Chapter 346 The Scarlet Ginseng
“Is that human blood?”
Lin Mengya felt so reluctant to ask because she knew her teacher’s answer would be positive.
She knew at first glance that her nightmare had come true.
Sometimes geniuses were only one step away from being lunatic.
It was undeniable that Baili Rui was a genius in poisons.
However, the genius was as intelligent as he was dangerous.
Lin Mengya felt bitter. She used to be the one stopping her teacher from getting out of control.
The teacher had lost his sanity. There was no longer a future for him.
“Is anyone else here?”
Lin Mengya sneaked out of the room. Her eyes turned cold. She had told the man taking care of her teacher to prevent him from going crazy.
“Who was to blame for this now?”
“I’m here.”
A man popped out in the aisle.
He was lowering his head, but Lin Mengya could tell from his clothes that the man was one of those who took care of her teacher.
“What on earth has happened? What turned him into such a mess?”
Lin Mengya asked hastily.
Baili Rui was fine when she moved into the palace. It had barely been a month. What turned him into that?
“Well…”
The man was hesitating and he was interrupted by a soft voice when he was about to answer.
“That was the Prince’s plan. It’s better for you not to ask.”
Hearing that voice, Lin Mengya turned back and saw a graceful figure coming from the far end of the aisle.
A pale, and foppish man. That was Lin Mengya’s first impression of that person.
A joyless glimmer flowed out of the man’s narrow eyes.
He was wrapped in a light purple robe. His waistline looked even softer and slenderer than a woman’s.
“Where did this man come from?”
“Who are you?”
Lin Mengya was alert upon her first glance at the man.
It was partly because the man looked quite arrogant.
Moreover, she didn’t like the way he acted, which made her even angrier.
“I’m Meng Junlan. I’m here to replace the useless guy, Baili Wuchen. This is a forbidden area. It’s better for you not to step in again in case of accidents. There was some traitor who was looking for an opportunity.”
Meng Junlan showed no respect for Lin Mengya. His words were pushy and his eyes were looking at her intently.
Lin Mengya wasn’t going to argue with him because the man was a nobody to her.
No matter how much he hated her, he would not dare to lay a finger on her.
She was concerned about whether it was Long Tianyu who asked him to do that, which would make things much more complicated.
She would have to ask Long Tianyu and figure it out.
She bypassed Meng Junlan; she didn’t want to spare a single glance at the feminine man.
The moment she walked near him, her sensitive nose smelled an elegant and light fragrance.
A slight sneer emerged at the corner of Lin Mengya’s mouth. She halted by Meng Junlan’s side, breathing softly, looking cold.
“Look at who this is! The famous opera singer in the Capital City, Mr. Meng! Didn’t you elope with the daughter of the minister? Are you here to give me attitude because your servants won’t listen to you? “I’ll forgive you for talking to me like that this time, but you wouldn’t want to do it twice.”
Meng Junlan’s eyes looked surprised.
His reputation for being an opera singer was supposed to have disappeared five years ago, after his elopement scandal.
He was astonished that Lin Mengya could see through him so soon.
He clenched his fists, relaxed, and did that over and over. Finally, he whispered, in a soft voice that could only be heard by the two people.
“Thank you.”
Lin Mengya stood at the gate of the basement and saw the stars scattering in the sky.
She took a deep breath, trying to get rid of the thick bloody smell in her teacher’s basement.
Not far away, a tall and slender figure was standing upright. It was Long Tianyu.
He was facing the other direction, so she couldn’t see his face.
“You have nothing to do with my teacher’s business, right?”
Their surroundings suddenly fell in total silence.
Even the moon and the stars were trying to get away from that scene. The sky became dim because all the lights were clouded.
“I am responsible because I collected those materials for him.”
Long Tianyu was explaining. He stated the facts.
Lin Mengya nodded. It was just as she had expected.
Baili Rui could be very extreme when it came to herbs, which she knew she would never be able to understand.
If he couldn’t find the blood and flesh needed for the cultivation of the Scarlet Ginseng, he might hurt himself.
