A pained look flashed in Long Tianyu’s eyes.
Although Lin Mengya had been keeping quiet, she must have been very concerned about her temporal imperfection.
For this reason, he swore he would have Lin Mengya healed no matter what price he had to pay.
“Alright, I get it.”
He responded to Lin Mengya with a low and tender voice while his large strong hand crept onto her right shoulder.
Moving from top to bottom, he massaged Lin Mengya’s right arm in the way that Zuo Qiuyu taught him.
Zuo Qiuyu had once mentioned to him that if Lin Mengya’s arm had not been massaged frequently before it healed, there would be sequelae even if it were to heal.
Despite the lack of sensation in her right arm, Lin Mengya could not help but start to blush when she saw Long Tianyu attending to her carefully.
She turned her head away and scolded herself in her heart for being so useless.
Why would she become so agitated merely when Long Tianyu was massaging her arm?
“That…”
The atmosphere turned rather awkward from the lack of conversation between them.
However, Lin Mengya immediately felt the dryness in her mouth the moment she opened her mouth.
Lin Mengya, who was usually sharp-tongued seemed to have gone blank in her mind. How useless she was! Before this, they had fought non-stop and there was never a moment of quiet.
Now that the atmosphere turned so quiet and harmonious, and in contrast to her usual self, she was tongue-tied.
“Erm? Why?”
Long Tianyu lifted his eyes to look at her and had a superb view of her blushing snow-white pretty face.
He stared at her fluttering long, curly lashes. It appeared that she was trying to avoid looking at him.
It was rare that Lin Mengya was so coquettish, but it encouraged Long Tianyu to want to bully her.
His cheeky intention inched one step closer as the two of them were in close proximity.
The refreshing fragrance exuberating from Lin Mengya’s body that was mixed together with the subtle fragrance of medicinal herbs seeped into Long Tianyu’s breath.
To Long Tianyu’s puzzlement, while he clearly knew that Lin Mengya usually did not apply any powder, he could not help feeling intoxicated when he came close to her and smelt her scent.
While Lin Mengya felt that Long Tianyu was approaching, she turned away even more forcefully.
Little was she aware that her neck and earlobes were turning red.
Long Tianyu’s eyes deepened at the sight of Lin Mengya’s blushing neck and earlobes.
“Nothing… nothing… just be careful.”
Even such a simple statement made Lin Mengya panicked so much that she bit her tongue.
Rolling her eyes, Lin Mengya could not understand her own strange behavior.
She had grown used to her intimacy with Long Tianyu over this period.
However, whenever he inched closer to her, they could both sense that the temperature between them was rising. Nevertheless, there was still a gap in their midst.
She could feel some kind of anticipation within her.
In that instant, Lin Mengya felt as if she had suffered a blow from this very thought of hers.
Good heavens! Did she feel that her desires had not been satisfied?
Lin Mengya opened her eyes wide, shocked at her own thoughts.
Nevertheless, Lin Mengya was Lin Mengya.
It was not her style to behave like a coy little girl.
Seeming to have made up her mind to do something, Lin Mengya suddenly turned back her head.
At that moment, the two people came face to face with each other and the tips of their noses were barely a millimeter apart.
Go for it! Lin Mengya closed her eyes abruptly and moved towards Long Tianyu without further hesitation.
She thought this was going to be a sweet beginning, who knew…
“Ouch! Painful!”
Given her determination, she should be praised for her courage. But apparently, she had misjudged and underestimated the force of a kiss.
Immediately, she felt the aching feeling in her nose from the impact.
Lin Mengya covered her nose and cried out in pain.
She immediately opened her eyes. By now, her eyes were filled with tears because of the pain in her nose.
Heavens! She merely wanted to take the initiative this time, but why did this ridiculous thing happen?
Lin Mengya had no time to think about the ambiance. At this moment, all she thought of was to find a hole to bury herself and never to emerge for the rest of her life!
“Sigh… you…”
Similarly, Long Tianyu rubbed his nose and did not know whether to laugh or cry as he gazed at Lin Mengya.
He looked dotingly at her, but there was also a look of helplessness in his eyes.
His wife would never behave the way normal people behaved.
A moment ago, before he could make out what was going on, he had seen her head coming fast and headed toward his face.
Caught unprepared, he did not dodge in time and had to take the blow on his face.
Before he, the victim, could complain, the perpetrator had cried out in pain first.
“Boohoo, please quickly take a look to see if my nose has collapsed. What can I do if it has collapsed? There’s no place here that I can go for plastic surgery. I’m doomed!”
Who would have expected that one needed to have a sense a direction when kissing? How was it that Long Tianyu seemed unscathed while she felt as if her nose had been flattened?”
Rushing to the mirror in the inner chamber, Lin Mengya felt that her nose had somehow become lower despite knowing that her nose bone was not injured.
