At daybreak the next day, Lu Tong rose early to wash and groom herself, changing into a lotus-colored narrow-sleeved cotton dress. She sat at the table to arrange her hair. In the wooden box at the corner of the table lay various silk flowers – besides her sister’s hibiscus hairpin, these were her only ornaments. However, today there was something new in the wooden box: a peony-patterned wooden comb.

The prize comb won from the “Orchid Night Contest of Skills” was much smaller than her usual one, somewhat inconvenient for combing hair but perfect as a decorative hairpin. Lu Tong’s gaze lingered on the comb in the box for a long while before she reached out to take it. In the mirror, the woman without makeup looked back at her hesitantly. After a moment’s pause, she finally inserted the comb into her hair bun.

…

“Crash!”

A porcelain vase shattered inside the room.

Qi Yutai had just reached the door when the guards stopped him.

“Young Master, the Master has ordered that you cannot leave for these few days.”

Qi Yutai slapped him: “Who do you think you are to stop me!”

The guard dared not respond but remained firmly positioned in front of the door.

Qi Yutai’s face showed agitation. For several days now, he had been confined to his room, unable to leave. For him, this was worse than being in prison. The longer he stayed home, the heavier his drug addiction became. It felt like a fire was burning inside him that couldn’t be extinguished. He desperately wanted to rush out and take a strong dose of Hanshi San to find relief.

Though Hanshi San was now hard to find in the capital, he had recently learned of an alternative from Lu Tong. Qi Yutai was skeptical but had wanted to have someone test the formula she described. However, with his father’s spies throughout the compound, he couldn’t command any of his father’s people to help.

When he tried to leave himself, for some unknown reason, the supervision had become even stricter these past few days – he couldn’t even step into the courtyard anymore.

Qi Yutai’s heart scratched like a cat’s. In the corner of the table, Lingxi incense burned quietly, but its usually fragrant aroma failed to calm him and instead made him more agitated. Qi Yutai grabbed the incense burner and hurled it at the door with a “thud,” scattering ashes everywhere.

A foot stopped in front of the scattered incense.

Qi Qing stood at the doorway, his gaze sweeping over the mess on the ground as he spoke calmly.

“What are you doing?”

Qi Yutai was startled: “Father?”

Qi Qing had arrived.

Qi Qing stepped forward, walking around the scattered porcelain shards and incense ashes in the room, entered, and stood inside: “What are you making a fuss about now?”

His father’s tone was flat, making Qi Yutai shudder.

But soon, agitation overcame fear, and he said: “Father, I want to go out.”

“No.”

“Why not?” Qi Yutai tried desperately to explain, “Father, look, I’ve been good these days, haven’t caused any trouble… I haven’t been out for so long, I just want to take a walk, nothing else.”

“The palace ceremony is approaching, your illness hasn’t healed, better to rest quietly at home…”

“I’m not sick at all!”

Suddenly, Qi Yutai interrupted him.

Qi Qing paused.

Qi Yutai scratched his head, his expression full of agitation.

“I’m not sick at all,” he repeated. “Both Lu and Cui Min have said that I just had a wind evil invasion and temporary shock, why do you never believe that?”

Both Lu Tong and Cui Min had told him this – he was just temporarily shocked, not truly mentally ill.

Qi Qing looked at him, his tone still leaving no room for argument: “No.”

No, no, no – ‘no’ was what his father said to him most often.

The Lingxi incense that had been knocked to the ground made the fragrance even stronger, and Qi Yutai felt anger building in his chest.

“Your injuries haven’t fully healed, you can’t be disturbed randomly, lest you be shocked again.”

“Stop making excuses!”

Qi Yutai couldn’t hold back anymore and shouted: “You keep saying it’s for my good, but you’re not keeping me inside because you’re worried about my health, you’re worried I’ll have an episode midway and embarrass the Grand Tutor’s mansion. You’re afraid I’ll become a stain on the Grand Tutor’s reputation, you just want to hide me away!”

The room fell deathly silent.

The guards and maids stood at the door with lowered heads, not daring to look this way.

Qi Qing still quietly looked at him, his grey-white clouded eyes showing no emotion – cold, disappointed, indifferent.

Qi Yutai suddenly felt a surge of resentment in his heart.

It was always like this.

Father was always like this.

No matter what he said or did, no matter how big a disaster he caused, his father would never get angry or excited, never shout or scold, would only calmly criticize, then look at him with that disappointed gaze.

As if all his actions and behavior couldn’t stir any emotional waves in the other person, as if he was just a dispensable decoration.

