Days passed peacefully like flowing water, and Lu Tong didn’t take the small incident at the medical clinic entrance to heart.

In a blink of an eye, it was the Beginning of Autumn.

Lu Tong remained very busy every day. After entering autumn, far fewer people came to buy “Xianxian,” but many more came to buy “Zhe Gui Ling” (Laurel-Plucking Order).

“Zhe Gui Ling” was a new medicinal tea that Lu Tong had created.

In less than a month, on the first day of the eighth lunar month, would be the Liang Dynasty’s autumn examinations. Scholars inevitably felt nervous before taking the tests, so some went to medical clinics to buy eye-brightening and mind-clearing medicinal tea to lift their spirits. Lu Tong seized the opportunity to create a new medicinal tea called “Zhe Gui Ling,” taking the auspicious meaning of “plucking laurels from the moon palace.”

Though the new medicinal tea wasn’t as stunning in its formulation as “Spring Water” and “Xianxian,” just for the name alone, scholars flocked to purchase it – every year at this time, the Buddhist hall at Wan’en Temple where people prayed for academic success was nearly crushed by crowds. When major events approached, far more people believed in auspicious omens than those who didn’t.

Lu Tong handed two packages of Zhe Gui Ling wrapped in red paper to Yin Zheng: “Deliver this to Wu Youcai’s home at the fresh fish market.”

Wu Youcai from the fresh fish market failed every examination yet continued taking them. Lu Tong guessed he would also participate in this year’s autumn examinations, so she specially set aside several packages for him.

Yin Zheng agreed and took the medicinal tea to leave, but was stopped by A’Cheng who chased after her: “Miss Yin Zheng, wait.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Going to see Brother Wu now might not be the right time.”

Lu Tong paused and looked at A’Cheng: “Has something happened?”

“Don’t you know yet?” The young assistant scratched his head. “Brother Wu’s mother… passed away the night before last.”

…

The night air was much cooler.

After the Beginning of Autumn, there were often intermittent light rains, and cool breezes came after nightfall, bringing a touch of chill when they touched people, as if it had suddenly turned cold overnight.

The courtyard was as quiet as water, with the dim light from lanterns under the eaves casting a glow on the face of the person in the courtyard.

The young woman sat at the stone table, vigorously pounding the silver jar in front of her. The autumn wind brushed her hair, making her face appear particularly gentle and luminous.

Yin Zheng sat on a stool, folding silk handkerchiefs in her hands while watching Lu Tong grinding medicine in fascination.

During the day when A’Cheng mentioned the news of Scholar Wu’s mother’s death, Yin Zheng had thought Lu Tong would go see Scholar Wu. After all, these past days, Lu Tong had regularly had Yin Zheng deliver nourishing medicinal materials to Scholar Wu, seeming quite concerned about Scholar Wu’s mother’s condition.

Though she didn’t understand why Lu Tong treated an impoverished scholar differently, Yin Zheng could see clearly that Lu Tong genuinely cared about Scholar Wu’s family situation. However, until now, Lu Tong hadn’t mentioned going to visit Scholar Wu, nor had she even sent funeral money – even Du Changqing had sent two bolts of silk.

This shouldn’t be right. Could there be other plans?

Lost in such random thoughts, Yin Zheng’s hands gradually slowed down, and she didn’t notice when her handkerchief fell to the ground.

Lu Tong glanced at her and asked: “What’s wrong?”

Yin Zheng startled back to awareness, hurriedly picked up the handkerchief from the ground, swallowed back the words “Scholar Wu” that had reached her lips, thought for a moment, then pointed at a cluster of fireflies under the eaves: “I was just thinking how beautiful the fireflies in the capital are.”

Lu Tong glanced under the eaves, where a group of green firefly lights flickered in the night.

These were fireflies that A’Cheng had caught.

The mischievous boy had begged Yin Zheng to sew a four-cornered pouch with fine silk thread, with tiny wind chimes attached to each corner. He put all the caught fireflies inside and hung it at the corner of the eaves. At night, it glowed brilliantly, truly giving a feeling like that described in the “Book of Jin” about collecting fireflies and reflecting off snow for reading.

Unfortunately, there were no scholars here.

Yin Zheng smiled and asked Lu Tong: “Miss, are there fireflies in your hometown too?”

Lu Tong shook her head.

