Several more copper lamps were lit on the table, brightening the secret chamber.

Whips, knives, wooden clubs, hammers…

The ground was a complete mess. Brick dust from the walls had fallen everywhere. Pei Yunying set the overturned tables and stools back upright and wiped the dust from the table clean.

Earlier, a green-robed guard had entered, respectfully presenting a red wooden tray with a teapot and cups, then bowed his head and retreated.

Pei Yunying sat at the table.

The corner of his mouth was slightly swollen with traces of blood, his lips bearing a patch of bruising. Yet his expression remained calm as he picked up the teapot, poured a cup of tea, pushed it across the table, and smiled: “Minister Yan, have some tea to cool down. Don’t be angry anymore.”

Across from him, Yan Xu sat down. He bore no injuries, his face clean, though his wrinkled robes betrayed that he had recently fought someone here. Yan Xu’s gaze swept over the teacup before him and he sneered: “Why aren’t you smashing cups anymore?”

The young man set down his teacup and sighed: “How would I dare, teacher?”

At these words, the man opposite suddenly turned cold: “Don’t call me that.”

Pei Yunying fell silent.

Throughout the Daliang court, everyone knew that Commander Pei of the Palace Front Division and Minister Yan of the Bureau of Military Affairs were like fire and water—mortal enemies who would be sorry if they didn’t add insult to injury when seeing the other’s misfortune. This was partly due to that old affair stirring things up, but those in officialdom understood that the main reason was the delicate position between the Palace Front Division and Bureau of Military Affairs.

This relationship between the Three Offices and Bureau of Military Affairs pleased the emperor. The more antagonistic they were, the more at ease Emperor Liang Ming felt.

Military command and political authority should not and could not be unified.

Pei Yunying clicked his tongue: “I’ve taken advantage of you so much. If I’m still reluctant to call you teacher, wouldn’t Minister Yan be at a great loss?”

“Shut up.”

Pei Yunying stared at him, his smile unwavering.

Before age fourteen, he had been born noble with loving parents, pampered from childhood—a heaven’s favored son envied by all.

Until the Zhaoyang Rebellion.

His maternal grandfather’s family, uncle’s family, and mother died one after another. The paper money at the funeral altar seemed endless.

In those days, time suddenly became exceptionally long. Pei Yunshu was overcome with grief and grew thinner daily. He tried to pull himself together to avoid drowning in sorrow, but accidentally learned of a secret rumor.

The teenage him was horrified by this secret and questioned Pei Di. Pei Di’s reaction was beyond his expectations, causing him to completely despair before his mother’s memorial tablet in the ancestral hall, severing father-son bonds with Pei Di from then on.

He wanted to investigate the truth of his mother’s death, but without the status of heir to Duke Zhaoning, he found himself unable to move a step in vast capital.

With no choice, he sought help from an old minister at the Bureau of Military Affairs who had past connections with his maternal grandfather’s family.

The world is like chess, changing in an instant. The old minister who had once treated him kindly now wore a different face. After he pleaded at the old minister’s door for many days, perhaps considering past affections, the man gave him a ring and told him to kill someone and find something.

He accepted the ring.

When he left the capital, he was young and told no one. Even so, he encountered too many assassination attempts along the way. Countless people wanted him dead—enemies of the Pei family, enemies of his maternal grandfather’s family, and those hidden in shadows with countless overt and covert attacks.

The journey was long and arduous, filled with heartbreak and hardship. What should have been a simple task took two years.

During those two years, he suffered betrayal, encountered deadly arrows, slept in mortuaries, and hid in execution grounds.

After finally returning with the item through nine deaths and one life, he encountered an ambush in the forest dozens of miles from the capital.

The black-clothed men surrounding him made his heart sink.

On his return journey, he had only told his trusted confidant remaining in the Pei family.

That ambush was brutal. He was severely injured and thought he would perish together with these black-clothed men when suddenly riders arrived.

The newcomers eliminated all the assassins. The exhausted youth leaned against a tree, warily looking up to see the crowd slowly part. On the leading horse, a scarred man looked down at him coldly.

After a long moment, the man spoke mockingly: “What remarkable luck.”

He carefully and seriously examined his face, as if trying to recognize it clearly. After a long time, he looked away and said: “Take him back.”

