Chapter 218 Return from Picking the Medicine
“Thank you, Princess,” said Lin Kui as he swallowed the antidote from Lin Mengya without any hesitation.
The manner in which these men died was horrifying.
All the poisonous bugs within a radius of 10 miles were all gathered here.
Even these mighty men found the pungent smell sickening.
Lin Mengya, however, looked totally unfazed, as if she was used to such sights.
“Your Highness the prince, apart from the man whom the princess spared, all the rest of his companions are dead by now.”
Lin Kui was all the more petrified after checking out on those dead bodies.
At first, the impression he had of the princess was that of a beautiful and intelligent lady.
At this moment, however, Lin Mengya was more like a fiend to him.
“We shouldn’t delay further, Third Elder Brother. Let’s get going, lest something else pops up.”
The appearance of the men in black had disrupted Lin Mengya’s plan.
It also made Long Qinghan and the rest feel that there might be more danger ahead.
To Lin Mengya, it was merely a matter of some commoner’s lives. It should not deter them from going forward in their journey.
“No! I’ve to gather the medicine! Let’s go, Qinghu.”
Her elder brother was hanging on to his hope that she would find the necessary medicine.
It was not just about the life and death of Qin Mo, but it also concerned the reputation of the soldiers of Lin Family.
For this reason, she had to push forward instead of retreating.
“That won’t do. It’s too dangerous for you to go alone. What if you meet with another ambush on the way? Please don’t forget that you are Princess Yu instead of just the daughter of the Lin Family.”
Long Qinghan stood in Lin Mengya’s way. She could well become their stumbling block.
However, she could also be an uncovered gem.
She was after all closely linked to Lin Family and the Saint of Poison.
At the very least, she was their weapon. For this reason, it was necessary to keep her safe.
“Men, bring the princess back!”
Long Qinghan shouted the order for his men to bring Lin Mengya away.
Qinghu smirked and stood between Lin Mengya and the others.
“You have to go through me to get to the la.s.s. Do you think you’re able to defeat me?”
Qinghu’s ident.i.ty alone was sufficient to invoke fear.
However, Long Qinghan merely smirked. He did not think much of Qinghu.
Lin Mengya was indeed very capable to have engaged the last owner of Peach Blossom Dock.
Long Qinghan had indeed underestimated her in the past.
“Humph, alright, you can try.”
Just when they had dealt with the external enemies, they had gotten into an internal struggle.
Lin Mengya quickly came forward so that she was blocking Qinghu from the rest. In this way, no one could start fighting.
“I have to go. It’s a promise to my elder brother that I would bring back the medicine. Whoever opposes to my plan will have to bring back my dead body!”
No one would have imagined Lin Mengya to be so determined.
At this juncture, she had laid the dagger at her neck. She could lose her life just by a light slash.
In this manner, she scanned the expressions on the people’s faces.
She was the one who had caused the commotion. If she were to cause further delays and thereby jeopardize Qin Mo’s treatment, her elder brother, in turn, would definitely lose the faith of his soldiers.
She would rather sacrifice her life to preserve the soldiers’ trust for her elder brother.
“I’ll go with you.”
A big hand grabbed on to Lin Mengya’s small hand.
Gently, Long Tianyu took away the dagger out of her hand.
Although Long Tianyu was expressionless on his face, his eyes looked somber.
This was something that he had promised her. He had to fulfill his promise no matter what others said!
“Your Highness! Please don’t. We won’t be able to bear the consequence if anything were to happen to you!”
Lin Kui was first to step forward and try to stop Long Tianyu. Without responding, Long Tianyu whistled at his fine horse and it galloped over immediately.
Long Tianyu leaped onto the horse nimbly, took a last look at the grimacing Long Qinghan and turned to leave.
“Let’s go, Xiaoyu.”
Qinghu put his sword back in the scabbard, leaped up the horse with Lin Zhongyu and went after Lin Mengya.
“Seventh Prince, we will follow after them to protect Prince Yu. Please escort this man back to the capital city, will you?”
Long Qinghan glanced at the quiet and motionless man in black, whom they laid on the ground, and nodded reluctantly.
It looked like Baili Wuchen was right all along.
Lin Mengya was the most unpredictable factor in their great plan.
“Thank you.”
The sunlight shone on the little path they were taking. Given that it had snowed the entire night, the snow-covered road appeared brilliant as sunlight got reflected off its surface.
If not for the pungent of smell blood on their bodies, Lin Mengya thought the scenery was rather romantic.
“Is your injury serious?”
Although Lin Mengya was cautious to hide her injury, Long Tianyu could see that she was wounded on her arm by one look at her.
On top of that, cuts were visible on Lin Mengya’s clothes and face.
“I’m fine. I applied the medicine which my teacher gave me and my wound has stopped bleeding.”
Lin Mengya raised her arm so that it was visible to Long Tianyu that the red line where her wound was covered with white powdery medication.
Long Tianyu nodded. This was the best they could do for now.
“From now on, do not use the poison that Mr. Baili gave you so hastily.”
Poison in the eyes of the enemy was a fatal move.
However, to evil-intentioned people, the use of poison would be an opportunity not to be missed.
Long Qinghao would not deny that he had invited Baili Rui here so he could tap on his talent.
At this moment, however, he only wanted to rely on his own abilities. Relying on external powers was not the right thing to do after all.