He was not like this with Qi Huaying.

He backed up two steps and suddenly broke into a bitter laugh.

Lu Tong had said that she was mischievous since childhood, but while her father was strict with her, he would praise and compliment her to others.

In Mangming Village, Yang fellow’s son was an idiot, yet his father could still proudly boast about him to others.

Their casual conversations sounded particularly harsh to his ears.

He yearned for it, he was jealous of it.

“Have you thought I was crazy since I was little?” Qi Yutai suddenly spoke.

Without waiting for Qi Qing to speak, he continued: “You’ve thought so since I was five, haven’t you?”

He didn’t start showing symptoms five years ago.

It was earlier.

Qi Yutai vaguely remembered that his father used to be very good to him, but changed after that. Qi Qing treated him neither coldly nor warmly, like a failed product that couldn’t be destroyed but couldn’t be acknowledged, could only be placed in the mansion as a dispensable decoration.

Not investing any emotion, coldly observing, using this to cover up the disdain.

The servants in the mansion were tight-lipped about events from many years ago, but he was after all the only legitimate son of the Grand Tutor’s mansion – if he wanted to know, he could eventually find out something.

“When I said the painted eyebrows would kill people, you didn’t believe me. When I said someone in Fengle Tower wanted to harm me, you didn’t care.”

“Father, do you think in your heart that I’m crazy, that everything I say is madness!”

Qi Qing lowered his eyes: “You’re too agitated, you need to calm down.”

“I told you I’m not sick!”

Qi Yutai shouted: “If you despise me then just kill me, just like my mother – dead people can’t bring shame to the Grand Tutor’s mansion—”

“Slap!”

A crisp sound rang through the room.

Qi Yutai held his face, looking at the person before him in disbelief.

The old man’s grey-white eyes stared at him intently, waves finally stirring on the usually calm surface. The anger made those eyes appear cold and grim, causing Qi Yutai’s previous rage to momentarily turn to fear, gradually calming down.

Qi Qing looked at him darkly, and Qi Yutai dared not speak for a moment.

After a while, Qi Qing turned around and said coldly: “Stay in the mansion to recover, don’t take one step outside the courtyard.”

He turned and left the room.

After leaving the courtyard, the steward who had been standing at the door followed up and said softly: “The young master spoke without thinking in his anxiety, master must not take it to heart.”

“He mentioned Shuhui…”

Qi Qing closed his eyes.

“Wretched child.”

…

In the room, the maids bent down to pick up the scattered porcelain shards and cleaned up the incense ashes from the carpet.

Qi Yutai sat at the table, his expression dark and gloomy.

The slapped face was burning with pain – that slap from Qi Qing had used full force.

He touched his face, feeling a vague mark gradually swelling up.

Someone entered from outside. Qi Yutai lifted his eyelids as Lu Tong came in, putting her medical box on the table. Her gaze paused when it fell on his face.

The swelling hadn’t subsided, anyone could see he had been slapped, and in the entire Grand Tutor’s mansion, who would dare to hit him was obvious.

Lu Tong lowered her head to open the medical box. She didn’t ask anything, which made Qi Yutai feel even more humiliated, certain that this seemingly calm medical woman was secretly laughing at him inside.

“Has Young Master Qi taken his medicine?” she asked.

“Smashed it.”

He was always like this – when Lu Tong brewed medicine for him, he would smash it, and she would need to brew another bowl. In the summer heat, waiting by the medicine stove was hard work.

Qi Yutai liked to wear her down with these trivial matters.

Lu Tong nodded, showing no impatience, “I’ll go brew another dose.”

The pleasure of tormenting someone dissipated in the face of their calmness.

Qi Yutai cursed under his breath. Regardless, at least Lu Tong could come and go from the Grand Tutor’s mansion daily, while he was confined here – even a lowly commoner had more freedom than him.

Qi Yutai watched Lu Tong bend down to take out the silver pot from the medical box and suddenly had a thought.

He grabbed Lu Tong’s arm.

Lu Tong looked at him.

“You told me last time you could find a substitute for Hanshi San?”

“Yes.”

“Go make it and bring it to me.”

Lu Tong looked at him in surprise and said: “Young Master Qi, you’ve just recovered from a serious illness, you shouldn’t take other medicines.”

“Stop wasting words!”

Qi Yutai gripped her hand viciously, his actions so brutal that Lu Tong slightly furrowed her brows.

This pained expression gave him a moment of satisfaction.

