Lin Ye remained silent.
Lady Lin, her body trembling, walked slowly towards Lin Ye.
She reached out and gently tugged at the sleeve of Lin Ye's robe. "Ye'er, quickly tell your sister that this is all just a misunderstanding."
Lin Ye's face was cold, and he remained silent.
But the more he stayed silent, the more anxious Lady Lin became. The force with which she tugged at Lin Ye grew stronger, and eventually, it almost turned into pushing and shoving.
"Speak! Say something quickly!"
Her voice was tinged with a strong sob.
Seeing Lady Lin so agitated, Lin Yuan rushed forward and hugged her. "Mother, don't be like this. Sit down and let elder brother speak slowly. I believe elder brother must have his reasons!"
Hearing this, Qiao Nian looked at Lin Yuan with an incredulous glint in her eyes.
Lin Ye hired people to ruin her reputation, yet Lin Yuan said that Lin Ye had his reasons for doing so. What kind of siblings were they?
As a woman, how could Lin Yuan say such words with such a clear conscience?
However, it was as if Lin Ye came back to his senses because of Lin Yuan's words.
He even gave Lin Yuan a slightly grateful look before turning to Qiao Nian. "Yes, I'm the one who did this."
He spoke with an astonishing sense of righteousness. "I opened the letter. I changed the meeting place to Fulai Teahouse. And I hired those two men from the Jianghu. But Qiao Nian, ask yourself, did they harm you?"
He had given strict instructions that Qiao Nian must not be harmed, so he knew very well that Qiao Nian's injury was caused by her own struggle to escape.
But she could have just stayed quietly until dawn and returned unharmed. It was she who insisted on making this matter so big!
The way Lin Ye spoke made it seem like Qiao Nian was entirely to blame for all this.
Looking at the face that had once doted on her so much now wearing such an expression, Qiao Nian's heart couldn't help but ache violently.
She really wanted to slap him again, but she found that her body seemed to be drained of strength by Lin Ye's shameless words. At this moment, she was unable to move.
Suddenly, Lord Lin strode forward and kicked Lin Ye in the chest. "You unfilial wretch!"
As a military general, Lord Lin's kick was definitely not light.
Lin Ye was sent flying by the kick and vomited a mouthful of blood as he fell to the ground.
Seeing this, Lin Yuan let out a scream and rushed to Lin Ye's side. "Father! Don't hit elder brother! Wuwuwu... Please don't hit elder brother!"
She cried her heart out, as if Lin Ye had already been beaten to death.
Whether it was because of Lin Yuan's crying or not, Lord Lin really didn't step forward again. He just pointed at Lin Ye's nose and demanded, "Why did you do such a heartless thing!"
"What's so heartless about what I did?" Lin Ye covered his chest and shouted hoarsely. "I specifically told them not to harm her! Otherwise, they wouldn't get a single copper coin! I did all this for her!"
After saying that, Lin Ye looked at Qiao Nian again. "Do you really think the Prince of Ming is a good person? He injured his manhood while fooling around with a palace maid back then. He still can't get an erection to this day! Even the imperial physicians say he's useless! If you marry him, you'll be a widow in all but name for the rest of your life!"
"So, you had to ruin my reputation like this?" Qiao Nian said coldly. Her voice was not loud; compared to Lin Ye's angry shouts, it was almost soft.
But this seemingly gentle voice made everyone's hearts in the hall tremble slightly.
"If you wanted to break off this marriage, why didn't you target the Prince of Ming? Why did you have to harm me?"
"Because it's easier to target you. Because you're an easy target."
"You spent a thousand taels hiring two burly men to ruin my reputation for my future happiness. Don't you think what you're saying is ridiculous?"
"Lin Ye, put away your disgusting face. You don't care about me at all. You just can't stand the thought of me being better than you! You're not doing this for my good. You can't bear to see me happy!"
With just a few simple words, Qiao Nian exposed the ugliest part of Lin Ye's heart.
Lin Ye refused to admit it. "How can I not want you to be happy? Is marrying the Prince of Ming considered good? So what if you lose your reputation? With the backing of the Marquis Mansion, are you afraid you won't be able to find a husband in the future?"
After these words, there was a long silence in the hall.
Apart from Lin Yuan's incessant sobbing, it seemed that everyone held their breath.
Qiao Nian's gaze swept around the hall. She looked at Lady Lin, then at Lord Lin, and finally, she looked at Lin Ye and let out a low laugh. "I finally understand why Lord Lin and Lady Lin chose to use my marriage to maintain the already precarious status of the Marquis Mansion."
This seemingly casual sentence slapped all the members of the Lin family in the face.
The disdain in Qiao Nian's eyes grew deeper. "With a son as brainless as you, it's only a matter of time before the Marquis Mansion is raided and the whole family is exterminated."
"What did you say, Qiao Nian!" Lin Ye was furious. He felt that Qiao Nian was cursing the Marquis Mansion.
Unexpectedly, Lord Lin shouted harshly, "Beast, shut up! You did something wrong and still have the nerve to shout at your sister? If your sister hadn't shown mercy, you'd already be in the death row by now!"
?
These words were really strange.
Lin Ye fell silent after being shouted at by Lord Lin. Covering his chest, he didn't dare to say another word.
However, Qiao Nian looked at Lord Lin, her face full of confusion. "When did I say I wouldn't hold him accountable?"
Hearing this, Lord Lin's face stiffened slightly. He lowered his voice and said to Qiao Nian, "Niannian, since we've already told others that you got separated from your maid, let's not pursue this matter any further. Otherwise, if this gets out, it will have a great impact on your reputation."
"Yes, Niannian." Lady Lin beside him seemed to have finally come to her senses. She wiped her tears. "Your elder brother is a scoundrel. Your father will surely teach him a good lesson. But this matter of you being abducted by villains must not be spread. Your father is doing this for your own good."
Listening to the two elders, Qiao Nian's face turned extremely cold. "Is it really for my good, or for Lin Ye's good? Are you worried that this will have a great impact on my reputation, or on Lin Ye's reputation and the reputation of the Marquis Mansion?"
Her calm retort seemed to touch Lord Lin's sore spot.
He immediately glared at her and shouted harshly, "Nonsense! How can you say such things!"
Qiao Nian met Lord Lin's stern gaze with nothing but contempt in her eyes. "You all can do such things, but you won't even let me talk about it?"
She raised her eyebrows, imprinting the faces of the Lin family members in her heart one by one.
"Do you know how those two villains described Lin Ye? They said that Lin Ye is sneaky and vicious, and he's used to these underhanded tricks that hurt people without shedding blood. He's even more evil than the two of them, who are used to killing and doing bad deeds!"
Qiao Nian said coldly, her eyes fixed on Lin Ye. "Young Marquis, aren't you hoping for my reputation to be ruined? Well, this time, let's ruin it together!"What is the main idea of this chapter?Who is the protagonist in this story?Can you provide a summary of the previous chapters?