Farm Girl's Manor
Chapter 696: Slapping Mo Qingze’s Face in High School (1)_1

Chapter 696: Chapter 696: Slapping Mo Qingze’s Face in High School (1)_1

Having learnt the reason Xue Tuanzi was reluctant to speak, Mo Yan scratched the little creature mercilessly until it no longer had the strength to cry or laugh. Then, her conscience finally kicking in, she let it go, yet in her heart, she approved of its actions.

If one always relies on external forces and does not seek to improve oneself, over time, a strong dependence will inevitably develop in one’s psyche, and she wanted nothing less than to become such a person.

However, considering the difficulty of the matter, Xue Tuanzi ended up revealing some information, such as indirectly confirming the accuracy of her and Xiao Ruiyuan’s earlier speculations. The leverage the Lin family had indeed related to Emperor Huian’s past struggle for the throne, which made approaching the issue from this angle much easier.

From Xue Tuanzi, Mo Yan learned that apart from Master Lin, who was a wise man even in his advanced years and had served as the Imperial Teacher for three dynasties, others in the Lin family were less remarkable. He had only one legitimate son who was good for nothing, and a concubine’s son who was equally mediocre.

Having devoted his early years to serving the Imperial Family, Master Lin had neglected the upbringing of his descendants. As he grew older, his ability to teach and discipline them weakened further. Thus, he sometimes turned a blind eye to their antics, and later, when his legitimate son and granddaughter conspired to kill the Pure Empress, he had no choice but to use that leverage to threaten Emperor Huian in order to protect them.

Mo Yan surmised that Master Lin probably hoped that King Heng would ascend to the throne because only then could the Lin family avoid the disaster of extinction.

What he likely didn’t anticipate was that she would emerge as a proverbial Cheng Yaojin in the midst, and that Chu Heng, the Crown Prince, hadn’t died. Instead, King Heng had become disabled, depriving him of the chance to ascend to the throne and shattering the Lin family’s last illusions. Such a heavy blow was more than the Lin family could bear, and they had probably long since wished to tear her, the "chief culprit," into pieces.

When it came to the earlier incidence of bandits intending to harm her family, Mo Yan didn’t believe that the Lin family was unaware and uninvolved. Initially, they might have been restraining themselves, seeking an opportunity to deal with her slowly, but now that she had been granted the title of County Lord, it was like rubbing salt in their wounds. Even if Master Lin could endure, his children and grandchildren might be brewing some conspiracy to eliminate her in one fell swoop.

As it turned out, Mo Yan’s premonition was correct.

...

The next morning, Yan Junyu personally came with a carriage full of congratulatory gifts. Before the gifts could be taken off the carriage, news spread throughout the capital, and even noble families from the World Family with no ties to the Mo Family sent their managers with congratulatory gifts.

A procession of carriages lined up at the Mo Family’s gate, once again causing a sensation throughout the village. The villagers, foregoing breakfast to satisfy their curiosity, crowded around to watch the commotion.

Mo Qingze, now sober, looked at the procession of gifts, uncertain whether to accept or return them. At last, reassured by Yan Junyu’s nonchalant remark that these gifts were merely formalities that needed no documentation or reciprocation, he felt relieved to keep them.

Watching box after box of gifts being carried into the Mo Family, and with more carriages still arriving, the villagers went from astonishment to numbness, silently calculating how much silver the gifts were worth and how long it would last their own families. In the end, they found it impossible to reckon.

Before long, the Liu family and Han family’s congratulatory gifts arrived too. Mr. Liu was too busy teaching to come in person, and Mrs. Liu and Liu Tinglan were delayed by other matters, so the coachman brought the gifts.

Han Zhiyun had already participated in the autumn examinations and was waiting for the results on the tenth. He planned to prepare for the spring exams next year. Having finished his urgent affairs recently, he took advantage of his rare free time to visit the Mo Family with his wife and children, bringing congratulatory gifts.