Though the words of gratitude were light, the speaker’s expression was sincere, devoid of the usual cold detachment, calm and composed. Lu Tong’s gaze flickered slightly. A few days ago, she had leveraged the life-saving debt from the Su Nan execution ground to ask Pei Yunying for help. She had Pei Yunying paint a drawing of an eyebrow, which was placed in Fengle Tower.

Fengle Tower in Rouge Alley was where Jing’s wealthy merchants loved to linger, listening to opera, drinking wine, resting, and seeking pleasure… Her elder sister had originally lost her life there because Ke Chengxing had mistakenly entered this place.

Pei Yunying had agreed to help immediately and even did more. His subordinates were well-connected and, living up to expectations, quickly figured out Fengle Tower’s layout. The top floor had a row of pavilions reserved for distinguished guests – those “fat sheep” who had certain status and were different from ordinary wealthy merchants.

Xi Yutai only ever stayed in “Awakening of Insects.” He was generous with money, and the manager was willing to reserve this upper room for him. When Lu Rou had died, Xi family servants who rushed over had smoothed everything over for Xi Yutai, and the manager had glimpsed something of this person’s extraordinary status.

In fact, from beginning to end, there had never been such a “room-competing” guest, and the Fengle Tower’s owner had never rented Awakening of Insects to another person for money. However, just a few days before Xi Yutai’s incident, the owner of Fengle Tower had urgent family matters and temporarily returned home, leaving the restaurant to his cousin to manage. This created many opportunities for exploitation.

First, they pretended to be guests competing with Xi Yutai for the room, causing Xi Yutai, who had just consumed Cold Food Powder, to have his blood rush up. The “guest” wore a sachet containing herbs that would intensify the wind evil entering the blood.

The “singer” accidentally knocked over an oil lamp, starting a large fire that burned the scrolls in the room but revealed the painting underneath – the painting Lu Tong had specially prepared for Xi Yutai, which was also the final catalyst for his “terrified madness.”

Although Fengle Tower wasn’t as well-guarded as Yuxian Tower, arranging things to this extent required significant help from Pei Yunying. His subordinates were even more capable than Lu Tong had imagined, even making her wonder if his earlier words about being able to help her kill Xi Yutai might not have been a joke.

However, what’s done was done, and there was no point in regret.

Lu Tong thought for a moment, then reached for the pouch hanging at her waist and took out a small pink porcelain jar, offering it to Pei Yunying.

Pei Yunying was surprised: “What is this?”

“Jin Xianrong’s nourishing medicine. I’ve prepared a portion for Lord Pei as well.”

Pei Yunying: “…”

Seeing his silence, Lu Tong unusually took the initiative to explain: “This time’s fire, we owe much to Lord Pei’s help. I thought about it, and the Su Nan matter was after all from many years ago.”

“Consider this my thank-you gift to Lord Pei.”

Pei Yunying’s expression remained blank: “Take it away.”

“My lord might as well accept it,” Lu Tong said seriously. “I changed the formula. After the Yellow Grassland hunting ground incident, when the Commander sent over game, I took some deer blood from it. Deer blood is warming in nature, strengthens the kidneys and enhances yang, nourishes blood and benefits essence. It’s excellent for medicinal use.”

“Even the Imperial Medical院 couldn’t produce a second bottle.”

She spoke with complete seriousness, as if this truly was some expensive thank-you gift, and he would be a fool not to accept it.

Pei Yunying smiled coldly instead of getting angry.

He said in a cold voice: “If you try to give me this thing again, tomorrow I’ll have people spread rumors in the imperial city saying I’m your fiancé.”

Lu Tong: “…”

She silently put away the medicine jar.

This person was ungrateful.

And shameless.

The room’s atmosphere grew cold for a moment. Seeming to sense her internal criticism, Pei Yunying coughed lightly, glanced at her, and said: “However, how did you think of mixing cinnabar with those medicinal juices?”

The “Eyebrow Drawing” in Fengle Tower’s “Awakening of Insects” room was what Lu Tong had asked Pei Yunying to create.

The thunder painting was an ordinary silk painting, but the “Eyebrow Drawing” beneath it used far from ordinary materials.

The silk had been pre-soaked by Lu Tong in medicinal juice boiled from red fragrant cotton, and when the fire started, the painting’s fragrance was intoxicating, causing hallucinations.

The pigments used to draw the lines were personally mixed by Lu Tong – snake slough, mica, smoke glue, indigo water, insect white wax… various medicinal materials specially refined and mixed with cinnabar, painted into the picture. The color would fade after half an hour, but when encountering fire, the cinnabar would show its color again.

Lu Tong had Pei Yunying use this mixture to paint the seven apertures of the figures in the painting.