In the secret chamber with flickering firelight, Yan Xu’s cold voice reached his ears: “When you call me that, it only makes people feel disgusted.”

Pei Yunying looked at him, feigning disbelief: “Really?”

Yan Xu never let Pei Yunying call him teacher.

After returning from southern Su, he temporarily didn’t return to the Pei family. Pei Di had remarried with a new wife, his trusted confidant had betrayed him—the Pei family was no place to stay.

Too many people in the capital seemed to want him dead, so upon returning, he suddenly discovered that without the Pei family, he had nowhere to go.

The old minister at the Bureau of Military Affairs whom he had sought help from had died shortly after he left the capital. The current Bureau of Military Affairs Commander was Yan Xu.

He learned of Yan Xu’s relationship with his mother and gave the item to Yan Xu.

Yan Xu accepted the item but still ignored him.

Actually, it wasn’t just ignoring—in fact, Yan Xu initially despised him greatly.

He could feel the coldness and irritation in Yan Xu’s gaze every time it fell on him. But for reasons unclear, Yan Xu had still saved him from that ambush and rescued him many more times afterward.

Initially, he was also full of hostility and suspicion toward this man who had been entangled with his mother, but later…

Human relationships could only be described as “wondrous.”

He propped his head up, picked up his teacup for a sip, and sighed: “Though you say that, when you hear me call you this, don’t you feel even a tiny bit of secret joy?”

Yan Xu’s eyes showed mockery: “You’re far more presumptuous than your mother.”

Pei Yunying nodded, the corner of his mouth curving: “If my mother were still alive and saw you hanging her painting in your study for careful preservation, she might regret not being a little more presumptuous back then.”

Yan Xu choked.

A flash of discomfort crossed his eyes as the man sneered and changed the subject: “Fine words. If you truly respect your teacher, why did you draw your blade earlier?”

He mocked: “Shouting and threatening—those who don’t know might think you were planning patricide.”

“I didn’t actually draw it earlier,” Pei Yunying said innocently. “Besides, you were too fierce. I was afraid you’d scare her.”

“Scare?”

Yan Xu sounded like he’d heard a joke: “With half a person in front of her, she still calmly stitched up wounds. I remember when you first saw a dead body, you vomited for half a day.”

“She’s much more capable than you were back then.”

Pei Yunying pondered seriously, looking at him earnestly: “You admire her this much? You don’t also want her to call you teacher, do you?”

Yan Xu didn’t respond to his comment, only saying coldly: “A common physician woman who single-handedly killed Qi Yutai’s dog, remained unmoved facing corpses, dared to drink my tea, and dared to threaten court officials with the Criminal Code. This woman is audaciously bold, no sheltered maiden.”

He raised his eyelids: “This is the heir’s consort you’ve chosen?”

“Cough cough—”

Pei Yunying nearly choked on his tea.

He set down his cup, looking helpless: “I already said she’s my creditor.”

“What creditor is this troublesome? How much do you owe?”

Pei Yunying rubbed his forehead and had to tell him everything about the southern Su execution ground incident. Finally, he sighed: “She saved my life and once said if we met again, she would never forget. Now she’s repeatedly troubled by the Qi family, and I’m not an ungrateful person.”

“I can’t just stand by and watch.”

The room fell silent.

After a while, Yan Xu suddenly asked: “She doesn’t fancy you?”

Pei Yunying was startled: “It’s not…”

Yan Xu showed disdain: “Incompetent.”

“…”

Pei Yunying was momentarily speechless. Seeing Yan Xu pick up his teacup for a sip, his expression finally improving slightly, he thought before speaking: “However, after this incident, the Qi family should convince the Crown Prince to completely give up on me. Maybe tomorrow they’ll instigate the Bureau of Military Affairs to move against the Palace Front Division.”

Yan Xu smiled contemptuously: “What is the Qi family? They’ll be the King of Hell’s guests sooner or later. As for that Cui Min,” he glanced at Pei Yunying, “the Bureau of Military Affairs’ summons was just sent, and he immediately delivered your benefactor, hoping she’d never return.”

“Your benefactor has made quite a few enemies.”

Pei Yunying nodded, then changed the subject: “Didn’t you say you don’t care about her?”

Yan Xu flew into rage: “Take your blade and get out immediately.”

Pei Yunying: “Oh.”

