Chapter 49 A Sudden Argument for Killing
"Is there anything else you want to say?" After a long while, Li Jin, who had come back to his senses from six years ago, looked calmly into her eyes. "If there's nothing to say about what happened six years ago, let's talk about now."
Fan Yin smiled slightly and nodded.
“I don’t regret killing Lin Ruxue,” she said. “You never came back. Although you have now relinquished your military power and become the head of the Six Doors, you only returned to the capital after pacifying the border.”
"At that time, I lost all contact with the Crown Princess, but I had a deep-seated resentment in my heart." She always smiled, but she seemed like a walking corpse, revealing a desolate feeling from the depths of her heart.
"To be honest, the wait was incredibly long." She shook her head with a self-deprecating laugh and took a sip of her drink.
It's as if time has transformed into this smooth, mellow taste, yet it only has a sour and astringent flavor, with no sweetness or mellowness.
Looking back, time seemed like a dream, causing her to choke up several times, unsure of where to begin.
“During these days, I have found all the Lin families in the capital and worked as a maid in their mansions one by one.”
"I was thinking that if we could find out where Lin Zhongyi is before you come back, it would save you some trouble in the future."
As she said this, Fan Yin raised her hand, biting the nail of her right thumb, her eyes filled with sadness, disappointment, and resentment.
The way her eyes moved seemed to silently tell Li Jin about the inhuman hardships she had endured during her years of waiting.
Li Jin lowered his eyes, picked up the wine cup in front of him, and respectfully and formally nodded and bowed before drinking it all in one gulp.
He respected her, but also felt guilty towards her.
Before her eyes, Prince Jing, Li Jin, offered her a cup of wine, which finally made Fan Yin let go of all the resentment she had towards him.
She had waited for this moment for so long, trying every possible way to survive.
To live as a maid, to live as a mistress, to live as a bedmate, to live as a lowly slave...
All for today, all for the sake of ensuring that these truths, which I have kept hidden deep in my heart, are not drowned out, not covered up, and not vanished from this open world with Li Mu's death.
Her nose tingled, and two tears streamed down her face, but her cheeks remained calm, and her smile persisted.
All those years of waiting were worth it.
After a long while, she raised her hand to wipe away the tears on her cheeks and continued, "Later, I went to the home of Lin Yongde, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, and finally got a clue about Lin Zhongyi. He was Lin Yongde's older brother, but we hadn't been in contact for a long time."
"And Lin Ruxue is Lin Zhongyi's niece. She is arrogant, domineering, and has a bad temper, and she still harbors illusions about you."
At this point, she chuckled, "It was my naiveté. I thought that if I stayed by her side longer, one day I would be able to meet you because of her deliberate efforts to get close to you. I would be able to deliver these messages to you in the most inconspicuous way."
She paused, her thin lips pressed into a thin line.
Fan Yin never expected that all of Lin Ruxue's elaborate schemes would be so easily thwarted by Li Jin.
"After Lin Ruxue hadn't been able to see you for two years, her temper started to become even more erratic. It was around that time that she suddenly attacked me for some reason, accusing me of being the thief who stole her bracelet."
As Fan Yin finished speaking, she gently stroked the white jade bracelet in the box with her fingertips, and a genuine smile appeared on her face, a rare occurrence.
“At that time, I was extremely angry, furious, and disgusted, but I had no choice. In order to continue living under an assumed name, I had to seek a way to settle things privately.” She gave a dry laugh. “Otherwise, if she sent me to the authorities and it was discovered that I was a fugitive from the Crown Prince’s residence six years ago, I would never have any hope of seeing you again.”
"So I endured everything, gave the bracelet to Lin Ruxue, and then left the Lin family to find another way to make a living."
As Fan Yin finished speaking, Li Jin raised his hand to interrupt her.
"You said that when you were in the Lin family, you were hiding your identity?" he asked.
“Exactly.” Fan Yin nodded. “Ever since the incident at the Crown Prince’s residence, I have changed my name many times, just to cover up the name Fan Yin that His Highness the Crown Prince gave me.”
Li Jin crossed his arms and stared at the small blue-and-white porcelain cup on the table.
He clearly remembered that last night, the note he found in the basket of steamed buns clearly stated that Lin Ruxue's bracelet had been snatched from Fanyin.
It is indeed the word "Sanskrit," not any other name.
"Besides you, who else managed to escape that day?" He looked up at Fan Yin's slightly surprised face.
After a long silence, she shook her head: "If there is one, it's only the Crown Princess."
“At that time, the Imperial Guards surrounded the entire Crown Prince’s residence at midnight. Many people were still asleep, and no one went home to visit their families during those days. So, apart from the Crown Princess and me, everyone else was arrested.” She gave a dry laugh as she said this, “...and then they all died.”
He was dead. Li Jin remained completely unmoved upon hearing these two words.
This is one of the main reasons why he has been unable to find out what exactly happened six years ago.
To the outside world, after the Crown Prince's residence was raided, the official explanation was that everyone was exiled to the frontier. But in reality, on the way to the frontier, they encountered bandits on the official road, and everyone died, including Crown Prince Li Mu.
Only a fool would think they had encountered real robbers.
However, if everyone in the Crown Prince's residence who knew Fan Yin's identity was already dead, then who was it that the Lin family slipped the note into the steamed bun?
"Fanyin knew she had committed a heinous crime, but she felt no remorse." She turned her head and looked at the clear blue sky outside the window, watching the birds flapping their wings and flying by.
“I haven’t stopped hating Lin Ruxue for a single day. She stole my most precious treasure, a bracelet that His Highness the Crown Prince personally bestowed upon me. His Highness and the Crown Princess have treated me with boundless kindness. I cannot swallow this insult.” She laughed. “She deserves to die.”
Hearing this, Li Jin roughly understood her motive for killing; it was not simply a matter of revenge.
She wanted to use the revenge plot to lure herself into the situation.
Li Jin gazed at her without saying a word, his eyes reflecting her smiling face.
“I never had the chance to go to the capital to see you. I must tell you these things in person. So, I used my hatred for Lin Ruxue as bait to lure you to come to me when you returned to the capital.”
She pursed her lips: "That day, after Lin Ruxue got drunk, she caused a scene at Jinhua Tower. I knew my chance had come. Under the moonlight, I broke the axle of her carriage, and then parked a gray carriage not far from Jinhua Tower."
"When Lin Ruxue came out, she was still relatively lucid. When she saw me, she spoke rudely and mocked me for being a thief."
At this point, she poured herself another glass of wine and drank it all in one gulp.
Lin Ruxue, whom I hadn't seen for a year, was still as arrogant and domineering as ever. When she saw Fan Yin, she pointed at her forehead and said mockingly, "Oh, isn't this the thief from our Lin family!"
Originally, Fan Yin had planned to knock her unconscious or get her drunk, retrieve the bracelet, and throw her into a brothel and liquor alley, which would be enough to make her cause a scene at the Six Doors and attract Li Jin's attention.
But at that moment, she overturned her original plan and was seized by murderous intent.
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