Changwu County was poor and remote. In her childhood, she had only seen fireflies in books.

However, there were many fireflies on Falling Plum Peak.

Perhaps because it was on a mountain with high, cool terrain, after the first period of Major Heat when “decaying grass becomes fireflies,” the entire mountaintop was filled with green light.

When she searched for prisoner corpses for drug testing in the graveyard for Yunniang, she often saw large clusters of ethereal cold light among the wild grass, like ghostly flames.

At that time, she had no poetic or romantic thoughts about it, only finding it eerie, wishing she could close her eyes and quickly escape.

She hadn’t expected that seeing these firefly pouches hanging under the eaves now would give her a feeling of being in another lifetime.

Yin Zheng folded the last silk handkerchief and didn’t get up, simply propping her chin to watch Lu Tong grinding medicine. Lu Tong’s small medicine hammer striking the silver medicine jar made “ding-ding-dang-dang” sounds, especially clear in the quiet night.

Lu Tong had two medicine jars – she used the wooden one more often and the silver one less frequently. Today she was using the silver jar, carved with intricate patterns all over. When moonlight fell on it, the silver light flickered magnificently.

Lu Tong delivered the final strike and left the medicine hammer in the jar. Yin Zheng knew she was finished.

Lu Tong stood up holding the jar, but didn’t leave immediately. Instead, she wandered around the courtyard, her gaze finally settling on a waist-high bamboo basket in the corner.

She walked over, opened the bamboo basket, and pulled out a white rabbit with black eye circles.

The rabbit had been bought by Du Changqing some days ago. He said he had seen a girl selling rabbits at the meat shop in the official alley. The girl was pretty with a pitiful background, so Du Changqing’s compassion stirred and he bought the entire basket of rabbits.

After buying them back, no one knew how to handle these rabbits. Yin Zheng and Xiang Cao couldn’t cook rabbit meat, so they simply kept them in the courtyard. Xia Rongrong and Xiang Cao would come daily to feed these rabbits.

Lu Tong lowered her eyes to stare at the rabbit in her hands. The rabbit’s two ears were held by her, its legs kicking frantically in the air. She looked at it, then took the rabbit and medicine jar to the kitchen.

Usually Lu Tong made medicine in the courtyard. When she used the kitchen for medicine-making, she never allowed Yin Zheng to follow.

Yin Zheng rubbed her knees, stacked the newly sewn handkerchiefs together, and went inside to put these handkerchiefs in the box.

The night was deep and very quiet outside. The autumn night’s cold wind struck the windows, making them creak slightly, and all of the capital was shrouded in inky darkness.

In the kitchen, Lu Tong held the rabbit, lowering her eyes in unknown thought.

The silver medicine jar sat beside the cutting board, with herbs inside ground to mush – a black mass coating the jar’s walls, slowly flowing down, leaving trails of filthy shadows, mysteriously eerie.

Lu Tong looked down at the rabbit for a while, then suddenly reached into the jar, scooped out a large handful of black sticky liquid, and stuffed it into the rabbit’s mouth.

The rabbit’s mouth was suddenly filled with a large mass of unknown filth, immediately struggling violently. Lu Tong gripped the rabbit’s ears tightly until the black sticky liquid was mostly chewed. She released her grip, and the rabbit escaped from her hands. Once it landed and gained freedom, it immediately began running around the kitchen.

She quietly watched the rabbit.

One moment, two moments, three moments.

The rabbit’s sniffing movements gradually slowed down. It no longer continued running forward, swaying as if drunk, then its body tilted to one side, half-lying on the ground. It seemed to want to struggle to get up, its four legs kicking with effort, but gradually stopped moving.

A trace of black liquid slowly oozed from the corner of the rabbit’s mouth, its wide-open blood-red eyes particularly terrifying.

Dead.

This rabbit that had just been lively and jumping was dead.

The night was bleak, the small kitchen dimly lit by a fading lamp. A woman and a dead rabbit faced each other in silence – both forlorn and eerily beautiful.

Just then, a sudden cry came from behind: “Ah—”

Lu Tong’s gaze instantly turned cold. She spun around sharply to see Xia Rongrong standing at the kitchen doorway holding a lamp, looking at her with alarm and uncertainty.

Usually at this time, Xia Rongrong would have long been asleep – she treasured her appearance and firmly believed early sleep made women radiant, always sleeping before the hai hour. It was now past the zi hour.

