The moment they started discussing the serious matter, a frown appeared on Xiu’s forehead.

She stole an awkward glance at Lin Mengya.

“Why? Is this too difficult for you to do? It’s alright, I know this is not an urgent matter anyway. If you find it too much to handle, we’ll talk about it another time.”

Lin Mengya said with an understanding tone, but Xiu kept shaking her head. She was afraid that Lin Mengya had misunderstood her.

“It’s not that. In fact, I had only picked up this piece of information by accident. Opium poppy may be a harmful substance to you in your perspective, but back where we’re from, opium poppy can also be a very useful medicine in saving people’s lives. I hope you won’t hate us for that.”

Lin Mengya could not help laughing when noted how cautious Xiu sounded.

Lin Mengya might be a modern-day medical student, she had become a disciple under the tutelage of Baili Rui, the supreme pharmacist.

She could be said to have come into contact with many types of drugs that were much more poisonous than the opium poppy.

It ought to be that Xiu had heard some rumors and misunderstood that she would disapprove of Xiu because of the opium poppy.

Such a simple, innocent girl was hard to come by.

“What you said is right. Poppy in itself is not harmful if used correctly. It is effective as a painkiller and antidiarrheal. However, it becomes a poisonous drug when used to bring harm to others. The most frightening thing about it was the heart of man, not the opium poppy itself. Am I right?”

At Lin Mengya’s gentle words, Xiu felt as if she had found a like-minded friend.

She quickly nodded then held on to Lin Mengya’s hand as she started pouring out her heart.

“You said it rightly, Elder Sister. Back in my hometown, the poppy is medicine. However, when I followed my uncle and went around different countries with his group of businessmen, there were quite a number of people who cursed my uncle and me. At first, I was indignant because I didn’t understand why these people had to speak mean words to us when we were just foreigners. It was only later on that I realized that many families were destroyed because of the opium poppy. Although opium poppy was produced in various countries, it was only legal to trade it in the Nation of Lieyun, so they hated us for this reason. However, are we really at fault, Elder Sister?”

Xiu poured out all the doubts and grievances to Lin Mengya.

Lin Mengya was slightly taken aback and was at a loss for words.

Just as Xiu mentioned, be it opium poppy or other drugs, they were not meant to bring harm to people in the first place.

It was because once people got to know their effects, all kinds of vices emerged.

Lin Mengya caressed Xiu’s hair as she tried to use her own understanding to get rid of the doubts in Xiu’s heart.

“The most terrifying thing in this world is not drugs, but the hearts of men. However, everyone has their own way of thinking. We can’t possibly control what people think, we can only do the best we can base on our guilty conscience.”

Xiu gazed at Lin Mengya, having a hazy notion of what was going on, but finally nodded slightly.

Although she did not fully understand the princess’s message, she trusted that whatever she said was right.

At this thought, her mood lightened, and was no longer as unhappy as a moment ago.

Holding Lin Mengya’s hand, she began narrating what she heard and saw in the Nation of Lintian in the last few days.

“Oh yes, Elder Sister, I saw Sumei in the streets a few days. She did not look very well. In fact, she looked rather pale. It was as if she was injured.”

At Xiu’s words, Lin Mengya immediately perked up.

Injured? She did not think so.

Had Sumei not met up with her elder sister already? If those men were supposedly her backing, logically, they would not lay a finger on her.

“Did you see wrongly? Are you sure it’s her?”

Xiu opened her eyes wide as she tried hard to recall what she saw. Finally, with conviction, she said, “I couldn’t have been wrong. It was her. I’m just not certain if she was injured. At the appointed time, the poisonous bugs on my body that sucks my blood were stirred up when I spotted her.”

“Although the menstrual discharge is considered part of a woman’s blood, my poisonous bug shouldn’t be stirred up because of that. That’s why I felt that she must have been injured. Moreover, when I see how pale her face was, I deduced that she must have sustained some serious outer injuries. What was strange was that her movements did not seem to be affected. Don’t you think it’s strange?”

Given Xiu was a witty girl, she always made careful observations.

Lin Mengya went into deep thought at Xiu’s descriptions.

Sumei might not be some leaders among those people, she would at least be considered a member of their community.

Now that she had gone to seek refuge but ended up suffering serious external injuries. On top of that, whatever injury she was suffering did not affect her movement.

This was rather bizarre.

“Are you certain that it was the scent of blood that stirred your poisonous bug?”

Xiu was carrying with her around thirty species of poisonous bugs and drugs.

She surely had a way about handling them so that she would not be harmed by them.