She then sighed softly. She knew what kind of person Long Tianyu was more than anyone else.
He never denied what he did.
But if Long Tianyu didn’t do it, who else?
She was drowning in her thoughts, not knowing that the dark cloud in the sky had quietly disappeared.
Her contemplative profile looked extremely charming under the moonlight.
Long Tianyu couldn’t help but walk towards her, eyes filled with complicated feelings.
“A penny for your thoughts?”
His voice was so close, which interrupted Lin Mengya’s pondering.
She raised her head and found that Long Tianyu was standing in front of her.
She took one step back unconsciously. Then she was about to fall and roll down along the steps of the basement. At the very moment, a strong hand firmly held her waist.
“No … nothing. I was just thinking who was the one who persuaded my teacher to cultivate that Scarlet Ginseng.”
Lin Mengya didn’t realize how close they were. Their breaths were merging. Long Tianyu was spurning himself, trying to suppress his desire to get closer.
However…
He was still glad to see that the smart Lin Mengya didn’t mind being so close to him.
“It’s just a ginseng. What’s the big deal of it being cultivated with human blood or not?”
Long Tianyu whispered to Lin Mengya’s ear with a gentle voice.
Lin Mengya felt her ear was itching. She tried to avoid him and she still didn’t realize that they were getting abnormally close.
“No, although that herb is called Scarlet Ginseng, it has nothing to do with the real ginseng. You know human beings are at the pinnacle of all creatures. The herb needs to be soaked in human blood to grow, what do you think it is?”
Lin Mengya spoke first, before Long Tianyu asked the same question.
All Baili Rui asked for was fresh dead bodies.
Therefore, all Long Tianyu had given to Baili Rui were death prisoners.
However, Baili Rui was getting more and more greedy those days. He wanted Long Tianyu to hand him a live person to feed the plant. Long Tianyu had wisely refused him, or the plant would have been sucking human blood at that moment.
“No wonder he kept asking me to send him blood and flesh of living people. I refused him and he has been quiet for a few days. What’s wrong with that herb?”
Long Tianyu stopped clinging on to Lin Mengya because he thought that was serious.
He had gotten close enough to her that day, and he didn’t want to push it. Lin Mengya seldom looked so concerned.
“The Scarlet Ginseng often grows on mountains covered by eternal snow. Legend has it that it could nourish the human body and help in gaining immortality. It wasn’t that effective actually. It is nourishing, but it was too cold in attribute because it grows in the coldest places. Its coldness had to be harmonized by grown men’s blood if it were to be used as a medical material. The blood makes the herb more effective but at the same time, people get killed and manipulated because of the priceless treasure.”
Judging by Lin Mengya’s face, the whole story should be much more complicated than that.
“But, manipulating people? That’s unbelievable. It’s just a plant anyway.”
Seeing Long Tianyu amazed face, Lin Mengya kept explaining,
“In fact, there are many amazing medicinal materials that have incredible effects. The Scarlet Ginseng can enchant people as soon as it has tasted human blood and flesh. To put it bluntly, its pollen and its smell have a strong hallucinogenic effect. My teacher knew it at the very beginning, but at this moment, the herb has already taken over his mind. I think he was prepared for this, or he would’ve gone crazy a long time ago.”
Long Tianyu was so surprised at what Lin Mengya said.
“If that is true, how about getting him out of the basement? There are so many people in there, I’m afraid…”
Lin Mengya shook her head, looking even bitterer.
“We could’ve saved him at the early stage, but if my guess is right, he has already started to eat the ginseng’s leaves, or he couldn’t have made it this far. This stage won’t last long and he won’t be able to live without the plant. As for other people in the basement, you shouldn’t worry too much. The effects of the herb are strong, but its effective area is limited. Your people shall be fine as long as they don’t stay long in there.”
Long Tianyu felt relieved. If his men died because of the old lunatic, that would be an unworthy loss.
He was at the moment as curious as Lin Mengya about the motivation that had driven Baili Rui to cultivate the Scarlet Ginseng at such a huge cost.
