Coincidentally, as soon as Lin Mengya’s father left, the army of the Nan’an State stationed at the border started wriggling in invasion, which seemed to be a little irrational.
Moreover, no one other than a few trustworthy people knew that her father was going to resign.
How could there be such a coincidence that the mouses came out to steal the grain as soon as the cat left? Unless the army of the Nan’an State had expected the commander of Dajin’s army was going to change.
Otherwise, they would not have tried to provoke the army of Dajin at this time.
It seemed that the case, where her brother was framed, was more complicated than she had imagined.
Lowering her head unconsciously, Lin Mengya, who was troubled by this unexpected thing, suddenly saw the lovely face of Moyan, who was sleeping.
The baby was much easier to take care of than ordinary babies. Groaning once meant he wanted food, and groaning twice meant he wanted to p.o.o.p.
He was obedient when sleeping and drinking milk, usually showed a smiling face, and would give whoever was holding him a milk-flavored kiss, which made him quite an adorable baby.
Therefore, although he had just come here with Lin Mengya, he immediately won the favor of plenty of maids in Lin’s Mansion.
At this time, the chubby baby, who was sleeping in her arms, was smacking his lips and seemed to be eating something in his dream.
Looking at the baby in her arms, whose chubby body was soft and warm, she involuntarily thought he was even cuter than a doll.
If she could completely detoxify her body, she hoped that she could have a baby as lovely as Moyan.
After carrying Moyan back to her yard cautiously and tucking him in, Lin Mengya started to prepare for welcoming her father back.
This time her father was not going back for a short stay and was probably going to stay home from now on.
Besides, Lin Mengwu was at home now. So there were many domestic affairs to handle. Although Hongyu and the other girls were capable, she still had to make decisions on important matters.
A servant came to report, “First Miss, since Master is coming back, how should we deal with the Second Miss?”
Recently Lin Mengwu almost made a scene every day. If Lin Mengya had not kept her hungry, she probably would have demolished the woodshed by now.
Anyway, Lin Mengwu was the Second Miss of the Lin Family. It was not a long-term solution to keep her locked up in the woodshed.
Lin Mengya, who was checking the account book, raised her eyebrows slightly and fixed her eyes on the servant who came to report.
Lin Mengwu must have been awfully hungry after being locked up these days.
In this case, Lin Mengya decided to release her.
“Just arrange for her to live in her previous courtyard, and remember to feed her some tonics such as angelica sinensis, matrimony vine and donkey-hide gelatin in the next few days. She can have as many vegetables as she wants, but don’t serve her any meat dish,” Lin Mengya said.
Receiving Lin Mengya’s orders, the servant knew how to deal with Lin Mengwu.
After arranging everything properly, Lin Mengya, who was dressed up, stood at the gate with her servants and looked forward to her father’s returning.
Although she had communicated with her father by letter every month, they had not seen each other for a long time after all, so she was excited.
Nevertheless, she was not accustomed to expressing her feelings in front of others.
In the distance, she saw her father, who was dressed in armor and riding a mighty black horse, come up to her composedly.
“Greetings, father. You must feel tired after the journey,” she said, managing to restrain herself despite her excitement.
Although a few months were not a short time, they were not a long time either.
There seemed to be more wrinkles on her father’s face.
After her father met her, his face softened, which made him look like a father, who met his beloved daughter again after a separation, rather than a decisive general on the battlefield.
“It’s fine. Let’s get in,” Lin Muzhi dismounted from the horse and said with a troubled look.
He could handle any difficulty on the battlefield.
However, even he did not think he was capable of getting the Lin Family out of the current crisis.
Lin Muzhi and Lin Mengya came back to the mansion, followed by the servants. Lin Mengya’s keen intuition told her that there were more and more spies outside.
It was no exaggeration to say that now there were spies sent by various forces within miles.
However, based on her understanding of the Lin Family, she did not think the Lin Family was so important as to attract the attention of various forces.
Lin Mengya had a doubt, but she did not take it to heart. After all, since her father had returned home, they should get down to business.
After returning home, Lin Muzhi first offered incense at the altar of his deceased wife.
Lin Mengya waited silently in the main hall. Many things had happened recently, and her father should have a lot to talk to her mother.
Lin Mengya dismissed all the servants except for her personal maid. After waiting for about an hour, her father, who had changed into casual clothes, appeared in front of her again.
She got up and was about to bow to him, but he waved his hand and said in a low voice, “Have a seat. I have heard what has happened to you and your brother from the person you sent. You must have tried hard to run our home these days.”
