Lu Huating left the queue without a word.

Juan Su became anxious: “We finally queued for so long, and now you’re not queuing anymore…”

Seeing Lu Huating had only moved to the end of the queue at Fang Xie’s table, Juan Su breathed a sigh of relief and said: “This boy hasn’t even fully grown. How could he have the ability to treat Prince Yan? That old man just now looked more reliable.”

“Little Juan, look at which of these tables writes prescriptions fastest and has the longest queue?” Lu Huating interrupted with a half-smile.

“Of course this young one is faster…” Juan Su closed his mouth.

The young physician saw patients quickly yet still had many people queuing, showing that daily visitors far exceeded the old physicians. Most likely this young physician had excellent medical skills and quite a reputation among the neighbors.

Lu Huating’s mind worked faster than others—people at Prince Yan’s mansion had long been convinced.

Behind the table, Fang Xie glanced toward the straw mat, looking as if cold water had been poured over his head. When prescribing medicine again, his long lashes lowered, his expression very dejected.

Watching him, a cold smile flashed through Lu Huating’s eyes.

This young physician knew Qun Qing, and not casually either.

Understanding this point, Lu Huating lowered his head and continued smoothing his easily wrinkled sleeves. He’d thought there were only two men under her skirt…

Who knew there was another outside the palace.

Every so often, Fang Xie raised his head to look, ultimately growing more and more disappointed. He pulled several medicine packages from a drawer, handed them to a young medicine-pounding attendant beside him, gave a few instructions, then stopped raising his head.

Against the flow of people, the young attendant carried the medicine packages and went out.

“Where’s Kuang Su?” Lu Huating suddenly asked.

“Didn’t he go buy pastries for His Highness? Taking so long to return—his hands and feet are slow enough.” Seeing the medicine attendant chase out, Juan Su understood Lu Huating’s meaning. “How about you stay here while this subordinate follows him to chase that veiled lady…”

Before he finished, Lu Huating stopped him: “You stay by my side. It’s almost our turn.”

As he spoke, the patient ahead had already left. Lu Huating swept aside his robes and sat before Fang Xie.

Strangers on all sides.

This unfamiliar and chaotic environment was an excellent opportunity for assassination. Recently there had been many assassination attempts against Prince Yan’s mansion. Juan Su understood and followed closely, matching his steps.

“Where is the discomfort?” Fang Xie asked.

Lu Huating paused before saying: “Consulting on someone else’s behalf.”

“What symptoms?”

Lu Huating gazed at Fang Xie: “Initially fine, symptoms develop slowly. After ten days, both knees become weak and achy, leg bones throb with pain. After one year, energy fails, head pain lingers. If anxiety attacks the heart, one collapses with convulsions, saliva floods back—life-threatening. May I ask what kind of condition this might be?”

Juan Su was confused. Weren’t they here today to seek a prescription to treat Prince Yan’s facial scar? What was this long string of words?

Fang Xie still wore that not-very-happy expression: “Based on verbal description alone, I can’t judge. Unless the patient comes in person for me to take their pulse.”

Then Juan Su’s eyes widened as he watched Lu Huating roll up his sleeve and extend his own wrist before Fang Xie.

Without extra words, Fang Xie took his pulse. After a moment, he frowned: “The position is floating and weak, the speed irregular, appearing and disappearing—it’s like… poisoning.”

“What poison?” Lu Huating pressed.

“I don’t know.” Fang Xie answered straightforwardly. “My medical skills aren’t refined. I can only treat common everyday ailments. If you want a definite diagnosis, find someone else.”

“Have you heard of ‘Mutual Yearning’?” Lu Huating seemed unsurprised by this answer and smiled. “It seems to be a type of venomous insect.”

“Venomous insects are venomous insects, poison is poison, illness is illness.” Fang Xie said bluntly. “I treat illness, don’t understand detoxification. As for venomous insects, those are bugs raised by Miao physicians. You should first go distinguish between these three, then come test me.”

“I’m someone who likes chatting with people, and the chat keeps drifting off topic. Please don’t take offense.” But Lu Huating only smiled, secretly stopping Juan Su while apologizing to Fang Xie, then requested a prescription for Prince Yan.

Fang Xie lowered his head to write the prescription. A withered summer flower tumbled from outside the window, landing on Lu Huating’s robe.

