The Lantern Festival on the fifteenth, and the lanterns were taken down on the eighteenth.

After the lanterns were taken down, Lu Tong hung the toad lantern she had gotten at the lantern festival under the eaves in the courtyard. At night, the huge emerald toad glowed with an eerie green light in the darkness, looking quite frightening.

Because Miao Liangfang needed to guide Lu Tong in medical classics for the spring examinations, he stayed very late at the medical hall every evening. When he went to the outhouse at night, he was startled and fell hard. Originally only one leg was lame, but now both legs were in poor condition.

He repeatedly complained to Du Changqing, both openly and covertly, that the toad lantern Lu Tong hung was ugly, earnestly suggesting it would be better to change to a different lantern. Du Changqing flatly refused.

“Change what! Didn’t you hear what people say? Toad—plucking osmanthus in the moon palace! This lantern must stay up at least until the spring examination results are announced.”

“I’m warning you,” Du Changqing threatened him, “if you secretly take down the lantern and cause Dr. Lu to fail the spring examinations, you’ll be the sinner of the medical hall, the shame of West Street!”

Miao Liangfang: “…”

He flicked his sleeves: “Unreasonable!”

To say it was unreasonable wasn’t entirely fair—everyone at Renxin Medical Hall was indeed quite nervous and concerned about Lu Tong’s upcoming spring examinations.

Yin Zheng went to Dai Sanlang’s place daily to select fresh pork for making soup to nourish Lu Tong’s body. Du Changqing dragged A’Cheng to Wan’en Temple to get a blessed charm from Manjusri Bodhisattva. When Lu Tong was seeing patients during her daily clinic hours, Miao Liangfang would sit beside her, watching her treat patients and prescribe remedies while simultaneously correcting and guiding her—sometimes the Medical Bureau spring examinations also tested on-the-spot diagnosis.

Even Scholar Wu, upon learning of this matter, had Master Hu deliver a letter to Lu Tong. He didn’t say much else, only telling Lu Tong not to be nervous at all and to just follow her heart.

Lu Tong herself wasn’t nervous; it was the other people in the medical hall who were nervous.

And this nervousness reached its peak on the night before the spring examinations.

All the medical supplies and golden needles to be used had been prepared. Du Changqing, fearing he would disturb Lu Tong’s spring examinations the next day, closed the medical hall doors early and went home with A’Cheng. Miao Liangfang remained in the medical hall courtyard, helping Lu Tong review the final points that needed attention.

“The spring examinations have nine subjects in total, tested over three days, not much different from the autumn imperial examinations. Those with poor stamina find it exhausting after just a day or two. In the past, there were also commoner medical workers recommended by medical guilds who went to the spring examinations, but because they were too old, they died during the examination. When I took the spring examinations years ago, after three days I had lost a whole circle of weight from my face—it’s quite draining.

“Among these nine subjects, only acupuncture requires face-to-face diagnosis. Questions answered on exam papers can be managed with more reading of medical classics. But the Medical Bureau has ‘Golden Needle Wang,’ who is most skilled in acupuncture, teaching students. Year after year in the spring examinations, Medical Bureau students always achieve the best results in acupuncture, while commoner medical workers’ needle techniques have never been able to compete with the Imperial Medical Academy.

“Little Lu, your needlework has formed its own school, different from that of Shengjing’s Medical Bureau. Although I’ve taught you some things, it still depends on the specific diagnosis, so it’s hard to say how your final results will be.”

“Also…”

He chattered on endlessly. The toad lantern’s blue-green ethereal light fell on his face, making it appear somewhat pale, with every wrinkle at the corners of his eyes written with anxiety.

“Master Miao,” Lu Tong interrupted his words, “are you very nervous?”

Yin Zheng had gone to the kitchen to boil hot water. When the chattering stopped, the courtyard at night became unusually quiet.

Miao Liangfang turned to face her, and after a long moment, forced out a reluctant smile: “Ridiculous, it’s not me taking the exam, what do I have to be nervous about?”

“What you just said, you’ve already said once before.”

Miao Liangfang stiffened and stopped talking.

“What exactly are you worried about, Master Miao? You might as well tell me,” Lu Tong said, putting the velvet cloth wrapped around the golden needles into her medical box. “So I can prepare in advance.”

From early this morning, Miao Liangfang had seemed particularly abnormal.

Usually, besides guiding Lu Tong in medical classics and pharmacology, he was quite leisurely most of the time. In his own words, it was “the peaceful tranquility after seeing through everything”—as long as he had wine to drink, he was quite happy.

