âDad!â Lin Jianjiaâs eyes widened as she saw the Second Patriarchâs return. Her shrill shriek and the three steps back she took attracted many peopleâs attention.
âDonât be flustered!â Lin Xiaoyun said in a low voice.
Her actions were clearly showing a guilty conscience. As a supervisor of the Hall of Discipline, she knew the house rules like the back of her hand. Of course, many people only actually respected the rules after they were caught red-handed. âHow could this be? Whyâd the Second Patriarch go to save her! Did Lin Wuxing betray me?â Lin Jianjiaâs eyes widened. She was still young, so she wasnât able to keep her cool in the situation.
âWhat happened?â Lin Wuyi, whoâd already left, had been called back as well.
âWellâ¦.â Lin Xiaoyun wanted to cry, but no tears were coming out. He didnât want to tell Lin Wuyi that he had approved Lin Jianjiaâs plan. Lin Wuyi had just gone to request forgiveness after the successor override failed and had been privately celebrating that he hadnât been in charge of it, but now it was his turn.
Lin Xiao looked in Lin Xiaoyunâs direction with an icy gaze. âEveryone! After the successor override ended, I used a special method and just happened to overhear something. Someone had hired an assassin from the Flower of Ebony. They wanted to use the chaos after the event to murder a grade-five disciple from the first branch. Upon hearing that, I hurried over to save the child.â
Many people were stunned, but everyone had seen Lin Xiao suddenly leaving.
âSomeone tried to assassinate Lin Xiaogui?â
âWhoâs so bold to do that?â
âHiring an assassin to target a clan member? Thatâs a massive taboo!â
Public wrath was quickly incited.
Lin Xiaogui had been spurned for a long time, but her recent performance and promotion had made many in the first branch accept her. Thus, everyone immediately connected the dots with Dongshen Yueâs words and looked at Lin Xiaoyun and Lin Jianjia! Their gazes were quickly filled with disbelief, disdain, and anger!
A while ago, Lin Jianjia had been infuriated after Lin Xiaogui had publicly defeated her, then sheâd sent Lin Yijian to cut off her limbsâ¦. The drama was too explosive!
âSheâs a supervisor in the Hall of Discipline and her mother is its vice-hall lord! And her uncle, Lin Jie, is its hall lord!â Although there was no evidence, no one was stupid. Lin Jianjia was used to being despotic. One glance was all it took for everyone to know she would do this sort of thing.
There was even a precedent, too. Her elder brother, Li Jiancheng, had been caught trying to frame Tianming.
Dongshen Yueâs voice was sharp as she added, âWhat a good scheme! After the incident with the Grandvoid Swordfiendâs inheritance, I was afraid sheâd try to get revenge, so I brought Lin Xiaogui to Brokensword Peak for her protection. However, I never expected them to dare anything after the successor override! If we didnât happen to catch wind of it, Lin Xiaogui wouldâve died! Sheâs been bullied since she was young and she only won against someone once, so she has to pay with her life? Is this the honorable Lin Clan? Disgusting!â She wasnât polite and pointed directly at Lin Xiaoyun.
The second branchâs people were staring at them, too. Although they also looked down on Lin Xiaogui, they still felt pity for her now. Lin Jianjia had gone too far.
Countless accusing fingers were immediately pointed at the father and daughter pair, who chose not to say anything. At that moment, the Hall of Disciplineâs hall lord, Lin Jie, and vice-hall lord, Lin Linzhi, arrived. Lin Linzhi was Lin Jieâs sister, Lin Xiaoyunâs main wife, and Lin Jianjiaâs mother. She was a phenomenal beauty with an elegant figure; Tianming would count her as the most beautiful woman he had seen from the Lin Clan if he didnât know about her ugly personality.
They had already heard the story before arriving.
Lin Linzhi glared at the father and daughter pair.
âMom.â Lin Jianjia stepped forward to hold her hand. Her face was filled with grievance as tears fell from her eyes.
Lin Linzhi felt her heart soften.
Lin Xiaoyun finally relaxed, now that the Hall of Discipline had arrived. He knew he would be heavily scolded after this, but now wasnât the time to lower his head. Thus, he righteously looked at Lin Xiao and the rest, saying in a deep voice, âYou want to accuse my third branch right after winning the successor override? Overheard? What kind of laughable excuse is that? Since the Hall of Disciplineâs hall lord is here, let me tell you this: framing others is against the house rules. Youâll be punished for it even if youâre a branch master.â
Dongshen Yue was excited. She had been waiting for those exact words. She waved to Lin Xiaogui and said, âI knew you were going to deny it and claim we had no evidence. Thus, I had this kid prepare it.â
Lin Xiaogui coldly looked at Lin Jianjia, who was hiding behind her father, and took out her recording. âLetâs watch it together.â
Dongshen Yue let it rise into the air, where it clearly showed scene by scene how Lin Wuxing had tried to kill Lin Xiaogui, including audio!
When Lin Wuxing had mentioned Lin Jianjiaâs name, there was immediately an uproar as everyone looked at Lin Jianjia. She was simply too inexperienced. She was unable to stop her knees from shaking and couldnât hide her guilty conscience and fear.
When Lin Xiaoyun finished watching the recording, he grit his teeth and denied everything. âA load of hogwash! Who knows if you randomly found someone to put on a play?â
Suspecting Lin Wuxing was a decent angle.
âI knew you were going to say that. This is a disciple of our clan, who probably privately joined the Flower of Ebony. His past and background can be verified, but most importantly.â Lin Xiao raised Lin Wuxingâs arm and revealed a blood-colored flower on his wrist, his proof of identity. It was a personal formation, similar to the Lin Clanâs disciple cards. It couldnât be faked and also recorded his identity and grade.
âThe Flower of Ebony is an assassin group, not a theater troupe. If the Flower of Ebony found out he was here to put on an act for us, theyâd erase him! Also, heâd first be severely punished by the Hall of Discipline for joining the infamous Flower of Ebony. Do you really take everyone for an idiot? Whoâd sacrifice themselves to frame you when thereâs no prior enmity?â
The words erased everyoneâs doubts. With ironclad evidence in front of them, they all knew the truth as long as they used their brain!