…

Leaving Yan Xu’s residence, Pei Yunying didn’t immediately return to the Commander’s mansion.

He deliberately made a round through the eastern corridors of the right side gate, ensuring countless people saw the bruising at the corner of his mouth. Only when the sun gradually set did he leisurely return to the Commander’s mansion.

In the small courtyard, the dog house was empty—he didn’t see Duan Xiaoyan feeding dogs in the yard. As soon as Pei Yunying entered the house, he saw Duan Xiaoyan sitting at the table in the main hall with one hand spread on the table, seriously listening to someone speak.

Seeing him enter, Duan Xiaoyan cheerfully waved: “Sir, you’re back!”

The person sitting with their back to him also turned around upon hearing this.

Pei Yunying was startled: “How did you come here?”

Before Lu Tong could speak, Duan Xiaoyan beside her answered first: “Dr. Lu said she’d rested for over half a month and came to deliver summer medicine prescriptions. I happened to have indigestion lately, always feeling bloated. Since I was free anyway, I had Dr. Lu prescribe me a digestive formula too.”

Just as he finished speaking, he noticed Pei Yunying’s face clearly and immediately jumped up, shouting loudly: “Heaven and earth! Who hit you? Who? Which damn bastard did something to your handsome face? This is the face of our Palace Front Division!”

Pei Yunying was amused: “Didn’t you used to say Zhizi was the face of the Palace Front Division?”

Duan Xiaoyan answered seriously: “That’s different—you two are male and female.”

“…”

Lu Tong looked up, her gaze falling on the bruising at the corner of his mouth, her heart stirring.

When they parted at the corridors during the day, this injury wasn’t on his face yet.

Duan Xiaoyan was still making a big fuss: “You don’t hit the face when fighting! Such a serious injury—shouldn’t we find someone to pay compensation for disfigurement? Brother, tell me who hit you, and I’ll immediately write a complaint!”

Pei Yunying touched his slightly swollen mouth corner and smiled: “It is quite serious.”

“Since Dr. Lu is here,” he looked at Lu Tong, “please trouble Dr. Lu to prescribe me a formula too.”

…

By evening, lamps were lit in the room.

Pei Yunying walked to the table and sat down, reaching to remove his waist blade: “Didn’t I say I’d come find you later? Why did you come yourself?”

Lu Tong closed the door: “The Imperial Medical Academy has many prying eyes, which isn’t convenient. I thought rather than you coming to find me, it’s better I come to you.”

At least at the Commander’s mansion, everyone was Pei Yunying’s own people.

Hearing this, he smiled: “But aren’t you afraid of damaging your reputation by voluntarily running to the Commander’s mansion?”

Lu Tong also sat at the table: “Now the rumors about you and me are known to everyone. If I avoided you, it would seem deliberate. Outsiders would call me pretentious and self-deceiving.”

In romantic rumors, for men it meant charm and glory, but for women it was a shackle on their reputation.

Hearing this, Pei Yunying’s gaze moved as he looked at her deeply: “I’m sorry for implicating you.”

Lu Tong spoke calmly: “I don’t blame you.”

This was true.

Rather than kneeling before her family’s murderer in full view of everyone, she preferred this. Her humiliation wouldn’t come from useless feminine reputation, but from bowing to enemies.

“Moreover,” she looked up, gazing at Pei Yunying’s face, “you’re not having an easy time either, are you?”

Pei Yunying was startled.

The bruising at his mouth corner was now even more obvious, the purple-black marks particularly clear on his clean face.

“You went back to see Yan Xu again?”

He neither confirmed nor denied, only lowering his head with a smile. Perhaps the movement affected his wound, as he made a “hiss” sound.

Lu Tong paused, placed her medical box on the table, and took out a medicine bottle to hand over.

“Jade Skin Cream?”

Pei Yunying looked at her: “Why haven’t you used yours?” He added: “My minor injury doesn’t need this. You should keep it.”

“I have another bottle.” Lu Tong interrupted him and handed him a bamboo spatula.

He fell silent.

After thinking, Pei Yunying reached for the medicine bottle, removed the stopper, took the bamboo spatula Lu Tong handed him, dipped it in the medicinal paste, and applied it to the corner of his mouth.

There was no mirror in the room, so he applied it inaccurately, with green medicinal paste smeared messily around his lips.

