Lin Qingge was visibly taken aback by the unexpected question Lin Yan suddenly posed.
"So I killed him?"
He repeated softly, a hint of sorrow and desolation in his eyes that Lin Qingge couldn't quite decipher.
Then, Lin Yan's gaze grew distant.
"Yes, I intended to kill him.
I had discussed it with him so many times, and each time, nothing came of it.
So I had to get rid of him.
But—
Why, the moment I made up my mind, before I could even act, he was already dead on his way to take office in Changzhou County?
Qingge, you've solved countless cases, tell me, who killed him?"
?!!!
Lin Qingge, caught off guard by the counter-question, stared at the man before her in horror. Seeing his eyes, slightly reddened from suppressed emotion, her mind was overwhelmed with a barrage of "What the actual f*ck."
Could someone tell her what on earth was going on?
Listening to his tone, a mix of evasion, helplessness, disbelief, and deep affection, Lin Qingge's CPU, which had just recovered from its initial shock, was once again overloaded.
At that moment, only one thought kept replaying in her mind:
This person is not right!
Perhaps Lin Qingge's expression was too revealing. Lin Yan reached out and lightly tapped her on the head, then chuckled,
"What are you thinking about?
My brother, Lin Jingxing, and I are the only male descendants of the Lin family with the orthodox bloodline.
Although we represent Dali Village and Xiaolin Village respectively, we've known each other since childhood and share a brotherly bond.
However, as we grew older and gained more experience, we, like our ancestors, developed differences.
I want to vindicate the Lin family and restore the glory of the Lin clan, but he said all that was just fleeting fame that you can neither bring with you nor leave behind when you die.
In our last discussion, I even offered to give him that position, just hoping he would join hands with me to create our shared prosperous era.
But he said I was crazy.
He said he didn't covet a position that required him to wake before the rooster, sleep later than a dog, and work harder than an ox.
He said he only wanted to cherish every moment with his wife.
What's so great about that effeminate fellow?
Since he was so determined, I'll let them be a pair of star-crossed lovers in death."
Seeing Lin Yan's increasingly sinister and obsessive expression, Lin Qingge, with goosebumps crawling up her skin, couldn't help but mentally bestow the title of "Human Wrecker" upon her dear brother.
Good heavens!
No wonder she always felt Lin Yan's gaze towards her was strange.
Every time she heard his heartfelt declarations, her first reaction wasn't joy, but rejection and a desire to escape.
She had initially thought it was because she was sensible and clear-headed, not blinded by romance, focusing solely on her career and making money.
Little did she know that the person he admired wasn't her at all, but her dear brother Lin Jingxing, who shared her face.
The most amusing part was that Lin Yan himself didn't realize it.
Or rather, even if he did, he would never admit it from the bottom of his heart.
After all, homosexuality wasn't something glorious in this era, and no one striving for great achievements would readily admit to it.
But to stop herself from being subjected to his chilling gaze any longer, Lin Qingge had to speak up to change the subject.
"Even though the ancestors of the Lin family said that every few decades or centuries, a daughter with great fortune is born into the Lin clan.
How did you determine that I was that daughter with great fortune?"
Hearing this, Lin Yan's expression finally normalized slightly, but his answer was enough to drive Lin Qingge to despair.
"That's very simple. The Lin family has always produced male heirs.
If a daughter is born, she is the daughter with great fortune."
∑(o_o;)shock!!
Lin Qingge, whose expression had turned into a meme, never imagined that her previous caution would be defeated by such an unreliable family rule.
"According to the accounts of the Lin family ancestors, a Lin ancestor once saved a deity.
In gratitude for saving its life, the deity bestowed this special ability upon the descendants of the Lin family.
However, in my opinion, this is just a fabricated tale by the Lin ancestors to highlight their uniqueness.
The Lin family does indeed tend to have more male births, but it's not as if there are no daughters.
It's just that those daughters had weak fates, either born sickly or perishing due to natural disasters.
In short, very few lived to adulthood.
However, it is true that the women of the Lin family have special constitutions.
Ever since my father's generation, we have been searching for fragments of the treasure map from the previous dynasty's imperial family.
We've spent years searching diligently, but each time we were on the verge of finding it, we came up empty.
Yet, you, Qingge, managed to gather seven sheepskin fragments in just half a year.
Even with my hidden assistance, this luck alone is enough to prove you are the daughter with great fortune."
This time, Lin Qingge surprisingly didn't retort.
She was thinking about something else entirely.
Perhaps the daughters of the Lin family were indeed favored by heaven, but they were also truly destined for misfortune.
According to the golden rule of transmigration plots:
In any transmigration, the original host must die once.
Whether it's falling into water or hitting their head, these are common scenarios.
But how many normal people, especially delicate women, could withstand such hardship?
In other words, the women of the Lin family were all short-lived. If they couldn't endure it, they died, and even if they survived, they would be possessed by another soul.
It was a truly tragic fate.
This would also explain why, over several centuries, aside from herself, only three daughters with great fortune had appeared in the Lin family.
The others had met their demise during the tribulation.
And if there truly were deities, then their act towards the Lin family was less of a blessing and more of a curse.
Although she was an atheist, a more colloquial or even mystical explanation would be that the women of the Lin family were born more susceptible to soul possession.
In other words, they were prone to attracting ghosts.
But the Lin family didn't see it that way. They not only神圣化 this phenomenon but also projected their greed and ambition onto it.
As for the so-called concept of 'fortune,' it was merely an illusion created by outstanding personal abilities combined with favorable timing and circumstances.
But if such a thing truly existed, she hoped that by the law of conservation of energy, the original host would transmigrate back to modern times, and she would live well with her healthy body.
As her thoughts drifted, she heard Lin Yan's voice asking,
"What are you thinking about?"
"I'm wondering when you'll let me leave?"
Leng Ningyue would surely be worried if she woke up and found her missing.
Perhaps she was already on her way to Dali Village.
Sensing Lin Qingge's distraction, Lin Yan lifted her chin with his hand, forcing her to look at him, and said with deep affection, word by word,
"Qingge, won't you stay by my side?
Riches, glory, status—whatever you desire, I can give it to you."