“Many thanks to Elder Nan.”
Although the young Hou remained qualified for the competition, it was apparent from his facial expression that he was in no way relieved.
He looked as if he was glaring at an arch-enemy, but he had no choice but to retreat.
If Zuo Qiuyu had not explained the background to Lin Mengya, she would think that this young Hou was an unappreciative lad.
“Nan Rui esteems the secret method passed down by the Hou Family. To start with, he had a rather cordial relationship with the Hous. However, who would have expected that he would try to profit from their misfortune? If not for the Hous’ immense effort in trying to preserve themselves, their family property accumulated over a few centuries would have been completely robbed.”
What a bunch of robbers! Lin Mengya could totally empathize with why the descendants of the Hou Family would be so rude to these elders.
If she were in his shoes, she would have turned the heaven and the earth upside down.
The little episode stirred up by the young Hou was soon forgotten by the people.
However, after what the young Hou had done, those herbs were now more easily identified.
The number of candidates who were able to identify the herbs had increased from a few to a dozen by now.
There was little left of the column of burning incense, so it was estimated that less than half of the candidate would pass on to the next level of competition.
“Gong…”
A shattering sound from the gong sounded which indicated that the time was up.
Just as Lin Mengya had expected, of the thirty-six candidates, only fifteen of them passed this round.
However, the herbs which they picked out were yet to be assessed, so the fifteen people remained very nervous.
Apart from the young Hou who seemed rather composed, some among the rest were sighing while looking into heaven, while the others were looking nervously at the table on the stage.
“Time’s up. For those who had not finished what you were doing, you have to leave.”
At the disciple’s words, the remaining twenty-one participants no longer stand any chance.
Looking dejected, they filed out reluctantly.
It was just too bad, but this was the rule of the competition.
They had no one else to blame for not mastering their skills.
Furthermore, a medical competition like this was a once-a-lifetime event. They would unlike be able to come across this event again.
However, some of them were not aware that they had already caught someone’s eyes.
“Those few candidates are considered very kind to help the Hou Family out. While a physician could be very skilled medically, having a good character was even more important.
How could Zuo Qiuyu not understand what Lin Mengya was thinking?
Immediately, he quietly instructed his men to recruit these few candidates in order to further nurture them.
Soon, the results were out, despite the problem arising from the little dispute over the young Hou. There were altogether eleven candidates who passed the qualification.
Apart from these, four other candidates appeared extremely dissatisfied with the outcome when they looked at the medicinal herbs on the table.
Nevertheless, the rules applied. Together with the twenty-one candidates who had been disqualified earlier on, they were also the losers.
Following this, they would move on to the second item. The herbs which had been identified were not being taken away.
The herbs were laid out in front of each of them instead. Then another fifteen people began filing out from below the stage.
They were people of various shapes and sizes, genders, and ages.
From the surface, they did not appear queer in any way.
The only thing was that they seemed overly cautious and reserved.
Perhaps they were not used to such a grand occasion.
One of the disciples cleared his throat and said, “These fifteen people are all inflicted by unseen illnesses. Each of these herbs you have is a cure for their respective illnesses. This would be the second and third item of your challenge.”
The second item, therefore, would be to diagnose their illnesses. However, all the people started to wonder curiously what the third item of the challenge was.
With the help of her secret radar, it could be said that Lin Mengya was extremely well-versed with the poison.
However, she was rather inexperienced in the matter of making a diagnosis. All eleven physicians down there would be more capable than her in terms of making medical diagnoses.
Those who were not experts were simply there to enjoy the excitement, while the experts would be able to tell their skills apart.
Zuo Qiuyu almost wanted to cry out in delight. At the thought that there would be interesting diagnoses, he started dancing from excitement.
With regard to this, Lin Mengya felt that he was acting as if he was attending a festival celebration.
Anyway, she was beginning to feel the boredom. It would not be a bad idea to go out for some fresh air.
Naturally, Yu An had to escort her. Zuo Qiuchen ought to have instructed him to protect Lin Mengya by staying by her side at all times.
Yu An did not treat himself as an outsider. In fact, apart from the time Lin Mengya went to sleep or the washroom, he would be trailing behind her like a tail that she could not shake off.
Moreover, being a very witty person, many things he spoke about to Lin Mengya were rather entertaining and she did not find him annoying.
As the two proceeded one after another. When they were rounding a corner, a figure suddenly appeared before Lin Mengya.
“Oops… I wasn’t aware it was you, Your Highness. Please do not take offense and forgive me for being rude.”
The person bent down immediately as he spoke with a respectful voice.
Lin Mengya gazed at the person but what she saw was an unfamiliar face.
She did not take offense because the person did not bump into her anyways.
“No problem. I was the one who was not careful.”
Lin Mengya retreated a step and apologized gently, adjusted herself, and was about to turn to leave.
“Please wait a minute, Your Highness!”
Lin Mengya did not expect the person to call out to stop her just when she turned away.
“What is it?”