After applying it twice, he suddenly glanced at her and roguishly pushed the spatula toward her.

“How about you do it?”

Lu Tong ignored him.

He sighed as if he’d expected this, and was about to pick up the spatula to continue when Lu Tong suddenly reached out, took the spatula he offered, and raised her hand to apply it to his face.

Pei Yunying paused.

She was very close to him.

The sun had completely set. The small courtyard of the Palace Front Division was utterly quiet. In the dim night, lanterns hanging from trees swayed in the wind, casting gentle yellow tranquility.

She tilted her head slightly up, carefully applying the medicinal paste from the spatula to the corner of his mouth. Wind blew through the window cracks, faintly carrying one or two wisps of subtle medicinal fragrance.

For some reason, at this moment, he suddenly remembered what his teacher had asked him in the secret chamber.

“Do you like her that much?”

He had answered with a smile: “Between her and me, everything is pure and innocent.”

Yan Xu mocked: “Don’t like her? If you don’t like her, why did you rush to rescue her? If you don’t like her, why risk being discovered by the Qi family to speak for her? You know now isn’t the best time.”

“All these years, I haven’t seen you care about anyone else.”

Pei Yunying lowered his eyelids.

The medicinal paste on his lips was cool, yet he felt the places touched by the bamboo spatula were slightly burning—light and subtle, barely perceptible.

The room had somehow fallen silent. Lu Tong looked up and was suddenly startled.

Pei Yunying was looking down at her with lowered brows.

The young man’s features were bathed in moonlight from the window, appearing gentle and mellow. Those dark, bright eyes stared at her steadily—clear and bright, yet unfathomably deep.

Lu Tong’s fingertips curled slightly.

Her reflection fell in his eyes, stirring ripples of lamplight. Lu Tong was suddenly startled and instinctively avoided his gaze, but her eyes followed his nose bridge down to rest on the corner of his mouth.

She had always known Pei Yunying was handsome.

The kind of looks that appealed to men and women, young and old alike—features beautiful and refined, yet with compelling heroic spirit, without a trace of powder-room air. Usually always carrying a three-part smile, appearing bright and gentle like warm wind. When not smiling, his dimples were invisible, his lips ruddy with distinct peaks, actually showing some allure.

In the tender night with flower fragrance, she tilted her head up close to him, able to smell the faint, cool, sharp scent from his body—barely perceptible.

Pei Yunying looked down at her, seeming to notice her momentary distraction. He suddenly smiled inexplicably and said meaningfully: “Dr. Lu, do you want to…”

Lu Tong’s eyelashes fluttered.

The cool floral fragrance in the air suddenly became romantic, gradually creating gentle ripples under the lamplight.

The young man leaned closer, his dark eyes brilliant as stars, his smile bright at the corners of his mouth, unhurriedly saying the rest of his words.

“…take advantage of me?”

Lu Tong: “…”

Whatever gentle breeze, whatever ripples instantly vanished. Lu Tong threw down the bamboo spatula and said coldly: “Do it yourself.”

He couldn’t help laughing again, his expression quite pleased.

Pei Yunying took the spatula and casually applied it twice, then suddenly thought of something and looked at Lu Tong.

“Dr. Lu,” he said, “may I ask you something?”

“What?”

“Back then during the plague in Changwu County, when you disappeared afterward—were you really kidnapped by traffickers?”

Lu Tong hadn’t expected him to ask this and couldn’t help being stunned.

Pei Yunying watched her silently.

Qing Feng had investigated and found that in the thirty-second year of Yongchang, Changwu County suffered a great plague.

The epidemic came fiercely, with county residents dying household by household.

Yet the Lu family remained safe throughout that plague.

Since few survived that great epidemic, most neighbors who knew the Lu family had died, making information about “Lu Min” very difficult for Qing Feng to gather.

The informants found said the Lu family claimed their third daughter had been kidnapped by traffickers after the great plague and remained missing. However, children kidnapped by traffickers usually met tragic ends, yet Lu Tong reappeared seven years later. Her divine medical skills were truly remarkable—it was hard not to connect this to the Lu family’s complete escape from that plague seven years ago.

He had wanted to ask Lu Tong about this for a long time, but always felt it improper to pry into others’ secrets, especially since Lu Tong was already very guarded.

