Thinking of this, Lu Tong couldn’t help but retort: “Those who act in accordance with righteousness need no divination to be blessed; those who act against righteousness will face misfortune even if they divine a hundred times. People should divine for themselves and need not ask for divination.”

Those who do good deeds will have lucky stars shining upon them without divination, while someone like him who has done nothing but evil deeds would inevitably be struck by lightning even if lamp flowers burst a hundred times.

The sarcasm in these words must have been understood, as the black-clothed man looked at Lu Tong with some surprise: “You’ve read books?”

Lu Tong said nothing.

He looked Lu Tong over: “Since you’ve read books, why do you still steal?”

Lu Tong: “…”

She couldn’t stand it anymore: “I’m not a thief!”

She hated how this person kept calling her “little thief” with that dismissive attitude and mocking tone, all revealing the arrogance hidden deep in his heart.

It was the kind of arrogance that, even when reduced to needing help to flee and hide, still insisted on maintaining a condescending attitude.

“Stealing from dead people – if you’re not a thief, what are you?”

Lu Tong took a deep breath: “I’m a physician. I take those things to use as medicinal ingredients.”

She didn’t understand why she was explaining these things to this person – perhaps it was his dismissive tone that made her unable to resist arguing back.

The other person seemed somewhat interested and looked at her: “A physician?”

His voice carried amusement, as if he found it ridiculous: “Using dead bodies as medicinal ingredients – what kind of physician are you? You wouldn’t be a murderer, would you? A murderer physician?”

Lu Tong: “…”

She decided to keep quiet.

There was no point in arguing about these matters with a stranger. At least for now, he didn’t seem to want her life. So if she could wait until dawn tomorrow when the heavy snow stopped, she and this person could go their separate ways with no further entanglement – that would be satisfactory.

Wind and snow passed by the broken temple entrance, snow particles drifted in through the broken windows, and in the howling wind, the oil lamp burned quietly.

In this stretch of tranquil shadows, the black-clothed man suddenly spoke: “Little thief.”

Lu Tong looked at him warily.

He gazed at the burning firewood at his feet and asked: “You say you’re a physician – can you stitch wounds?”

“No.”

Lu Tong answered readily. The more she said, the more mistakes she might make – it was better to say nothing.

“Really? But when you were digging out that person’s heart and liver just now, there seemed to be gold needles in your box.” He raised his chin, indicating Lu Tong’s medical box.

Lu Tong instinctively hugged the medical box in her arms, then realized.

He had seen the needles earlier, yet still called her a thief?

This person was doing it on purpose!

Lu Tong suppressed her anger: “I encounter few patients normally and have no opportunity to stitch wounds.” She paused, then deliberately added: “So I practice on dead bodies.”

The temple fell silent.

After a while, the black-clothed man laughed. He said: “I see.”

He beckoned to Lu Tong with his finger: “There’s a ready-made one here. Consider it my apology – a living person is always more useful than a dead one.”

Before Lu Tong could understand what he meant, the black-clothed man pressed one hand against his right shoulder and with a “rip” tore open his garment, revealing his bloody shoulder and back.

In an instant, a thick stench of blood hit her nostrils.

Lu Tong’s pupils contracted.

This person was severely injured – the wounds extended from his shoulder to his back, appearing to be a combination of arrow and knife wounds, with flesh mangled beyond recognition. Although Lu Tong had initially guessed that he was injured, she hadn’t expected the injuries to be this severe.

It was really because he appeared no different from ordinary people in his expressions and behavior, showing no sign of weakness.

“Stitch it up.” He turned his head sideways, indicating for Lu Tong to come forward.

The arrow wound was a bloody mess. Lu Tong’s heart trembled slightly. Although she had read through medical books in Yunniang’s room on Luomei Peak, she had never actually treated anyone, so she instinctively wanted to get up and avoid this: “I can’t, I don’t know how…”

A hand gripped her wrist.

The black-clothed man remained seated, grabbed her wrist with one hand and pulled her back, speaking calmly: “It doesn’t matter, as long as I don’t die.”

Lu Tong: “…”

When one is under someone else’s roof, one must bow one’s head. This person had suffered such severe injuries yet could still walk and move, showing no emotion on his face, even threatening people with a knife – clearly he was a ruthless character. It seemed she had no right to refuse now.

Lu Tong suppressed the complex emotions in her heart and looked at him: “…I’ll try?”

He released her hand and smiled: “That’s right, physicians have the heart of parents.”

Lu Tong sat back down in front of the woodpile and opened the medical box before her.

The medical box contained two jars – one clay jar filled with hearts and livers. Lu Tong took out the other iron jar and pulled out its stopper.