“Medical Official Lu, I’m not afraid to tell you,” he said coldly, “once you enter the Grand Tutor’s mansion, it’s not so easy to leave. Even if you cure me, as long as I’m not happy, you’ll still die.”

“Don’t think that by pleasing my father, you’ll be safe. Cui Min was once my father’s dog too, and look how miserable his fate is now.”

He leaned close to Lu Tong, his tone contemptuous, “Rather than pleasing my father, you’d better please me. If you serve me well and make me happy, perhaps I’ll soften my heart and won’t make things difficult for you later. Otherwise…”

“I have plenty of ways to keep you in the Qi family forever, living worse than death!”

The last sentence suddenly turned vicious.

Lu Tong remained silent.

Qi Yutai stared at her intently.

After a moment, Lu Tong spoke.

“If the Grand Tutor learns of this, I will lose my life.”

Qi Yutai’s expression relaxed: “I won’t let him know.”

“Though this substance isn’t as potent as Hanshi San, it can only be taken in small amounts. If overdosed, there will still be endless consequences.”

“I know what I’m doing.”

The room fell quiet.

The guards and maids glanced this way, saw Qi Yutai gripping Lu Tong’s arm as if threatening her, then unanimously turned their faces away, pretending not to see.

Qi Yutai released his hand: “Have you made up your mind?”

On the table, the newly lit Lingxi incense gave off its fragrance, and in these thin wisps of smoke, Lu Tong lowered her eyelids.

“I’ll try,” she said.

…

After a busy morning at the training grounds, when the small kitchen served lunch, the imperial guards ran especially quickly.

When Pei Yunying returned from the training grounds, Xiao Zhufeng had just moved two large baskets of arrows to the courtyard.

“Weren’t you supposed to go to the palace?” Pei Yunying asked, “Why are you back?”

Xiao Zhufeng patted the dust off his hands and entered the room without a word.

Seeing him like this, Pei Yunying’s expression became more serious, followed him back to the room, and asked: “What happened?”

Xiao Zhufeng said: “The Crown Prince has been placed under house arrest.”

Pei Yunying paused.

“Someone tampered with the food and drinks in Noble Consort Chen’s palace, and the drugged palace maid accused people from the Empress’s palace.”

“The house arrest was the Emperor’s decision.”

Pei Yunying sat down in a chair, thought for a while, and gave a low laugh.

“At Huangmao Ridge, both the Crown Prince and Third Prince were attacked, but now only the Crown Prince is being punished. They’re both his sons, but the Emperor’s heart truly shows quite a bias.”

Xiao Zhufeng spoke up: “That’s also because of what happened at the Grand Tutor’s mansion earlier, making it easier for the Emperor to take advantage of the situation.” At this point, he looked at Pei Yunying: “For all of this now, we should thank your Medical Official Lu.”

This mockery could no longer stir any waves in the other person. Pei Yunying shrugged, saying carelessly: “The timing is just right, and those from Qishui should be setting out soon.”

The military uprising in Qishui and Emperor Liang sent someone as brutal as General Zhenwei to suppress it. Perhaps he wanted to quell the rebellion, or with a storm approaching Sheng Capital, he wanted to drive away all possible variables, clearing obstacles and escorting that truly beloved son in the emperor’s heart.

Such fatherly love indeed.

“I expect there will be movements in the palace after the ceremony at the latest,” Xiao Zhufeng nodded, “By then the Qi family will be useless, and you can offer them up as a favor to your lifesaver.”

“That won’t do,” Pei Yunying said: “You know very well that when it comes to revenge, it’s more satisfying to do it yourself.”

Xiao Zhufeng sneered: “So affected.”

Just then, Duan Xiaoyan walked in from outside, carrying a porcelain vase with a large bunch of pink roses.

He placed the vase in a corner cabinet of the room, poured half a vase of clear water, and then carelessly arranged the roses to fill the vase. He stepped back two paces, examined it for a moment, and said satisfiedly: “Perfect!”

Pei Yunying and Xiao Zhufeng looked at him, both frowning: “What are you doing?”

“Attracting romance!”

Duan Xiaoyan explained excitedly, “Earlier when I went to West Street to get medicine, I met Blind He the fortune teller, who said our palace guard has too many men, the yang energy is too strong, and the feng shui isn’t good for matters of love.”

“He taught me a method – place a vase of flowers in the southeast corner of the room, change them daily, and within three months, romance will surely come, stirring the heart with love. It’s very effective!”

Pei Yunying was speechless and asked him: “How much did you spend?”

