The Birth Of A Villainess

Why is it the Lin family? Emperor Yun was stunned. He never thought that Qu Xing Xu would pick a woman from the Lin family.

For the months that silently passed, Emperor Yun has been trying to suppress the Lin family at every chance he could get. The Lin family has been one of the eyesore that he wanted to get rid of as General Lin was among the few people who have a good reputation in the entire kingdom and was looked upon by many people.

The one thing that most monarch didn't want to happen was that one of the vassals in the court would exceed the reputation of the monarch. Hence, Emperor Yun did everything so that Lin Xiaomeng would end stripped off his title as a great general and let the people forget his name over time.

He felt the same thing towards the Qu family's influence to the kingdom especially, Qu Xing Xu, who was at the pinnacle of the Zheng empire.

"Are you sure about this?" Emperor Yun's asked. His voice was harsh but it shook at the end of his statement.

Young Marquis Liu nodded his head.. He had no inkling that due to his honest answer, Emperor Yun was already at his wit's end.

If the Qu family and Lin family were to combine their forces through this marriage, it would be bad for the royal family! Emperor Yun wanted to slap himself for being too idle and blind to let this marriage happen.

After the meeting was finished, Emperor Yun was still in a daze. The group of ministers who left just now couldn't help but took a glance on the expression of the emperor worriedly.

It seems that the emperor lost this round.

"Your majesty, should we call the duke to come here? The duke might be powerful but we cannot let him marry into the Lin family," said Head eunuch Bai.

"If I call on him now and force him to not marry, what do you think would he do to me?" Emperor Yun had a conflicted expression on his face. He knew exactly what Qu Xing Xu would do if he tried to stop the wedding from happening.

"By the way, who's this Lin Xiaofei? Why I haven't heard of her?" Emperor Yun asked after remembering the name that the young marquis named as Qu Xing Xu's bride.

He only knew of the three other Lin family daughters. Two of them were an outstanding ladies in the capital, having both talent in the four scholarly arts and beauty. The last one has only a pretty face to make her stand out but not the talent.

Of course, it wouldn't be too strange for him to not know who Lin Xiaofei was. Emperor Yun only has his attention towards the most talented and worthy ladies in the capital.

Head Eunuch Bai blinked and bowed his head lower, "Answering to his majesty, Lady Lin Xiaofei is the fourth young miss from the Lin family. She is known for her infamous reputation. And from what I heard, her engagement with the eldest young master from the Chu family fell through just a few months ago."

"She's that bad?" Emperor Yun was startled at his words. Why would the duke choose a woman who has a bad name for herself? She even got her engagement broken before she could marry.

In this era, women who had their engagement fell through will always be blamed for it. It doesn't matter if it was because the groom-to-be was at fault, everyone will still think thay the woman is not good enough and flawed.

"Well… We cannot really rely on the rumors surrounding her. However, from what I could tell from the last time she was brought in front of your majesty, it seems that she's indeed not worthy."

From the previous banquet, Lin Xiaofei stood with the other ladies from the Lin family. They were to show their respect to the royal family and bow down. However, the fourth young miss from the Lin family not only did she not bow down appropriately as per the custom to show her respect, she also stared at the royal family with a cold look.

Of course, Head eunuch Bai didn't mention this to the emperor as he could be seeing things. However, at that time, the head eunuch felt a cold shiver running down his body as though a sharp knife was skinning him alive.

"What about her face?" Emperor Yun suddenly asked. His eyes seemed to shine a little bit in perversion.

Head Eunuch Bai replied, "She looks beautiful, your majesty."

Upon hearing this from the head eunuch, Emperor Yun raised his eyebrows at him. The head eunuch before him seldom say something good on behalf of the other people. That is why the emperor was surprised to hear him say that he lady was beautiful. It seems that this fourth young miss from the Lin family was indeed beautiful.

Unfortunately, this young miss will marry the duke. Thankfully, she only have a beautiful face and didn't have a good reputation to her name. If she was as great as her other three sisters, it would be problematic for the emperor as he wouldn't wish for Qu Xing Xu to marry a good woman. It would be great for him to marry an idiot.

…

"Achoo!" Lin Xiaofei scrunched up her nose after she sneezed.

"Young miss, should I get you a quilt to cover yourself?" Bai Lu, who stood beside the door, asked her young lady.

Waving her hand, Lin Xiaofei said, "No need. Just close the windows and brew me a pot of tea."

"Yes, young miss."

The young maid left the room to fetch a pot of tea. The weather was getting colder despite the warm season.

With no one around her, Lin Xiaofei reached her hand out towards the lower cabinet and pulled it open. She took out a small white paper and spread the white parchment on the table. She read the few words written on it and frowned.

'The West is making their move. Hide it well.'

Lin Xiaofei sucked a mouthful of cold air and crumpled the paper. She looked ahead with a serious look in her eyes.  Trouble kept on creeping closer and faster towards her way than she expected.