Chapter 66

“Haha! Well said, girl! That vile, black-hearted woman murdered her own sister just to steal her life—she doesn’t deserve to be called Rong Mo’s mother!”

In the dead silence, Prince Rong suddenly burst into hearty, unbridled laughter.

If he hadn’t been backed into a corner by circumstance, what man would willingly let his beloved woman and his own son suffer such injustice? To the outside world, the imperial family looked glamorous and enviable, but who actually knew the sheer number of constraints they had to live with?

Now that Cheng Ruyi had thrown caution to the wind and blown the lid off the secret, Prince Rong felt an immense wave of relief wash over him. His future daughter-in-law had done a phenomenal job!

Prince Rong’s laughter and the massive amount of information packed into his words instantly confirmed the crowd’s wild suspicions. If the facts were truly as the Changle Marquis’s daughter claimed, then Prince Rong… was an absolute tragic figure.

Not everyone in the capital had forgotten that the former Princess Consort of Rong had an identical twin sister.

A collective shiver ran down the crowd’s spines. The person they had surrounded and attacked today wasn’t the son of a jinx at all; he was the primary victim of that very jinx.

The Marquis of Changle jumped into the fray to drop another bombshell. “The Rong family of Qinghe County was completely slaughtered, and Rong Mo was poisoned and left paralyzed for eight long years—all by the hand of that very Calamity Star! Yet you fools have the audacity to call Rong Mo her son? Utterly preposterous! Ridiculous!”

“Dad is right! These people have pig brains,” Cheng Ruyi chimed in, continuing her tirade. “A little instigation is all it takes for them to lose their heads and try to kill Ah Mo. None of them stopped to think why Ah Mo only recognizes the Prince and completely rejects the Lin family. A maternal family like the Lins is better off rejected anyway!”

“That old crone, Old Madam Lin, actually thought Ah Mo didn’t know the truth. Just to save that fake jinx, the very first time she crossed our threshold, she tried to force Ah Mo to recognize his mother’s murderer as his mother! It’s a good thing she ‘passed away from illness,’ otherwise I would’ve beaten her until she couldn’t take care of herself!”

Cheng Ruyi kept on venting, dragging the Lin family—whom she despised with a passion—right into the mud. Her intense disgust was palpable to everyone listening.

However, she purposely kept the part about Rong Mo’s altered destiny under wraps. These brainwashed and manipulated commoners needed a target to vent their fears upon, and the Lin family was the perfect lightning rod. When the natural disasters inevitably struck, the Lin family would be stripped of their skin, if not destroyed entirely. After all, the Calamity Star belonged to the Lin family, didn’t she?

Her words carried a great deal of hidden implications. The public finally realized how Old Madam Lin—who supposedly died of a broken heart upon hearing of her daughter’s passing—had actually met her end. Because it happened quite recently, everyone remembered her visit to the Changle Marquis Estate, which had sparked plenty of gossip at the time.

Now that the veneer of respectability had been ripped away, no one expected the truth to be so brutal.

The hotheaded crowd that had just been screaming for Rong Mo’s blood suddenly felt overwhelmingly mortified.

When the dust settled, the reality sunk in: this involved the imperial family and the powerhouse Lin family. Compared to the reputation of those giants, a prince’s son who had been missing for twenty years simply didn’t matter.

The more the commoners thought about it, the more terrified they became, and their anger gradually shifted into profound sympathy for Rong Mo. His birth mother had met a gruesome end, his adoptive family had been annihilated, he had been paralyzed by poison for eight years, and now he was being forced to take the blame as the son of his mother’s killer. This man was the ultimate tragic figure.

Clutching their clubs, the mob completely snapped out of their frenzy. Fortunately, no lives had been lost, but seeing that Rong Mo’s guards were covered in bloody wounds, they felt a deep wave of shame. They weren’t stupid; they were just commoners at the bottom of the social ladder. It was painfully obvious who would have won a real fight against highly trained guards.

One by one, the citizens began to bow their heads and apologize.

“We are so sorry, Master Rong Mo. We were wrong!”

“We’re sorry, Master Rong Mo… and thank you for showing mercy!”

“Eldest Miss Cheng is right. We were blinded by lies and brought trouble to your door. Please forgive us, Master Rong Mo!”

“…”

As the man at the center of the storm, Rong Mo knew that stepping forward to explain things himself would only cause a violent backlash from the mob. Silence had been his best weapon, and now that the truth was out, he was reaping a massive harvest of pity and sympathy.

