Snow fell continuously, like scattered flower petals cutting through jade, drifting unevenly.

The tangerine lamps by the window had all been extinguished by the north wind. Deep in the night, in the small courtyard, snow accumulated inch by inch, piling up on the plum tree branches.

In this pitch-black silence, a hand reached out from the side, using a fire starter to light a new lamp.

Someone lit the lamp, illuminating the night years later.

The warm flame in the silver lamp brightened instantly, driving away the dense night fog from moments ago. Everything by the window and in the room gradually became clear. The young man sitting opposite was drawn to the lamplight, his gaze fixed, that warm glow falling upon him. Though it was the depths of winter, the gleaming silver stand somehow brought forth a hint of spring.

Lu Tong stared at Pei Yunying.

He was there.

He sat before her, his eyes smiling, relaxed, and at ease. In an instant, his image overlapped with that of the figure from years ago in the abandoned temple of Su Nan City, who had tended to the lamp’s wick, and who had suddenly appeared at the execution ground in the snow and wind.

He was… that person.

Lu Tong understood in a flash.

He was the man in black she had encountered in that heavy snowfall.

The newly lit lamp’s wick flickered bright and dim. Pei Yunying lowered his head, took a sip of tea from before him, and didn’t notice anything unusual in Lu Tong’s expression.

But Lu Tong felt somewhat dazed.

She remembered the heavy snow in Su Nan City.

That day, she had been forced to save a mysterious stranger, her first time acting as a “doctor,” her first time stitching someone’s wounds. It was the Great Cold Day, and Su Nan City was bitterly cold. Later she fell asleep, and when she woke, it was already dawn.

The man in black had vanished from the abandoned temple, and the lamp oil on the offering table had burned out. When she got up, she found herself covered with a worn blanket, her hand still tightly clutching that old silver ring.

She climbed up from the ground, hugged her medical box, and walked out, pushing open the temple door. Outside, the sun shone brilliantly, and the heavy snow had stopped.

She never saw the man in black again.

Like that fleeting snowfall in Su Nan City, after waking from the dream, there was no trace left. If not for that silver ring, she would have thought everything was just a strange and thrilling old dream she had under that clay statue in the abandoned temple. Everything was hazy and confusing, yet today, on another such cold and silent snowy night, the old dream had returned.

The continuous snowfall was like drifting spring flowers, tenderly brushing past window shadows. The old lamp’s wick had burned to cold ashes, while the new silver lamp spewed long red flames. Past and present, time strangely intertwined, blending years ago and years hence into that single burning lamp glow.

It hadn’t been many years, just four or five.

Lu Tong stared at the person opposite her.

Why hadn’t she recognized him?

His voice, his teasing tone, and his bright black eyes looking carefully now were very similar to those back then.

But there seemed to be subtle differences too. His silver knife, the ferocity hidden beneath his gentle exterior, and the occasional flash of coldness in his eyes, seemed somewhat different from the abandoned temple years ago.

Besides, he hadn’t recognized her either.

That not-particularly pleasant chance encounter years ago hadn’t stayed in her mind. Just travelers taking shelter from wind and snow under the same roof, briefly stopping before continuing on their separate ways.

If not for revenge, she would never have come to the capital, and that meeting years ago would have long been forgotten. In the vast sea of humanity, who would have thought they would reunite at this moment?

Pei Yunying looked up, meeting Lu Tong’s staring gaze.

He paused, looked down to examine himself, and asked somewhat puzzled: “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I was just thinking,” Lu Tong shifted her gaze away, “you weren’t even angry about how she took revenge on you.”

“She’s just a young girl, and my lifesaver too. If I got angry, wouldn’t that be repaying kindness with enmity?”

Pei Yunying rested his chin on one hand, gazing at the teacup before him: “We’re both wanderers in this world, after all.”

Both wanderers in this world?

Lu Tong was slightly taken aback.

She didn’t know what Pei Yunying had experienced in Su Nan back then, but even in those circumstances, she hadn’t developed many ill feelings toward the man in black. Perhaps she thought that an assassin who would pay a doctor’s fee couldn’t be all that bad.

Pei Yunying looked up, glanced at Lu Tong, and mused, “Come to think of it, you do look a bit like her.”

Lu Tong’s heart skipped a beat, and she instinctively looked toward him.

The young man smiled, “She was still a child then, only eleven or twelve, barely this tall.” He gestured with his hand. “Probably just starting, her medical skills weren’t as good as yours, but,” Pei Yunying paused, “you’re much fiercer than she was.”

Lu Tong: “…”

When she met Pei Yunying in Su Nan years ago, she had still been young, hadn’t truly learned poison-making yet, and her temperament hadn’t changed dramatically. Still retaining her childish features, still carrying innocence, in Pei Yunying’s eyes then, she was probably just a strange-acting child.

It was quite normal that he hadn’t recognized her.