The black-clothed man’s gaze moved as he asked: “What is this?”

“La snow,” Lu Tong answered.

The third Wu day after the winter solstice was called La. Snow before La was beneficial for the growth of vegetables and wheat and could freeze locust eggs to death. Sealing La snow in a bottle could potentially neutralize various poisons.

Sunan City hadn’t seen such heavy snow in ten years, and the snow on Luomei Peak was different from the snow in the city. She had originally planned to take this jar of snow back to the mountain, never expecting to use it here.

Lu Tong placed the jar over the fire. The jar of crystal-clear La snow gradually became clear, transparent water, then slowly began steaming and bubbling vigorously, like frozen clouds from mountain streams that had been touched by worldly dust and come alive.

Lu Tong then took out a handkerchief from her chest and soaked it in the boiling La snow to dampen it.

The black-clothed man quietly watched Lu Tong do all this.

Finally, Lu Tong took the dampened handkerchief and walked toward him.

He sat upright. Lu Tong went around to his back and gently pulled down the torn fabric a bit more. When her gaze fell on what was before her, her breathing involuntarily stopped.

Up close, she could see clearly – this person’s wounds were terrifyingly gruesome.

Lu Tong took a deep breath and used the handkerchief to carefully wipe away the blood and grime bit by bit. The wounds obscured by fresh blood revealed their true state, becoming even more horrifying. Both knife and arrow wounds had come from behind at an angle – from the direction, he had been stabbed from behind by someone who was very close.

She couldn’t help but glance at him.

The black-clothed man kept his head down, his silhouette shrouded in the warmth of the snowy night’s lamp flowers, making his emotions hard to read.

His posture remained casually relaxed as usual.

Lu Tong stopped overthinking and took out gold needles from the silk cloth in her medical box.

The gold needles were ones Yunniang didn’t want. Yunniang had many needles, and sometimes when those needles had been used for a long time and Yunniang wasn’t satisfied with them, she would replace a batch. Lu Tong would pick up those needles, select the usable ones, and hide them in her own box. When Yunniang saw this, she wouldn’t say much about it.

She sometimes used those needles to sew medicine pouches, but had never used these needles to stitch wounds. Moreover, the skin under her hands was fresh and warm, while over the past few years, what she had touched most were the cold, icy corpses in mass graves and execution ground body piles.

She wasn’t familiar with living human bodies.

The black-clothed man said: “What are you doing, taking advantage of me?”

Lu Tong: “…”

She put away her earlier awe and caution toward living human bodies and thrust the needle in.

The black-clothed man let out a muffled grunt.

Lu Tong said flatly: “Sorry, first time stitching a wound, not very skilled.”

The black-clothed man said nothing.

Lu Tong then lowered her head and began suturing.

The thread was mulberry bark thread. Yunniang had a lot of mulberry bark thread, sometimes used on the rabbits and foxes for medicine testing on Luomei Peak. Lu Tong had secretly hidden a small roll, never expecting to use it here now.

Originally, for this kind of wound stitching, sealing medicine should be applied and blood-dispersing ointment should be used for dressing, but her box currently contained none of these.

However, given that this person could still be lively and energetic at present, even without these medicines, he should be able to endure.

Lu Tong stitched very carefully.

At first she was somewhat nervous, her fingers trembling and her movements not very skilled – after all, this was her first time stitching someone’s wound. But later she gradually relaxed. The person before her was very cooperative, not making a sound. Even though this raw stitching was painful, he didn’t let slip the slightest sign of pain.

On the Great Cold day, in the wilderness, heavy snow fell in flurries, surrounding the solitary lamp flame in the broken temple as the only light.

Stumbling along like this for who knows how long, Lu Tong broke the last mulberry bark thread, put the gold needle back on the silk cloth, and used the damp handkerchief to wipe away the oozing blood. A centipede-like wound appeared before her.

And it was an extremely ugly centipede at that.

Lu Tong: “…”

The black-clothed man turned his head slightly. Whether or not he could see the stitched wound on his shoulder clearly, after a moment of silence, he said: “Your needlework is really poor.”

Lu Tong felt inexplicably guilty.

Back in Changwu County, she had been young and restless, never liking to do needlework and such things. Even Lu Qian’s embroidery skills were better than hers. Later on Luomei Peak, she could barely manage to sew medicine pouches, but what she had sewn for this person really couldn’t be presented properly. His physique was quite beautiful, with shoulder and back lines more fluid and clean than any corpse she had ever seen. Now, sewn so crookedly, it was like someone had scribbled randomly on exquisitely crafted silk.

Truly a tragic sight.

“Thank you.” The black-clothed man didn’t fuss about her needlework and gave a casual thanks.

