The pavilion was surrounded by people watching the excitement. This woman was dressed luxuriously and acted aggressively, clearly having considerable status and background.

The numerous guards and servants around her, especially the tall guard at the front, looked very familiar. Lu Tong remembered that yesterday when she and Yin Zheng climbed the mountain, they had been pushed aside at the temple gate by a canopied carriage that seized the right of way. At that time, the carriage driver had been arrogant and domineering, loudly berating them from the front—he was the same person as the guard before her now.

The woman before her must be the owner of that carriage.

Lu Tong looked at this aggressive group of master and servants and spoke calmly: “Your son originally has chronic lung asthma. I don’t know what he inhaled, but it caused his lung’s dispersing and descending functions to become disordered, resulting in rapid breathing and qi stagnation in the upper burner. If not promptly nourished with acquired essence, I fear for his life.”

Yin Zheng also chimed in: “Exactly. Just now, if our miss hadn’t treated him in time, your young master would have been unable to breathe.”

Upon hearing this, the woman became so angry her face turned ashen: “Complete nonsense!”

“My son is perfectly fine—what chronic illness? You lowly commoner, how dare you spout such nonsense here, slandering my son’s reputation. Sheng Quan!” Without thinking, she ordered the guard beside her: “This woman is spouting lies here and has made my son into this condition. Seize her and send her to the authorities. Give her dozens of beatings to see if she still dares to speak nonsense!”

Upon hearing this, the guard immediately moved to grab Lu Tong without a word. However, before he could touch Lu Tong, a hand gripped his arm.

The hand gripping his arm was slender, pale, and well-defined, yet seemed to contain infinite strength. Only the crisp sounds of “crack crack” as joints pressed against each other could be heard, making even this tall guard show an expression of pain.

The young man said with a half-smile: “I never knew when the Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments gained such airs?”

One sentence caused the woman’s expression to change.

Lu Tong looked toward Pei Yunying. Pei Yunying released his grip, and the guard suddenly gained freedom. Still unwilling, he was about to grit his teeth and step forward again.

Only a “swoosh” was heard.

A snow-bright long blade was unsheathed, half exposed outside with murderous intent, half hidden in the black scabbard gleaming coldly, just like the cold smile on his face.

Pei Yunying stood beside Lu Tong, one hand pressing the unsheathed sword at his waist, his smile fading: “Who wants to make a move?”

Seeing this, Xiao Zhufeng and Duan Xiaoyan also stepped forward to block in front of Pei Yunying. Duan Xiaoyan said: “How bold, to dare show disrespect to the heir!”

“Heir?” The woman was slightly stunned.

Duan Xiaoyan removed his waist token and walked to the woman, making sure she could see clearly: “Does Madam perhaps want to bind our heir as well?”

The woman first seemed somewhat unconvinced, as if suspecting Duan Xiaoyan was deceiving her. After seeing the characters on the waist token clearly, her expression immediately became somewhat stiff. Looking at Pei Yunying again, her gaze secretly contained some fear as she said: “So it’s Palace Commander Pei.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Tong’s heart stirred.

The other party first called him “Palace Commander Pei” rather than “heir,” suggesting that Pei Yunying’s identity as heir of Duke Zhaoning was less impressive than his title as Commander of the Palace Command.

Looking at this woman’s expression again… could this Master Pei have done something during his tenure that made people fear him?

The woman smiled: “My husband previously mentioned to me that Palace Commander Pei is young and accomplished, handsome and talented. Seeing you today, it’s truly well-deserved.” She stiffly greeted Pei Yunying verbally, but her gaze looked somewhat anxiously at her son being helped up by servants.

Pei Yunying smiled and sheathed his sword, looking at her lightly: “I dare not accept such praise.”

He actually didn’t accept her overture.

The woman looked at Lu Tong again, perhaps guessing at the relationship between Lu Tong and Pei Yunying. After hesitating, she gritted her teeth and said: “Just now I was anxious and misunderstood this young lady in my words. I hope the young lady won’t take it to heart.”

Lu Tong lowered her eyes: “No matter.”

Just as they were speaking, the young master being supported by servants began gasping heavily again, his expression extremely painful. Seeing this, the woman’s face changed, and she could no longer care about Lu Tong and Pei Yunying, directly embracing the little master in her arms, so anxious tears nearly fell: “Lin’er!”

She urged the maid beside her: “Did you go fetch a doctor?”

The maid shook her head, also anxious: “The temple doctor went down the mountain and hasn’t returned yet.” Then suddenly lowered her voice: “Young master’s attack today came suddenly, and it seems even more severe than usual. What should we do?”

Lu Tong saw that in their panic, they had knocked out all the golden needles she had inserted into the patient’s body, her expression pausing slightly.

Pei Yunying glanced at her and suddenly addressed the woman: “It seems your son is in very bad condition right now. Why not invite a doctor to take a look?”

Upon hearing this, the woman finally couldn’t even squeeze out a forced smile, only weeping: “Where is there a doctor on this mountain…”

Pei Yunying chuckled lightly: “Isn’t there one standing right before you?”

Upon these words, both the woman and Lu Tong were stunned.

Pei Yunying’s lips curved in a smile as he spoke slowly: “This Miss Lu is the resident doctor of Renxin Medical Hall. The ‘Spring Water Life’ that was popular in the capital recently came from her hands. Madam Dong,” he called her familiarly, “Doctor Lu just saved Young Master Dong once. As long as she’s willing, she can save him a second time.”

Lu Tong was stunned and instinctively looked at Pei Yunying.

