Chapter 854 Xin Luan’s Purpose
Perhaps God was fair, enabling her to be immune to all kinds of poisons and control all kinds of strange poisons in the world while making her pay such a price for it.
Lin Mengya felt a little dizzy. Her relationship with Long Tianyu became more complicated.
Now, she not only needed an explanation, but also needed to give Long Tianyu an explanation.
Not expecting things to be so complicated, she let out a sigh quietly.
Their relationship probably developed too smoothly, so they came up against such a knotty problem now.
“Miss Helan, the High Priest wants to meet you,” there came a voice.
Lin Mengya looked up and saw the manservant working in the Xiannan Hall appear in front of her unnoticed.
She nodded. She, whose mind was in a turmoil at the moment, could only get these miscellaneous things out of her mind by having her mind occupied by something else.
In the Xiannan Hall, Xin Luan had placed the pieces on the chessboard.
The pieces seemed to be still in the positions where she left them before she lost to Xin Luan last time.
“What do you summon me for, reverend sir ?” Lin Mengya asked.
She had to be extra cautious in front of Xin Luan.
It seemed that she could make use of Xin Luan, but she couldn’t figure out what he was thinking.
Someone like Xin Luan was never willing to make his thoughts clear to others.
Therefore, people would describe him as deep-minded, but they would not necessarily describe him as insidious.
Xin Luan always left an unfathomable impression on Lin Mengya, so she was wary of him.
Now he took the initiative to summon her, which made her vigilant.
“I’m pondering over the game we played a few days ago. If given a second chance now, I’m wondering how you will play the game,” Xin Luan said, while fixing his eyes on the chessboard with a hint of unfathomable deepness in his eyes.
Lin Mengya looked at the chessboard, only to find that she had made a move as a secret backup that determined the outcome of the game.
She could defeat Xin Luan completely with this, but she chose to let Xin Luan win the game by a narrow margin.
In other words, the outcome of the game was totally decided by Lin Mengya.
Her heart beat a little faster. Could it be that Xin Luan had been reviewing the game they played last time in the past few days?
“I don’t understand what you mean, reverend sir,” she said.
She knew Xin Luan was a thoughtful person, but she didn’t expect that he even noticed such a detail.
She thought a careful person like him terrifying, as he presumably had noticed each and every move of hers.
How much exactly did he know about her?
“You’re smart,” he said.
A wise man could be ruined by his own wisdom. Lin Mengya didn’t think he was praising her.
On the contrary, such a comment made by a highly intelligent person only sent a chill down her spine.
She was afraid that he had seen through her tricks, and even more afraid that she had become a pawn at his mercy.
“Reverend sir, I’m flattered,” Lin Mengya said, lowered her head and managed to hide her emotions.
However, Xin Luan didn’t fix his eyes on her. Instead, he looked at the chessboard.
Then he said, “If I were thirty years younger and in your position, I would definitely choose to win this game. You did a great job in restraining your desire to win.”
What did he mean by saying that?
Lin Mengya was a little confused. It sounded like Xin Luan appreciated what she had done a lot.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t possibly summon her for a game that was set.
“Reverend sir, I…” Lin Mengya was about to explain when she saw Xin Luan looking at her with a pleasant smile.
For the first time, he, who had always looked serious, smiled at her like an amiable elder, which puzzled her.
“You came here time and again just in order to persuade me, didn’t you?” he said.
This was the first time that he, who always beat about the bush, had come straight to the point.
Astonished, Lin Mengya could only nod meekly.
“What exactly do you want me to do?” he asked.
After hesitating for a moment, Lin Mengya bowed and said respectfully, “Reverend sir, I just want to beg you to lend the Ninth Prince a helping hand.”
She spoke her mind in an earnest voice with sincere eyes.
“You just want me to help the Ninth Prince?” Xin Luan asked.
However, he found it unbelievable. His eyes suddenly became sharp as he looked Lin Mengya up and down, as if intending to see through her motive.
She nodded, with no idea why Xin Luan doubted this.
But she thought that she should at least make herself clear.
So she said, “Reverend sir, the Ninth Prince is your nephew. Besides, as you can see, among the princes of the Lieyun Empire, he is the only one capable of guaranteeing the happy lives of the people. Although I’m not a local resident, I don’t want to see the Lieyun Empire go through a turbulent time caused by the undecided heir of the throne.”
She claimed the moral high ground, making it sound as if Xin Luan’s refusal to help Xiaoyu was equivalent to a betrayal of his country.
Lin Mengya was indeed familiar with this kind of big shot’s mode of thinking. Xin Luan, in front of her, fell silent for a moment, seeming to be in a predicament.
He said, “Uh… as you said, the Ninth Prince is indeed the best candidate for the throne. But you also know how embarrassing my position in the Xin family is. If I’m still the High Priest with real power, it will be an easy job. But now, I’m willing but unable to help him.”