“There is no need for explanations. I understand,” Rong Mo spoke up, his voice calm. “As long as everyone is unhurt, it is fine. Anyone who sustained injuries can go to Jiminin Pharmacy, the largest apothecary in the capital, for treatment. I will personally cover the medical expenses. You may all disperse now.”

Seeing that Master Rong Mo was not only magnanimous enough to forgive them but was also willing to pay for their medical care, the crowd was moved to tears of gratitude. After offering their heartfelt thanks, they helped one another up and limped away, clutching their clubs.

Just like that, a massive riot vanished into thin air.

It looked effortless on the surface, but in reality, if Cheng Ruyi hadn’t used her mental pressure to instantly paralyze the frenzied mob, the situation would have inevitably ended in a bloodbath. And an escalation of violence would have left permanent, dangerous scars on the city.

Prince Rong and the Marquis of Changle were incredibly pleased with Ruyi’s handling of the crisis. She had successfully pacified the rioting citizens while deflecting the public’s hatred toward the right target, exposing the truth the royals and the Lins had desperately tried to bury, and permanently clearing the names of Rong Mo and his late mother.

Luo Fei was also highly satisfied. After today, the Lin family’s days in the capital were going to get exponentially harder.

With a pleasant smile playing on his lips, Rong Mo stepped forward under the watchful eyes of the lingering onlookers. He lightly tapped his toes against the ground, gracefully vaulting onto the horse behind Cheng Ruyi. Wrapping his arms tightly around her waist from behind, he leaned in and murmured against her ear.

“Ruyi, thank you.”

Watching his little fiancée display such fierce dominance entirely for his sake made his heart race wildly against his ribs. How could he not utterly adore a girl like her?

Feeling Ah Mo’s hot breath against her skin, the usually thick-skinned Cheng Ruyi actually blushed. She mumbled defensively, “You’re my fiancé. If I don’t protect you, who will?”

Seeing the terrifyingly fierce Eldest Miss Cheng instantly transform into a timid little lamb, the onlookers felt their eyes practically flash-blinded by the display of affection.

Standing nearby, Prince Rong cleared his throat into his hand and tactfully turned away, walking back to his carriage.

The Marquis of Changle blew out his mustache and glared at them. “…Mind your manners in broad daylight!”

He then grabbed his son’s hand and stomped away. He had no choice but to leave; his daughter was getting married in about ten days anyway. He was thrilled that the young couple loved each other so deeply, but they really needed to show some restraint in public!

Luo Fei: “…”

He was practically burning with envy. When on earth would he and Wang Ying be able to flaunt their affection so openly in public?

In ancient times, gossip was the fastest-traveling thing alive. Before the group could even pass back through the city gates, the story of the anti-climactic citizen riot had already spread to every corner of the capital.

Cheng Ruyi’s sheer, overwhelming dominance in rescuing her fiancé became the talk of the town, earning her the undisputed title of “The Most Ferocious Woman in Great Zhou.”

Of course, what truly ecstaticized the gossip-mongers were the massive secrets leaked by Cheng Ruyi, Prince Rong, and the Marquis of Changle. The political rivals of the Lin family felt as though a massive pie had fallen straight from the heavens; the perfect opportunity to bring down the Lin family had finally presented itself. After all, the imperial palace hadn’t issued a single statement to “dispel the rumors,” which proved every word was true.

By the time Cheng Ruyi and Rong Mo’s entourage returned to their estates, every street and alleyway was discussing Rong Mo’s tragic past. For the first time, he became the object of universal pity, earning the title of “The Most Tragic Heir in Great Zhou.”

The Most Ferocious Woman and The Most Tragic Heir—honestly, they sounded like a match made in heaven.

~

The moment he received the news, Old Master Lin went deathly pale and slumped into his chair, looking as though he had aged a decade in a single moment.

“It’s over… the Lin family is finished!”

The entire Lin clan gathered around the old patriarch. In particular, the concubine-born sons who already had children of their own didn’t even dare to breathe heavily. Their faces were a mosaic of shock, anger, fear, despair, and bitter resentment.

If the Lin family fell, would they become the targets for the commoners to vent their fury upon?

Looking at the bewildered, terrified expressions of his children and grandchildren, Old Master Lin’s eldest concubine-born son felt his eyes practically erupt with fury. Gnashing his teeth, he snarled, “If I ever find out who spread those initial rumors to incite the mob, I will slice them into a thousand pieces!”

They hated Cheng Ruyi, they hated the Changle Marquis, they hated Prince Rong, and they hated their dead sister—but most of all, they loathed the mastermind hiding in the shadows who had engineered the rumors. They clearly knew how explosive and fiercely protective Cheng Ruyi was, yet they still had the audacity to incite a mob to kill her fiancé!

