The floating lanterns drifted into the distance, like stars illuminating the night sky. Lu Tong gazed upward until the lantern vendor beside her called out to her.

“Miss, do you like floating lanterns? Would you like to take one home?” The vendor, wrapped in a sheepskin coat, smiled warmly. “We have all kinds of styles, feel free to take your time choosing!”

Lu Tong came back to her senses and was about to decline when someone beside her spoke first: “Sure.”

Lu Tong turned around and found herself face-to-face with a familiar figure.

Pei Yunying?

Today he wore a deep red brocade robe with paired eagle patterns, which made his pine-like posture appear even more extraordinary. Unlike his sharp demeanor when wearing official robes, he now looked more like those noble young masters out for a night stroll, radiating an alluring charm.

Lu Tong stepped back and said, “Official Pei?”

The small stall displayed various floating lanterns. Pei Yunying casually picked one up and said jokingly, “I didn’t expect Doctor Lu would come to see the lanterns. I thought you weren’t interested in such things.”

“Once in a while. Unlike Official Pei who seems to have plenty of leisure time,” Lu Tong replied coolly.

Seeing Pei Yunying’s fine attire, the lantern vendor’s smile grew even warmer, and his form of address for Lu Tong changed as well: “Young lady, it’s the Lantern Festival tonight, and our small stall is joining in the festivities. Three arrows – if you hit that-” he pointed across: “I’ll give you a lantern!”

Lu Tong followed his gesture.

The small stall had set up a colorful pavilion in the market, with various lanterns hanging inside and outside, up and down. On the wall inside the pavilion hung a red paper with large, rounded black characters spelling the word “Fortune.” Beside her sat a glossy black horn bow, with arrows adorned with large red ribbons – a festive sight indeed.

“For good luck!”

The vendor then looked at Pei Yunying: “The young lady likes lanterns, and this young master looks skilled in archery. Why not win one for the young lady!”

Pei Yunying raised an eyebrow and took the bow from the vendor’s hands, but unexpectedly, Lu Tong snatched it away.

“I’ll do it myself,” she said.

Pei Yunying paused.

Their exceptional appearances had already drawn many onlookers. People had expected Pei Yunying to shoot arrows and win a lantern for Lu Tong, but surprisingly, Lu Tong took the bow and arrows to try herself. Many people stopped to watch her movements.

Lu Tong raised the bow and arrow.

The horn bow was very heavy and large; when the frail young woman lifted it, it created a strange incongruity, making people worry whether her delicate arms would break under its weight.

Her bow-holding posture seemed somewhat strained, and her arrow-nocking movements weren’t particularly skilled. Pei Yunying watched for a moment before stepping forward to hold her arm: “Don’t shake.”

Lu Tong froze for a moment.

A cool breath came from above her head. He maintained an appropriate distance, his movements neither too light nor too heavy, merely supporting her from behind, helping adjust her arrow-holding posture.

Lu Tong looked up and could see his handsome jaw. His arm reached around from behind, encircling her shoulders, like an almost embrace.

Still too intimate.

Lu Tong frowned slightly and loosened her grip on the bow and arrow.

“Whoosh-“

The released arrow shot forth, striking the edge of the “Fortune” character at an angle, its ribbon falling to the side.

Sounds of disappointment rose from all around: “Ah, missed!”

“Still not quite there.”

Pei Yunying’s gaze shifted, looking at Lu Tong with some surprise.

Lu Tong stared at the misplaced arrow, disappointment flashing in her eyes.

Missed.

Come to think of it, this wasn’t her first time drawing a bow.

Back then on Luomei Peak, Yun Niang needed corpses for medicine, and Lu Tong would occasionally visit the graveyard. Once there, she saw a corpse torn apart by wolves, probably a hunter trapped by snow in the mountains. The body had been emptied, with animal traps scattered around and a broken bow.

Lu Tong buried the body and took the bow home, retying it with string, thinking she could hunt foxes and rabbits for dried meat. However, she never hit anything – the mountain animals were too fast, and her archery wasn’t particularly skilled.

But practicing with the bow and arrow every few days had built up some feel for it. However, the bow broke several years later, and no amount of string could fix it. Lu Tong put it away, and when Yun Niang was buried, it was interred with her on Luomei Peak.

After several years, of drawing a bow again, she had indeed grown rusty.