But this morning, Miao Liangfang’s jumping around and restless behavior made even Yin Zheng suspect he had been possessed by Du Changqing.

Meeting Lu Tong’s puzzled gaze, Miao Liangfang finally sighed: “I heard that this year’s spring examination grader at the Medical Bureau has been changed to Cui Min.”

“Cui Min?”

“Cui Min is the current Chief Director of the Hanlin Medical Academy.” Miao Liangfang’s hands resting on his knees tightened. “He most dislikes commoner medical workers. In years when he grades, no commoner medical worker has ever made it onto the spring examination honor roll.”

Lu Tong frowned, looking at the person before her, suddenly moved in her heart.

She asked: “Is he the one who harmed you?”

Miao Liangfang was stunned.

Immediately after, the man’s expression changed rapidly, as if glimpsing something extremely hateful, someone extremely detestable. His indignation was impossible to conceal. After a very long time, he gradually calmed down.

When he raised his eyes again, only weariness remained, as if he had aged ten years in an instant.

His voice was also desolate, carrying a hint of helpless bitterness.

“Yes, he is the one who caused me to fall to my current state.”

When Miao Liangfang was young, he was quite proud and arrogant.

He was born in an obscure small village in the Yunling area, where his family had practiced barefoot medicine for generations. He was the youngest son in the family. His brothers and sisters had not been able to inherit their father’s medical skills, but he was born with exceptional talent in this field, surpassing his master. At a young age, he could practice medicine independently, and many people from other places came seeking his treatment.

Others said the Miao family village had produced a “little divine doctor.”

“When I was twenty, I heard there were spring examinations at the Medical Bureau in the capital. My family scraped together silver to send me to the capital to take the examinations.”

Young Miao Liangfang came to the capital carrying hopes for the future and longing for the Hanlin Medical Academy.

Since there was still about half a year before the spring examinations, he found work at a pharmacy.

There were many pharmacies in the medical trade. The pharmacy where he worked wasn’t small, and being short-handed, they hired him as a clerk to prepare medicines.

Clerks at Shengjing pharmacies earned very low monthly wages—practically nothing—but room and board were provided. The food wasn’t good, and as for lodging, they just cleared a space in the firewood room behind the pharmacy where medicines were stored and spread out a mat to sleep on.

“At that time, there was another person living in the firewood room with me.”

“That person was Cui Min,” Miao Liangfang said.

Cui Min was also a clerk doing odd jobs at the pharmacy.

He was about the same age as Miao Liangfang, very thin and weak, didn’t like to talk, and was constantly being ordered around by the pharmacy owner, often scolded and beaten. Sometimes when Miao Liangfang couldn’t stand watching, he wanted to stand up for him, but Cui Min would always pull him back—Cui Min’s parents had died early and he had no relatives nearby. Without this job, he might end up homeless on the streets.

“Back then, every night after the pharmacy closed, I would hide in the firewood room to read medical classics, preparing for the spring examinations, just like you do now.” When Miao Liangfang spoke of the past, his gaze held a hint of nostalgia. “Cui Min never disturbed me, just sat quietly to the side, adding lamp oil for me.”

Even now, Miao Liangfang occasionally remembered that scene.

Two clerks doing odd jobs, huddled on the ground covered with broken mats, holding books and reading by night. No arrogant shop owner, no daytime clamor. The thin blanket with cotton stuffing leaking out couldn’t block the winter night’s cold, nor could it block the young men’s longing for the future.

Cui Min could read.

He had been doing odd jobs at the pharmacy for over ten years. Before Miao Liangfang came, everything from preparing medicines to sweeping was handled by him alone. The pot-bellied shop owner wanted to use one person as ten, but he had one leniency—he allowed Cui Min to read the medical books in the pharmacy.

Through constant exposure, watching doctors diagnose and prescribe medicines daily, Cui Min had also learned much. He was very clever and sharp. After talking with him several times, Miao Liangfang discovered this person’s understanding of medical principles was no less than those doctors.

This greatly delighted Miao Liangfang.

Perhaps because they both came from ordinary families and worked together at the pharmacy, Miao Liangfang felt not only warmth toward Cui Min but also some sympathetic understanding. Except he looked down on Cui Min’s timid, cowardly nature and his submissive, weak character.

“Later one day, a customer made trouble at the pharmacy, saying we had prepared the wrong medicine. The troublemaker was a local bully, and the shop owner, afraid of causing problems and wanting to smooth things over, claimed it was my fault. I got into an argument with them, and Cui Min spoke up for me. As a result, we were both thrown out together.”