Now, because of that idiot, Cheng Ruyi had directly exposed the ugly truth they had exhausted all resources to hide.

Old Master Lin closed his eyes, clutching his aching chest. For the first time in his life, he tasted the bitter flavor of profound regret. If he hadn’t helped his wife and daughter cover up the crime back then and had instead executed justice on his own kin… it would have only cost them some face. It wouldn’t have utterly destroyed the entire Lin family legacy.

But regret was entirely useless now. The only way to salvage anything for the Lin family was to quietly send their most talented young sons away under assumed names, and pray with everything they had that the rumored natural disasters wouldn’t actually happen.

“Father, Rong Mo is technically a member of the Lin family too…” one of Old Master Lin’s concubine-born sons suddenly muttered.

Hearing this, Old Master Lin’s spirit jolted. He snapped his eyes open, a sharp, calculating gleam flashing through them.

That’s right. How could he have forgotten about that grandson?

~

When the Emperor learned that the royal scandal those stubborn old ministers had fought so hard to conceal had been completely exposed, his emotions were complicated, but he mostly felt a profound sense of relief.

No matter what, Rong Mo was his biological nephew, a noble member of the imperial line. How could he be allowed to take the fall for the Lin family and that notorious imposter? Ruyi had only leaked the royal scandal out of desperation to save Rong Mo’s life—it was entirely forgivable, wasn’t it?

Thinking about the furious, exasperated faces of those arrogant old ministers, a wave of pure satisfaction washed over the Emperor. That girl Ruyi did a phenomenal job! Beautifully executed!

~

Cheng Qingyao slammed her teacup violently against the ground. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face was entirely livid. Like a cornered, rabid beast, she began furiously smashing everything inside her room.

Smash! Crash! Bang!

Porcelain and ornaments shattered across the floor.

“Dammit! Dammit! How did it turn out like this?! This isn’t how it was supposed to go! It shouldn’t be like this!”

Cheng Qingyao wasn’t stupid; on the contrary, she thought too deeply. Realizing that her plot had backfired spectacularly—and had actually helped them clear their names instead—she was so consumed by rage that her hands and feet went icy cold. She could barely stand straight, her heart practically bursting with insane jealousy.

How could Cheng Ruyi possibly possess such monstrously good luck?

She thought she could use this opportunity to completely destroy Rong Mo. She never expected them to use her own trap to shake off the black mark on their reputation. The pure fury rushing to her brain caused a wave of metallic sweetness to well up in her throat, and she spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

Wiping the blood from her lips in a ragged motion, Cheng Qingyao suddenly erupted into a fit of wild, unhinged laughter. She regretted it so much. She regretted planning this entire scheme just to hand a perfect victory to her enemies on a silver platter!

Looking at her mistress who seemed entirely possessed by madness, Qiulan was too terrified to step forward. She squeaked out a panicked attempt at comfort. “Miss! Miss, please stop laughing! We failed this time, but there will be other opportunities in the future! Please don’t do anything rash!”

Outside the door, the Marchioness of Jian’an stood with a deathly cold expression, an icy aura radiating from her entire body. Good. Very good. So this entire catastrophic failure was engineered by her own useless, short-sighted daughter.

The maids and older servants standing behind her didn’t even dare to breathe. Ultimately, the Marchioness didn’t even bother to step inside to look at Cheng Qingyao, turning around and leaving without a single word.

~

In stark contrast to the gloomy despair hanging over the Lin family, the Changle Marquis Estate was filled with a festive, jubilant atmosphere. The story of the Eldest Miss’s dominant rescue of the future son-in-law had already spread through the entire household, leaving the servants in absolute awe and admiration.

The Eldest Miss truly loves the future son-in-law with a passion!

The Eldest Miss is simply magnificent!

Furthermore, the fact that the future son-in-law had successfully cleared his name and removed a hidden danger was an incredibly joyous occasion worth celebrating. In a fantastic mood, the Marquis of Changle waved his hand grandly and rewarded every single servant in the estate with an extra three months’ worth of wages.

Cheng Ruyi happily linked her arm through Rong Mo’s as they walked back to her courtyard, her smile incredibly radiant as she basked in the worshipful stares of the servants.

Just then, Moxiang came running over at a frantic pace. Without even catching her breath, she gasped out, “Miss, Master Rong Mo! An envoy from the imperial palace has arrived! They are requesting your presence in the main courtyard to receive an imperial decree!”

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