Among them, there were three to five species of bugs that loved ingesting fresh blood.

If Xiu claimed that the poisonous bug had sensed it, there should not be any mistake about it.

“Hrm, I’m certain. Later on, I only managed to calm the little bug down by feeding it some blood.”

Lin Mengya had no doubts about what Xiu said.

Muttering to herself, Lin Mengya had the feeling that this was an important piece of information.

“Let’s find out from the others regarding this matter. I have a feeling that Sumei was not as simple as she appeared to be.”

Fortunately, Long Tianyu and the others were in the reception room.

Xiu narrated to the other two what she had seen and heard using only a few phrases.

Instantly, the four of them became silent.

“I wonder if maybe Sumei is not injured at all and the blood on her body was someone else’s.”

Lin Mengya massaged her forehead and said faintly.

This answer made the most sense out of all their conjectures.

Long Tianyu looked at Lin Mengya and nodded to her slightly, saying, “That’s a possibility, but according to Xiu, the blood had to be fresh blood to stir up the poisonous bug. If it’s just a little bit of blood, I don’t think the poisonous bug would be able to sense it.”

Turning to Xiu, Long Tianyu said, “Xiu, did you smell the strong scent of blood from her body?”

Xiu thought for a moment, then shook her head slightly.

She was rather sensitive to the scent of blood, though her nose was not as sensitive as that of Lin Mengya’s, she was above average compare to other people.

At some point, if the blood was of a certain concentration, it would be impossible to cover up its scent.

Now, their deduction did not sound logical again.

They were just about to get things into shape when their lead got cut off again.

All four of them began thinking hard. Lin Mengya, who was sitting down, coincidentally spotted a bronze mirror at the window which was used as a decoration.

All of a sudden, she had a brainwave.

“Xiu, when you saw Sumei, was her skin color snow-white. Did she look like she was in a daze, and did not look well?”

Suddenly, Lin Mengya popped a question and grabbed onto Xiu’s hand. Xiu pondered carefully and replied with an amazed tone.

“That’s right, that was the case! I still remember that she was wearing a blood-red robe that day and her complexion was so fair that she didn’t look normal!”

Perhaps it was as Lin Mengya had guessed.

“What do you think, my dear cousin?”

Zuo Qiuyu could no longer hold back but blurted out the question when he observed how Lin Mengya’s face had fallen.

The expression on her face was rather odd. There was a combination of pain as well as disgust.

“If I guessed correctly, those men had captured young girls not only to groom and then trade them. More likely, there are other crueler uses. For example, they may be using the blood of young girls to maintain beauty.”

Once she spoke her mind, not only Xiu, but Zuo Qiuyu and Long Tianyu felt a chill on their head.

“I don’t think so… Moreover, the idea of using blood to keep one youthful was only a fantasy.”

Zuo Qiuyu commented, sounding apprehensive. One only heard such crooked practices in stories.

They did not expect Lin Mengya to make such a wild guess.

“The function of human blood is not as simple as it seems. Like what Xiu said, if the blood used for bathing had come from young girls who were constantly nourished with tonics and medicine, the strong scent of blood might be suppressed. However, the poisonous bugs on Xiu’s body had stirred not because of the scent.”

If they were to go even deeper, if those medicines had been digested and transformed by the human body, it would possibly be more effective than if one were to simply ingest them.

It was the logic when she heard about how people use Chinese medicine to feed chicken and pigs in modern times.

However, in this case, the animals had been replaced by human beings. For this reason, it was giving them creeps just thinking about it.

“Sumei was only a pawn. Did she need to make such a great sacrifice?”

Zuo Qiuyu had found this method frightening and it made his hair bristled up with anger.

Nevertheless, he did not think that a pawn like Sumei would be treated this way.

“Don’t forget that Sumei had badly wanted to be Long Tianyu’s woman. Moreover, she thinks herself to be very beautiful and had been with us for a long time. I’m certain she would surprise us the next time we meet up. She could well use this to test if the method she was using was effective.”

There was a sparkle in Lin Mengya’s eyes and the rest of them thought she had made an educated guess for some reason.

This method had been tested and proven before by others.

She remembered that there was once a rich lady who had been given the name “Bloody Mary” because she used the blood of young girls to wash her aging body.

It was said that the lady was as beautiful as an adolescent girl when she was in fact fifty or sixty years old.

Although there was surely some parts of the story that was fabricated, there was no shortage of such abnormal and bloody incidents since time past.

If this truly was the case, the person behind Sumei was surely planning some large scale conspiracy.

What on earth was this about?