Lu Huating looked down, examining this flower.

He became slightly lost in thought, recalling the days before his death in his previous life—precisely when all flowers were withering.

His final days had been very unpleasant. His body like a candle in wind deteriorated daily, conscious time grew shorter and shorter, many matters remained undone, and he’d even let Meng Guanlou escape from prison.

Li Huan rushed desperately to accelerate the enthronement. Court robes and ceremonial caps were delivered to his bedside, but it was still too late.

At the enthronement ceremony, he couldn’t stand for the time it took to burn an incense stick before collapsing. Soon, paper money for Chancellor Lu’s passing scattered throughout the festive palace.

The disorder of his entire plan was all thanks to poisoning by a female official spy he’d executed by poison in his twenty-sixth year.

After that, he killed faster and faster, more urgently. Some rolled on the ground begging for mercy, some wept bitterly—none interested him. In confused moments, he frequently dreamed of that day.

In summer’s sweltering heat, amid the stifling cicada cries, a green shadow kneeling—so thin it seemed a breath could scatter it—yet silently lunged forward, becoming a dark sword piercing his heart, very quiet yet carrying bone-chilling cold.

Closing his eyes, he could recall that scalp-numbing sensation.

Only ten months had passed since Qun Qing’s death.

The escaped prisoner uncaptured, the new dynasty’s mountain of accumulated affairs unprocessed, yet he’d already reached life’s end.

Lu Huating didn’t fear death. Even his death was within his own control, so he’d never imagined exiting midway in this manner.

That feeling of time not waiting, of complete loss of control—it was truly terrible.

Spitting out his last mouthful of blood, he only gripped the bed edge and ordered Qun Qing’s coffin dug up from underground. He wanted to be buried in it, the outside nailed shut with copper nails, people chanting rituals over it. He wanted this woman sealed in the coffin with him, lest he reach the underworld unable to find her for revenge.

How could he have imagined such a miraculous experience as returning three years into the past?

The sunlight of Sacred Arrival Year One caressed Lu Huating’s profile from outside the window. If not for that flower trembling violently from his fingers’ grip, his expression would look exactly like someone cherishing a flower.

Years of painstaking effort collapsed overnight. Having to replay this hopeless life, Lu Huating originally couldn’t muster any spirit. Until just now when he glimpsed those eyes beneath the veil—like having water splashed on his face—he finally completely awakened.

He didn’t mind killing her again.

He’d just tested and found that Mutual Yearning poison wasn’t given to her by the young physician. The poison’s source, it seemed, was known only to Qun Qing alone.

She held too many secrets, like a tightly tangled ball of thread. If cut with one stroke, the source could never be found again.

Lu Huating’s hand relaxed and the flower fell. Seeing his pallor, Fang Xie added: “You’ve been poisoned for many years—at least ten years or more. I fear it’s difficult to cure. If you have headaches, I know wearing Western Region yellow grass on your person can relieve symptoms.”

“Many thanks.” Lu Huating’s response was even somewhat obedient.

But Fang Xie’s prescription-writing speed quickened. Though this person had handsome features and seemed polite, rebelliousness lurked in his eyes. He could feel that secretly probing sharpness.

“These are two packages of white frost ointment. They’re folk remedies that can be applied to the affected area to fade facial scars. As for the birthmark in your friend’s eye, that’s different from ordinary skin scars. My master, Physician Li, might have a method. He’s traveling now. I’ll write to ask him. Come back in a month.” Fang Xie said.

Juan Su received the medicine packages. Because he admired Fang Xie’s medical skills, he’d become very respectful.

Lu Huating rose from his seat and casually pointed at Fang Xie’s sleeve: “Young physician, your clothes carry sandalwood scent. Were you also a Buddhist disciple?”

Fang Xie suddenly raised his eyes, his gaze carrying a flash of defensive sharpness—or perhaps it was an illusion: “This Yangbing Ward was originally a temple. I’ve been here long enough to know the abbot well and also run errands for him—chanting sutras, striking bells.”

“What a coincidence.” Lu Huating smiled. “So am I.”

Am what… a Buddhist disciple?

Fang Xie glimpsed inside his sleeve cuff—on his pale left wrist, a string of small-leaf sandalwood prayer beads threaded with red cord.