Now, knowing their past connection at the southern Su execution ground, they could be considered old friends. Moreover, their current relationship was much better than the initial sword-drawn tension.

What he couldn’t ask before, he could try asking now.

“The one who took you away—was it the master who taught you medicine?”

After a long moment, Lu Tong hummed in acknowledgment.

“Since it was your master,” he asked, “why didn’t you tell your family when leaving?”

The investigators said that years after Lu Min’s disappearance, the Lu family still hadn’t given up searching, firmly believing they would find their lost little daughter someday. From worry and exhaustion, the Lu couple had gone completely gray while still in their prime, aging far beyond their years.

Actually, thinking carefully, the matter wasn’t hard to guess.

Xiao Zhufeng had told him: “It seems the situation is already clear. Seven years ago during the Changwu County epidemic, a divine physician passed through and perhaps saw Lu Min’s exceptional talent, wanting to take her as a disciple. Using saving the Lu family as condition, he took Lu Min away.”

He intuitively felt something was wrong: “If taking a disciple, it could be done openly. Why so secretively?”

“Divine physicians all have eccentric temperaments,” Xiao Zhufeng disagreed. “Perhaps fearing the Lu family wouldn’t part with their daughter, so taking her secretly.”

It seemed to make sense.

But Pei Yunying always felt something was amiss.

He couldn’t say exactly what was wrong, only that intuitively, even the most eccentric divine physician wouldn’t be so careless in taking disciples.

Moreover, years ago Lu Tong was only nine years old. Before then, there was no word of her medical knowledge, and the Lu family had no physicians—where was this exceptional talent?

Everywhere was strange.

The bamboo spatula was placed back on the table. The white porcelain medicine bottle gleamed softly under the lamplight.

The young man’s words were calm and gentle, yet made Lu Tong’s eyelashes tremble.

Why not say a word?

When leaving Changwu County, there had been so many opportunities—why couldn’t she find a chance to say something?

She clenched her fingers, nails digging deep into her palms.

Before her eyes suddenly appeared Yunniang’s shadow wearing a veil.

She sat in the carriage, her light-colored hem blending with the snow outside.

Young Lu Tong looked at her anxiously: “Miss, before leaving, could I say goodbye to my parents?”

The veiled woman seemed to smile: “No.”

She said: “This is a secret between you and me. If your parents take the antidote for seven days, the plague poison will be eliminated. But if you reveal the secret, on the last day, the antidote becomes poison. Your family of four will all die.”

“Do you understand?”

Lu Tong shivered.

Later she followed Yunniang’s words exactly, brewing medicine daily for her family. Her parents weren’t without suspicions, but she said it was kindly distributed by the county magistrate to the poor. At that time, parents and siblings were all too ill to get out of bed. Even with suspicions, they couldn’t verify.

However, their festering wounds did stop, and they didn’t develop more rashes. The plague retreated reluctantly from their door.

Yunniang hadn’t lied to her.

Young Lu Tong was both joyful and calculating. Yunniang said the antidote would become poison on the seventh day, so she would stay silent for the first six days. On the seventh day, after seeing her parents take the antidote, she would reveal everything.

She just wanted to say goodbye to her parents. Otherwise, disappearing without reason would worry the family.

On the sixth day, after giving her family the antidote, Lu Tong went to the city gate to get the seventh day’s medicinal ingredients from Yunniang. Yunniang had her board the carriage and handed her a cup of hot tea. She didn’t suspect anything and drank it down. When she awoke, mountains and roads stretched far, no longer the familiar streets of Changwu County.

She pulled open the carriage curtain, looking anxiously at the strange scenery outside: “Didn’t you say… we needed seven days of antidote?”

The woman before her had removed her veil, revealing a delicate, beautiful face: “Six days was enough.”

She couldn’t believe it: “You lied to me?”

“Yes.”

The woman laughed, like a mother tolerating a child’s naive words, patting her head with a tone gentle to the point of being eerie.

“Otherwise, wouldn’t you have had a chance to tell them?”

The parting came suddenly, not allowing her any preparation. She sat dazedly in the carriage, forgetting to react until Yunniang reached out and lowered the curtain, hiding all the roadside grass, frost-covered branches, and misty waters.

Only the woman smiled at her.

“Little girl.”

She said, “This is called regret.”