“One tael of silver.” Duan Xiaoyan hurriedly said: “Brother, trust me, he’s not a fraud, it’s very worth it, he even threw in a blessed bracelet. Hey, Brother Yunying, I think you should go see him too. I heard he also has red talismans – wear them and your love life will be smooth, and the person you love will surely fall for you. Aren’t you coveting the position of Medical Official Lu’s fiancé? Why not get one too?”

“I already asked for the brothers, and Blind He said it’s cheaper if you buy in bulk. If you like, I can buy one for you too?”

Pei Yunying’s face was expressionless: “Don’t do that sort of thing.”

“But…”

“You should buy one,” Xiao Zhufeng said seriously: “From what I can see, your love life is quite rocky.”

“You should say that to yourself.”

Pei Yunying smiled at him: “After all, you haven’t even found where the path is.”

“…”

…

In the evening, Lu Tong left the Grand Tutor’s mansion and returned to West Street.

Yinzheng was sweeping fallen leaves under the plum tree at the door. Seeing her return, she put down the broom and cheerfully called inside: “Miss is back.”

Miao Liangfang was hunched over the medicine cabinet taking inventory of newly received herbs. Hearing this, he craned his neck and instructed Lu Tong: “Little Lu is back! You’re early today, there’s food kept in the kitchen, including the red date cake you like.”

Lu Tong responded, and just as she entered the room, Yinzheng looked at her, her gaze falling on her hair, and spoke in surprise as if discovering something: “Miss, why did you change your ornaments today?”

Miao Liangfang was startled, and Acheng also looked up at these words.

Lu Tong only had one hairpin in total, usually wearing silk flowers made by Yinzheng. Now there was a carved comb in her hair bun – though not elaborate, compared to before, it was quite eye-catching.

Everyone expressed their admiration.

Lu Tong touched the comb, suddenly feeling a trace of discomfort in her heart.

Miao Liangfang’s eyes were full of kindness as he smiled and said: “Not bad, a young lady should dress up more. Looking so spirited with this decoration, just like an immortal maiden from temple paintings.”

“Oh,” Yinzheng came closer to examine it, “Strange, when did Miss buy this comb? I’ve never seen it before?”

Lu Tong had always been indifferent to decoration and wouldn’t actively buy ornaments or hairpins, so it was rare to see her wearing something new, naturally arousing curiosity.

Lu Tong paused: “Lin Danqing gave it to me.” Then changed the subject: “Where’s Manager Du?”

“He wasn’t feeling well and went home early in the afternoon,” Acheng said.

Lu Tong nodded, then asked: “Manager Du seems to be leaving very early these days.”

Though Du Changqing had never been particularly devoted to watching over the clinic before, he would at least wait until the sun had completely set before leaving. But in recent days, he seemed to be busy with something, and whenever Lu Tong returned from the Grand Tutor’s mansion, Du Changqing was already gone.

Even Acheng left later than Du Changqing.

It was truly unusual.

Lu Tong asked: “Is he sick?”

“Manager Du is a grown man, not a child, how could he get sick so easily? Miss should take care of yourself first.”

Yinzheng smiled as she lifted the felt curtain, “I’ll go heat the food in the kitchen, Miss remember to come to eat after you’ve rested.”

Lu Tong made a sound of agreement but felt Yinzheng’s attitude was somewhat strange today, so she looked at the two people in the back room.

“Did something happen?”

Miao Liangfang shook his head and sighed, while Acheng pulled Lu Tong to a corner and mysteriously spoke: “Doctor Lu, don’t you know? The owner is suffering from heartbreak, recently staying at home nursing his wounds, not wanting to go out and see people.”

“Heartbreak?”

Lu Tong was stunned.

These days she had been busy with matters at the Grand Tutor’s mansion, having no time to pay attention to the clinic staff, not knowing when she had missed such a big secret.

This Du Changqing, though lacking in great ambition, was carefree and at ease. Since Lu Tong had met him, Du Changqing’s love and hate came quickly and went even faster, yet now he was locked in his mansion brooding over heartbreak – clearly, the other person had hurt him deeply.

Lu Tong asked: “Who hurt him?”

The young apprentice glanced behind the felt curtain.

Lu Tong was surprised: “Yinzheng?”

When did Yinzheng and Du Changqing become entangled again?

“Just a few days after the Qixi Festival, young Du confessed his feelings to Yinzheng.”

Miao Liangfang’s eyes showed sympathy, and as he spoke, he sighed with emotion, “Such good children, how could Yinzheng not fall for young Du?”

Blind He: Some metaphysics, group purchase 20% off.