Lin Xi and the others pressed for details about that day's events. Although Xu Siyu wasn't present at the scene, she had a husband who was. He always told Xu Siyu everything he knew.
So, Xu Siyu typed in the group chat: [Everyone knows that Grand Princess Zhaoyang and Lin Zongxi aren't actually the children of the previous emperor, right? If we're being technical, they are already beyond the third degree of kinship. According to our modern rules, marriage between a brother and sister beyond that degree doesn't pose any major issues.]
[For the first twenty years, Grand Princess Zhaoyang was relatively normal. But as the old ministers at court died off or retired, they started to let loose. Lin Zongxi kept taking concubines one after another, while Grand Princess Zhaoyang, after over a decade of a tumultuous, love-hate relationship with her consort, went to the extreme of keeping male favorites. The siblings would often gather to throw debauched parties.]
[I'd always heard that when they were in the mood, they would even play with each other, but no one had ever seen it with their own eyes. Well, yesterday, all the civil and military officials witnessed it. The emperor, who was playing hide-and-seek with his favorite concubines, passed by the Grand Princess and her favorite. Then, with the favorite positioned behind her, they had the Grand Princess play the filling in a sandwich for quite a while.]
Modern people have an exceptionally rich vocabulary. When skirting certain censored terms, they can come up with all sorts of descriptive phrases. Most importantly, others instantly understand those descriptions when they see them.
Like Lin Xi at this moment. While typing in the group chat, she deeply lamented how right the elders were when they said, "You'll understand when you grow up." If possible, she really didn't want to be a girl who understood things all too instantly.
After everyone expressed their disgust at the royal family's depravity, Lin Xi tagged Chu Yi.
By then, Chu Yi had already left the capital under the protection of the Lin Family Army. Seeing the messages in the group chat, she too felt deeply moved.
[Ancient Medical Practitioner Chu Yi: I knew this dynasty's fall would come quickly, but I didn't expect it to be this absurdly fast. Everyone, don't worry about me. I've already left the capital. Thank you all for your concern, and especially thank you Xiao Xi for the guards she sent me.]
Only after being escorted by the Lin Family Army did Chu Yi realize how incredibly comfortable it is to be protected from all sides! Before, whenever she went out, she had to pack a large bundle of things herself. Now, she just needs to give an order, and the person in charge of the Lin Family Army prepares everything perfectly for her.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, the members of the Lin Family Army were disguised as ordinary people—the kind who could blend into a crowd without being noticed!
Besides that, three meals a day were specially prepared for her. The taste of those dishes could rival that of chefs from prominent, wealthy families.
Having time-traveled for so long, Chu Yi had gained some status. She had people attending to her before, but they really weren't as comfortable to have around as the Lin Family Army. Not to mention, there were women in the Lin Family Army too. Those sisters were all tall, long-legged, heroic, and graceful, with very steady personalities. They were exceptionally skilled at taking care of people.
Ever since Lin Xi left, during Chu Yi's journey out of the capital, she stayed in the carriage studying the medicinal formulas Chu Qianmo had passed to her through Lin Xi. Many of the herbs didn't exist in this world, but there were substitutes with similar effects. Chu Yi wished she had the herbs right by her side to properly experiment and compare the differences.
She had already contacted the interstellar wanderer Yao Xiran. Once she prepared the medicine here, she would directly transmit it to her for testing.
Chu Yi lavished praise in the group chat. At this moment, there wasn't a trace of any man in her mind. Just as she had thought before, she did like Fu Yanchen, but liking someone is one thing—she could never confine herself to the tiny backyard of his residence for his sake.
Throughout history, how many brilliantly talented women have been buried in backyards? What freedom does a married woman have? Before marriage, a woman could do whatever she wanted. Even if her actions were somewhat outrageous, no one would say much.
After marriage, a woman's life is scrutinized under a magnifying glass. A minor issue can be blown up to an incredible magnitude. Take sleeping in, for example.
Before marriage, you could sleep as late as you wanted. At most, your parents might nag a bit, but it wasn't a big deal. After marrying into your husband's family, if you sleep past eight on a holiday, it becomes a topic of gossip for the in-laws.
Chu Yi believed liking someone meant you could have a romantic relationship, but she would absolutely never get married. In her view, marriage marks the beginning of endless compromise. Just look at Xu Siyu. The family she married into is considered exceptionally good, even by modern standards—it's hard to find in-laws that good nowadays.
But so what? For Xiao Tianlang, she had compromised on many things. Sometimes, when things were tough at her in-laws', Xu Siyu had poured out her bitterness and even cried to Chu Yi. And this was with Xu Siyu marrying for love, with a man who was truly worth marrying!
She had rejected Fu Yanchen before. Now that Fu Yanchen had become emperor, it was even more impossible. Since ancient times, which emperor didn't have a palace full of consorts? Fu Yanchen might love her deeply now, but who knows when he might fall for some other sister?
The human heart is the hardest thing to predict. Chu Yi had just experienced that!
Of course, there are exceptions. Emperor Lin is a living example. But who would dare gamble that Fu Yanchen would be the next Emperor Lin?
