Chapter 262: Regretting the Past (Fourth Update)

Chu Liuyue focused her gaze.

A pale-faced youth stood there. Before him, the flames of his medicinal tripod had died out, leaving nothing but a handful of black ash inside.

The voice from moments ago had come from within.

It turned out he had failed the alchemy process.

Judging by his clothes, he was from Taiyan Academy.

The presiding judge beside him reminded him

"You have one last chance."

Only then did the youth snap out of it. He nodded mechanically and hurriedly cleaned out the tripod, picking up the second set of medicinal ingredients to begin his second attempt.

But perhaps because the first failure had made him increasingly nervous, his hands were trembling as he held the ingredients.

The presiding judge shook his head secretly.

Some of the onlookers below also sighed one after another.

They had seen this situation many times before.

The competition on stage was already intense; failing the first attempt was a massive blow.

Many students with insufficient mental fortitude would quickly lose confidence and wither after their first failure, leading to consecutive failures in their second attempts.

Sure enough, before long, the youth became muddled and picked up the ingredients in the wrong order. By the time he realized it, he was frantically trying to remove them.

This sudden movement caused the flames in the tripod to lose control, and they extinguished once again!

That batch of incompletely refined medicinal ingredients was wasted just like that.

The presiding judge wore an expression of "as expected" and shook his head.

"Number thirty-seven, eliminated!"

Hearing this, the youth shuddered. Deep frustration surfaced in his eyes, and he walked off the stage with lifeless steps.

"Is this the first person to be eliminated in this year's Heavenly Physician Competition?"

"I really didn't expect his second performance to be even worse than his first! At least he had refined the ingredients before; it was just a problem during the fusion stage!"

"He was probably too nervous... Never mind them, my heart was in my throat just watching!"

"It's still a lack of talent and strength! Look at Situ Xingchen; from the moment she stepped on stage until now, she has been calm and composed! Although this is her first time participating in the Qingjiao Assembly, her alchemy techniques seem much more fluid than the others!"

"After all, she is the beloved Eldest Princess of the Xingluo Kingdom. Her reputation truly lives up to its name..."

Situ Xingchen was determined to take first place this time, so from the very beginning, she had chosen the most difficult prescription without hesitation.

Because of this, the amount of medicinal ingredients laid out beside her was several times that of the others.

While others who had chosen "medium" or "low" difficulty prescriptions had already begun attempting fusion, she was still processing her ingredients in an orderly fashion.

Gradually, more and more people began to be eliminated.

As time passed, the number of people eliminated on stage increased.

By noon, only half remained.

Chu Liuyue had been waiting for that person to appear, but since that single glance, the other party had not made any further move.

She felt a hint of regret in her heart, but she did not give up, remaining vigilant and waiting.

Since the other party had come here, they must have an ulterior motive.

With so many people at the Qingjiao Assembly right now, it wasn't a good time to act. Perhaps after it ended...

Emperor Jiawen watched the competition on stage and smiled

"Situ Xingchen is indeed outstanding. When I saw her a few years ago, she was just a little girl, but now she has blossomed into a graceful young lady."

Whether in terms of appearance or talent, she was extremely exceptional.

Seeing Emperor Jiawen's expression and realizing he truly liked Situ Xingchen, the Empress smiled and played along

"Your Majesty is absolutely right. A woman like Situ Xingchen is indeed a rare find. I heard she hasn't even been engaged yet?"

Emperor Jiawen laughed loudly

"Indeed! Her father dotes on her greatly and is reluctant to let her marry, always saying he wants to keep her for a few more years. However..."

However, when the two of them had corresponded previously, Situ Xingchen's father—the current Emperor Jingkang of the Xingluo Kingdom, Situ You—had actually taken the initiative to mention the matter of a political marriage.

As for the object of this marriage, it was none other than the Crown Prince, Rong Jin!

Not many people knew this news; Situ You seemed to have mentioned it only in passing.

But as a monarch, his words were law; how could he joke about such a matter?

Emperor Jiawen knew very well that Situ You was testing his attitude.

He was naturally very satisfied with Situ Xingchen, but he did not know why Situ You would make such a proposal.

In the Xingluo Kingdom, Situ Xingchen could choose a satisfactory husband for herself; why insist on a political marriage?

And why choose Rong Jin?

The Empress naturally knew what he was considering.

The Emperor had once mentioned it to her in passing, and at the time, she hadn't taken it to heart.

But thinking about it now, it was an excellent choice—at least better than Chu Liuyue!

If His Majesty were to bestow a marriage, it would be difficult for Rong Jin to resist.

Not to mention, the other party was the Eldest Princess of the Xingluo Kingdom!

She spoke as if joking

"I wonder who will have such good fortune in the future to marry this Eldest Princess."

Emperor Jiawen fell into thought.

Rong Jin frowned inwardly.

In truth, he had heard some news from his mother before and had once entertained the idea.

But that was before he had angered his father.

He had faced consecutive setbacks during this period and thought there was no longer any hope, but looking at it now, it seemed his father had not completely rejected it.

But—the candidate for Crown Princess in his heart was already set: Chu Liuyue!

If it were the old him, he would have been very willing to enter a political marriage with Situ Xingchen.

Who wouldn't want to marry such a perfect Crown Princess?

But now, his heart held only Chu Liuyue, and he would not be willing to change her for anyone else.

He coughed, seemingly speaking casually to Rong Qi, who was sitting beside him

"I heard that in the competitions of the past two days, Chu Liuyue took first place in all of them?"

Rong Qi was stunned.

Didn't his eldest brother always hate Chu Liuyue the most? Why was he bringing her up now?

His mind raced, and he suddenly remembered rumors circulating these past two days that the Crown Prince's attitude toward Chu Liuyue had changed, and that he had even publicly invited her.

However, she had rejected him.

Based on his understanding of him, he shouldn't have any further dealings with Chu Liuyue...

Rong Qi nodded

"It seems so. It's just that I wasn't here the last few days, so I don't know the specific details. But... Imperial Brother, why did you suddenly mention her? Weren't you always..."

Rong Jin smiled.

"She did save this Palace once before; I haven't had the chance to thank her in person yet."

Rong Qi felt increasingly strange, sensing that Rong Jin's expression was somewhat subtle when speaking of Chu Liuyue.

Hearing this, Emperor Jiawen turned his head to glance at him.

Rong Jin was actually speaking up for Chu Liuyue?

It seemed the events of this period had indeed changed him quite a bit.

"That child Liuyue is indeed very good."

Rong Jin nodded and gave a bitter smile.

"What Father says is true. In the past, your son lacked vision, and thus missed the opportunity. Now, your son..."