Lu Tong frowned: “What are you doing here?”

Xia Rongrong seemed frightened, her face pale, answering instinctively: “Xiang Cao fell and hurt herself. I came to the kitchen to get some water.” She quickly glanced at the rabbit on the ground, immediately looking away as if not daring to look closely, asking Lu Tong tremblingly: “This rabbit…”

“This rabbit accidentally ate poisonous herbs, so it died.”

“I-is that so?” Xia Rongrong said this while her gaze quickly swept over Lu Tong’s hands. Lu Tong’s left hand had been stained black by the herbs from the silver jar.

Lu Tong looked at her: “Weren’t you looking for water?”

“Oh… yes.” Xia Rongrong hurriedly responded, then remembered what she was supposed to do and quickly took a basin to scoop water. After filling it with water, Xia Rongrong carried the basin out. When passing by Lu Tong’s side, her hands shook so badly she nearly spilled the basin.

Lu Tong coldly watched her carry the basin out until she entered her own room in the courtyard, the light through the door crack was shut off, and the outside returned to complete darkness.

She was silent for a moment, then stood up and walked to the dead rabbit’s side, picking it up.

…

“It was so terrifying – you don’t know what I just saw!”

As soon as she entered the room, Xia Rongrong threw the basin aside and collapsed to the ground with weak legs.

Xiang Cao was startled and, ignoring the scrape on her knee from just falling, quickly got up to help Xia Rongrong sit on the bed: “What happened?”

Xia Rongrong’s face was pale, her eyes full of fear. “I just saw Doctor Lu in the kitchen. She… she…” Xia Rongrong grabbed Xiang Cao’s hand. “She poisoned a rabbit to death!”

Xiang Cao was stunned.

“It’s true!” Xia Rongrong was afraid her maid wouldn’t believe her, speaking more urgently as she revealed everything she had witnessed. “When I went in, the poison on her hands wasn’t even washed off yet. She was just standing in front of that dead rabbit, staring at the corpse like a monster.”

Xiang Cao was also frightened by her description, but still maintained some rationality: “Maybe Doctor Lu was just testing medicine?”

“Impossible! What medicine could poison someone to death? Besides, you didn’t see the look in her eyes when she saw me…”

Xia Rongrong remembered when she accidentally disturbed Lu Tong earlier, and Lu Tong had turned to look at her. Unlike her usual gentle composure, the woman hidden in the lamp’s shadows had eyes that were quiet and cold, looking at her as if looking at a corpse, without any emotion.

She suddenly shivered.

“No, we can’t stay here!” Xia Rongrong suddenly stood up and busily began packing clothes. “Let’s quickly pack our luggage and leave.”

“Miss,” Xiang Cao stopped her, “please calm down. If we leave now, what about Cousin Master?”

Du Changqing?

Xia Rongrong suddenly remembered her cousin and murmured: “Right, Cousin doesn’t know yet. I must tell Cousin about this.”

Xiang Cao said: “The medical clinic now relies entirely on the medicinal tea Doctor Lu makes for income. I heard from A’Cheng that Doctor Lu and Cousin Master split the profits in half. These days living in the medical clinic, this servant has seen that Cousin Master trusts Doctor Lu greatly. Even if Miss tells him, Cousin Master might not believe it. Even if he believes it, Cousin Master might not drive Doctor Lu away.”

Lu Tong was Renxin Medical Clinic’s money tree – who would be willing to drive their money tree out the door?

Hearing this, Xia Rongrong immediately felt helpless: “Then what should we do?”

She usually had little opinion on matters. This trip to the capital was originally to try to enter the Du family, but she had miscalculated Du Changqing’s current family assets. Moreover, Du Changqing seemed to have no interest in her, leaving them in this awkward situation. Now encountering such a thing, Xia Rongrong didn’t know what to do.

“Miss, why not ask Shopkeeper Bai from Apricot Grove Hall?” Xiang Cao beside her suddenly spoke.

Xia Rongrong was startled – Bai Shouyi?

Speaking of which, some days ago, Wen You from Bai Shouyi’s side had come to see her.

Apricot Grove Hall had formed a grudge with Renxin Medical Clinic over the previous Spring Water incident, which Xia Rongrong had also heard A’Cheng mention. Bai Shouyi had suffered a major loss but blamed it all on Lu Tong.

