought flashed through Lin Yiwan's mind, a thought that sent chills down her spine.
Just then, Madam Meng suddenly let out a painful groan and slowly opened her eyes.
Her gaze was somewhat unfocused as she stared blankly at the gauze curtains above the bed for a long while before slowly turning to Lin Yiwan and Meng Yunshang. When she saw Meng Yunshang's pale face, a flash of panic immediately crossed her eyes, and she struggled to sit up: "My Yun'er, are you alright?"
"Mother, I'm fine, don't worry." Meng Yunshang quickly grasped Madam Meng's hand, and tears fell again.
Seeing that her daughter was safe and sound, Madam Meng finally breathed a sigh of relief. But then, as if remembering something, her expression changed drastically. She grabbed Lin Yiwan's hand and said urgently, "Madam, take Yun'er away quickly! There's a traitor in the Prime Minister's residence! It's that ruthless mistress. She's colluding with outsiders to kill my daughter and me!"
Lin Yiwan's pupils contracted.
Concubine?
Meng Xiang actually kept a mistress?
When did this happen? How come she's never heard of it?
"Auntie, is what you're saying true?" Lin Yiwan quickly asked, "Where is that mistress?"
Madam Meng was panting heavily, her face turning red and white in turns, clearly indicating that the poison had not completely worn off and her body was very weak.
She spoke with difficulty: "She was in my room earlier, saying she wanted to discuss something with me, but as soon as I drank the cup of tea she handed me, I felt dizzy and then I knew nothing more!"
Before Madam Meng could finish speaking, the sound of clashing weapons rang out from outside, along with the angry shouts of the guards: "Who goes there?!"
Lin Yiwan's heart skipped a beat, and she immediately drew the short dagger from her waist, looking warily toward the door.
The door was suddenly kicked open, and a group of assassins dressed in black rushed in. The leader was a woman in brocade robes, with a beautiful face, but her eyes revealed a sinister look.
It was Rong Zhiyu, whom we hadn't seen in a long time.
Rong Zhiyu looked at Meng Yunshang and Madam Meng on the bed, and Lin Yiwan standing by the bedside, a sinister smile curling at the corner of his mouth: "I didn't expect that you would actually attract Madam Hou's attention. Today is the day of your death!"
Lin Yiwan gripped the short dagger tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force, her gaze fixed on Rong Zhiyu as if tempered with ice: "Rong Zhiyu, how dare you trespass into the Prime Minister's residence and even lay a hand on the family of an official of the court! You have a lot of nerve!"
Rong Zhiyu laughed as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world, throwing her head back and letting out a sharp, piercing laugh that made people's eardrums hurt. "Lin Yiwan, do you still think you are the high and mighty Lady of Zhanyi? You ruined everything for me, and today I will take it all back with interest!"
A cold glint flashed in Lin Yiwan's eyes. She never expected that Rong Zhiyu would become Meng Xiang's mistress.
Lin Yiwan said coldly, "You used tricks to seduce my son and even tried to sow discord between us. You deserved your fate!"
"He brought it on himself?" Rong Zhiyu's eyes suddenly turned extremely venomous.
She took a sudden step forward, her face contorted with rage, and said, "If you hadn't insisted on separating me from Brother Mu, I would already be his wife by now!"
Lin Yiwan said sneer, "Don't even think about it. As long as I live, you won't step into the Zhan family's doorstep again!"
Rong Zhiyu calmed down instantly, and she squinted and murmured, "So, you have to die. You have to die with these people who are in my way!"
She paused, her smile growing increasingly cruel: "Oh, right, there's one more thing, you'll probably never know until you die. Meng Yuan colluded with the Wolf Head Gang to embezzle disaster relief funds. It was I who instigated it. That old man is so old-fashioned; he absolutely refused at first, but I threatened your lives before he finally agreed to obey!"
These words struck Meng Yunshang like a thunderbolt, making her tremble all over. She shook her head in disbelief: "Why, why did you do this to my father?"
Rong Zhiyu replied slowly, "Because he holds a high position and wields great power. Only he can help me take revenge on the Marquis of Zhanyi's mansion and lure that vile woman Lin Yiwan into a trap!"
Meng Yunshang felt a chill run from her feet to the top of her head, as if her blood had frozen. She never imagined that her father, who had been so wise and discerning for half his life, would ultimately fall into Rong Zhiyu's trap and become a pawn in her revenge.
Supporting her trembling body, she pointed at Rong Zhiyu, her voice trembling with tears as she questioned, "Aren't you afraid of being struck by lightning? That's the life-saving money for hundreds of thousands of disaster victims! So many people have had their money embezzled, become homeless, starved, or frozen to death because of it! How could you be so heartless?"
"Struck by lightning?" Rong Zhiyu laughed as if he had heard a joke, but there was no warmth in his eyes.
She gritted her teeth and said, "When I, Rong Zhiyu, was driven out of the Zhanyi Marquis's mansion by Lin Yiwan, did Heaven open its eyes? What do the lives and deaths of those disaster victims have to do with me? I only want Lin Yiwan to die, I only want the Zhanyi Marquis's mansion to be destroyed, I only want to take back everything that belongs to me!"
Lin Yiwan was enraged upon hearing this. The veins on her hand gripping the short dagger bulged. If she didn't have to protect Meng Yunshang and her daughter behind her, she would have wanted to pounce on this heartless woman and tear her to pieces.
She said coldly, "Rong Zhiyu, you are truly hopeless! My son chose to sever ties with you not because of me, but because he saw through your selfishness and malice! You are still so stubbornly unrepentant; it's both pathetic and hateful!"
"You're talking nonsense!" Rong Zhiyu's face twisted instantly as if a sore spot had been touched. She roared fiercely, "It's you! It's all your fault! If you hadn't stirred up trouble in front of Brother Mu, how could he have rejected me? If you hadn't used your status as the wife of the Marquis of Zhanyi to suppress me at every turn, how could I have fallen to the point of clinging to someone else? Lin Yiwan, you forced me into this situation!"