Lu Tong was somewhat surprised.

She hadn’t expected him to be so reasonable. In fact, aside from threatening her to lead the way at the execution ground initially, this person had consistently behaved quite politely, even appearing good-tempered. During Lu Tong’s crude stitching, she had intentionally or unintentionally tugged at his wounds, but he said nothing – either he hadn’t noticed her deliberate retaliation, or he had noticed but endured it.

Those who frequently walked among piles of dead bodies always had a special perception of danger, but Lu Tong didn’t sense danger from him.

He truly didn’t want her life.

She was thinking about this when she suddenly heard the black-clothed man ask her: “So you really are a physician. But since you’re a physician, why do you still wear a face veil?”

Lu Tong was startled and instinctively reached up to touch the face veil on her face.

The face veil was just a long piece of white silk that covered her face on all sides, front and back, only revealing a pair of eyes, with the hanging white silk draped over her shoulders and back.

After all, she had come to steal from dead people – actually, this person calling her a “little thief” wasn’t wrong. She didn’t want to swagger around in piles of dead bodies, and wearing the face veil was also out of wishful thinking. Even if these executed dead from the execution ground became vengeful ghosts, if they hadn’t seen her face, they shouldn’t be able to find her with complete accuracy, right?

This was how she deceived herself for comfort.

Lu Tong said: “I’m ugly and don’t want to scare people.”

He nodded as if in complete agreement: “If you’re ugly, you indeed shouldn’t come out to scare people.”

Lu Tong: “…”

Despite having fallen to such circumstances, he could still speak so harshly. Lu Tong looked toward his face, and somehow her mind heated up. For a moment, evil rose in her heart as she suddenly lunged forward, reaching for the black cloth on his face—

“So you’re saying you’re very good-looking then?”

The firelight in the oil lamp was violently shaken by the wind from her sudden movement, and the shadows swayed along with it.

Lu Tong only felt pain in her wrist.

His movements were surprisingly quick. Before Lu Tong could touch his face covering, he had already gripped her wrist and yanked her harshly backward.

Lu Tong was startled – her back was about to crash into the offering table when, in the next moment, someone extended an arm to cushion behind her. She crashed into his arm, and he gripped her wrist to pull her slightly back, avoiding the suffering she would have endured next.

Lu Tong, still shaken, grabbed his garment and instinctively looked up at him.

The lamp flame was right on the offering table above their heads. He was half-kneeling on the ground, slightly leaning forward – at first glance he looked like he was showing kind concern. That black cloth still covered his face completely, but perhaps because they were very close, she could see his handsome features clearly, as well as those gem-like eyes that were particularly bright in the lamplight and his long eyelashes.

Suddenly, Lu Tong had a strange feeling.

He was indeed not very old – perhaps a young man with quite decent looks.

The black-clothed man frowned and stared fixedly at her. Lu Tong swallowed, then saw the person before her suddenly curve his eyes, his tone neither salty nor bland: “You really change your attitude quickly.”

Having said this, he reached one hand toward the face veil on her face.

Lu Tong couldn’t help but close her eyes.

If possible, she really didn’t want her face exposed before others. It was as if the her on Luomei Peak and the her in Changwu County were separated by this thin layer of face veil. And now, having the face veil removed before others was like being forced to accept another version of herself.

A version of herself that even she was unwilling to acknowledge.

Lu Tong felt that hand had already reached the corner of her face veil – with just a slight effort, her face would be exposed under this lamplight.

Wind sounds faintly came from outside the door. Lu Tong waited for a long time but didn’t feel any other movement.

Her eyelashes trembled, and Lu Tong slightly opened her eyes.

Those bright eyes were before her, clearly reflecting her own image in the pupils, and also seeming to hold back laughter. He pinched a corner of Lu Tong’s face veil and sighed.

“Little thief, didn’t anyone teach you when you went out that when doing bad things, you should tie your face covering tighter?” He gently tugged at Lu Tong’s face veil, somewhat disdainfully: “This thing falls off with just one pull.”

Lu Tong was stunned.

The black-clothed man had already released his hand and sat back down on the cushion.

The burning firelight calmed down again, and the long shadows cast on the ground stopped swaying.

Lu Tong silently got up from the ground, walked to sit in front of the woodpile, and decided not to let her mind get heated again and do such foolish things.

The black-clothed man glanced at Lu Tong and called to her: “Hey.”

Lu Tong said nothing.

He seemed to be teasing her: “I’m a young master from a wealthy family. You’ve helped me, so in the future I’ll definitely send payment to repay you.”

A young master from a wealthy family?