Unfortunately, after so long, Bai Shouyi still hadn’t found any weakness in Lu Tong, so he had Wen You approach Xia Rongrong, hoping to “cooperate” with her.

Wen You had stood before Xia Rongrong saying: “Miss Xia, my shopkeeper says you don’t want Doctor Lu staying at the medical clinic, and my shopkeeper also wants to drive Doctor Lu out of the capital. Why not cooperate for mutual benefit?”

Xia Rongrong frowned: “Cooperate?”

Bai Shouyi’s cooperation method was simple – have Xia Rongrong tamper with the medicinal materials Lu Tong usually prepared.

This was immediately rejected by Xia Rongrong.

If Lu Tong’s medicine really had problems, Renxin Medical Clinic would suffer, and Du Changqing would also be implicated. Moreover, Xia Rongrong could see clearly that in the medical clinic, Lu Tong handled all medicine preparation and new drug organization herself, never allowing others to interfere. Her maid Yin Zheng seemed particularly alert – there was simply no opportunity to interfere.

But Wen You persisted, pressing a bank note into Xia Rongrong’s hand: “Miss Xia needn’t answer now. When you’ve thought it through, just send someone to our shop to tell the shopkeeper.”

Xia Rongrong had accepted the silver. At first she was somewhat uneasy, but as days passed, she gradually forgot about it, never expecting Xiang Cao to bring it up today.

She looked at Xiang Cao somewhat hesitantly: “Is this appropriate?”

After all, Lu Tong was part of Renxin Medical Clinic. Telling outsiders about the medical clinic’s affairs seemed somewhat improper.

Xiang Cao sighed: “Miss, though what you saw today was unexpected, it can’t prove that Doctor Lu is making poison to harm people. Cousin Master obeys Doctor Lu completely and will definitely take her side. If you speak up, it will alert Doctor Lu instead and damage your relationship with Cousin Master.”

“But Shopkeeper Bai is different. Doctor Lu previously embarrassed Apricot Grove Hall, so Shopkeeper Bai harbors resentment toward Doctor Lu. If Doctor Lu really has something wrong, Shopkeeper Bai definitely won’t let her go. Moreover—”

“Moreover, didn’t you take fifty taels of silver from Shopkeeper Bai before? Taking someone’s money makes you beholden to them. If they come demanding it back, Cousin Master will definitely be angry.”

Thinking of those fifty taels of silver, Xia Rongrong couldn’t help but blush.

The silver had long been spent on hairpins and jewelry. If Bai Shouyi came demanding it back, she really didn’t know how to respond.

Xiang Cao saw her wavering and quietly lowered her head, hiding a smile on her lips.

Xiang Cao had been Xia Rongrong’s personal maid for many years. On this trip to the capital, the Xia family parents had specifically instructed that they must achieve a marriage between Xia Rongrong and Du Changqing.

Though Du Changqing’s family assets couldn’t compare to before, he had shops and residences in the capital, which was still better than many others. This marriage was feasible.

However, staying at the medical clinic these days, Xiang Cao could see clearly that Du Changqing had no romantic interest in Xia Rongrong, but was increasingly close to that Doctor Lu.

Xiang Cao had come specifically to achieve marriage with Du Changqing. If this matter failed, not only would Xia Rongrong be disappointed, but it would also be difficult to answer to the Xia family parents. She suspected Lu Tong and Du Changqing had private feelings. Though she had no evidence, Lu Tong had the bearing of a mistress of the house in the medical clinic, with both A’Cheng and Du Changqing following her lead.

Xiang Cao wanted to drive Lu Tong out of the medical clinic but hadn’t found a way, until tonight when Xia Rongrong happened to witness the scene in the kitchen.

This was an opportunity sent by heaven.

Xiang Cao ignored the scrape on her leg and scrambled up from the bed to get paper and brush for Xia Rongrong.

“Miss, what are you still hesitating about? Right now only Shopkeeper Bai can help. Quickly write to Shopkeeper Bai – if there really is a problem, we can resolve it in time.”

The room’s lamplight was weak, illuminating the spilled water on the floor. Xia Rongrong stared at the water stains for a long time, bit her lip, and finally stood up as if making a decision.

“I understand.”

“I’ll write it.”