Lin Mengya looked away with a knowing look in her eyes.
Sure enough, he would not consent to her request for nothing.
Since she wanted him to help Xiaoyu, she had to show proper sincerity.
“Reverend sir, I know you care about the future of the Lieyun Empire, but you have to seek temporary peace here due to your limited capability. But what if Madame has a way to bring you back to your peak?” Lin Mengya said with a sparkle in her eyes.
The assurance in her tone was very convincing.
Xin Luan stared into her eyes, for fear that she was just bragging.
He asked, “Do you really have a way to do that?”
“No, I don’t, but Madame does. If you don’t believe it, you can ask Madame.” She promised him in Madame Jingrou’s name.
Of course, Lin Mengya was keenly aware that the plan she and Madame Jingrou made could definitely bring Xin Luan back to the epicentre of power of the Xin family.
However, after they succeeded, Xin Luan, the High Priest from a branch of the Xin family, would definitely be faced with an extremely brutal battle.
In front of power and status, kinship was nothing more than a fig leaf that could be removed at any time.
“I need to think it over. You may go back now,” Xin Luan said.
He was such a cautious person after all that he would not take action without total certainty even when faced with a great temptation.
“Okay,” Lin Mengya said, and then got out of the Xiannan Hall respectfully with an intuition that something was wrong.
She looked back, only to find Xin Luan had disappeared in the Xiannan Hall.
Could it be that Xin Luan, the former High Priest who seemed formidable and was quite shrewd, was only after the position of the humble priest of the Xin Family?
The position of the High Priest was indeed very tempting. The High Priest could dominate the Xin family and even be treated politely by the Emperor in the imperial palace.
However, it did not seem to be what Xin Luan was after in any case, unless he was greatly interested in something possessed by the Xin family.
He could only obtain it by keeping the position of the High Priest. But she had no idea what it was.
Shaking her head, Lin Mengya felt that she was muddle-headed today, deciding that she had better ponder over this, which required much brain work, after she became clear-minded.
After returning to the Fengyu Court, she found that Baisu was very efficient and had sent someone to deliver a message to Xiaoyu.
15 days was neither a long time nor a short time. However, that was barely enough time for what they were going to do.
Baisu would take care of everything, making proper arrangements for their food and supplies on the way.
Lin Mengya lay on her bed, in a trance, with her mind in a turmoil.
For some unknown reason, she had been bothered by one and another things over the past few days. Although she had the help of the Shen Nung System, it did not mean that her emotions would not be affected.
After all, humans were emotional creatures, not as cold and precise as machines.
“Miss, we got a note sent by Madame,” there came Baisu’s voice.
As soon as night fell, Baisu got in softly to bring it to Lin Mengya.
It was a small note on which a name was written.
However, after taking a look at it, Lin Mengya showed a more complicated look in her eyes.
This was the candidate Madame Jingrou selected to be the selected witch.
The name, consisting of two simple characters, coincided with the person Lin Mengya considered as the suitable candidate.
“What does Madame mean by doing this?” Baisu asked.
Under the candlelight, her side face looked exceptionally gentle.
Staring at Baisu who was gentle and considerate and loyal to her, Lin Mengya felt glad that she did not have to make such a choice.
“Nothing serious. Madame just sent someone to join us, for fear that I’ll be tired on the way. Go to prepare what we need on the way. In addition to our visit to the Pool of Various Venomous Insects, we are going back to the Jin State. Let’s get out of the imperial palace to buy some gifts tomorrow. It’s inappropriate to go to meet them with no gift, isn’t it?” Lin Mengya managed to evade the question of Baisu, who was curious, in a few words.
Then she put the note on the candle to burn it. Since Madame Jingrou chose the person to be the selected witch, it meant that the person had the potential to do this.
She just felt a little helpless. Unexpectedly, they had to sacrifice someone to achieve their goal.
After thinking for a while, Lin Mengya found some medicinal materials from the music score for the green stringed instrument for comparison.
Since she was going to train a new selected witch, apart from enabling the candidate to do what the selected witch could do, she must ensure the safety of the candidate.
It would be best if she could buy all these medicinal materials when she went out tomorrow. In this way, after this was achieved, the candidate would at least be able to come back unscathed and not be on tenterhooks like her.
It was dark outside, but Lin Mengya did not have a sound sleep tonight.
In her dreams, all kinds of scenes came into her mind.
She saw the scene where she stood outside Prince Yu’s Mansion in a bright red wedding robe, as well as the scene where she slept with him for the first time.
She kept dreaming of him, while feeling particular bitterness all the time.
It was not until dawn that she fell asleep with difficulty.
With a bitter smile, she thought no matter how shrewd she was, once she fell in love, only she knew what it felt like.
