Chapter 219 Enlarged Tongue
“Don’t ask anymore, let me go and check it out,” said Qinghu.
He escorted Lin Mengya as they cautiously entered the army camp.
There was great chaos in the army camp. However, the fire finally came under control given that there were many soldiers working to put out the fire, and the snow definitely helped.
Lin Mengya went around in the camp cautiously and realized that the condition at the peripheral was not too bad. It seemed that the fire had started from the heart of the campground.
As they neared the main tent, Lin Mengya could see that the ground around it was badly burnt. She stared at the area, stupefied.
It appeared that the main tent and the tent where Qin Mo was in had been the most severely affected by the fire.
These evil doers were outrageous! They even had the audacity to set fire on the army camp.
Did they really mean to kill Qin Mo?
“Where are the people? Where’s Qin Mo?”
Lin Mengya caught hold of a man nearby and started questioning him.
Initially, the man seemed impatient, but once he realized that it was Lin Mengya, his expression changed to that of joy.
“You’re finally back, Miss Lin! The young general was so anxious while waiting for you to return. Please come with me!”
Lin Mengya immediately ran after the soldier.
The fire was dying down. By the time they reached the inner most tent, none of the surrounding tents were burnt.
However, Lin Mengya felt as if her heart was hanging in mid air.
She was well aware that given Qin Mo’s critical condition, there was no way he could make it through any tossing and turning.
She knew the grave consequence of moving just one silver needle.
The inner most tent was surrounded by a few layers of guards.
The moment they saw that it was Lin Mengya who had arrived, they made way for her to enter.
When Lin Mengya ran into the tent, she saw a big group of people standing around Qin Mo’s bed. Her four maidservants were busy taking care of him, while their faces were covered with soot.
“Miss Lin is back! Please give way!”
Someone cried out and immediately, the people around the bed retreated to create a path for Lin Mengya.
As Lin Mengya passed through the crowd to get to Qin Mo, she saw that his body had turned a faint purplish green.
“Princess! How is my son? Someone removed that silver… silver needle!”
Lord Qin had lost all his energy and concentration. He had left the tent to check out what was happening by leaving the tent for a minute.
Never would he expect that when he returned after a minute, the silver needle on his son’s body had disappeared in that period of time.
Who would be so cruel to do this as to terminate the Qin’s family line?
“Don’t worry, Your Highness the princess. I’ve used my family’s secret method to stop the poison from spreading to the other parts of his body. Now you’re left with an hour to work with!”
To Lin Mengya’s surprise, Qiu Yu, the young physician suddenly opened to his mouth to speak.
Lin Mengya could tell that this secret method had sapped Qiu Yu’s physical and mental energy by how pale his face appeared.
“Bring the medicine I concocted and start brewing it. Leave the rest to me.”
Lin Mengya took out the water caltrop grass, wiped it clean and popped it into her mouth.
“That’s not for you to ingest, lass!” said Qinghu.
Before he could stop Lin Mengya, her face was already stuffed with the water caltrop grass.
Ah! It was so bitter!
Nevertheless, the most important and precious part of the water caltrop grass was its juice.
She chewed hard on the grass and in an instant, the milky white juice from it wreaked havoc to Lin Mengya’s mouth so much so that she felt devastated from its bitter taste.
“Quick, bring me a bowl!”
All the people did not understand what this Prince Yu was trying to do.
With all her energy and hardwork, she eventually squeezed out all the juice from the grass.
“Would this juice cause any side effects?”
Looking at the pulp which Lin Mengya spit out, he could not help but worry about the side effect.
Lin Mengya waved her hand and said, “It’s fine, it would just enlarge my tongue for a while.”
The water caltrop grass was a mild anesthesia but its effect would not last longer than two hours.
While the others were brewing the concoction, Lin Mengya did a last check-up on Qin Mo.
Although the concoction was ready, Qin Mo had been severely poisoned by now.
In order for the poison in his body to be completely neutralized, her guidance and instructions were needed.
“All of you step back!”
Lin Mengya remained a commanding presence, however, her slurring had helped eased the tense atmosphere a little.
“Hear my order! None of the people in the entire Qingfeng Army Camp should come near to this tent! If anyone barges in, he shall be killed without mercy!” said Lin Nansheng.
Shutting all the rest of the people outside the tent, Lord Qin and Qiu Yu, the young imperial physician, were the only two people who were not family whom Lin Nansheng allowed in the tent.
Even Qinghu stayed outside on his own accord, but he guarded by the entrance to ensure Lin Mengya’s safety.
“I shall start now!”
Lin Mengya nodded solemnly. She was obviously unperturbed by her enlarged tongue.
A row of sterilized silver needles was placed in front of her.
She held her breath and with steady hands picked up the first silver needle.
The process of acupuncture was slow and agonizing for Lord Qin, who watched as Lin Mengya pierced numerous holes on the body of his beloved son.
Qin Mo’s entire body was eventually covered by tens of silver needles, which were placed in a bizarre pattern.
Even Lin Mengya’s forehead was covered with beads of perspiration.
“You can do it. Don’t be anxious.”
A white handkerchief dapped on the forehead and soaked up the beads of perspiration.
Lin Mengya stole a glance at Qiu Yu. He seemed to have considerable faith in her.