Among the crowd, some men called out: “Young lady, don’t waste arrows! Let your sweetheart win a lantern for you!”

“Yes, yes!”

Pei Yunying’s expression slightly froze as he cast a cold glance at the hecklers.

Lu Tong, however, paid no attention and picked up the second arrow.

This time her bow-holding posture was much more practiced than the first, appearing less awkward. Pei Yunying stepped back slightly, no longer holding her arm to guide her as before. Lu Tong stared intently at the distant “Fortune” character and released again.

“Whoosh-“

The arrow flew out.

“So close!” The onlookers slapped their thighs, as frustrated as if they had missed themselves. “It nearly hit the character, what a shame!”

Lu Tong maintained her composure.

The lantern vendor smiled and handed Lu Tong the third arrow: “Don’t be discouraged, young lady, it’s alright. We still have one more – this time aim carefully!”

Pei Yunying leaned against a pillar with folded arms, smiling as he watched Lu Tong nock the final arrow.

Gradually, silence fell around them, and the crowd of onlookers couldn’t help holding their breath.

At first, seeing this slender and fragile woman, they thought she couldn’t even lift the bow, yet she had shot twice, both times exceeding expectations.

Lu Tong nocked the arrow, and the “Fortune” character ahead in the pavilion glowed red and festive, carrying a kind of blurred liveliness among the surrounding colorful lantern lights.

She focused intently on that festive scene and suddenly drew the bow-

The arrow, adorned with red tassels, flew like a red magpie with an elongated tail, joyfully rushing toward its target.

It hit the dead center!

The surrounding crowd immediately erupted in cheers!

Even the lantern vendor looked at this seemingly delicate young lady with new respect: “What excellent archery skills, miss!”

Lu Tong lowered the bow, and Pei Yunying walked to her side, glancing at her: “Such strength, how did you train?”

The horn bow wasn’t light; even ordinary men needed some strength to draw it. There were many spectators earlier, and now many cheering, precisely because Lu Tong looked too frail – no one believed she could draw it.

But she did.

“Trained by killing and burying people,” Lu Tong answered seriously.

Pei Yunying: “…”

He looked Lu Tong over, ignoring her previous nonsense, and asked: “Hitting the target in three tries – you knew how already?”

To say Lu Tong was some archery prodigy who learned, at first sight, would be quite a stretch.

Lu Tong turned to look at him, smiling slightly: “I never said I didn’t know how.”

“…”

He was rarely at a loss for words.

Somehow, seeing Pei Yunying’s stumped expression made Lu Tong’s mood inexplicably better.

One could say it was his arrogance, looking down on others, thinking she couldn’t draw the bow, insisting on “guiding” her. But while she wasn’t some legendary archer who could shoot through a hundred paces, she was passable at normal archery – after all, the fortune character was fixed on the wall, unlike mountain prey that would run and jump.

Hunting dead targets was much simpler than living ones.

“Miss, you hit the fortune character, please choose a lantern!” The vendor’s voice interrupted Lu Tong’s thoughts, and she looked up.

The small pavilion was filled with various lanterns inside and out – silk ones, dragon and phoenix ones, peony ones, rabbit ones… dazzling in the night. The sight was overwhelming.

Lu Tong’s gaze settled on one spot, and she took the bamboo pole from the vendor’s hand, reaching toward the cluster of lanterns above.

The vendor saw her choice and smiled: “Young lady has good taste! This is the last butterfly lantern, perfect for you to take home!”

Hanging high was a butterfly lantern made in the shape of a pink butterfly, covered with a layer of gauze. The gauze was decorated with gold powder paintings, particularly eye-catching.

Lu Tong’s bamboo pole gracefully passed over the butterfly’s wings, but instead picked up the lantern beside it.

The vendor was stunned.

Pei Yunying raised his eyebrows slightly.

After a while, the vendor hesitantly looked at Lu Tong: “Miss, did you pick the wrong one?”

Lu Tong took down the toad lantern hanging from the bamboo pole’s tip and held it in her hand, saying, “No mistake, I just like toads.”

The toad lantern in her hand was yellowish-green all over, and because it was made too realistically large, even the wrinkles on the toad’s skin were perfectly detailed, really looking quite unsuitable for a beauty to carry.

Yet the beauty didn’t mind, appearing particularly satisfied with the “ugly toad” in her hands.