“I didn’t think much of it at the time—after all, I wasn’t planning to work for others my whole life. At worst, I could return to Miao family village. But Cui Min was kicked out because he spoke up for me, so I felt bad about it.”

“There were still three months until the spring examinations. I had a sudden inspiration and suggested Cui Min should also give it a try.”

Lu Tong asked: “Did he agree?”

Miao Liangfang smiled bitterly: “At first, he refused.”

When Miao Liangfang told Cui Min his plan, the other person was startled.

“No… I haven’t studied… I can’t pass the spring examinations,” Cui Min said quietly. “Besides, without a medical guild recommendation quota, I can’t participate anyway.”

Miao Liangfang slapped his chest: “What’s difficult about that? It’s just silver—I’ll pay for you!”

At that time, commoner medical workers taking spring examinations wasn’t as difficult as in recent years. You just needed to slip some silver to people in the medical guilds to get added to the roster. Miao Liangfang himself had paid bribes right after arriving in the capital. For Cui Min to participate in the spring examinations, bribes were essential. Miao Liangfang took out all his remaining silver and the monthly wages he’d saved from working at the pharmacy, scraping together just enough.

Cui Min was still very resistant: “This is wasting silver… I’m just a clerk doing odd jobs, there’s no way I could pass.”

“Ah Min,” Miao Liangfang earnestly persuaded him, “trust me, you’re much better than those doctors. If you really feel bad about it, just study hard and pass. Once you get into the Hanlin Medical Academy, use your first month’s salary to buy me drinks!”

The silver had already been sent out, and the name had been added to the spring examination roster. With no choice but to be pushed into it, Cui Min had to reluctantly agree.

“He worked very hard.”

Miao Liangfang looked at the distant night sky and sighed.

Cui Min’s temperament was completely different from Miao Liangfang’s. Miao Liangfang was proud and impulsive, always thinking positively about everything. Cui Min was melancholy and cautious, always striving to do everything perfectly. Either afraid of wasting the silver or perhaps cherishing this hard-won opportunity that might only come once in a lifetime, Cui Min only slept two hours each night, spending all other time reading medical classics. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was burning the midnight oil.

During the day they helped ships at the dock move cargo to earn some scattered wages, and at night they lived in an abandoned house, sleeping on the ground while reading. This kind of life continued until that year’s Medical Bureau spring examinations.

Lu Tong said: “He passed the spring examinations.”

Miao Liangfang smiled: “That’s right. That year in the spring examinations, among the commoner medical workers, only the two of us entered the Medical Academy.”

Miao Liangfang still remembered the excitement of that moment when the results were announced. He and Cui Min stood under the red announcement board, searching for their own names one by one. Miao Liangfang’s name was ranked third, visible at a glance, while Cui Min’s was further down. When Miao Liangfang saw Cui Min’s name appear on the red board, he was even happier than when he himself had passed.

His friend stood dazedly under the red board, as if not daring to believe his own eyes.

Miao Liangfang punched his shoulder, excitement overflowing: “I told you that you could do it!”

Cui Min rubbed his eyes, stared at that red board for a long time, then pinched himself hard—so hard that his eyes welled up with tears—before coming to his senses and murmuring: “I… passed.”

He had passed that year’s spring examinations.

“We… entered the Hanlin Medical Academy together,” Miao Liangfang said.

One was a barefoot doctor from a remote mountain village, the other a nameless clerk who had done odd jobs at a pharmacy for over ten years, yet both had passed the Hanlin Medical Academy examinations. For them, it could be said to have overturned their fate, becoming a celebrated story for a time. Especially Miao Liangfang—in the Medical Academy that year, he was unrivaled in the spotlight.

“Little Lu,” Miao Liangfang smiled bitterly, “you only see the glamorous exterior of the Hanlin Medical Academy, but you don’t know that when commoners enter the palace, it’s different from when Medical Bureau students enter the palace. People like us in the palace are destined to be bullied.”

“Good opportunities never come to you, while all the dirty and tiring work gets dumped on you. When problems arise, everyone else disappears, leaving you to take the blame. Do you know how many medical officials have died in the Medical Academy over the years? Of those dead medical officials, eight or nine out of ten were commoner medical workers. Was it because their medical skills were poor? It was because their lives were cheap!”

“Here, if you don’t grow some sense, there are plenty who get sold and still help count the silver!”

These words seemed like a threat, yet also like a bitter statement of fact. Lu Tong didn’t speak, quietly waiting for Miao Liangfang to continue.

