Lu Tong put on her veil and left the Bamboo Lodge. Yin Zheng came forward to meet her from outside.

She walked to Lu Tong’s side and whispered, “Miss, the bank notes have all been handed over to Master Cao.”

Lu Tong nodded, “Good.”

Master Cao of Kuaihuo House originally came from a ruffian background. Through some stroke of fortune, he managed to gain the patronage of a noble and was able to open a gambling house on Qinghe Street in the southern part of the city.

Master Cao had built his fortune by lending money at high interest rates in gambling houses, and he had always been bold. Now with a noble backing him, he was even more dismissive of others. When Lu Tong went to the gambling house that day, Master Cao had certainly noticed Yin Zheng’s cheating scheme. However, when Lu Tong handed over the two thousand tael bank notes that Yin Zheng had won to Master Cao, he became quite willing to help Lu Tong with this favor.

Master Cao only cared about money and paid no attention to the undercurrents of official business. Besides, how could anyone running a gambling house in the southern city not have powerful backing? Even if Wan Quan brought up the Ke family, Wan Fu was ultimately just a servant of the Ke household.

A mere servant – Master Cao truly didn’t take him seriously.

The information about Master Cao had come from Du Changqing during an idle chat at the medical shop earlier. He had been quite the wanderer before and knew all the brothels and gambling houses in the capital better than anyone. His casual mention of Master Cao had stuck in Lu Tong’s mind. So she had set up this trap to lure Wan Quan in.

Now that Master Cao had received such a large sum of money, he was happy to help Lu Tong detain Wan Quan as a favor, which saved Lu Tong quite a bit of trouble.

Seeing that the carriage they had called earlier had arrived, Yin Zheng quickly pulled Lu Tong aboard.

The carriage made several turns through the capital’s streets. After Lu Tong and Yin Zheng switched carriages several times and confirmed no one was following them, the two finally returned to the medical shop.

In the shop, Du Changqing was leaning against the medicine cabinet watching the rain. Seeing the two return, he barely lifted his eyelids and complained, “Doctor Lu, running out in heavy rain – aren’t you worried about getting your shoes wet?”

While putting away her umbrella, Yin Zheng glanced at him: “Well, fewer people are coming to buy medicinal tea these days anyway, Manager Du can handle it alone. I accompanied Miss for a walk to enjoy the capital’s rain scenery.”

Du Changqing chuckled a couple of times: “Quite refined, aren’t you? But if you want to appreciate the rain, why not go to Yuxian Tower in the southern city? That tower overlooks the river and willows. On rainy days, it’s all misty, and the river turns a deep green. It’s even better if you sit in a painted boat – have a boat girl play some music, drink some warm wine, order a plate of goose oil rolls… now that’s what I call life’s pleasure…”

He was lost in his reverie, but when he looked up, he found no one there. Only A-Cheng pointed to the inner room, winking at him: “They went inside.”

Du Changqing grumbled: “How rude, at least let someone finish speaking!”

At this moment, Lu Tong truly had no interest in listening to Du Changqing’s showing off.

Going past the small courtyard into the room, Yin Zheng helped Lu Tong remove her rain-soaked clothes and change into a plain gray silk gown, then took the wet clothes outside under the eaves to wash them.

Lu Tong sat down at the table.

Two wolf-hair brushes were inserted at an angle in the old bamboo brush holder on the table, with ink and brushes arranged by the window.

These were old items that Yin Zheng had found in the yellow wooden cabinet in the room, likely left behind by the previous occupant. Sometimes Yin Zheng would write by the window, with plum branches casting shadows and the moon keeping her company – quite an elegant scene.

Lu Tong rarely wrote.

Most of the time, she ground medicines in the courtyard, but today she sat at the table, took up paper and brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote the character “Ke.”

Her handwriting was quite different from Yin Zheng’s delicate formal script – not only was it not graceful, but rather wild and unrestrained.

Lu Tong stared at that “Ke” character, lost in thought.

Her father had been a teacher, and he had personally taught all three children in the family. Lu Rou’s writing was gentle and elegant, flowing gracefully. Lu Qian’s writing was strict and dignified, forceful and solemn. Only Lu Tong wrote carelessly, her emotions flowing freely onto the page.

Her father would always get furious at the calligraphy she submitted – the more he punished her, the more carelessly she wrote, and the more carelessly she wrote, the more he punished her. So Lu Qian secretly found a calligraphy copybook and secretly gave it to her, saying: “This is the copybook of the famous Master Cheng. His characters are strange and unusual, aiming for novelty – it suits you better than other copybooks. Practice well, stop writing carelessly, so Father won’t scold you all day, it’s tiresome to hear.”

Lu Tong flipped through the copybook and found it truly suited her taste, so she practiced from it over and over until it was almost worn out. Only later did she learn that the copybook was very expensive, costing a whole tael of silver. Lu Qian had spent half a year copying manuscripts for wealthy classmates to save up money to buy this copybook.