“I will, but we really don’t have a choice today.”
Was he trying to blame her? Now Lin Mengya felt wronged.
She had not been using the poison before this because she was afraid that she would somehow injure her own company. She was the one who risked her own life and lured most of the men in black into the woods so she could use the poisonous powder on them.
Although they were right that she was a little too ruthless and cruel, at least she had kept one man alive.
However, she could tell from Long Tianyu’s tone of voice that he was actually blaming her.
Her good intention of not wanting anyone to get hurt had not earned her an appreciation.
Perhaps they had gone into some interstate, because they were beginning to see more people out and about.
As they continued on, they did not come across any other ambush. After two hours, the group of them finally arrived at a cliff outside the city smoothly.
Lin Mengya dismounted from the horse nimbly, grabbed the sword given by Qinghu and started to go through the snow-covered ground.
“You guys, go help the princess brush away the snow on the ground,” Lin Kui ordered his men.
However, Lin Mengya quickly stopped them, saying, “I’ll do this by myself. If the men break the gra.s.s on the ground, I may not be able to find their roots.”
The acc.u.mulation of snow of the ground further complicated the process of searching for the water caltrop gra.s.s roots used for medicine.
The frigid winter breeze blowing on Lin Mengya’s little hands and face quickly turn them red from the cold.
Lin Mengya ignored the cold and squatted on the snow-covered ground, as she searched patiently for the plant.
It was mentioned in the medical books that the water caltrop gra.s.ses were usually found at the steepest part of a cliff where it was 20% soil and 80% rock.
The group of them could see Lin Mengya moving closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. Qinghu and Lin Zhongyu were following close by to protect her.
“Yeah! Found it!”
Lin Mengya finally spotted some withered water caltrop gra.s.s and elated, and she stood up suddenly.
However, she did not realize that she was already very close to the edge of the cliff.
As she stood up abruptly, she felt a dizzy spell coming on and she took a step forward to find her balance.
“Be careful!”
Qinghu went toward Lin Mengya as a gust of wind almost swept Lin Mengya off the cliff, and he managed to grab her back onto the cliff.
He put his arms around her as they fell to the snow-covered ground and rolled on it. All the people’s heart skipped a bit.
“Do you want to die?” chided Qinghu.
Frowning, he made sure Lin Mengya was safe before he scolded her again.
“I… I was just too excited.”
Lin Mengya smiled a silly smile as she held on to Qinghu’s arm.
Qinghu did not expect her body to be so weak that it could not even withstand a little wind.
“You can’t do that even if you’re excited. You almost frightened me to death.”
Qinghu tapped his finger on Lin Mengya’s head. He could not bear to let her risk her life again.
Under Lin Mengya’s guidance and instructions, the rest began picking and collecting the water caltrop gra.s.s.
“Alright, now we’ve found what we have set out to find, let’s go back.”
Lin Mengya carefully placed this hard-earned water caltrop gra.s.s into a small pouch.
For some reason, there was a mixture of emotions in Long Tianyu’s eyes when he looked at Lin Mengya.
“Let’s head back to the camp.”
Long Tianyu, followed by his men, turned to leave quietly.
He had just left behind a Lin Mengya, whose brilliant smile froze instantly.
What a strange man. In just an instant, his att.i.tude towards her turned cold as ice.
“Come, la.s.s, ride with me on my horse.”
Qinghu reached out and pulled Lin Mengya into his arms.
While Qinghu had blocked the frigid wind for Lin Mengya by embracing her, he could feel that her body had tensed up.
He lifted his eyes to Long Tianyu and thought that perhaps he needed to have a word with Long Tianyu if he had guessed correctly.
After all, his blood was still boiling.
Long Tianyu was intentionally controlling his breathing. He did not expect the poison which the man in black had poisoned him with to have such bizarre effects.
His arm had merely been gently cut by the sword of the man in black.
There did not seem to be any effects earlier on. However, when he tried to mobilize his inner strength, he felt as if there was a heavy burden pressing down on him.
A moment ago when Lin Mengya was in danger, he had wanted to go forward to save her when he felt a sudden dizzy spell.
Long Tianyu thought it was alright. He believed that he would be saved once he returned to the capital city.
When he was certain that no one was looking, he stole a glance at Lin Mengya.
He could empathize that she was already weighed down by the matter concerning Lin Nansheng and did not want to add to her worries.
They sped on. Eventually, the four-hour journey took them only an hour.
However, when they arrived at the army camp, they realized that the camp did not appear as orderly as before.
There was a fire that lit up the entire campground, which at the moment was in great chaos.
All the people there were rushing to put out the fire using whatever tools they had.
The smell of something burnt was especially pungent in the snow-covered place.
“What happened?”
After Lin Mengya got off from the horse, she grabbed one of the soldiers who was helping with putting out the fire and started querying him.
When the soldier realized that it was Miss Lin, he stopped in his tracks and said with an anxious tone, “Not long after you left, a fire started in the camp.”
“Now all of the soldiers are busy putting out the fire!” he continued.
Given that the tents were made up of thick, felt fabric, the fire would not go out of hand under normal circ.u.mstances.
“Where’s my elder brother? How is Qin Mo?” asked Lin Mengya.
The soldier looked awkwardly at her. He probably did not know for sure what was happening inside the camp.