She kept pinching and pulling until she felt that her nose had returned to its original height. Even then, she scrutinized it from all angles in the mirror in fear that it would collapse again.
Trailing behind her, Long Tianyu looked at her with much amusement, and his thin lips instinctively curled at their ends into a smile.
Although they had missed a kiss, he felt all that had happened was worthwhile, ignoring the fact that he had got a blow on his face.
The temporary episode had passed. The chaotic situation reminded them to be on their guard.
After taking a short rest, Lin Mengya threw herself into the massive project of analyzing the data once again.
Just when the night fell, Lin Mengya had the situation of all the families participating in the medical skills competition stored in her brain.
There were no such things as perpetual friends, only perpetual benefits.
During this medical skills competition, not to mention those enemies of her cousin, the emperor, even those people who had always been on their side could possibly develop other thoughts and turn against them.
Given that they were tight on time, they could only try to mislead the people by relying on their men watching from the peripheral.
If they tried to infiltrate into the inner circle of their enemies within such a short time, they would definitely stir up suspicion and alarm.
She knew that Cousin Chen had surely planted his informers around many people.
However, those informers would be the trump cards to be used at crucial moments.
In the current situation, there was no use of them yet.
As for those matters which she sent out men to investigate, one of whom was the head of the Lin Family, which was also her father, Lin Nansheng. Those men whom he trusted or had an intimate relationship with were mostly upright and guileless people with heroic spirit.
In contrast, Shangguan Qing and the people serving her were evil people who only knew to fawn on her.
This was the reason she wanted to find out the impression the influential families or families of officials had on them so that she could use the information to draw a comparison.
Perhaps people pretended to behave differently from what they were really like when they were outside.
However, many people would not be able to cover up the minute details.
For example, the attitudes and behaviors of the servants or female family members within the family would not be easy to cover up.
If one was able to hide even the minute details and not allow people to see any flaws, he must be extremely intelligent.
Such a person would usually not do any silly things. At the same time, he would be a very difficult opponent to deal with.
Even if she were to be on guard early, she would be able to succeed.
Through tidying up and analyzing the information collected, Lin Mengya believed that there would be many people that they needed to guard against if Zuo Qiuyu wished to win in the competition.
However, Lin Mengya already had an idea in her mind. The most important thing now was to solve the great problem right before her eyes.
“My dear cousin, will you help me think of a solution, please?”
Why would such a handsome face be filled with such a sour expression?
At this moment, Zuo Qiuyu had lost all dignity of being an elder cousin. He merely sat on the chair, moaning and groaning to Lin Mengya.
“What can I do? You better think of a solution yourself.”
The art competition was just around the corner and this useless guy was contemplating fleeing!
Lin Mengya did not try to conceal the look of disdain in her eyes. She would, by all means, make him join the competition even if it meant that she had to tie him up.
However, the time for a life-and-death struggle had not arrived at this moment.
“But— Sigh, you know I don’t have the capability. What if… what if I lose in the competition? Would I be creating more trouble for my brother, the emperor?”
Zuo Qiuyu fiddled with his hair, appearing to be in a great struggle. His mind was in a state of disarray.
If he did not step out to help his emperor brother, he would be doing a disservice to the Nation of Lintian and his brother. All the more, he would be doing a disservice to his parents in heaven.
On the other hand, if he were to help his brother, he would perhaps be eliminated in the first round given his capabilities.
In his mind, Lin Mengya would naturally be the most suitable candidate, but her status made her unsuitable. Given his brother, the emperor’s personality, he would naturally have another candidate in mind.
Zuo Qiuyu supposed he didn’t have to participate in the deadly competition.
“Alright, you may not go. However, think about it, if any other person takes up the position, even if there are no problems within the first three to five years, what do you think will happen eight or even ten years from now? Power is something that people get addicted to easily. When one tasted the feeling of being paid homage to and being idolized, would he be willingly submitting to someone above him always?”
Lin Mengya said flatly but she had hit the nail on the head.
Actually, Zuo Qiuyu had also thought of that. However, he was merely afraid to shoulder the responsibility. He had therefore chosen to escape.
Although Lin Mengya did not know what happened to Zuo Qiuyu in the past that had resulted in him running away from his responsibility, as a member of the royal family of the Nation of Lintian, he would not be able to run away from his destiny and duty, just like her mother who escaped half-way.
Not to mention that he was the only sibling of the emperor of the Nation of Lintian; they were from the same mother.
“But… but I…”
Zuo Qiuyu appeared to be tormented and was having a great struggle within him.
His eyes were already bloodshot.
Lin Mengya was right. Moreover, his brother, the emperor, had invested in him so much.
The emperor had even taken up some of the responsibilities belonging to Zuo Qiuchen without any complaint.
Perhaps it was time for him to do something to repay his emperor brother.