The vendor looked at Lu Tong with an indescribable expression, struggling for a while before managing to say: “Miss has a unique taste, truly different from others.”

Lu Tong held the lantern, nodded to the vendor, and was about to leave. But the vendor stretched out his hand to block her path, saying: “Miss, you haven’t paid yet!”

Lu Tong froze, frowning as she asked: “Didn’t you say you’d give a lantern for hitting the fortune character?”

“Yes! The lantern is free, but shooting arrows costs money!” The vendor pointed inside the pavilion.

Lu Tong looked where he was pointing.

On the large red arrow container in the lantern pavilion, there was indeed a line of tiny text, barely larger than ant-sized characters, written in light pink ink: “One arrow – thirty wen—”

Lu Tong was momentarily speechless.

The characters were written so obscurely, that who could read them?

A light chuckle seemed to come from beside her. Lu Tong turned her head to see Pei Yunying looking away, his shoulders slightly shaking.

Was he laughing at her being fooled?

Lu Tong felt incredibly annoyed.

When she’d left home, all the money was with Yin Zheng, and she hadn’t planned on buying anything, who knew she’d stumble here?

The paper toad in her hand suddenly felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. Faced with the vendor’s still enthusiastic manner, Lu Tong hesitated for a moment before pushing the lantern back into his hands: “I don’t want it anymore.”

“Eh?”

Just as the vendor was about to speak, another hand reached out, placing a piece of silver on the wooden table of the lantern pavilion. Pei Yunying smiled and said: “I’ll take it.”

This silver far exceeded the price of one lantern. The vendor’s eyes immediately crinkled with joy as he handed the toad lantern to Pei Yunying: “Here you are! Take good care of the lantern, young master and miss. Light our lantern and next year will bring good fortune and prosperity!”

Lu Tong: “…”

Having received the silver, the vendor turned to attend to other customers. Lu Tong stood before the lantern pavilion, unsure whether to stay or go, staring at the toad lantern in Pei Yunying’s hand, feeling that stopping at this lantern pavilion tonight had been a very bad idea.

Pei Yunying looked at her displeased expression with amusement: “Doctor Lu is usually so clever, how do you keep getting deceived in matters like this?”

Last time at the Luhe Street Luyuan Pawnshop too, she’d been easily swindled over a hairpin of poor quality.

Lu Tong found his barely suppressed smile extremely irritating and tossed back: “It’s just that Sheng Jing people are too good at business.”

Then she turned to leave.

They had clearly said the lantern was free, who knew shooting arrows would cost money, writing the characters so small, clearly meant to trick people. Indeed, as the old saying goes, being penny-wise can make you pound-foolish. The people of Sheng Jing were craftier than each other in business.

A light laugh came from behind as Pei Yunying caught up in a few steps, pushing the toad lantern into her hands.

Lu Tong frowned: “Why give me a lantern the Commander paid for?”

“With the spring examinations approaching, I dare not keep an omen of ‘plucking osmanthus from the toad palace,'” he said leisurely.

Plucking osmanthus from the toad palace? Spring examinations?

Lu Tong’s heart stirred.

The toad lantern indeed carried the auspicious meaning of “plucking osmanthus from the toad palace.” Pei Yunying thought she had chosen the toad lantern because of the upcoming spring examinations, and Lu Tong didn’t correct his misunderstanding.

The toad lantern in her hands emitted a faint green glow in the night. Lu Tong was quiet for a moment before speaking: “When I see Yin Zheng later, I’ll return the lantern money to the Commander.”

“No need to be so formal, consider it my early congratulatory gift for your spring examinations.”

Congratulatory gift?

Pei Yunying’s tone was so natural that Lu Tong couldn’t help but look up at him.

The street market’s lanterns were as bright as day, lights glowing everywhere. Pei Yunying walked unhurriedly with the crowd as if his previous words had been casual, without much thought.

But Lu Tong couldn’t help pondering deeply.

That New Year’s Eve night, when they had their confrontation in the clinic under the fireworks, Pei Yunying had learned her purpose for coming to the capital. Perhaps it was momentary compassion, or perhaps he had other motives. But Lu Tong was very clear about one thing – she was going after the Grand Tutor’s mansion and even people of higher status.

Pei Yunying might pity her, but he would never help with this matter.

So why was he doing this?

Because of pity?