Pei Yunying turned his head to look at the wound on his shoulder, thought of something, clicked his tongue, and said with distaste: “The stitching work was awful.”

Lu Tong: “…”

Looking at Pei Yunying’s shoulder, that scar had settled with time, no longer as ghastly as before, but still couldn’t hide its crude nature. His new and old wounds had all passed through her hands, as the same painting sketched at different times, from clumsy to refined, recording everything.

Strangely, Lu Tong suddenly remembered what Pei Yunshu had said to her earlier at Princess Baozhu’s bath ceremony in Wang’s mansion.

Pei Yunshu had asked: “Doctor Lu is from Su Nan, and Brother Ying was in Su Nan several years ago, did you meet there?”

She had instinctively denied it then, never imagining that fate would wind its way around, that fellow travelers who once shared shelter from wind and snow would one day meet again elsewhere.

The silver lamp’s wick bloomed luxuriantly, like gleaming red millet. Lu Tong stared lost in thought at the solitary lamp on the table.

A hand waved in front of her.

Lu Tong looked up.

Pei Yunying withdrew his hand, smiling: “Doctor Lu seems to have many things on her mind.”

Lu Tong pulled back her thoughts: “Lord Pei would give me fewer things to think about if he came uninvited less often.”

Though her words were sarcastic, her manner was more relaxed than before, as if facing an old acquaintance, with a kind of casual ease.

Pei Yunying caught this ease, and his expression became somewhat strange.

After a moment, Pei Yunying’s gaze flickered, and he mused: “For some reason, this scene feels familiar somehow.”

Lu Tong pressed her lips together.

Back then, the man in black in the temple had never pried into Lu Tong’s private affairs. Even though he had initially teased her about stealing from a dead person, after Lu Tong explained it was for making medicine, he hadn’t asked anything more.

He had overlooked her strange behavior, and in the end hadn’t pulled away her face covering, as if she were just an ordinary girl from a common family who had happened to meet him in the abandoned temple.

Perhaps it was for this reason that when Lu Tong looked at Pei Yunying now, she inevitably carried the gaze one would have for an old acquaintance.

Though they had only met once.

The snow fell silently to the ground, the continuous snowfall on the windowsill quickly melting into transparent water stains.

“The snow’s almost stopping,” he looked toward the window.

The moon had completely hidden behind the clouds, and in the pitch-black snowy night, a faint bird call sounded from the distant sky.

Pei Yunying’s expression shifted slightly.

In a moment, he drained the teacup before him, fastened his collar, and stood up.

“Doctor Lu,” he lowered his eyes to look at Lu Tong, his smile appearing very gentle in the dim candlelight, “thank you for your help tonight.”

“You’re welcome,” Lu Tong said flatly, “you paid the doctor’s fee.”

Pei Yunying raised an eyebrow, the dimple at his lips bright, “Then I’ll come again another time to express my thanks.”

With that, he picked up his knife, about to leave.

“Lord Pei.” Lu Tong called out to him.

He turned back.

Lu Tong handed him the medicine bottle containing the wound medicine, “Fifty taels, don’t forget.”

He paused, then smiled and took it, saying: “Thank you.”

“Creeak—” came a sound.

After the medical shop’s door made its soft noise, everything returned to silence. The wooden window had been pushed open wider by the north wind, and looking out through it, the garden was full of howling wind and snow.

Yin Zheng came over carrying a lantern, carefully looking outside: “Has he… has he left?”

“He’s left.”

Yin Zheng patted her chest in lingering fear: “I was so scared earlier, Miss, he didn’t do anything to you, did he?”

Lu Tong shook her head.

That bird call in the snowy night had come abruptly… his contacts must have arrived.

Perhaps it was that snowy days always made people lower their guard, but knowing that past connection, her gaze toward Pei Yunying was different from before. They couldn’t be called friends, and might even end up crossing swords in the future, but at this moment, there was indeed a feeling of meeting an old acquaintance.

Lu Tong walked to the low table in the inner room and opened the medical box lid.

The medical box contained some miscellaneous medicine bottles, a silver can, gold needles, and several yellowed old medical texts. Lu Tong pressed down on the furthest edge, and with a “click,” the cover of the innermost compartment opened.

This compartment wasn’t large, only a finger’s length, square and neat. It was originally used to store mulberry bark thread, but now it held a white jade pendant and a blackened silver ring, perfectly arranged.

Lu Tong picked up the silver ring.

Too much time had passed, and the silver ring was no longer as lustrous as before, covered in rust, its patterns unclear, but holding it, one could feel the cold patterns.

Yin Zheng looked over, somewhat surprised: “What’s this?”

Lu Tong only took out gold needles and medicine bottles from the medical box; this was the first time Yin Zheng had seen the hidden compartment.

Lu Tong answered: “A token.”