With four bottles of castor oil obtained, Qun Qing emerged from the east hall carrying her bamboo basket, slightly relieved. With this, she could prove she was still completing her mission and temporarily stabilize Lin Yujia.

Just now she’d taken the opportunity to ask that physician what effect consuming castor oil had. The physician answered: “It helps with bowel movements.”

“What if someone consumed a bucket of it?”

The physician looked at her like she was an idiot: “They’d die.” Knowing her question was foolish, Qun Qing quickly took her leave.

Castor oil was viscous—making someone drink a large amount would be very difficult. Moreover, it might not be for ingestion. Applied to skin, it could cause rashes…

She didn’t know what great matter Lin Yujia was plotting. Unable to figure it out at the moment, she could only shelve it temporarily.

By now, Lu Huating should have left.

Qun Qing originally wanted to circle back to find Fang Xie, but she keenly spotted a golden-canopied carriage stopped roadside with several tall warriors leaning in to listen to instructions from someone inside the carriage.

These people wore black short jackets in various styles, but all had the same circular emblem embroidered on the back of their waist belts—they must belong to some noble’s mansion guards.

Occasionally, officials or imperial heirs conducted business in the city, arresting spies spreading news for Nan Chu. Having observed officers checking tallies before, Qun Qing didn’t dare wander and turned toward Lingxin Shop, fearing the people buying pastries on her behalf had waited too long and something had gone wrong.

Whatever she feared came to pass.

An argument reached her from the roadside. The plainly dressed child she’d entrusted was wrestling with a black-clothed young man over something. Seeing her, the child shouted: “Young lady, it’s you! The pastries I worked so hard to buy for you are about to be snatched away! Hurry!”

Qun Qing walked over and seized the pastries with a quick grab. But that young man’s reflexes were extremely fast. His fingers hooked like claws and in a flash snatched them back into his embrace.

Qun Qing gripped that young man’s wrist tightly, preventing him from leaving: “What’s going on? Robbery in broad daylight?”

The child said: “Young lady, you don’t know—he’s forcing sales! The cakes you had the other two ladies buy are in his hands too.”

Indeed, Qun Qing saw no sign of those two women roadside. Seeing he held two boxes marked “Lingxin Shop,” her mind went blank for an instant.

She’d anticipated possible mishaps. But losing all three boxes without a single one remaining—what kind of luck was this?

Thinking of this, Qun Qing’s fingernails dug hard into the other’s arm guard. She first pried the box from his right hand and tossed it into her bamboo basket, then grabbed his collar with one hand, pulling him before her eyes and looking at him: “Young sir, you dare commit crimes at the Emperor’s feet. Aren’t you afraid I’ll call for help? Those two boxes were bought with my money. I beg you to return them.”

“Who’s robbing? Who’s committing crimes! I… I bought them too!” The black-clothed young man’s neck flushed red as he dodged backward, left hand clutching the lotus flower cakes refusing to let go, panicking like a child: “I paid… gold ingots!”

No matter how he explained, Qun Qing reached to grab them. The young man spun to dodge, striking her collarbone with his elbow. Qun Qing retreated two steps. Seeing him about to stride away, Qun Qing grabbed his clothes with both hands, raising her feminine voice: “Help! Someone save me! Why are you bullying women and children?”

Many people looked over. That black-clothed young man’s neck grew redder. He forcefully shook her off, walked two steps then stopped, felt at his waist, and turned back with cold air: “Fish tally, return it!”

The bronze fish tally fell into Qun Qing’s palm, bearing seal script reading “Prince Yan’s Left Military Guard General’s Transfer Command.” Qun Qing glanced at it then gripped it tightly.

Actually a close guard of Li Huan’s.

“You return the pastries to me first.” She said calmly.

The young man approached with a dark face. Qun Qing grabbed the paper box, the young man also grabbed her hand. Qun Qing refused to open her fist first, only feeling her wrist bones nearly crushed by his grip.

A neither loud nor soft voice suddenly came from behind: “What’s going on? Let go.”

The young man immediately released his hand. That voice like melting snow and shattering jade entered her ears from behind. Qun Qing only felt her back grow cold. She turned her eyes and indeed saw that white figure approaching.

Making a scene and calling for help—she’d summoned Lu Huating. Qun Qing stood in place, cold sweat dampening her palms.