As if finally having something to use against him, Lu Tong immediately mocked: “A young master who threatens others and hides around in piles of dead bodies? What kind of young master are you – an assassin young master?”

The black-clothed man: “…”

He sighed: “You really do hold grudges.”

Lu Tong snorted in her heart but said nothing.

Her courage had grown bolder, and her speech became increasingly unrestrained. Lu Qian had once said that Lu Tong was best at reading people’s expressions and acting accordingly – in front of those who were tolerant toward her, she became increasingly willful, while in front of those who were strict with her, she would be ingratiating and well-behaved.

Since coming to Luomei Peak with Yunniang, the person she saw most was Yunniang, and what she dealt with most were corpses. Dull, cold, numb – it had changed her into another person.

But today was somewhat different.

Perhaps it was because tonight’s once-in-a-decade snow in Sunan City was particularly similar to the snow in front of the Lu family home in Changwu County, so she had reverted to being that sharp-tongued Third Miss Lu of the Lu family who wouldn’t take any losses. Or perhaps it was because this black-clothed man with bright eyes, though he threatened her with words, had never truly harmed her from beginning to end, and instead showed a kind of indulgent tolerance of not bothering to care.

They were sheltering from wind and snow in an ancient temple on the night of Great Cold, like two beasts who had met by chance, wary yet warming each other, each with their own endurance, each with their own cold afflictions.

There was also a tacit understanding of not prying into each other’s secrets.

Lu Tong reminded him: “You’re a young master, so you shouldn’t owe me medical fees, right?”

The black-clothed man was startled: “Medical fees?”

“That’s right.” Lu Tong nodded. “The needles and thread for stitching wounds are very expensive.”

He was stunned for a moment, then laughed with a “tsk” and asked: “How much?”

“Two taels of silver.” Lu Tong asked for an exorbitant price.

“That expensive?” He said while casually reaching into his chest.

Lu Tong waited leisurely.

The black-clothed man felt around in his chest for a long time, until his movements gradually stiffened. Although he wore a face covering, Lu Tong seemed to glimpse a trace of embarrassment from his face.

He hadn’t produced any silver.

Lu Tong looked at him quietly: “Aren’t you a young master?”

Claiming to be a young master yet not having a single coin on his entire body – what kind of young master goes out without bringing money?

He was indeed lying.

He gave a light snort, lowered his head, his gaze falling on his fingers, and removed a silver ring from his hand.

The black-clothed man touched the silver ring, seemingly somewhat reluctant, then in the next moment threw the silver ring into Lu Tong’s arms: “Take this.”

Lu Tong looked down.

It was a very, very old silver ring with patterns carved on it that had become blurred from too much rubbing. Because it was splattered with blood, it wasn’t very bright and seemed somewhat tarnished.

Lu Tong disdainfully picked up the silver ring to look at it and said: “Not worth much money.”

This silver ring looked very old, and the material was quite ordinary – it might not even sell for one tael of silver.

He didn’t mind Lu Tong’s disdain and smiled: “This is a token. If you ever go to the capital in the future, take this to find me, and I’ll know it’s you who’s come.”

Lu Tong was startled: “You’re from the capital?”

The capital was thousands of miles away from Sunan – he was actually from the capital?

“Didn’t I tell you I’m a young master from a wealthy family?” He spoke matter-of-factly. “Take this to Yuxian Tower on Qinghe Street in the southern part of the capital to find me. I’ll treat you to Yuxian Tower’s candied hawthorn.”

Lu Tong held the silver ring in her palm. The ring carried his body warmth, warm and cozy. She put the silver ring in her medical box and said in a low voice: “Wait until you can make it back to the capital alive before talking about that.”

She didn’t know who this person was, nor did she know why he had appeared here. However, being covered in wounds and hiding in piles of dead bodies at an execution ground itself indicated the danger of his situation.

His being able to spend one night in a broken temple on a snowy night in Sunan didn’t mean he could spend a second night. For some people, simply living in this world was already a kind of hardship.

The black-clothed man said nothing and looked out the window.

Cold snow flew across the wilderness, the north wind pressed heavily on the treetops, and in the vast scattered jade, the tracks of running beasts had vanished.

Only the solitary lamp in the broken temple flickered chaotically.

After a long time, he withdrew his gaze and reached up to adjust the wick in the oil lamp.

The silver lamp glowed faintly, blooming and budding in the empty, silent broken temple, spitting flames and producing light like a small burning flower cluster.

He said: “Didn’t I say? When lamp flowers smile, all things bring joy – you and I will have good luck in the future.”

Lu Tong was stunned.

He turned his head and smiled slightly at Lu Tong.

“Otherwise, we wouldn’t have met here tonight.”