Turning around, Lin Mengya saw the person. He was looking as if he was about to say but stopped himself and all of a sudden, she remembered that he was Zhu Qiyun’s nephew who was standing by him.
“Your Highness, please spare me some time to speak to you. This concerns your husband.”
The nephew of Zhu Qiyun seemed to be deeply distressed and his eyes were darting left and right.
Lin Mengya’s first reaction was not to follow him, but after hearing that this had to do with Long Tianyu, she could not help having the urge to do so.
She gave Yu An, who was escorting her in the dark, an indicative look so that Yu An knew in that instant that he was to remain in the dark and not expose his presence.
“Please identify yourself by telling me your name.”
Lin Mengya asked after she sizing him up, and Master Zhu’s nephew led her to one side of the corridor.
Although he was very quiet, he appeared to have been reduced into a shadow.
“Your slave, Zhu Jiajing, paying respect to Princess Anle.”
Zuo Jiajing immediately got down on his knees before Lin Mengya to pay his respect.
“What are you…”
Taken aback, Lin Mengya raised her eyebrows.
However, Zhu Jiajing became very emotional with his tears streaming down his cheeks.
“I used to work for His Majesty as a spy. Later on, I was entrusted with infiltrating into the Pavilion of Herbs as Master Zhu’s nephew. Now that I see that Your Highness had represented His Majesty to come, I… I’m overjoyed.”
Having a man weeping before her, Lin Mengya was at a loss of how to react.
“Please don’t cry anymore. Get up first and say properly.”
Lin Mengya’s words were kind, but she did not step forward to help him up.
On the contrary, she instinctively stepped back as she tried to comfort him with a gentle voice.
“I must be overwhelmed with excitement. Oh yes, may I know what is His Majesty’s instruction for the next step you should take?”
Zhu Jiajing did not get up but remained on his knees as asked, sobbing.
Lin Mengya’s heart skipped a beat. With an apologetic tone, she said, “Cousin Chen had indeed sent me here. However, it is unclear to me what his instructions are. I believe you have to ask your master regarding this. Don’t you think so?”
Zhu Jiajing’s sobbing was gradually dying down.
However, a deeply grieved expression began to appear on his face.
“What you said makes sense, Your Highness, but I haven’t seen His Majesty for a long time. I miss him so much. If you’ve not come, I thought His Majesty has forsaken me!”
Shaking her head, Lin Mengya had to say a few words of comfort to him.
Zhu Jiajing appeared greatly touched and the expression on his face transformed into that of rage
“Your Highness, are you aware that Zhu Qiyun was up to no good? When he saw that his son had been injured, he conceived the idea to frame someone else by actually causing the death of his own son and blaming it on others! Not only that, but he also colluded with foreigners to kidnap Prince Yu!”
Lin Mengya’s eyes widened at the shocking news. She would never have expected that this was the truth behind what had happened.
“How did you find out about this? Since you’ve found out the secret, why did you not inform His Majesty?”
Zhu Jiajing buried his tear-streaked face into his palms and with a grieved voice, he said, “I’m just a powerless commoner, how dare I go against them? All I could do is seek justice through your help. Let heaven’s laws be manifested so that this despicable man wouldn’t be allowed to escape!”
What he said sounded firm and unyielding and Lin Mengya’s expression softened at his words.
“Please get up first. Since you are on Cousin Chen’s side, you’re not an outsider to me. It must have been tough all these years when you have to lie low in the Zhu Family.”
Lin Mengya reached out her arms to gently help Zhu Jiajing onto his feet.
After he tried to politely refuse her help, he finally got onto his feet. It was still obvious that he had been crying given how swollen and red his eyes looked.
“Given that you’ve told me everything, I won’t allow the truth to be buried. Now, you will go back, settle Zhu Qiyun, and make sure he is kept in the dark concerning this matter, and protect Prince Yu. Once I return to Cousin Chen, I’ll write him a letter to make sure you’ll receive the greatest credit.”
Lin Mengya smiled a demure smile. It made her even more charming and attractive.
As her gentle eyes rested on Zhu Jiajing, this grief-stricken man suddenly felt embarrassed and began looking down.
“In that case, I feel much assured. Zhu Qiyun is a very suspicious man. I suppose he is becoming suspicious now that I’ve been out for so long.”
Nodding, Lin Mengya watched as Zhu Jiajing walked away.
She waited until Zhu Jiajing was completely out of sight before she stopped smiling.
“Your Highness, do you think his words are reliable?”
Yu An appeared suddenly from behind Lin Mengya.
He had been hiding behind a pillar and so he had heard every word they exchanged.
At this instant, there was a wary look on his face.
“Yes, why wouldn’t I believe him? There are indeed some lies in what he said, but that didn’t mean there was no truth in some of the things he said.”
Lin Mengya gazed in the direction where Zhu Jiajing had gone with a profound look in her eyes.
Zhu Qiyun had indeed planned to use an important chess piece in the next chess game, but he had taken a very clever first move.
