As the saying goes, "If it's good fortune, it won't be a disaster; if it's a disaster, you can't avoid it."
Lin Wanyu took a deep breath, responded, then lifted her skirt and stepped over the threshold, walking inside.
Just as she reached the corridor, she heard a woman sobbing and pleading for mercy in a low voice. "Your Highness, please spare my life. It's really that Miss Lin was unavailable and entrusted me to serve you."
Lin Wanyu frowned tightly. She never expected Zhou Danlin to be so brazen and tell lies so easily.
She even thought Zhou was smart!
Well, she was indeed smart. Otherwise, she wouldn't have shifted the blame onto Lin when something went wrong.
"Chunqiao!"
Lu Huaijin's voice slowly rang out in the room, carrying an oppressive feeling as if a storm was approaching.
Chunqiao, who was standing beside Lin Wanyu, tightened her expression and pushed open the door to go in.
"Your Highness."
"Drag her out and sell her off directly!"
"Yes."
A moment later, the half - closed door was pushed open. Chunqiao grabbed Zhou Danlin's hand and stepped out.
Only then did Lin Wanyu notice that the clothes Zhou Danlin was wearing were quite similar to those she had worn when she served Lu Huaijin on the first day.
With a fair complexion and delicate features, she should have been very attractive. But at the moment, this beauty had a disheveled hair bun and looked extremely embarrassed, without any of her former charm.
Lin Wanyu stared blankly as Chunqiao dragged the woman away. Her heart, which had been hanging high, suddenly sank, and her chest felt stuffy.
She raised her eyes. In the distance, dark clouds loomed over the city, covering the sun. She couldn't tell what time it was.
What had to be faced, eventually had to be faced.
Lin Wanyu lowered her eyes to straighten her clothes, then stepped into the room. When she reached Lu Huaijin, she knelt down to pay her respects.
"Your servant, Wanyu, has come to plead guilty."
Lu Huaijin was sitting on the couch at the moment. His slender fingertips were propping up his forehead, looking tired.
His white robe was already stained with a lot of blood, which was extremely scary.
"What crime do you have?"
Lin Wanyu pursed her red lips, lay prostrate on the ground, and said in a low voice, "Your servant failed to fulfill her duty of serving the heir apparent."
Lu Huaijin sneered with a curl of his lips. "The woman who was just dragged away said that it was you who asked her to serve this heir today!"
Lin Wanyu's body trembled slightly, and she replied truthfully, "Never!"
"At this point, do you still want to hide it from this heir?"
The smile on Lu Huaijin's lips gradually widened, and there was a hint of coldness in his inky eyes.
As his voice fell, a jade bracelet shattered beside her. With a crisp "snap", Lin Wanyu's face turned slightly pale in fright.
She slowly raised her head, lowered her eyes to look at the broken bracelet on the ground, took a deep breath, and silently closed her eyes.
This jade bracelet was the one she had given to Zhou Danlin that day.
"Your Highness, please calm down. The imperial physician said that Your Highness is injured and should not get angry."
She only took one glance and then silently shifted her gaze away. She respectfully lay prostrate on the ground, waiting for the judgment of fate.
"Come here!"
Lu Huaijin's face was cold, and his voice was also icy cold. In this room filled with the summer heat, it made people shiver involuntarily.
Lin Wanyu knelt and moved in front of him, then raised her eyes to look at him.
This time, the panic in her eyes was hidden, leaving only desolation.
"Your servant is guilty. Please punish me, Your Highness."
This kind of look in her eyes was the first time Lu Huaijin had seen.
It was like a wild beast that had fallen into a trap, showing dejection after a desperate struggle.
She had resigned herself to fate...
Lu Huaijin sneered. "Don't you have anything to explain to this heir?"
Lin Wanyu lowered her eyes and remained silent.
She could have explained and argued, and pushed all the previous things onto Zhou Danlin, but she disdained to do so!
The little bit of integrity she still had left made her not want to be like Zhou Danlin.
"So you don't want to serve by my side that much?"
Seeing that she remained silent, Lu Huaijin's cold eyes became even darker.
He thought that although the person in front of him had a soft temper, she was smart after all.
But he didn't expect...
She kept sending women to his bed again and again. What did she take him for?
Forget it, it was just that he had been confused.
"Speak!"
His tone became much calmer, like the sea level after a storm.
Lin Wanyu leaned forward and kowtowed. "Your servant is crude and unworthy of serving Your Highness."
Thus, everything was clear.
Lu Huaijin got up. His pale face returned to its usual indifference.
The sound of his footsteps gradually faded away and finally disappeared. The door was wide open, and the wind rushed in, fluttering Lin Wanyu's clothes scattered on the ground.
Lin Wanyu let out a sigh of relief at this moment. The strength in her body seemed to be instantly drained away, and her whole body uncontrollably fell to one side.
Her palm pressed on the broken jade bracelet, and it hurt sharply.
In the capital, there were often thunderstorms in summer, unlike in Yangzhou, where it always drizzled throughout the year.
In just a short while, it had become pitch - black everywhere. There seemed to be thunder brewing in the distance.
Lin Wanyu applied medicine to herself, then sat on the couch by the window and quietly looked out of the window.
She didn't know whether the road ahead would lead to life or death.
She also didn't know how her younger brother was now. Had Lu Huaijin's men found him?
Thinking of her younger brother, Lin Wanyu's heart sank. The next moment, she put on her shoes and ran out.
She must have been out of her mind just now. How could she have offended Lu Huaijin? If her younger brother was in his hands, then...
She couldn't let anything happen to her younger brother.
The moment she stepped out of the Huanhua Pavilion, lightning split the sky, thunder rumbled, and heavy rain poured down.
Lin Wanyu didn't care about anything at this moment. She ran all the way to the main hall. Just as she was about to push the door open, she was stopped by Sichen.
"Miss, His Highness's injury requires rest. Please come back and talk about it some other day."
So, he wouldn't see her.
Lin Wanyu raised her eyes to look at the lights burning in the hall and pleaded in a low voice, "Please, sir, let me see His Highness. I still have something to say."
"Please don't make it difficult for this subordinate."
Sichen stood at the door and didn't give way at all.
Lin Wanyu walked down the steps dejectedly. After walking a few steps, she turned around and knelt in the courtyard. "Your servant, Lin Wanyu, has offended His Highness and deserves to die. Please punish me, Your Highness!"
"Your servant, Lin Wanyu, has offended His Highness and deserves to die. Please punish me, Your Highness, the heir apparent!"
The raindrops hit her body painfully. Every time Lin Wanyu kowtowed, she shouted.
The wound that had just been bandaged was now soaked in the rain and was throbbing with pain, but she seemed not to feel it.
All she wanted now was to see Lu Huaijin, plead with him, apologize to him, and ask him to be lenient and not involve her younger brother.
All this pain was what she deserved!
Gradually, her vision became a bit blurred, as if there was a layer of mist. The swaying figures were not clear.
When she woke up again, there was a cyan silk curtain in front of her eyes. The soothing incense was curling around her.
She shook her head, quickly sat up, and raised her eyes. She saw Lu Huaijin sitting beside her. His handsome face showed no expression. His deep eyes were filled with the unique dignity and indifference of a superior, making it hard to fathom his thoughts.