Lin Muzhi sat in the left-hand seat, with distress in his sharp and shrewd eyes.
He, who was not accustomed to expressing his feelings, showed his deep concern for his daughter in his words.
Lin Mengya shook her head. Of course, she knew that her father was most worried about her rather than her brother.
She sat down as her father asked, but she also glanced at her father with concern.
“Although I’ve tried all I could to get brother out of prison, there are too many people involved in it. I probably will not be able to rescue brother without your help.”
She had been busy trying to rescue her brother these days, as she knew very well that she could not pin all her hopes on others.
Therefore, apart from keeping an eye on Gou An and his fellow apprentices, she had mobilized all the connections available to her.
But this time, apart from the Xiao Family that was willing to help her, even the Yue Family took an evasive att.i.tude, not to mention the others.
Now the Lin Family had suffered a disastrous decline and was no longer as prosperous as before.
“Alas… I didn’t expect His Majesty to be so heartless. Well, I have spent half of my life on the battlefield and owed you and your brother a lot. This time, let’s unite as one and get through this crisis together,” her father said.
Lin Mengya nodded. She knew very well that her father was not that sort of person who got disheartened easily.
Now even her father behaved like this. He must have gone through something in the Imperial Palace.
“Father, don’t worry too much. Although His Majesty has used our Lin Family as a p.a.w.n this time, I believe perhaps other families will also get involved in this. Everyone has seen our Lin Family’s loyalty to His Majesty over the years. I think His Majesty will spare us, so our difficult situation will not last forever. Father, please don’t be discouraged,” Lin Mengya said to her father.
Her father glanced at her hesitantly and eventually swallowed his words with a sigh.
Lin Mengya lowered her eyes. In fact, she had been worried that her father would not be convinced of the Emperor’s ruthlessness so that the entire Lin Family would be in a pa.s.sive position.
She didn’t know what the Emperor had done to greatly disappoint her father, a loyal official who had fought alongside with him. But it seemed that she really did not need to worry about it at all.
Her father said, “Nevertheless, now you and Sheng’er are in a precarious situation. Alas, before your mother pa.s.sed away, she had told me to send the two of you away from this place of troubles, but I did not do as she asked and put you in this situation. It is all my fault!”
Seeing her father blame himself, Lin Mengya let out a faint sigh, thinking her mother was indeed a very far-sighted person.
However, she and her brother had gotten involved in this tempestuous storm and were incapable of staying out of it.
“Father, you do not have to blame yourself. It is still too early to talk about this. I need your opinion on one thing,” Lin Mengya personally served her father a cup of hot tea and said.
It was not until her father calmed down a little that she spoke while weighing her words, “Father, although both brother and I got involved in trouble, now that you are back, we should cheer up. I think, although second sister’s mother is a trouble-maker, she is still a member of our family. As such, why don’t we choose a good man as second sister’s husband while you are at home? On one hand, it can comfort second sister, who has to separate from her mother. On the other hand, we can avoid causing the gossip that we transfer our anger on second sister. What do you think of it, father?”
At the mention of Lin Mengwu, her father involuntarily frowned tightly.
Although her father had not sent Shangguan Qing a bill of divorcement yet, her father no longer considered Shangguan Qing a member of the Lin Family.
What Shangguan Qing had done had even wiped out Lin Muzhi’s only remaining wish to maintain their relationship.
Therefore, he, who did not dote on Lin Mengwu, naturally had an increasingly strong aversion to her.
However, Lin Mengya still had a doubt.
Since she became sensible, her father had rarely slept with Madam Qing. She had heard from the maid serving Madam Qing that even if they slept in a room, they slept on separate beds.
Since her father had such a strong aversion to Shangguan Qing, wasn’t Lin Mengwu’s ident.i.ty a little suspicious?
Moreover, although her father did not treat Lin Mengwu the way he treated her brother and her, her father was so cold to Lin Mengwu, as if Lin Mengwu were not his biological daughter.
Judging from Lin Muzhi’s character, he would at least have a little affection for Lin Mengwu as her father despite his aversion to Shangguan Qing.
What was more, Lin Muzhi was known as a kind general, who even respected and cared for the soldiers he did not know.
For this reason, Lin Mengya had a doubt of this.
However, it was inappropriate for her to ask Lin Muzhi about this as his daughter.
Although she had pondered over Lin Mengwu’s marriage, the final decision had to be made by her father.
After pondering for a long while, Lin Muzhi finally nodded in agreement.