As the fire grew fierce and burned away the thunder painting, the Court of Imperial Entertainments’ “Spring Dream by the Pond” had already been unconsciously affecting Xi Yutai for some time. His madness was already at the edge, needing only the final catalyst.

Xi Yutai had just taken Cold Food Powder and smelled the fragrance. With blood and qi combining, qi combining with yang, suddenly seeing this eyebrow drawing stirred up shadows of past events. Then seeing the seven apertures of the figure in the painting bleeding, he would certainly have his heart-water stop, empty qi flowing, becoming unfocused and unstable.

She had read Xi Yutai’s medical records. Although the true circumstances had been covered up, she could still clearly see that after the Yang elder case in Mangming Village, Xi Yutai had been bedridden for a long time. And afterward, the Grand Tutor’s mansion had driven away all birds.

The first time he had been able to suppress the shock from external things, but the second time would necessarily be much more severe.

And after that, the fire in Fengle Tower continued to burn. The fire had started from the top pavilion, and the eyebrow drawing was completely consumed by the flames, leaving not a trace of evidence. Even if someone later became suspicious and went up to the pavilion, amid the ruins after the fire, they would find nothing suspicious.

They would only think it was the ravings of the Grand Tutor’s son who had consumed too much Cold Food Powder and was confused in his mind.

“It truly is flawless.” A voice of praise came from beside her. Pei Yunying tilted his head slightly. “However, this method is novel. Where did you learn it from?”

This kind of pigment transformation method wasn’t taught in medical classics or pharmacology.

Lu Tong was stunned for a moment.

She lowered her head and took a sip of the white lotus flower drink before her. The cold drink was sweet but slightly bland, even tasting a bit bitter.

“My father told me about it.”

Pei Yunying was slightly startled.

Perhaps for aesthetics, the sweet soup vendor had put two pieces of broken lotus petals in the bamboo cup. The pink-white broken flowers floated in the clear sweet liquid, sinking and rising, like small boats on a summer night’s lotus pond illuminated by moonlight.

Lu Tong was momentarily lost in thought.

It seemed someone was calling from behind her: “Tong girl, Tong Tong, slow down!”

She was skipping ahead, and when she turned back, she saw her mother calling her while holding Lu Rou’s hand. Lu Qian and her father were walking behind them, each carrying several bamboo tubes of sweet drink.

“Hurry up!” she complained, “We’ll miss the water opera–“

Every year around the summer solstice in Changwu County, people would set up stages by the small river to perform water opera.

During this time, families from all over the city would take ferry boats to watch the opera by the river.

Children didn’t like listening to the troupe’s most famous plays. All that love and hate, romance and grudges, all about getting rich and being promoted, all about loyalty and filial piety – big words that seemed distant and boring.

Ghost plays were the most popular, such as how a child who died unjustly in the Zhang family mansion would turn into a fierce ghost the next day to seek revenge, how the wealth god statue in the Li family temple would transform into an old woman at night to eat the hearts and livers of wealthy families, how the ghost bride in the new grave on the neighboring mountain would pick a passing man every night to marry… Children would scream in fear while listening with great interest.

Lu Tong also loved listening to that play “Headless Spirit’s Vengeful Return.”

One year, the troupe had a burst of inspiration and modified that “Headless Spirit” play.

The lanterns on stage were dim, with only the actors’ oil-painted costumes bright and colorful. A red lantern flickered slightly in front of the paper-made mansion gate, and suddenly a large white face with seven bleeding apertures appeared on the wall.

With a loud “Waa–” cry.

Lu Tong’s clear cry startled a flock of white egrets from the lotus pond.

That year, many children watching the opera in Changwu County were scared to tears. Lu Tong went home and developed a fever. The neighbor’s aunt insisted she had been possessed by something dirty and wanted to invite a mountain priestess to call back her soul.

Lu Rou and Lu Qian sat by her bed, looking at her with worry.

She wrapped herself in a blanket and curled up at the foot of the bed, feeling that such a large white face might float out from behind the curtains, in front of the cabinet, or under the table at any moment. She didn’t dare close her eyes for even a moment.

In just two short days, her originally round face had become somewhat thin.

Her father walked in from outside and told her to get dressed and come down from the bed.

She refused.

“Come down,” her father said. “I’ll teach you how to catch ghosts.”

Catch ghosts?

Curiosity about catching ghosts ultimately overcame her desire to stay in bed. She grudgingly got up and walked to her father’s side. Her father had her sit at a table covered with paper and handed her a brush dipped in pigment.

The pigment looked like cinnabar but was different from ordinary cinnabar, being unusually sticky.

Her father told her to write a character.

Lu Tong wrote an elaborate “ghost” character.

The vermillion writing was so cursive it was like a drawing, impossible to tell if it was a character or a talisman. Her father held his head and sighed.