She considered herself a coward, lacking both Xu Siyu's courage and her luck.
The sentence Chu Yi posted in the group caught the attention of her friends, and they started asking where Lin Xi got her troops from.
Lin Xi didn't hide it from the group. She carefully considered her words and sent a message: [The Emperor Lin that Siyu and Chu Yi mentioned is my dad. He went missing when I was little. After I joined this group chat, based on various signs, I realized he was very likely the previous member of this chat group.]
[I just confirmed the news recently. My dad is currently traveling through different timelines doing missions. He's a fast-transmigration task agent now.]
As soon as Lin Xi sent this message, everything clicked for everyone.
[Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland Lin Duxi: No wonder all the group functions only activated after Xiao Xi joined. So that's the reason.]
[1960s Boxer Xiang Qianlan: Wow, this chat group is hereditary?]
[Wealthy-family sister-in-law Ji Xinyu: "So, if your dad is a rapid-transmigration agent, Xiao Xi, does that mean he has appeared in the timelines we’re currently in?"] Ji Xinyu, as befits a young woman who had fought her way through the intrigues of a wealthy family, still had a keen eye for the key points.
[Earth girl Lin Xi: Yes, excluding the worlds of Siyu and Chuyi, I can now confirm that my dad has appeared in the Mary Sue world, and also in the world where Brother Dog appears.]
[[Brother Dog] Chu Qianmo, the Wife-Slaying Daoist: That martial arts expert who achieved Dao you asked me about last time is your dad?]
[Earth girl Lin Xi: @Chu Qianmo, the Wife-Slaying Daoist, Yes, thank you, Brother Dog, for helping me confirm it.]
This was absolutely fresh news. The buddies in the group chat all put down their work and started discussing the matter. Everyone found it incredibly novel, and their curiosity about Lin Xi's father reached its peak.
After discussing with everyone for a while, Lin Xi received a phone call with an overseas area code.
She answered: "Handsome, the matter you entrusted to me is settled. You can see it directly by going to the usual place."
The call ended, and two seconds later, their call record vanished into thin air. Lin Xi was already used to such things.
She returned to her room, turned on her computer, and saw no new messages in the software directly connected to the national authorities. She closed it and then opened a website Yao Xiran had given her.
Yao Xiran had stumbled upon that website while on Earth but couldn't access it. After going to the interstellar realm and having some free time, she developed some small programs to hack into that site. Since Lin Xi needed it, she gave them all to her.
Once that software was installed, one could freely access that website.
It was a gray-area platform exclusive to programmers. Whenever someone posted a bounty task, others would take it. The top posts on the homepage were mostly requests to recover chat records from certain software or to install various tracking apps on a partner's phone.
Of course, mixed in were also some private detectives looking for work. Lin Xi had contacted one of them.
She navigated skillfully to the chat history with the detective. Inside, there was a link. Clicking it led to a Baidu Netdisk. After downloading the file, the link automatically self-destructed.
Lin Xi connected to the printer in her room and printed out the file—five pages in total.
She took them out and examined them one by one.
The private detective indeed had some skills. She had only given him two names and three addresses, yet he managed to clearly trace the connections between them.
And the timeline could be traced back to specific dates from twenty years ago.
The detective also had a way with words; his phrasing was quite interesting, making the read anything but boring.
So, Lin Xi spent over ten minutes piecing together the story between Xue Min, Luo Qingsong, and the man in the black robe.
Rewind time to March, twenty years ago. Luo Qingsong's girlfriend was in a car accident and was taken to the hospital, but (pronounced: qiǎng jiù wú xiào hòu sǐ wáng; meaning: rescue was ineffective and she died). However, Luo Qingsong and his girlfriend's parents, Ma Yufen, did not bury or cremate her. Instead, they transported her to an unknown location and kept her body frozen.
Not two days after Ma Yufen's death, Luo Qingsong met the man in the black robe. After some conversation, Luo Qingsong casually mentioned a piece of information to someone from his same village. Then, not long after, Xue Min and Wang Peng's mother went to work in Guangdong.
Ten days after Xue Min arrived in Guangdong, she was lured to Qiushan Park by some unknown message. Before even reaching the mountaintop, she twisted her ankle and fell into the woods. Two days later, she opened her eyes and left Qiushan Park on her own.
On that same day, the man in the black robe and Luo Qingsong had visited Qiushan Park one after the other. Not long after she left, the two men also departed Qiushan Park.
After that, Luo Qingsong sold his assets, returned home to start a business, and 'Xue Min' followed him back. Not long after, through a matchmaker's introduction, they had a xiāng qīn (pronounced: xiāng qīn; meaning: blind date), got married, and had a child. Then, twenty years later, they divorced very amicably.
On the surface, it seemed to be because Luo Qingsong went bankrupt and was forced into prison, though his issues weren't too severe—he'd only be in for a year or two.
'Xue Min' then left the city, with its convenient transportation and better conditions, choosing to return to her hometown. And during this period, 'Xue Min' was not as well-behaved as Lin Xi had believed.