She nodded again, picked up the remaining needles and continued to insert them onto Qin Mo.
“Master, we are done with brewing the medicine!”
A poised Baiji carried a bowl of the brewed medicine into the tent.
Lin Mengya fixed her gaze on the medicine for a while, and then took it into her hands.
Through checking the medicine, she had ensured that it was indeed what she needed and no one had done anything to change it.
After taking a deep breath, Lin Mengya lifted Qin Mo’s head and fed a big mouthful of the medicine into his mouth.
All the while, Lord Qin was holding his breath.
The medicine in liquid form flowed into Qin Mo’s body through his throat.
Thereafter, Lin Mengya retreated a few steps, and at the same time, she indicated for Qiu Yu and Lord Qin to step back.
“Princess, you are—”
Lord Qin did not understand Lin Mengya’s intention. He was about to ask her when he saw his son, lying on the bed, bleeding through the seven apertures of his head. The blood that flowed out was dark red in color.
“Don’t move! Princess Yu had unblocked all the blood vessels in your son’s body. If I guessed correctly, Princess Yu is using the medicine to get rid of the poison in his body!”
Lin Mengya cast an admiring look at Qiu Yu, who was indeed befitting to be an imperial physician.
Under the watchful eye of all the people in the tent, Qin Mo was soon covered with a thin layer of dark blood.
Qin Yu glanced at Lin Mengya, who was focusing all her attention on Qin Mo at this moment, and marveled at how she thought of such a method.
The dark blood had dripped onto the side of the bed, forming a puddle on the ground.
Lin Mengya, together with Baiji, gathered all the remnants of the brewed water caltrop grass and prepared a bucket of hot water.
The aggressive toxin created a wisp of mist the moment it came into contact with the ground.
There was also a pungent smell in the air emitted by the poison.
Lord Qin finally understood the princess’s intention.
Seeing that almost all the toxin in Qin Mo had been discharged from his body, Lin Mengya took the residual of the medicine and used it to cover Qin Mo’s body.
She pulled back her sleeves, scooped some warm water from the bucket and started gently scrubbing this young man who had just had a close shave.
“Your Highness, let me take over this manual work,” Qiu Yu offered his help to Lin Mengya’s surprise.
Lin Mengya turned to look at him, and then nodded.
Cleaned with the warm water, Qin Mo’s look was gradually revealed.
Perhaps it was because the poison in his body was completely purged, the frown on his face eased.
Lin Mengya, who was standing behind the rest, saw that things had worked out smoothly, so she turned around and exited the tent.
After all, as a girl, she knew better to give the men some privacy they needed at some point.
“How are you, Ya’er?”
The moment Lin Mengya emerged from the tent, Lin Nansheng and his men came up to her and surrounded her.
Fortunate, her tongue almost returned to its size and she was starting to speak more clearly.
“Everything had turned out well, rest assured, Elder Brother.”
Seeing that Lin Nansheng breathed a sigh of relief, Lin Mengya knew her efforts had not gone to waste.
“Qinghu told me everything that had happened. You had been so silly!”
He was referring to them being ambushed on the way as well as the incident when Lin Mengya almost fell off the cliff.
Lin Nansheng thought what Lin Mengya went through was rather frightening.
He contemplated the idea of losing his younger sister over the process of saving his good buddy’s life.
He almost did not want to think along such possibilities.
“The daughter of the Lin Family is expected to possess such courage. Oh yes, how did the fire start in the army camp?”
Lin Mengya quickly changed the topic because she knew her elder too well, that he would be worried about her.
He might look like a valiant soldier in others’ eyes, but he would turn into a chatter when it was concerned about Lin Mengya.
He would seize hold of any opportunity to talk.
“At that time, I was handling some military matters in the main tent. Everyone had gone to protect Qin Mo so no one could investigate into the matter in time.”
Lin Nansheng’s eye turned cold all of a sudden.
It was a great humiliation to have been attacked in his own army camp.
The subsequently was a further humiliation to the army of the entire Lin Family.
“According to what you say, Elder Brother, are you suspecting that there are other spies within the army camp?”
It was not difficult to make a reasonable guess.
Moreover, it was impossible for the entire army to be of one heart.
Lin Mengya whispered some words into Lin Nansheng’s ear; there was some hesitation in Nansheng’s eyes. Nevertheless, she led her maids and Qinghu to the spot where the fire started.
Despite the frigid weather, there was a burnt patch next to the tent.
Lin Mengya circled the ruined and furrowed her brows.
“I did not expect the fire to have been fueled by oil.”
Just as she thought, someone had deliberately set the fire.
“Usually, the army camp would keep some supply of kerosene for making fire. However, your elder brother is making this trip back to the capital city, not going for some battle. Would it be easier to keep some vegetable oil instead?”
Qinghu could clearly smell the strong odor of kerosene.
Both he and Lin Mengya had a keen sense of smell.
The strong stench of burnt felt could well cover up the smell of kerosene.
However, the smell could not escape Qinghu and Lin Mengya’s sensitive noses.
“I remember Prince Yu said that kerosene is controlled goods. The families of commoners had to go to the designated shops to buy and there was also a limit to the amount they could obtain. “The felt fabric used in my elder brother’s army tents were of special quality, therefore, kerosene had to be used to have resulted in such extensive burn.”