“When I first entered the Medical Academy, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to cure the Empress Dowager’s chronic cough that had plagued her for years. I was often summoned by the Empress Dowager, gaining some prominence for a time.”

“At that time, I became conceited about my superior medical skills and being valued by nobles, becoming somewhat arrogant and frequently offending people. Each time, I only managed to escape unscathed thanks to Cui Min’s reminders and mediation from the sidelines.”

“But I didn’t realize it then, thinking it was my own ability. Every time Cui Min tried to advise me, I treated his words as background noise. Later, he stopped saying anything.”

When exactly he and Cui Min had grown apart, Miao Liangfang could no longer remember.

He was always very busy then—today preparing medicinal cuisine for an imperial consort, tomorrow treating an old injury for a general. In the entire Hanlin Medical Academy, he was the busiest. Everyone said he would definitely become the Director of the Hanlin Medical Academy someday, and Miao Liangfang thought so too. People who flattered him and those who envied him constantly surrounded him, so he couldn’t see Cui Min’s shadow.

Until one day, after seeing the Emperor, he returned to the Imperial Medical Academy and happened to run into Cui Min. Cui Min was being bullied by several medical officials. He loudly scolded those medical officials, and Cui Min looked at him and respectfully called him “Deputy Director.” Only then did he realize that unknowingly, they had become so estranged.

Friends who once talked about everything, companions who once lit lamps and studied together in the firewood room, now seemed as distant as events from a previous lifetime.

Miao Liangfang’s voice became very quiet. Lu Tong asked: “Did you have a falling out?”

Miao Liangfang came back to his senses: “No.”

Rather than a falling out, it was more like intimate people gradually drifting apart.

“Later, Consort Yan, who was favored by the Emperor, suddenly fell unconscious after taking the medicinal cuisine I had sent. Medical officials found poison harmful to the heart in the medicinal cuisine, and I was thrown into prison.”

“Consort Yan?” Lu Tong frowned slightly.

She remembered Consort Yan—the cousin of Meng Xiyan from Prince Wen’s manor. It was also Consort Yan who had given “Little Child’s Sorrow” to Meng Xiyan, giving Meng Xiyan the opportunity to harm the child in Pei Yunshu’s belly.

Later, when the “Little Child’s Sorrow” incident was exposed, Consort Yan had already been dealt with. Lu Tong hadn’t expected to hear Consort Yan’s name from Miao Liangfang.

Miao Liangfang didn’t notice Lu Tong’s strange expression and continued: “I knew this incident was Consort Yan framing me. Ten years ago when Consort Yan first entered the palace, there were open and covert struggles in the harem. She wanted to win me over to help her harm people, but when I refused, she must have held a grudge against me.”

“But I never expected she had bought off Cui Min.”

“It was Cui Min who poisoned that bowl of medicinal cuisine.”

Miao Liangfang still remembered that day—it was a summer afternoon, the air stuffy and humid, with lightning flickering in the clouds. He was brewing medicinal cuisine when he suddenly felt severe abdominal pain, as if he had eaten something bad. He originally wanted to endure it until the medicinal cuisine was finished before going, but his stomach became increasingly uncomfortable, and he could see he couldn’t hold out much longer.

Just then, Cui Min walked in.

As if seeing a savior, Miao Liangfang said without thinking: “Ah Min, help me watch the medicinal cuisine, I’ll be right back!”

Cui Min very naturally took the bamboo fan from his hands and sat in his place: “Go ahead.”

He had never imagined Cui Min would harm him. Even though they were no longer as intimate as when they shared the firewood room, in Miao Liangfang’s heart, Cui Min had always been a friend.

A friend who would never betray him.

So later when the incident occurred and the Director questioned them, when others asked if Cui Min had entered the medicinal cuisine room and Cui Min shook his head, saying he had never entered, Miao Liangfang was so shocked.

He was thrown into prison, originally meant to lose his life. But because he had been quite favored by the Empress Dowager, she spoke up, sparing him the death penalty and only having him beaten fifty times with a rod before expelling him from the Medical Academy.

The executioner beat him severely, and he was also bullied in prison, breaking one leg. It was also in prison that he learned Cui Min had replaced him, becoming the new Deputy Director of the Medical Academy.

Thus the truth became clear.

“Do you hate him?” Lu Tong asked.