Lu Huating slowly approached. Through the white gauze, his features gradually became clear. This year’s Lu Huating was several years younger than when she first saw him. His eyes were pitch black, his gaze bright, full of sincerity when looking at people. He raised his leg and kicked the boot of Kuang Su: “His brain has problems. Young lady, don’t hold it against him.”

Kuang Su’s face filled with grievance as he honestly took the kick.

Qun Qing said: “His brain has problems, yet you let him shop alone. Does this master of his have no problems?”

The young lady spoke directly at the Changshi. Juan Su looked at Lu Huating in amazement. Lu Huating paused, then actually stepped back and made a deep bow: “My consideration was lacking, my discipline of subordinates lax. I apologize to the young lady.”

Wind blew the veil, causing Lu Huating’s waist dagger and the fish tally in his pouch to collide, ringing clearly. With the veil covering her face, she felt somewhat safe. Qun Qing waited. Since he apologized, why hadn’t he taken charge and returned the pastries to her?

Lu Huating followed her gaze to the pastries in Kuang Su’s embrace: “However…”

Of course there was a “however”!

“However, he did pay gold ingots. He completed the transaction with the people you hired. Emotionally, he’s immoral, but legally, what’s in his hands has already changed ownership.” Lu Huating’s words turned as he looked at her with a smile. “We’re also conducting business for Prince Yan, carrying out a mission. We can’t yield. How about I reimburse you in silver for what you spent?”

Lu Huating’s actions were unpredictable. Qun Qing didn’t dare entangle further: “Fine. Then return three gold pearls and ten coins to me.”

She included the money for buying the child a sugar figurine.

Lu Huating began searching his person. In Qun Qing’s gradually accumulating fury, he produced three gold pearls then couldn’t find another cent. He glanced at Juan Su with the corner of his eye. Juan Su innocently relayed: “Didn’t bring enough money…”

“…Let it be then.” Qun Qing took a breath and only extended her bamboo basket.

The basket was tightly covered with lining cloth, its contents invisible, as defensive as this veiled young lady.

From head to toe, she only exposed one pair of hands—fingers slender, pale as if long deprived of sunlight. She was even unwilling to extend them. Juan Su couldn’t help glancing at Lu Huating.

In the breeze, Lu Huating looked at her hand holding the basket, his expression unchanged: “I dislike owing people. Which palace does the young lady serve in? I’ll have someone deliver this afternoon.”

Qun Qing’s heart startled for an instant. Lu Huating grabbed her basket, preventing her from pulling away. That force wasn’t great, yet seemed like a thousand-pound weight pulling downward, making her almost lose balance.

Lu Huating’s pitch-black affectionate eyes seemed to pierce through the veil, looking at her eyes: “Those walking Chang’an wearing veils are either noble ladies or palace people. The fish tally in our pouches—if you weren’t palace people, not just anyone could remove it. Since you wish to hide, don’t leave too many flaws, otherwise we’ll meet again sooner or later.”

With that, his grip loosened, gently placing the gold pearls in the basket.

Juan Su was completely confused. He knew the Changshi had wanted to catch this veiled lady earlier and specifically stood on the other side to form a pincer. Who knew Lu Huating had withdrawn himself.

Qun Qing took the gold pearls in hand and tossed them, then actually turned and left without a single word of response, giving the feeling of a punch hitting air.

Juan Su urgently called: “Stop! You still haven’t said which palace you’re from!”

Just then, a commotion came from not far away. In Qun Qing’s peripheral vision, several figures flashed. That close guard called Kuang Su had a problematic brain but his movements were lightning fast. The two boxes of cakes in his hands fell to the ground with a “crack,” and he’d instantly moved to block before Lu Huating.

Lu Huating was completely surrounded by over a dozen black-clothed mansion guards wielding clubs. These guards were large in stature with unfriendly expressions, the circular emblems at the back of their waist belts flashing golden.

Common people on the official road quickly scattered in all directions.

With the sudden change, Lu Huating had no choice but to retreat several steps.

Through a gap between two guards, he saw Qun Qing remove her veil, sweep up the two boxes of pastries from the ground in one fluid motion, grab that child and plunge into the crowd like a fish entering water, running until she vanished without a trace.