On our wedding night, my wife acted strangely.

As Lin Yi listened, his eyes widened, and his expression changed from confusion to shock, and finally to rage.

boom!

Lin Yi slammed his hand on the desk.

"Bullshit! Utter nonsense!" He jumped up, his hair standing on end in anger. "When the hell did I sleep with her! That old hag is over thirty, why would I want her? Don't people have brains?!"

"This old servant knows that Your Highness is definitely innocent, because I was guarding outside the door yesterday, and Your Highness went in and kicked her out shortly after. But... but the common people don't know!"

Lin Yi paced back and forth in the study, hands on his hips, cursing loudly.

"That old bitch! Yesterday, she unbuttoned her clothes herself and shamelessly threw herself at me, begging me to give her back her property. I didn't even touch her; I just kicked her away! I was cursing her out of the house! How did it become me forcing myself on her?"

Lin Yi felt increasingly frustrated.

He is a regent who transmigrated from another world as a special forces soldier.

He admitted to murder and arson; he also admitted to ransacking his home and wiping out his entire family.

But he absolutely couldn't swallow this insult!

"Old An! Go! Bring over the Military Command and arrest all the people gossiping in the streets!" Lin Yi was furious. He knew it was useless, but he still had to vent his anger.

Lin An quickly kowtowed to dissuade him.

"Your Highness, please calm down! You absolutely mustn't! Preventing the people from speaking out is easier than stopping a river. If you arrest people now, the common people will only think you're guilty and trying to silence them. The rumors will only spread even more wildly!"

"Then what do you suggest we do? Just let them insult me ​​like this? I didn't do anything, why should I take the blame!"

Lin An sighed, looked up at Lin Yi, and gave a bitter smile.

"Alas, Your Highness, even if you did nothing wrong, Li Shi did indeed run out of our manor in disheveled clothes. This matter is now so serious, it's like dirt falling from your crotch—even if it wasn't excrement, it's still excrement! You simply can't explain it away!"

Yellow mud dripped from my crotch...

The words may be rough, but the principle is sound!

Ordinary people don't care what the truth is; they only believe what they see.

If a woman runs out of your house crying, her clothes all messed up, you couldn't explain yourself even if you had a hundred mouths!

Lin Yi slumped into the armchair, filled with deep regret.

"Damn it! I knew that old woman was up to no good. Me too, why did I have to see her yesterday when I had nothing better to do!"

Lin Yi rubbed his temples, his head throbbing painfully.

He schemed and plotted, outmaneuvering the emperor, the prime minister, and the princes, but in the end, he suffered a great defeat because of this old woman.

This unexpected turmoil is even more troublesome than Nangong Xiong's 200,000-strong army.

Seeing that Lin Yi had calmed down, Lin An asked in a low voice.

"Your Highness, there must be someone stirring up trouble behind this. We need to come up with a solution quickly, otherwise, once our reputation is ruined, many things will become difficult to handle in the future."

Lin Yi waved his hand: "Alright, I understand. You can go now. Let me have some peace and quiet. Tell everyone in the manor that no one is allowed to discuss this matter. Anyone who disobeys will be dragged out and beheaded!"

"Yes, this old servant takes his leave." Lin An stood up and left.

The study became eerily quiet for a moment.

Lin Yi hadn't done many things in his life that he regretted, but now he truly did.

When Lin An told him that Madam Li had arrived, he just found it amusing and wanted to see how down and out this once high-ranking noblewoman had become, and also to humiliate her a few times to vent his anger.

But who would have thought that this woman would throw away her reputation and pull a honey trap just to get her child back home!

What's worse, this honey trap actually worked, and she dragged Lin Yi down with her by sacrificing her reputation.

"Grass."

The latter stood up cursing and walked to the window, opened it to let the wind in, and tried to clear his head.

Lin Yi had never really cared about reputation before.

He only feels good when others call him a living devil or a traitor.

Because that's an acknowledgment of his abilities.

But the reputation of "forcibly taking one's mother-in-law" is completely different in nature.

This is moral depravity, worse than a beast!

Although the Great Zhou was a dynasty that had never existed before, it fundamentally upheld the ethical and moral principles of Confucianism. You could kill without hesitation, and you could wield immense power, but you couldn't act recklessly.

This is the bottom line!

Moreover, what Lin Yi is most worried about now is not how the common people criticize him behind his back, but the impact of this matter on the army.

Why did the 100,000-strong army in the North follow him so devotedly?

Because the Lin family had been loyal and virtuous for generations, and because the old regent had extremely high prestige in the army.

The soldiers felt that following the Lin family was righteous and gave them a future.

What would the soldiers in the North think if they heard this rumor?

They would feel that the commander they were so loyal to was actually a beast who slept with his mother-in-law.

This is really demoralizing!

There was also the Divine Machine Battalion.

Yue Nan is an extremely upright person. If he has a grudge and becomes disobedient, how can the team be led in the future?

"No, we need to think of a solution quickly." Lin Yi's eyes turned cold.

Liu Wentao and his gang of old dogs must be laughing their heads off.

Are you trying to ruin my reputation with such despicable means?

It's not that easy!

Just as Lin Yi was pondering how to break the deadlock, in the main house in the backyard...

Nangong Min was sitting in front of the dressing table, with Liying serving her as she combed her hair.

"Your Highness, have you heard the rumors outside?" Liying said softly as she combed Nangong Min's hair.

Nangong Min looked at herself in the mirror, her expression somewhat complicated.

"I heard about it. The servants in the manor are all gossiping about it behind my back. I can't pretend I didn't hear it." When she heard the news this morning, her first reaction was disbelief.

She knew Lin Yi all too well.

Although this man is domineering and ruthless, he is not actually obsessed with women.

Of all the young and beautiful maids in the manor, he only took in Mimi.

Even a stunningly beautiful widow like Guo Fu, he only kept her in the Green Bamboo Courtyard to listen to her play the zither, without ever touching her.

How could he possibly go and touch that middle-aged woman, Li?

However, it is a fact that Li ran out disheveled.

Having grown up in the palace, Nangong Min was accustomed to the intrigues and backstabbing within the harem, and vaguely guessed that this might be a ruse by the Li family.

But even if you guessed it, since it has happened, you still have to solve it.

"Your Highness, do you think the Prince... he really did that kind of thing?" In fact, after spending so much time together, Li Ying didn't believe that Lin Yi would fall for Li Shi.

Nangong Min sighed and stood up: "Only His Highness knows whether he did it or not. Let's go to the small kitchen to see if the soup is ready. If it is, bring it with you and come with me to the study to see His Highness."

"Yes." Liying quickly went to prepare.

Nangong Min, accompanied by Liying and carrying ginseng soup, walked through the corridor and arrived at the door of the study.

Standing at the door, Nangong Min took a deep breath and adjusted the expression on her face.

As a wife, she should trust her husband.

But as the eldest princess of the Great Zhou Dynasty, she was well aware of how much of a blow this matter would be to the royal family.

Therefore, we should still try to persuade them.

"My lord, may I come in?" Nangong Min asked softly from outside the door.

In the study, Lin Yi raised an eyebrow slightly upon hearing Nangong Min's voice.

"Come in."