Lu Tong was puzzled.

She sat blankly for a moment, about to ask where they would catch ghosts, when she saw the red writing on the white paper gradually fade away, as if someone invisible was standing beside it, silently wiping away the writing with a cloth.

Lu Tong jumped up in shock: “A ghost!”

But her father pressed her shoulders, making her sit down again.

He took the oil lamp from the table and lightly passed it over the white paper where the writing had faded to nothing. The previously vanished writing reappeared.

“This is…” Lu Tong was dumbfounded.

“Father asked the theater troupe’s manager. Using snake slough, mica, smoke glue, indigo water, insect white wax… various medicinal materials specially refined and mixed with cinnabar, painted into the picture, the color fades after half an hour. But when encountering fire, the cinnabar shows its color again.”

“The silk on the stage was pre-painted with the face, and midway through the performance, when the actor passed the torch over it, the strange color appeared naturally.”

Her father stood at the table, looking at her with a sigh: “Tong girl, there are no ghosts in this world.”

Young as she was, now understanding the whole process, her heart relaxed slightly, but remembering the pale face on the fabric still made her shudder. She stubbornly asked with lingering doubt: “There are countless things in the world. Just because we haven’t seen them doesn’t mean they don’t exist, right?”

Her father was silent for a moment. After a while, he said: “Even if they do exist, there’s no need to fear.”

Lu Tong blinked.

“The books say: When seeing ghosts, do not fear, but fight them. If you win, that’s good; if you lose, you’ll just be the same as them.”

He stroked his beard: “This is the way of ghost catching that father teaches you.”

When seeing ghosts, do not fear, but fight them.

This “way of ghost catching” was often recalled by her later at Luomei Peak. Every time she searched through corpses in the graveyard, she would tell herself “the living are ghosts who haven’t died, ghosts are people who have died,” there was no need to fear.

And in this world, there were many people far more cruel and vicious than ghosts.

Just remember the word “fight.”

The lamplight was dim, and a gust of wild wind swept by, making the tree branches in front of the door rap against the wooden window with a “pitter-patter” sound.

Lu Tong came back to herself, took a gulp of white lotus drink, and said lowering her head: “The formula father learned from the theater troupe, I later used it to cheat during home examinations.”

Pei Yunying’s expression was strange: “Cheat?”

“That’s right.”

She didn’t have to go to school in the neighboring county like Lu Qian, but her studies weren’t neglected. Every half year, father would conduct examinations at home.

That was practically her nightmare.

The clever girl thought of using father’s “way of ghost catching” to write poetry she couldn’t remember using cinnabar mixed with medicinal materials on white paper, but she was discovered before she could light the fire stick – after all, lighting a lamp in broad daylight was a bit too obvious.

Father gave her a thorough scolding.

“Always trying to be clever and cunning, what kind of behavior is this! Where’s my discipline rod? Who hid my discipline rod!”

Lu Qian had already run half a li away with the discipline rod, and when Lu Rou came to mediate, father pushed her out the door with an ashen face.

“From childhood, one’s character shouldn’t be corrupted even slightly. Spilled water can’t be gathered back, regret comes too late! You all just keep spoiling her.”

Then he berated her: “I taught you about the pigments, but not for you to use them for such crooked purposes!”

Thinking about it, Lu Tong let out a “pfft” of laughter.

Father always put moral education first. Back then, just wanting to cheat on homework was considered a “crooked path,” but now, she had used this “way of ghost catching” to scheme fires and frame others, and even more – before that, she had already killed and buried bodies, using any means necessary to achieve her goals…

The smile gradually faded from her face. Lu Tong was quiet for a while, then said: “He must be very disappointed in me.”

She had become exactly what father hadn’t wanted her to become.

Everything around was dark, with only the wind wailing outside the window.

“I actually think he would be proud of you.”

In the dead silence, someone suddenly spoke.

Lu Tong looked up.

“A person single-handedly charging into Jing to avenge their family, killing three enemies and still escaping unscathed, with the last one seemingly close too – if I ever have such a daughter in the future, I would certainly be very proud.”

He spoke casually, as if making an offhand remark.

A faint, crisp fragrance wafted through the air, the flame illuminating the handsome, sharp features of the person before her. Though a heavy rain was approaching, because of this soft, warm light, there was somehow a beautiful meaning to the scene.

He looked at Lu Tong and said with a smile: “If your father knew what you’re doing now, he would probably just feel heartache for you.”

Lu Tong’s heart trembled.

She had been away from home too long, no longer daring to hope for the indulgence and doting of the past, much less daring to hope for concern.

Lu Tong collected her thoughts. “‘If I ever have such a daughter…’ Commander, are you taking advantage of me?” she mimicked Pei Yunying’s words, frowning.