Lu Tong gazed at the black characters on white paper.

That copybook had long since been lost somewhere, but now as she wrote, her style was still the same as back then.

She silently looked at it for a while, then picked up the brush again and added “Imperial Tutor Qi” and “Criminal Review Court” after the “Ke” character.

Today when she met Wan Fu, although he had concealed some things, the outline of the whole matter was already very clear.

In the third month after the Awakening of Insects in the 37th year of Yongchang, Lu Rou was unfortunately violated by the Imperial Tutor’s son at Fengle Tower.

The Ke family, fearing the Imperial Tutor’s power, suppressed the matter. For the sake of advancement, they even became accomplices, locking Lu Rou in the house and slandering her as having gone mad.

But Lu Rou was not one to submit to adversity. Having suffered such a disaster, she was determined to seek justice no matter what and refused to be imprisoned in the Ke mansion as a madwoman, so she wrote a letter to Lu Qian in Changwu County asking for help.

Somehow Ke Chengxing learned of Lu Rou’s letter, and at the same time, the Ke family discovered Lu Rou was pregnant. In June of the same year, people from the Imperial Tutor’s mansion pressured the Ke family, so the Ke family – or rather, Ke Chengxing – killed Lu Rou to silence her. Otherwise, there was no way to explain why the day after people came from the Imperial Tutor’s mansion, Lu Rou drowned herself, and shortly after Lu Rou’s death, the Ke family’s porcelain business gained the favor of the Imperial Tutor’s mansion.

All these actions seemed more like the Imperial Tutor’s mansion using threats and bribes, exchanging Lu Rou’s life for the Ke family’s prosperity.

Shortly after Lu Rou’s death, Lu Qian came to the capital, first questioning the Ke family about Lu Rou’s death, and soon after, Lu Qian was imprisoned, with Judge Fan of the Criminal Review Court condemning him.

Lu Tong drew a heavy circle around the three characters for “Criminal Review Court.”

Lu Qian must have discovered something, otherwise he wouldn’t have inexplicably ended up with such a charge. It looked exactly as if because of Lu Qian’s actions, their father and mother were implicated as well.

The clues Lu Qian discovered must have been very important…

Lu Tong gripped the brush tightly.

The people of Changwu County said Lu Qian received news of Lu Rou’s death in March, but she was still alive then. Who had bribed – or rather, misled – the neighbors in Changwu County, and who had such great influence?

Could the Imperial Tutor’s mansion alone really cover up everything like this?

A cold light flashed in Lu Tong’s eyes.

Yin Zheng finished washing and hanging the clothes, then came in from outside. Seeing the characters Lu Tong had written on the paper, she paused slightly. After hesitating for a moment, Yin Zheng finally spoke: “Miss met the Ke family’s servant today if he’s willing to work for Miss…”

“…Does Miss plan to uncover the truth and clear the Lu family’s name?”

“Clear our name?” Lu Tong gazed out the window, muttering to herself.

The season was approaching summer, and with today’s rain, the sky wasn’t as clear as usual. Black clouds rolled like ink, with light thunder rumbling.

She looked up, her dark cold eyes reflecting the thick clouds, a flash of killing intent passing through them.

What was the point of clearing their name?

What use was the truth?

Lu Rou had been defiled, and unwilling to submit, she desperately sought justice, only to end up drowned in a cold pool, her spirit scattered to the wind.

Lu Qian, heartbroken over his elder sister and filled with righteousness, personally searched for evidence despite the world’s coldness, only to end up with his reputation destroyed, unable to reveal the truth to the world even in death.

Her parents, who had been good people all their lives, met with such a tragic end, their entire family line cut off.

Would finding the truth clear their names?

Even if their names were cleared, would those people receive karmic retribution?

Since Imperial Tutor Qi could buy off the Ke family and the Criminal Review Court, perhaps in the future he could buy off the Grand Court of Justice as well, or perhaps he was related to the imperial family – even if the truth came to light, with imperial protection, he wouldn’t face the death penalty. He might be imprisoned for three to five years and then released, picked up heavily but put down lightly.

But the four lives of her Lu family would never return.

Why?

Why should the lives of officials be noble while common people’s lives are worthless?

Why could they kill a family of four and act as if nothing had happened?

Lu Tong said: “No, I don’t plan to clear our name.”

Yin Zheng looked at her in surprise.

The young woman’s figure was slight, her black hair slightly damp on her shoulders, before the cold wind and fine rain like a rain-soaked wisp of cloud, hazy and easily dispersed.

She lowered her head, staring at the wild cursive characters on the white paper, slowly reached out to crumple the paper, then placed it before the lamp to burn.

The white paper turned to ash in an instant and then was blown away by the wind.

“My sister is already dead.”

Lu Tong murmured: “I want him to accompany her in death.”