Miao Liangfang was stunned, nodded, then shook his head, finally smiling with a complex expression. “It was my fault for trusting others blindly. As a medical official, I carelessly handed over the medicinal cuisine to someone else. Falling to this state is my own fault, but…” his tone darkened, “Cui Min, he took away my ‘Miao’s Good Remedies.'”

“‘Miao’s Good Remedies’?”

“It’s a book of prescriptions passed down by my Miao family ancestors, recording the prescriptions the Miao family had developed over years of practicing medicine. My father passed it to me. When I entered the Hanlin Medical Academy, I planned to add the prescriptions I had developed during my own years of practice to compile them into a volume for the benefit of medical workers throughout the world.”

“The second year after I was expelled from the Medical Academy, I heard that Deputy Director Cui of the Medical Academy had compiled a book called ‘Cui’s Pharmacology.’ Medical workers in Shengjing’s medical community praised it highly, and it was precisely because of this that Cui Min leaped from Deputy Director to Chief Director.”

Lu Tong looked thoughtful: “You mean…”

“I bought that book ‘Cui’s Pharmacology’—it was identical to my ‘Miao’s Good Remedies.'”

At this point, Miao Liangfang’s hands resting on his knees unconsciously clenched.

During the days sharing the firewood room with Cui Min, the days when they first entered the Medical Academy together, those days when commoner medical officials entering the palace were repeatedly made difficult—he had spoken to Cui Min more than once about his plans. Cui Min had helped him organize those prescriptions, sometimes even arguing endlessly over the medicines used in a single prescription.

Cui Min had never shown the slightest bit of covetousness toward these prescriptions. In Miao Liangfang’s heart, this submissive person who always yielded to everything had always been the little clerk who added lamp oil for him in the firewood room at night. He never expected Cui Min could be so ruthless in his actions.

“I tried to find him, but he was already the lofty Chief Director of the Medical Academy, completely beyond my reach. No one believed the words of a convict—they said I was talking nonsense. None of the people who once flattered me were to be seen, all afraid of being implicated by me.”

“For ten years, you are the first,” Miao Liangfang looked at Lu Tong, “you are the first person to say you would help me get revenge.”

That day at Renxin Medical Hall, when he was guilty and frantic about his identity being exposed, like a mole that had been hiding in darkness having the accumulated tiles and stones of its burrow lifted, he always felt humbly unadapted to the sunlight above ground. Yet Lu Tong sat before him, calmly saying: “I can help you get revenge.”

Revenge.

Miao Liangfang closed his eyes.

For people like them without status or position, how difficult it was to get revenge on noble officials—Miao Liangfang knew this better than anyone. If he had once possessed the pride to refuse the noble young heir of Duke Zhaoning, ten years of wandering and grinding had long made him recognize reality.

It was simply impossible to succeed.

But he was still shamefully moved by Lu Tong’s proposal.

Perhaps it was because Lu Tong’s tone was too calm, making people inexplicably want to trust her, or perhaps ten years had worn down his temperament but not his unwillingness to accept defeat.

“Little Lu, I’ve told you that commoners entering the Hanlin Medical Academy isn’t as easy as you think. The palace is a place that devours people without spitting out bones. You’re still young. Even if you want to spite the Supreme Court Minister, it’s not worth risking your entire life.” Miao Liangfang said.

He had actually always hoped Lu Tong could pass the spring examinations, but now that he learned this year’s examiner was Cui Min and Lu Tong would most likely fail, he felt inexplicably relieved.

That was a fire pit—no matter how beautifully decorated, it couldn’t change the fact that it devoured people.

He didn’t want Lu Tong to end up like him, pointlessly destroyed there.

Moreover, revenge itself was something beyond reach.

Lu Tong said: “I told you, if you help me pass the spring examinations and enter the Hanlin Medical Academy, I can help you get revenge. I keep my word.” She looked at Miao Liangfang: “Master Miao, you just focus on helping me.”

Under the night sky, the woman’s eyes were clear and distinct, her gaze without the slightest hesitation.

Miao Liangfang was somewhat confused.

He only knew that people from the Supreme Court Minister’s manor had come to humiliate Lu Tong, and Lu Tong had made bold claims in her anger. But from these days of getting along with Lu Tong, he felt she wasn’t someone who acted on impulse.

How could such a person, for the sake of some verbal disputes, stubbornly send herself into danger? She was clearly more capable than anyone of calmly weighing pros and cons.

After hesitating for a moment, Miao Liangfang suppressed his doubts and patiently advised: “Cui Min won’t let commoners pass…”

“Let’s try.”

Lu Tong interrupted him. “We won’t know the result until we try.”