Chapter 494 - The Start of the Preliminary Rounds of Competition (2/2)

Being so far away, Zuo Qiuyu could not be sure what the young man was trying to do.

Of the people he knew, Liu Xuan was one person who almost had a compulsive disorder for cleanliness.

Even so, Zuo Qiuyu had never seen Liu Xuan washing everything in the water before use.

Nevertheless, what the young man was doing was not violating the rules of the competition after all. Perhaps there was some abstruse secret in the water that could help him discern the herbs.

The others, however, seemed to observe to be certain first before they start testing.

For the particular young man, however, he simply continued dipping the herbs in the water and then taking them out.

Nevertheless, dipping the herbs into the water did not seem to do any changes to the herbs. The other two candidates who were giving him angry looks had quietened down suddenly for some reason.

Lin Mengya sensed something fishy. What on earth was this man doing?

Like the other candidates, Lin Mengya’s expression turned serious, and soon, nearly half the duration passed.

Lin Mengya, who was sitting erect behind the curtain of beads, was starting to feel bored.

“I’m going out to have a look around. Are you coming with me?”

Nowadays, Lin Mengya got to enjoy being treated like a superstar in Lintian.

Her every move would turn into the most talked about topic of gossip in Lintian.

She might as well stop hiding. Would it not be better for her to just show herself openly?

“I’d rather not go. You and Yu An go ahead, just be careful.”

Zuo Qiuyu was wearing a serious expression on his face. Lin Mengya supposed he was worried about fighting for the position of the Chief Elder.

There was not much Lin Mengya could do to help him at this moment, so together with Yu An, she left the enclosed space cordoned by the curtain of beads.

“Let’s go. Bring me to Cousin Chen.”

Once outside, Lin Mengya lowered her voice so that only Yu An could hear her and vice versa.

Yu An was slightly taken aback. He wondered where he had given away the fact that the emperor was present.

“It’s not your fault. It’s really because my cousin had left the scent of the herb in the room. While any common people would not be able to detect the smell, nothing escapes my nose.”

Since they entered, the subtle fragrance of Cousin Chen’s expensive medicinal herbs had been lingering in the air.

Unfortunately, it had failed to escape Lin Mengya’s keen sense of smell.

It made sense after pondering over it. Cousin Chen had high regard for this competition. He had even sent his most trusted guard by his side to attend.

How could he be absent at such a critical moment?

Moreover, with Lin Mengya and Zuo Qiuyu in the limelight, Cousin Chen could very well keep a low profile while he attended this event without people finding out. Why would he grab this opportunity?

People had thought that at this moment, the emperor had stayed in Wangtian City because he was either feeling unwell or had caught a cold.

Who would have guessed that Zuo Qiuchen had arrived at the old capital early on?

For this reason, Yu An was not too surprised when this had been found out.

He simply smiled in admiration and said gently, “No wonder His Majesty said that while he could fool others, he would never be able to keep anything from you.”

“This way please, Your Highness,” continued Yu An.

The people outside the enclosed area had all been sent away earlier on.

Yu An led the way and they went deeper into the area on the second floor.

Although this place was supposedly set up by the people in the Pavilion of Herbs, Lin Mengya was curious when she saw that Yu An seemed very familiar with the surroundings.

Finally, they arrived at the innermost area. Yu An looked around with vigilance, then he gave three gentle knocks on the wall.

After a moment, someone from inside opened the door.

“I knew you will definitely come.”

Inside, Zuo Qiuchen, dressed like a nobleman, was smiling at Lin Mengya.

Lin Mengya did not stand on ceremony. After entering, she made herself comfortably by sitting down at where Zuo Qiuchen’s seat.

“What was your intention? Are you using Zuo Qiuyu and me as cannon fodder? If you don’t give me a satisfactory explanation today, don’t expect me to risk my life for you in the future.”

At the sight of Lin Mengya’s stubborn expression, Zuo Qiuchen smiled wryly.

He knew it was not easy to fool this cousin of his.

Immediately, he tried to humor her with the explanation, “Stop being angry, my dear cousin. I did not try to keep you in the dark intentionally. Isn’t it better for me to be protecting you secretly?”

Protect them in secret? Lin Mengya raised her eyebrows and glanced at him.

“What have you been doing trying to protect us? You just wanted us to take away all the attention from you, and that’s how I see it. You had this all planned out.”

Lin Mengya was obviously not convinced by his explanation.

Seeing there was no way of fooling Lin Mengya, he sighed quietly and said, “Actually, I couldn’t stop worrying about Qiuyu. What you’re not aware of is that there were deep grievances between him and those old men. If I did not come, I’m afraid he would ruin everything on impulse.”

Deep grievances? She did observe that Zuo Qiuyu was rather agitated when he saw the elders just now.

So that was the reason behind all these.

“What kind of deep grievances?”

Lin Mengya pressed further and a hardened look flashed across Zuo Qiuchen’s face.

Apparently, Zuo Qiuchen shared Zuo Qiuyu’s sentiment of hatred.

“Those four men had caused the death of Qiuyu’s master. In fact, he died trying to protect the two of us. If not for him, we won’t be alive today.”

Lin Mengya became speechless at Zuo Qiuchen’s words.

No wonder people rumored how there were many filthy and despicable things happening within the royal family. Today, she had learned something new again.