He was startled, then smiled: “I was trying to comfort you.”

“I’m not feeling down, why would I need comfort?”

Pei Yunying watched her.

Lu Tong sat under the dim lamplight, her expression normal, her tone flat, as if the flash of loss that had just passed through her eyes had been an illusion.

He lowered his head and smiled, not continuing this thread of conversation, instead turning to another matter.

“Although Xi Yutai is currently deranged and mad, with Cui Min treating him, he might regain clarity in the future.”

“Once he regains clarity and tells about competing for the upper room with a guest on the night of the Fengle Tower fire, the lie will immediately be exposed.”

“That old fox Xi Qing might notice something suspicious about this.”

“Doctor Lu,” he said, “aren’t you afraid he’ll tell Xi Qing the clues?”

Given the Xi family’s cautiousness, even if they couldn’t find that “Eyebrow Drawing,” it didn’t mean they wouldn’t become suspicious. Once suspicious, after eliminating all other enemies, the matter of the Lu family in Changwu County might be brought back before the Xi family’s eyes.

The lamplight was absolutely silent.

After a long while, Lu Tong smiled slightly.

“I’m not afraid.”

Her eyes were exceptionally bright in the lamplight as she spoke calmly.

“Who would believe the words of a madman?”

She said mockingly: “Perhaps even his father wouldn’t believe his own son.”

…

“Pitter-patter–“

Large raindrops fell from the sky. Lu Tong had just returned to the dormitory when it started raining in the courtyard.

The rain still carried summer’s heat. Lu Tong put the oil lamp on the table. Lin Danqing was leaning over to close the wooden window by the table tightly, and afterward, pushed it hard several times with her palm.

Lu Tong asked: “Why close it so tightly?”

The men’s and women’s dormitories were separated. On stuffy summer nights, they would usually leave a gap for ventilation.

Lin Danqing climbed back onto her bed, pulled out a novel from under her pillow and read aloud to her: “Look what it says here: All those men who have affairs and women who keep lovers can fly – they don’t need to use doors to come and go.”

“Among the new medical officers, there are also some young and vigorous ones. What if someone gets spring fever one night and stumbles into the wrong room? Better to be careful.”

Lu Tong: “…”

“It makes quite good sense,” she turned her head and asked Lu Tong: “Don’t you think so, Sister Lu?”

Lu Tong avoided her gaze and said neutrally: “…Yes.”

…

The rain fell steadily, washing the courtyard ground clean.

Pei Yunying returned to his mansion and put away his umbrella at the entrance.

The vast mansion was empty. A bunch of roses was arranged in the hall’s vase – Pei Yuzhu had put them there during the day.

He spent most of his time at the Commander’s mansion, and when not there, he stayed in the palace on duty. This mansion was often empty, though since Pei Yuzhu and her mother moved next door, he had been coming back more often.

The servants would come to clean during the day but returned to their homes at night. He didn’t like being waited upon, and the mansion only had a few trusted guards who wouldn’t appear unless necessary.

Pei Yunying lit a lamp and walked into his study.

The study was just as he had left it, wooden blocks scattered messily on the low table, several pieces of drawing paper spread before the desk, brushes hanging on the brush holder, several of them brand new – recently bought and barely used.

He sat down at the desk and started collecting the papers that had been blown about by the wind. As he collected them, his movements gradually slowed.

The eyebrow drawing in Fengle Tower, painted with special pigments, was done by his own hand.

Lu Tong had asked him to paint this picture because she knew he was skilled in painting, and entrusting it to other painters in Jing might risk the secret being leaked.

Actually, since his mother passed away, he hadn’t picked up a brush, and should have refused, but in the end, for some unknown reason, he had accepted her proposal.

Pei Yunying shook his head and smiled helplessly.

Lu Tong had said that if her father were alive and knew she was using his old methods for revenge, he would be very disappointed.

What about him?

If mother knew that the painting skills she had taught him hand by hand – reading “The Eight Standards of Painting: ancient and moist, water pure and bright, mountains should be towering, springs should be unrestrained, clouds and mist appearing and disappearing, wild paths winding, pines like crouching dragons and snakes, bamboo hiding wind and rain night” – had ended up being used to create illusions on brothel walls, what would she think?

She probably wouldn’t be disappointed, right?

He leaned back against the support, staring at the brushes on the brush holder in the darkness, thinking of something, a flash of self-mockery passing through his eyes.

After all…

This could also be considered eliminating evil for the people.

“When seeing ghosts, do not fear, but fight them…” “The living are ghosts who haven’t died…” — from “What Confucius Did Not Discuss”

“The Eight Standards of Painting…” — from “Complete Collection of Landscape Painting”

“All those men who have affairs…” — from “Silent Drama”