Years ago, Pei Yunying had given her this silver ring as payment for treatment, telling her to come to the capital in the future and exchange it with him for candied haws. Lu Tong hadn’t paid it much mind, but in a way, this was her first ever doctor’s fee, so she had carefully preserved it for years.

Who would have thought she would come to the capital years later?

But whether that joke from back then would be honored remained to be seen, perhaps Pei Yunying himself had forgotten this old matter. What this silver ring could be exchanged for – money, status, or something higher – no one could say for sure.

Such tokens, to those who keep their word, weigh heavier than a thousand gold pieces; to those who take promises lightly, they’re worth less than weeds.

And the current Pei Yunying didn’t seem like a gentleman.

From beside her came Yin Zheng’s sudden realization: “Could this be… the token left by that ‘fiancé’?”

As if glimpsing the tip of an iceberg, Yin Zheng’s eyes showed excitement.

When Du Changqing had asked Lu Tong why she came to the capital, Lu Tong had only said she came to practice medicine in the capital to seek a lover, who had once been saved by Lu Tong on the road and had given her a token in return.

At the time, Yin Zheng had thought this was just Lu Tong’s way of brushing off Du Changqing, but now seeing the jade pendant and silver ring in this hidden compartment, it all seemed somewhat meaningful.

Lu Tong gazed at the silver ring in her hand, her eyes slightly unfocused.

Now wasn’t the time to reveal identities; before then, this was at most just a dead object.

Seeing her prolonged silence, Yin Zheng became more convinced of her guess, staring at Lu Tong with wide eyes: “So you do have a lover in the capital!”

Lu Tong paused.

A lover?

A chance encounter and rescue, a token left behind, an accidental reunion years later – in some romantic drama, it would indeed sound like destined love, a lover descended from heaven.

But…

But forget about being lovers – given what she would do in the future, it would be good if she and Pei Yunying didn’t fight to the death. Whether this thing would become Pei Yunying’s posthumous possession was hard to say.

Never mind, better put it away.

She returned the silver ring to the compartment, closed the medical box, and gently shook her head.

“He might turn out to be an enemy.”

…

On the cold winter night, ten thousand households in the city closed their doors around red stoves, and at the third watch, the snow had not stopped.

On a snowy night in the capital, a man in black was walking through dark alleys.

The wind and snow layered over him, snowflakes falling on the man’s shoulders, quickly melting, leaving small patches of cold water stains.

At the end of the silent alley, a figure silently appeared under the snow-covered wall.

“Master.” Chi Jian said in a low voice: “Vice Envoy Xiao just sent word, there’s chaos in the palace, the whole city is under martial law, His Majesty has summoned all the palace guard divisions to enter the palace and attend to him.”

Pei Yunying nodded: “I understand.”

“You are…”

“Today wasn’t my turn to guard the palace, of course, I need to change clothes and return to the palace to answer the summons.”

Chi Jian fell silent for a moment, looking at the person before him.

The young man was dressed all in black archer’s clothes, his expression normal, the torn place on his shoulder wrapped layer upon layer with white cloth.

“Your wound…”

“It’s fine,” Pei Yunying said, “it’s been treated, let’s go.”

Chi Jian didn’t move.

The young man paused his steps, turned his head, and looked at the tall guard beside him: “Anything else?”

Chi Jian hesitated for a moment but finally gathered his courage to speak: “Master stayed at Rixin Medical Shop tonight, that Doctor Lu saw your wound, she must have guessed the truth. At this crucial time, if she secretly reports and leaks this information, it could bring you great trouble…” He gripped his waist knife, killing intent flashing briefly in his eyes: “Should we…”

Regarding Lu Tong of Rixin Medical Shop, Chi Jian found it hard not to be vigilant. Whether it was the previous imperial examination case or the later framing of the corpse on Wangchun Mountain, one could see that Lu Tong’s schemes and methods surpassed ordinary people. The fall of the Xian Judgment Official Fan family couldn’t be unrelated to her, and even those rumors about the Grand Tutor’s mansion might have involved her stirring things up.

A mysterious woman whose past couldn’t be traced, friend or foe unclear – if she dared to stab others, naturally she would dare to stab Pei Yunying.

“No need.” Pei Yunying interrupted Chi Jian’s words.

Chi Jian was startled.

Pei Yunying turned back, looking into the distance at the bright lights of the street alley.

In the distance, countless snowflakes fell silently, the west street was peaceful, a solitary lamp illuminating the falling snow. Through the sparse plum tree at the front door, one could seemingly see the medical shop’s signboard hidden by wind and snow, and under the eaves, that red silk lantern giving off a warm glow.

He said: “She won’t tell anyone.”

Chi Jian didn’t understand: “Why?”

Lu Tong didn’t seem like someone with a kind heart, worthy of such confident trust.

Pei Yunying lowered his head and smiled slightly.

“Because,” he said, “I paid the doctor’s fee.”