How did he know that “Spring Water Life” was made by her?

Over there, upon hearing this, Madam Dong cast her gaze toward Lu Tong, her expression still somewhat doubtful.

She hadn’t seen Lu Tong save Dong Lin earlier, so she didn’t know what skills this person actually possessed. But she was so young, and a girl at that…

Dong Lin in her arms frowned tightly, moaning in pain, his breathing weak.

Madam Dong’s expression changed several times. Right now there was no other doctor, and waiting for someone to come up the mountain would be too late. Since Pei Yunying vouched for her, this woman couldn’t be a fraud. At this point, she could only treat a dead horse as if it were alive.

Her heart hardened, and she turned to look at Lu Tong, sincerely pleading: “I beg Doctor Lu to save my son. As long as Doctor Lu can save my son’s life, the Dong family will certainly offer substantial gold in gratitude!” Saying this, she was about to bow down.

A pair of hands supported her arms, preventing Madam Dong from bowing.

Lu Tong said calmly: “Madam need not be so polite. For one who practices medicine, saving people is duty.”

Madam Dong looked at her, forcibly suppressing her fear of Pei Yunying while raising her neck and saying coldly: “But if you’re just a charlatan who harms my son and delays his treatment…”

The threatening intent in her words was fully displayed.

Lu Tong said nothing, silently agreeing. She picked up the fallen golden needles, and turning around, met Pei Yunying’s half-smiling gaze.

He raised an eyebrow, slightly leaning down to ask her in a low voice: “Can Doctor Lu cure him?”

The young man was very tall. Lu Tong was enveloped in his shadow—an extremely intimate posture. She imperceptibly distanced herself from him slightly and said: “I’ll do my best.”

He nodded and said seriously: “Then Doctor Lu must treat him well, otherwise if problems arise, even I will be implicated.” Though he said this, his eyebrows and eyes were full of smiles, his tone relaxed without worry, clearly not taking this matter to heart.

Lu Tong said no more and walked to the young man, having the servants support him properly. She cleaned the golden needles and began inserting them into him again.

The crowd of onlookers around had all been driven away by the Dong family servants, leaving only Xiao Zhufeng, Duan Xiaoyan, and a few others.

Madam Dong watched Lu Tong’s movements with extreme nervousness, secretly breaking into a cold sweat. In comparison, Yin Zheng was much more relaxed.

Seeing this, Duan Xiaoyan quietly moved next to Yin Zheng and spoke familiarly: “Sister, is Doctor Lu’s medical skills really so excellent?”

Yin Zheng had seen this youth show his waist token to Madam Dong earlier and guessed his status was also extraordinary, so she said: “Naturally. Our miss knows everything.” Suddenly she sighed: “It’s just that she’s too young, so others often don’t believe her. Just like that Madam Dong,” as she spoke, her tone also carried some resentment, “our miss kindly saved her son’s life, yet not only did she not thank her, she wanted to bind our miss up. How can there be such ungrateful people in the world?”

Duan Xiaoyan laughed with a “puchi” sound.

Yin Zheng turned to look at him: “What are you laughing at?”

“Sister,” Duan Xiaoyan suppressed his laughter, “think about it—Master Dong is the Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments in the capital, yet his son has chronic consumption. If this got out, which respectable family’s daughter would dare marry him? They’d be too busy hiding it. Doctor Lu just revealed Young Master Dong’s condition in front of everyone. Of course Madam Dong was angry and resentful. Only by binding Doctor Lu and giving her the name of a fraud could Young Master Dong’s consumption be proven false.”

Yin Zheng was dumbfounded: “How can this be! Besides, you can hide it for a while but not forever. What sin did respectable families’ daughters commit to deserve being deceived into marriage?”

“Shh, lower your voice!” Duan Xiaoyan hurried to say: “Sister, don’t worry. Even considering our lord’s face, Madam Dong wouldn’t dare bind Doctor Lu now. Besides, if Doctor Lu really cures Young Master Dong, the Dong family will be too grateful to do anything. Their family has always doted on their youngest son. How could they neglect Young Master Dong’s life-saving benefactor?”

“Who wants their gratitude?” Yin Zheng was angry. “With such character, our miss should stay far away from them!”

Duan Xiaoyan coughed lightly and didn’t dare speak further.

Over there, Lu Tong was carefully performing acupuncture on Young Master Dong.

Young Master Dong was somewhat overweight and probably rarely exercised. His pulse was deep, wiry, and weak at the chi position, indicating deficiency in both lungs and kidneys.

Lu Tong only aimed at his various acupoints for needle insertion, applying even tonification and even sedation. She occasionally instructed Yin Zheng to fetch warm moxibustion. Gradually, Young Master Dong’s complexion eased, and his gasping wasn’t as urgent as before, seeming to slowly calm down.

Seeing this, Madam Dong recited “Amitabha” several times and was almost moved to tears of joy.

Fine sweat gradually appeared on Lu Tong’s forehead. Seeing this, Yin Zheng hurried over to hand her a handkerchief. Lu Tong didn’t raise her head, only taking the handkerchief to wipe casually.

Today she wore a plain white short jacket and long skirt. When she raised her hand, a section of pure white jade wrist was exposed. The jade wrist was bare, wearing no bracelets or jade rings—clean and soft.

Pei Yunying had originally glanced over carelessly, then his gaze froze, the smile at his lips slowly fading, his eyes gradually becoming sharp.

On that wrist, there was faintly visible a red mark—a fresh, deep wound that meandered upward.

It was a fresh blood mark.