That tiny bit of useless sympathy from those in high positions, like people stopping momentarily for pitiful stray cats and dogs on the road. People would give food to strays but wouldn’t care what the strays were thinking. Therefore, such stops didn’t bring comfort, only more disgust at this unequal, condescending grace.

“Official Pei,” she suddenly said.

“What is it?”

“In the future, please be more mindful of your behavior. You’re always like this, making me misunderstand.”

He seemed puzzled: “Misunderstand what?”

“Misunderstand that you want to help me.”

Pei Yunying froze.

He stopped and looked down, meeting Lu Tong’s calm gaze.

Her words were suggestive, gentle, and even somewhat ingratiating.

But her eyes were full of mockery.

As if deliberately breaking the harmonious illusion, forcing both to face each other’s hypocrisy and the distance between them.

The lanterns stretching across two streets cast colorful shadows from above. He stood in the brilliant light, a talented and outstanding young master from a noble family, while she stood in the shadows, a lowly commoner with calculated intentions and bristling weapons.

Light and shadow, clouds and mud, nobility and commoner.

He was someone destined for greater heights, while she was determined to drag those at the top down into the mud.

People walking opposite paths could never walk together, nor could they become friends.

The wind blew from the riverbank, bringing the cold of the night. Perhaps they had stayed there too long, attracting the attention of surrounding vendors.

Several young girls in red dresses with double buns pushed a bamboo cart through the crowd. The cart had small plum-red lanterns with gold filigree hanging front and back, and the girls beat drums while calling out their wares: “Bodhi leaves, bees, snow willows, golden moths—”

Lu Tong came back to her senses.

This was a cart selling women’s hair ornaments.

Such ornament sellers were common in Sheng Jing’s lantern markets – white silk plum blossoms, black-gold paper butterflies, paper snowwillows, bodhi leaves, and the like. Whether noble or common, on such festive days, women always wanted to make themselves look pretty.

The girl in red pushed her cart beside Lu Tong, looking up at her with a crisp smile: “Big sister, buy a moth ornament!”

Those black-gold paper moths trembled on the bamboo frame filled with fresh flowers, particularly eye-catching among the golden flowers and purple splendor.

Lu Tong shook her head in refusal.

The little girl looked somewhat disappointed as she pushed her cart away.

Pei Yunying glanced down at the person beside him.

Lu Tong held her lantern, silently walking past all the flourishing decorations. Perhaps because it was the Lantern Festival, her hair was styled more elaborately than usual, with small braids falling to her shoulders along with her long hair, fluffy white flowers adorning it, making her complexion appear jade-like, while the toad lantern in her hand cast a cyan glow, like a maiden from ancient temple murals.

Beautiful but lonely.

Pei Yunying’s gaze lingered for a moment on the snow-white fluffy flowers in her hair before he suddenly spoke: “It’s the new year, wearing white isn’t auspicious.”

Avoiding their previous topic.

Lu Tong gave him a strange look, not understanding why he suddenly mentioned this.

Pei Yunying said calmly: “I thought you would wear those golden butterflies.”

She suddenly understood.

So it was about that.

Those golden butterflies still lay in the clinic drawer’s box; since New Year’s Eve, Lu Tong hadn’t even opened it once. She had no mood for styling her hair and making herself pretty in the first place, let alone with something Pei Yunying had given her.

Lu Tong nodded: “Thank you for the Commander’s kindness, but gold ornaments don’t suit me. I’ll have someone return them to you later.”

Some things couldn’t be accepted. There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world – the lantern vendor had just taught her this lesson.

“No need,” he turned his face away, “there’s no reason to take back a gift once given.”

Lu Tong was insistent: “I’m not used to accepting gifts from others,” she paused, then added, “It feels like owing a debt.”

“Then consider it a debt,” the young man smiled, “I’m your creditor.”

Lu Tong was stumped.

This person seemed completely unaware of her deliberate distance and wariness, remaining casually friendly as always. Perhaps others would think this Commander of the Palace Guards had an excessively good temper.

Lu Tong thought for a while, then decided to let it go. After all, Pei Yunxi’s people would come to get the treasure pearl medicine periodically. They were siblings; if Pei Yunying wouldn’t take it back, she could just give it to Pei Yunxi instead.

Borrowing money for business, selling fields to pay debts. The people of Sheng Jing were so good at business, that it was better not to owe favors.

Especially not to Pei Yunying.