Chapter 345 To Start a New Life
Long Tianyu stood near the wall, eyebrows frowned.
Although the light was dim, he could still see a lot of bronze mirrors in the yard.
Those bronze mirrors were arranged in a special position. They were there neither for mirroring people, nor for expelling evil spirits.
What exactly were they for?
At the same time, Lin Mengya’s mouth corner went up.
“Now that you’ve come to visit, why are you peeping from the wall instead of showing up?”
Lin Mengya said loudly, surprising Long Tianyu considerably.
He found it funny because he was used to climbing on that wall, every time he visited the Liuxin Courtyard.
He had no idea that he would be caught so soon. He felt embarrassed.
A figure in black appeared in front of Lin Mengya.
There was a weird expression on his face.
“Are you wondering how I knew you were here?”
Lin Mengya spoke first, before Long Tianyu asked the same question.
Then she lifted her slender finger and pointed to a mirror near them, explaining in a soft voice,
“I saw you in this mirror. The courtyard has a nice view, but there were corners we couldn’t see. By setting the mirrors in a formation, I can see what is going on in every corner of the yard.”
Long Tianyu understood what she meant. He checked the mirror formation and found lots of things had been changed there.
Those elder maids who used to live there had already moved to Baishao’s place.
Their room had been emptied for other uses.
“You must be wondering how is the emperor these days. To be honest, he’s not so well. The poison had already spread into his bones, which made it hardly possible for us to cure him. I was making up a prescription for him on my own, just because I want to fulfill your wish.”
Long Tianyu was surprised at what a gentle and kind person Lin Mengya had grown into, given how rude or fierce she used to be.
Seeing her warmly smiling face, Long Tianyu felt warm inside.
Among all those people in such a huge mansion, that woman standing in front of him might well be his only friend.
The things about his father and his mother, as well as the whole nation, imposed tremendous pressure on him, like a mountain.
He would’ve felt overwhelmed without that woman sharing his burden.
He didn’t care what she did. The mansion felt vigorous as long as she was there.
“Thank you for today. We’ll pay you some extra money for your hard work. You can have a shot in the tavern after dinner. We’ll tell the kitchen to make more dishes.”
Lin Mengya seemed satisfied when she saw the mirrors had been arranged in her way. Sixteen mirrors stood in the yard, big and small.
She had claimed to the public that the arrangement was for expelling evil spirits.
That was what Yu Qiang taught her before she left the palace.
From then on, anyone trying to sneak into the Liuxin Courtyard would be captured by her as long as there was moonlight. She could see clearly who was hiding in the yard.
Moreover, she was trying to create a prescription that really worked.
The poison in the emperor was fatal. It would take a lot to cure him.
She had analyzed the materials involved in the prescription. It was more than a hundred, and she had to be taken care and not make the slightest mistake on their dosage.
After the rearrangement of the yard, she could be more devoted to her research. She could also capture those who tried to barge into her pharmacy.
She grew cautious because she had been set up by others in the palace.
She was afraid of getting in trouble one more time, if she wasn’t careful when working on the prescription.
Her eyes later fell on the shadowy corners of the yard.
She was currently under the protection of Sanjue Hall and Long Tianyu’s men, but she could never be too careful because all the ones coming for her here were peerless powerhouses.
Those people came for all kinds of excuses, but none of them wanted to kill her.
She was at high risk at the moment because of what she was doing. It was highly possible that some impulsive enemies would go there to kill her.
Therefore, she arranged a lot of gifts to entertain those ‘guests’.
They would definitely have an extraordinary experience which they would never forget.
“Will you stay for dinner with me?”
Long Tianyu found the invitation very hard to turn down.
Long Tianyu had enjoyed all kinds of delicacies since he was a kid.
There were only a few simple dishes on the table that day. The vegetables and plain porridge gave him much warmth. He felt the course of the dinner quite comfortable.
They didn’t talk much during the meal. After dinner, Lin Mengya took a walk in the yard as usual.
Long Tianyu seldom had the opportunity to enjoy himself. The two walked and whispered in the mansion yard like two fresh young lovers.
“I didn’t realize that you would get into so much trouble in the palace.”
