Chapter 518 Du Zhong Dies

“Fine. If we succeed this time, you can have all the credit!”

Lin Mengya smiled faintly. It did seem that it was a good job done.

Soon, the door to the cold storage was opened by Yu An.

Cold air came onto them from the dark opening.

Lin Mengya instinctively shuddered, but a pair of huge hands instantly pulled her into an embrace.

Long Tianyu had folded her into his arms and warded off all the chill for her.

Yu An and Zuo Qiuyu must have gotten used to this sight.

Apart from giving a snort of contempt, the two would pretend that they saw nothing whenever Tianyu and Lin Mengya displayed their love.

“It’s alright. Let’s go in.”

With Lin Mengya leading the way, they entered the cold storage.

The moment they entered the cold storage, they were greeted with the special fragrance of fruits and vegetables.

When they lit up the kerosene lamp at the door, the inside of the cold storage was clearly visible to them.

Although the weather of the Nation of Lintian was like spring all year round, it was not the best time to harvest fruits and vegetables at this moment.

Not to mention the common vegetables and fruits in the cold storage of the Pavilion of Herbs, favorites such as watermelon and lychee were always freshly available.

There were crates containing rare but fresh vegetables and fruits. People here enjoyed a better life than Zuo Qiuchen, their emperor!

It was no wonder that Yu An had discovered this place earlier. Why not enjoy it while they could?

Yu An gave an indication to them and stayed outside as a lookout.

While Lin Mengya, Long Tianyu, and Zuo Qiuyu proceeded into the innermost part of the cold storage.

“I’ve prepared the gold wires as well as the wooden bucket with water, as you requested. What do we do now?”

Zuo Qiuyu placed the items in front of Lin Mengya. To their surprise, Lin Mengya immediately tossed that box with an abstruse secret into the water.

“My dear, if the contents of the box get wet, it will be the death of me!”

Now Zuo Qiuyu got anxious. To their surprise again, Lin Mengya waved her small hand, took a wooden bowl, and gently poured water into the keyhole of the box.

“Be patient. She knows what she’s doing.”

It was a rare sight that Long Tianyu opened his mouth to comfort Zuo Qiuyu. In reality, he merely did not want this clamorous guy to interrupt Lin Mengya.

They saw that apart from pouring water into the keyhole, Lin Mengya had also inserted the malleable gold wire into it.

The gold wire was malleable but tough. The strange thing was that it had slipped smoothly into the keyhole as Lin Mengya poured the water in.

The sound of water being poured into the keyhole was the only sound in the cold storage. Three pairs of eyes were fixed on the box with an abstruse secret.

“Okay, it’s done. Now, put it into the water. Now we just have to remember to come back after four hours.”

Lin Mengya made sure the gold wire came out from the other side before putting the box into the wooden bucket.

After that, Lin Mengya, together with Long Tianyu and Zuo Qiuyu, quietly exited from the cold storage.

“Are we done here? My dear cousin, are we being too careless and sloppy?”

By now, Zuo Qiuyu’s mind was filled with question marks.

Although that box was surely ingenious, they could not be sure that it would not get wet after being left in the water.

“Trust me. I’ll help you get out its contents.”

Lin Mengya shot him a look of indifference as she sounded as if she already had a plan.

The three of them sneaked back to the courtyard where they were living.

Once they were back there, Lin Mengya blurted out that she was exhausted, and she went to bed in her room. Long Tianyu and Zuo Qiuyu were left there, looking at each other. Unfortunately, neither of them knew what Lin Mengya’s plan was.

“Princess, Princess! Someone had sneaked into the cold storage!”

Not even two hours had passed, and Yu An had come to Lin Mengya’s room quietly to make a report to her.

Lin Mengya woke up from her pretending to sleep. Her eyes were filled with vigor – she did not appear to be sleeping at all.

“Let’s go and have a look.”

The four of them cautiously came to the entrance of the cold storage.

By now, there was a cunning smile on Lin Mengya, which seemed to say that her clever plan had worked.

Yu An opened the door, and when he entered, he immediately saw a body lying on the floor.

Lin Mengya felt for his pulse and concluded that the person had just breathed his last.

When she turned him over, they realized that this person who did not close his eyes when he died was precisely Du Zhong, who had been spying on them.

Lin Mengya could tell from the beginning that this guy was going to bring them harm. Little did she expect him to pass away at this place. Nevertheless, he had only himself to blame.

His eyes were wide open, so he must have been struggling in pain before he died. Even his facial features were distorted. Without an autopsy, Lin Mengya could already tell the cause of his death.

It did not take the three much effort to find the box with an abstruse secret. However, by now, the box had been opened, exposing an exquisite-looking key.

Lin Mengya immediately reached out to take it, but Long Tianyu thought it might be dangerous to do that. To his surprise, Lin Mengya shook her head and took hold of the key.

The hidden mechanism of the box, which they expected, did not work. On the other hand, Lin Mengya thought that the material with which the key was made of was very strange.

“Don’t worry. All the poisonous darts had gone onto Du Zhong’s body. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have died such a terrible death.”

