Phi-Fic Chapter 1390 Outer Room
Chapter 1390 Outer Room
About half an hour later, Meng Yunshang was the first to open her eyes.
She murmured hoarsely, "Wanwan, am I already a ghost?"
When Lin Yiwan saw that she had woken up, her heart finally settled down. However, looking at her pale face and her dry, chapped lips, she felt another wave of pain in her heart.
She reached out and grasped Meng Yunshang's icy wrist. The touch from her fingertips was so thin that it seemed as if it would break at the slightest touch. Her voice trembled without her even realizing it: "What nonsense are you talking about? If you become a ghost, wouldn't I become the King of Hell who takes lives?"
Meng Yunshang blinked, and light slowly gathered in her cloudy eyes. She looked at the bits of grass stuck to Lin Yiwan's temples and her travel-worn appearance. A hoarse sound came from her throat, as if she had a thousand words stuck in her throat but couldn't say a single one.
After a long while, she slowly raised her hand, wanting to touch Lin Yiwan's cheek, but her hand fell down as if it had lost its strength as soon as it was halfway up.
"Mother, how is Mother?" Meng Yunshang's voice was barely audible as she turned her gaze with difficulty to Madam Meng beside her, her eyes filled with fear and unease.
Lin Yiwan followed her gaze and saw that Madam Meng's eyes were still closed and her brows were tightly furrowed, as if she were trapped in a deep nightmare.
She reached out and checked Madam Meng's breathing. Although it was weak, it was still relatively steady. She breathed a sigh of relief and said softly to Meng Yunshang, "Don't worry, the antidote has been given. Mother is just having a severe attack of the poison and hasn't woken up yet. She will be fine."
Despite saying that, Lin Yiwan had absolutely no idea what to expect.
The poison that the mother and daughter ingested was no ordinary substance. Although the antidote she brought could cure all poisons, it couldn't withstand the rapid onset of the poison.
When she was feeding the medicine, she clearly felt that Madam Meng's pulse was so weak that it was almost gone. If she hadn't used acupuncture to force the medicine to dissolve, Madam Meng would probably be dead by now.
Upon hearing Lin Yiwan's words, Meng Yunshang's tense body relaxed slightly, but then, as if remembering something, she suddenly widened her eyes, grabbed Lin Yiwan's hand with astonishing strength, and said, "Wanwan, you shouldn't have come! The Prime Minister's residence is now a den of dragons and tigers, you should leave! Leave!"
Her voice was thick with sobs, and there was a hint of desperate pleading.
Lin Yiwan felt a chill run down her spine; she was well aware of the current predicament of the Prime Minister's residence.
Meng Xiang colluded with the Wolf Head Gang to embezzle disaster relief funds. After the matter was exposed, he should have been executed along with his entire family.
It was only because her father was a good friend of Meng Yunshang that he granted her a temporary reprieve.
But she also knew that this was just a delaying tactic, and those who wanted to kill the Meng family would never give up easily.
"What will happen to you if I leave?" Lin Yiwan looked at Meng Yunshang with a determined gaze.
She continued, "Yunshang, we are best friends, like sisters. Your affairs are my affairs. No matter if the Prime Minister's residence is a den of dragons and tigers, even if it is a mountain of knives and a sea of fire, I would never abandon you and your aunt."
Looking at the resolute look in her eyes, Meng Yunshang finally couldn't hold back her tears, which rolled down and landed on their clasped hands, the scalding heat burning them painfully.
"Silly girl, how could you be so foolish?" she choked out.
"The Meng family is already in dire straits, barely able to save themselves. Why would you risk the entire Zhanyi Marquis's mansion for our sake? The Zhanyi Marquis holds considerable military power, and countless people are eyeing his position, eager to find fault with him. You're just asking for trouble!"
Lin Yiwan's heart stirred slightly. She was well aware of the stakes involved, but she couldn't just stand by and watch Meng Yunshang and Madam Meng die.
Meng Yunshang was the only light in this deep mansion for her, and the only person she could truly be sincere with amidst the treacherous power struggles within the inner court.
Back then, when she was ostracized by the noble ladies, it was Meng Yunshang who disregarded her status as the daughter of a high-ranking official and came to her rescue. She could never repay this kindness in her lifetime.
Lin Yiwan gently patted Meng Yunshang's hand, her voice calm yet carrying an undeniable strength, "So what if you invite trouble? The Marquis of Zhanyi's mansion isn't so easily defeated. Since I dared to come, I've already made thorough preparations."
She stopped abruptly halfway through her sentence, her brows furrowing tightly.
Not right.
Something is wrong.
The guards just reported that the inner quarters of the Prime Minister's residence were completely quiet and there was no movement whatsoever.
At the time, she only thought that something had happened to Meng Yunshang and her daughter, but now that she thinks about it, the silence itself is eerie.
When the Prime Minister's embezzlement was exposed, everyone in the Prime Minister's residence was in a state of panic. Even the servants should have been packing their things to escape or whispering among themselves. How could it be so quiet? It was as quiet as a dead house.
There's also the matter of Meng Yunshang and her daughter taking poison. Why did they take poison? Was it to commit suicide for love, or to avoid imprisonment? But if they truly wanted to die, why would they lie on their beds waiting for someone to save them?
Lin Yiwan suddenly stood up, her sharp gaze sweeping across the entire room.
The room was furnished as always, with an exquisite carved canopy bed, a light green gauze curtain hanging above it, and on the dressing table, Meng Yunshang's favorite jade hairpin and an unfinished embroidered handkerchief. Everything seemed so peaceful and serene, but the more peaceful it was, the stronger Lin Yiwan's unease became.
She walked to the window, suddenly pushed it open, and a gust of cold wind blew in, carrying a faint smell of blood.
Lin Yiwan's pupils suddenly contracted.
Outside the window, in the flowerbed, several rose bushes were in full bloom, but among the flowers lay a corpse dressed in servant's clothes, with a very deep wound on its neck, the blood already congealed and blackened, clearly indicating that it had been dead for some time.
"What...what's going on?" Meng Yunshang also saw the corpse outside the window, her face turned pale with fright, and her whole body began to tremble.
Lin Yiwan didn't speak; her gaze quickly swept across every corner of the courtyard.
Behind the artificial hill, a glimpse of a garment seemed to flash by.
Lin Yiwan's heart tightened, and she immediately said in a deep voice, "Someone come here!"
As soon as he finished speaking, two guards dressed in black leaped down from the roof and knelt on one knee: "Your subordinates are here!"
"Go check if there are any other corpses in the courtyard, and thoroughly search the entire inner quarters of the Prime Minister's residence. Anyone suspicious should be killed without exception!" Lin Yiwan's voice was as cold as ice, carrying an aura of ruthless decisiveness.
"Yes!" The guards accepted the order and immediately split up to carry out their tasks.
Meng Yunshang was completely stunned by the scene before her. She never imagined that in the short time it took her to sleep, the Prime Minister's residence would become like this. The servants she was familiar with were all now cold corpses.
"Wanwan, who did this?" Meng Yunshang's voice was filled with fear. She gripped the blanket tightly, her body trembling like a leaf.
Lin Yiwan walked to the bedside and gently patted her shoulder, trying to soothe her emotions, but her own heart sank to the bottom.