Long Tianyu’s men stationed in the palace had already informed him of what had happened.
When she told him about that by herself, he found it more dangerous than he thought.
Lin Mengya was talking very calmly. Long Tianyu knew that she must’ve been through a very dangerous situation. He felt quite guilty and sorry because of it.
He could’ve been more considerate, so that Lin Mengya wouldn’t have been put through all that.
“It’s all fine, but there’s one thing I need to make clear. Actually, Concubine De…”
Lin Mengya had hesitated for a long time before she finally decided to tell Long Tianyu the fact that Concubine De was an impostor.
However, before she could speak, she saw Concubine De enter the gate close to them with Jingyue’s support.
“Greetings, mother.”
The couple bowed to Concubine De, even though the empress had already told her that the present Concubine De wasn’t the real one.
She just couldn’t fully act on what the empress said.
She was still trying to figure out whether the empress was trying to make mischief or if it was a real thing.
Concubine De looked pale that day.
Her eyes looked puffy, which might be because she hadn’t slept well in the recent days.
She seemed to have forgotten her hatred and resentment towards Lin Mengya. She looked quite sophisticated, without extra expressions on her face.
That made Lin Mengya feel weird.
“It’s nice to have you back, but I’m now too tired to talk much.”
She left in a hurry, leaving Lin Mengya and Long Tianyu looking at her back.
They felt Concubine De’s steps were unusually weak and light, which was quite different from her usual strong pace.
“Why is Yun Ruo not with her today?”
Asked Lin Mengya as soon as Concubine De and others disappeared around the corner.
Long Tianyu was wondering the same thing. He had been sending people to keep an eye on the Art Courtyard, but none of his people had told him that someone was missing.
“I still have something to do, and I need to ask my teacher about it. Enjoy yourself.”
Something seemed to have occurred to Lin Mengya. She left in a hurry.
Long Tianyu was then left alone in the yard, creasing his eyebrows.
He thought he had figured out the truth, but at the moment it seemed that things were far more complicated than he thought.
“Lin Kui, send someone to investigate Yun Ruo’s background.”
Upon hearing that, Lin Kui, who was standing near him, left in silence.
Long Tianyu was considering all the possibilities in his mind.
He felt Yun Ruo was strange from the very beginning, because the maid had been spoiled rotten by his mother.
After a day-by-day observation, he had drawn a conclusion.
He suspected that the Concubine De who lived in the Art Courtyard wasn’t his real mother. She was someone who was so familiar with his mother that she could imitate most of the details of her life.
If his guess was right, then Yun Ruo, who showed up from nowhere, was the key to the truth.
If that Art Courtyard was all fake, then, where was the real one?
Long Tianyu was hesitating. He wanted to imprison the impostor but he was afraid of irritating the people behind her.
“Master! I’m back! Long time no see! You must have lost quite a few pounds.”
In the underground prison, Lin Mengya saw her teacher as soon as she entered the gate. He used to be flabby; with the current lush beard and sunken eyes, he looked like a walking dead.
“It’s nice that you’re back. Check out my latest creation. It’s only days away from maturing.”
Lin Mengya was pulled by Baili Rui. They walked to the cultivation tank deep inside the basement.
The moment she walked into the room, a strong smell of blood invaded her nostrils.
However, Baili Rui seemed to be too addicted to it to realize how bad it smelled.
He looked at the budding herb in front of him with enthusiastic eyes, as if he were staring at his lover.
“That’s the… Scarlet Ginseng! Didn’t you say that this herb was not allowed to be planted because it was too evil?”
Lin Mengya couldn’t help exclaiming. She looked at the three-foot-tall white basin, eyes widely opened.
No wonder she thought the smell was too strong.
The dark soil in the basin had already been dyed dark red by blood.
She had the feeling that the thick muddy soil had been soaked by human blood!
Why? Why would her respected teacher cultivate such an evil plant that was against humanity?
“I had no choice… it is so precious and too tempting for me to refuse… Mengya, do you even know how much it means to me?”
His bony cheeks looked madly insane because of the Scarlet Ginseng.
Lin Mengya looked at her teacher, alerted. She felt she was looking at a stranger.