As Lin Mengya handed the key to Zuo Qiuyu, she gazed with pity at Du Zhong, who was lying on the floor.

This box with an abstruse secret had the most remarkable anti-theft system.

She had used the gold wire and icy cold water in order to freeze its contents. Otherwise, when the box was opened, numberless thin, poisonous needles and pins would be released, and no one would be able to dodge them.

Moreover, the mechanism of the box was so intelligent. In the absence of the key, one had to use a gold wire to hold it and freezing cold water to freeze around the keyhole to produce a frozen key temporarily.

For this reason, this box with an abstruse secret would kill whoever opened it with a usual key.

This solution was recorded in the music score for the green stringed instrument, and this was where Lin Mengya got the idea from.

“Senior Du Zhong! Senior Du Zhong! What happened to you? Will someone come? There’s a murder!”

Suddenly, a shrieky voice sounded.

As Lin Mengya and her company regained their composure, they saw the shadow of a figure fleeing out of the entrance.

They quickly pursued him but realized that Yu An, who was guarding by the entrance, had fallen by its side.

Fortunately, he had merely fainted from a blow. His life was not in danger.

“I didn’t expect them to use a series of stratagems.”

An extremely intelligent and witty Lin Mengya could make out seventy to eighty percent of what was going on.

They had given this box to Cousin Yu for purpose.

She already mentioned that it was not possible for those people to hand over something so precious to Zuo Qiuyu.

So they had intended to get somebody else to do their dirty work of killing!

If they had managed to open the box, Zuo Qiuyu would have hardly survived. In that case, the content of this box would then go to them.

How vicious they were! These people truly refused to give up their evil designs!

The man, who was apparently a disciple, went around screaming, and soon, people started gathering in the surrounding.

Among the people, some men who wanted to look as if they were protecting the crime scene surrounded the four of them.

However, Lin Mengya did not plan to turn hostile, nor did she plan to refute. What she did instead was to wake Yu An, who had fallen onto the ground.

“Ouch… my head… Your Highness, you…”

Yu An caressed his head and was about to give them words of warning.

However, he was somewhat confused when he saw the crowd gazing at them.

Lin Mengya shook her head at him. Being a quick-witted man, Yu An stopped asking questions immediately.

“Du Zhong! Du Zhong! My dear disciple, what happened that turn you into this state?!”

Before Qian Yuming even stepped into the place, he started wailing.

However, he was merely making a lot of noise but did not enter. To him, Du Zhong was merely a scapegoat.

To Qian Yuming’s surprise, when he was nearing the cold storage, a composed Lin Mengya came up to him and blocked his way.

Qian Yuming glared at Lin Mengya, at daggers drawn, as if he was going to devour her.

“What do you mean, Your Highness?”

Du Zhong had died a quick death; however, Yu An, who was always cautious, had locked the cold storage before leaving.

Moreover, Yu An had used a lock that he brought along.

For this reason, there would surely be evidence that no one could tamper with yet.

Also, the man who had given Yu An a blow and made him unconscious had not dared go near Du Zhong because of the presence of Zuo Qiuyu and Long Tianyu, who were highly skilled in martial arts.

However, Qian Yuming wanted to break in the moment he arrived. Lin Mengya found this to be highly suspicious.

Nimbly, she moved in front of Qian Yuming to block his way. Her words implied that she was not going to give way to him.

“Elder Qian, I see that you’ve lost your beloved disciple. To prevent anyone tampering with evidence, let each of us send two men to help bring your disciple’s body out here. What do you say?”

Lin Mengya’s suggestion alarmed Qian Yuming.

Could she have seen through him?

Yet he changed his mind as he did not believe that Lin Mengya could not possibly be so intelligent.

He conveniently pointed to two of his men, who quickly moved forward, wanting to enter.

“Hey, I just remembered that your disciple had died from being poisoned. What a mistake it would be if these two disciples of yours were to come into contact with the poison? From my perspective, I think it would be better to send—those two!”

Qian Yuming would never have expected this lass to be so cunning.

She had just tricked him into appointing his most trusted disciples.

In the next moment, however, she seemed to change her mind and conveniently pointed out two others.

Immediately, Qian Yuming’s face fell.

Having spent so many years in the Pavilion of Herbs, Qian Yuming had never been toyed with by a woman!

“Your Highness, are you trying to play tricks on me? The man who died was my disciple! I tried hard to keep myself from revenging and did not require you to pay me back with your life! Please think carefully before you act, Your Highness!”

Had he resorted to threats when negotiation did not work?

Lin Mengya was no pushover. She was fearless when faced with Qian Yuming. She simply responded to him with an innocent look on her face.

“Your disciple had died of poisoning. Moreover, he had been struck by the poisonous needles and pins from the box with an abstruse secret. He was even holding in his hand a key for unlocking the box! From my understanding, this box supposedly belonged to my cousin, Prince Shen. It was given to him as an item for the competition. Did you teach your disciple to defraud in the midst of the competition? I suppose you couldn’t have done that, right?”

Just when Lin Mengya was speaking, Nan Rui, Duan Muyang, Duan Muyin, and Chang Tianhua arrived.