The day quickly passed, and night gradually deepened.

The medical officials at the Medical Academy had all gone to sleep. Lin Danqing had followed the head physician into the palace in the afternoon to check the pulse of a noble person. Exhausted from the day’s work, he had retired to bed early to rest.

Lu Tong couldn’t sleep, so she simply went to the medicine storehouse to organize prescriptions.

After organizing the prescriptions, she still had no sleepiness, so she found a medical text she hadn’t read before on the bookshelf and spread out paper and brush at the table to copy medical texts.

The night was very quiet, with only low insect chirping outside the courtyard. In the medicine storehouse behind layers of medicine shelves, Lu Tong sat at a low table, copying books by lamplight.

“Dwarf lilyturf, peony, orpine, dayflower, all treat manic fever…”

“Lepidium seed, sudden onset of madness, take white dog blood pills…”

“Dog…”

Her brush tip paused as she looked at the character for “dog,” slightly lost in thought.

During the day, the four puppies the young man held in his arms were like fluffy dumplings. She could feel the warmth of their fur when the back of her hand touched them. When they innocently stretched their heads to lick her hand, it always reminded her of another pair of eyes in her memory—clear and timid, like two shining black pearls.

When she told Duan Xiaoyan “I don’t like dogs,” it was false.

She too had once had a black puppy, many years ago.

She called it “Wu Yun.”

That was probably the third year Lu Tong was on Falling Plum Peak, perhaps earlier—she couldn’t remember too clearly.

As the days of testing drugs increased, Lu Tong gradually adapted to life on Falling Plum Peak. She learned to store food, learned to lock herself in the thatched hut after drinking the medicinal soup Yunniang gave her, and learned to spend nights accompanied by lone lamps when Yunniang wasn’t there.

Only such days were inevitably dull.

So when she wasn’t testing drugs, Lu Tong would secretly browse through the books in Yunniang’s room.

She was literate—her father had taught her to read. She had never liked reading before, but at that time, she began to be grateful that this place had so many books to help her pass the time, making the boring and gloomy days not quite so difficult to endure.

Most of Yunniang’s books were medical texts on pharmacology, with occasional historical works. She compared them one by one with the herbs she had picked, gradually learning to recognize some of them.

Yunniang discovered she was secretly reading medical books, but surprisingly didn’t stop her, allowing her to browse with an interested expression.

Later, when she recognized most of the medicinal herbs, Lu Tong began to know some simple prescriptions. After Yunniang had her test drugs, Lu Tong would also use the herbs available in the mountains to detoxify the remaining poison and recuperate her body.

At that time, she was very happy, always feeling that her days on the mountain hadn’t been wasted, gradually developing the illusion that she might be able to become a female physician in the future.

Later on, Lu Tong often brought animals back to the thatched hut.

There were often injured small beasts in the mountains—wild cats caught in animal traps, rabbits with legs bitten off by foxes, young birds that had accidentally fallen from their nests…

When Lu Tong encountered them on the road, she would bring them back, treat them with herbs, then release them back into the mountains.

Gradually becoming busy, she no longer felt lonely. The thatched hut seemed to become a bustling medical clinic, with her as the benevolent physician and those accidentally rescued small beasts as patients coming for treatment.

Finding joy in hardship, bitterness also became sweetness.

One day, she found a wild dog in the mass graves. It should have been born not long ago, with eyes still unopened. Perhaps it was too weak, and the female dog had taken away the other puppies, leaving only this one behind.

Lu Tong brought this puppy back to the thatched hut.

The puppy was completely black with smooth fur. Lu Tong chewed on her brush handle for a long time, finally naming it “Wu Yun.”

“Ox-tail black clouds splash thick ink, ox-head wind and rain spin like cart axles…”

This poem was often used by her father for them to practice calligraphy. Lu Tong most loved the last two lines: “Hurriedly crossing the stream in the rain, the rain suddenly clears and the mountains turn green again.”

She petted Wu Yun’s head and whispered: “Meeting me is your good fortune—it could be called ‘the rain suddenly clearing’!”

Wu Yun grew up quickly.

The puppy was alert and lively, often staying by her side. When going down the mountain to gather herbs, it would help Lu Tong carry the bamboo basket for collecting medicine. During the day, Lu Tong shared her food with Wu Yun, and at night, when Lu Tong sat under the lamp reading medical books, Wu Yun would lie at her feet keeping watch.

It was Lu Tong’s only companion on the mountain. Sometimes when Lu Tong saw the little dog frolicking in the sunlight, she hazily felt as if she had returned to Changwu County, chasing butterflies on the riverside embankment.

Yunniang sat at a small table under a tree making medicine, thoughtfully watching her.

“You really like this little dog.”

Lu Tong hugged Wu Yun’s neck and hummed softly in acknowledgment.

She really liked this little dog.

It was like a gift from heaven.

One morning, Lu Tong woke up and didn’t see Wu Yun’s shadow. Usually at this hour, the little dog would have already come to bite at her quilt corner.

Anxiety suddenly arose in her heart. She rushed out of the room in panic and finally saw Wu Yun in a corner of the courtyard.

Wu Yun was lying on the ground. Seeing her, it struggled to open its eyes and whimpered once.

Lu Tong rushed to its side, at a loss as she tried to pick it up.

“Don’t worry, I had it help me test a new poison.”

Yunniang emerged from behind the tree, holding an empty bowl in her hands, smiling as she looked at Lu Tong on the ground: “I haven’t named it yet. The components are selaginella, dianella, wolf’s bane, iris, arsenic…” She listed many things.

Lu Tong stared at her blankly, finally unable to help trembling.

Arsenic was poisonous.

Puppies couldn’t take arsenic, especially when Wu Yun wasn’t even half a year old.

Yunniang said: “Seven days.”

“…What seven days?”

“Haven’t you learned some medicine now? If you can detoxify it within seven days, it can live.”

The woman smiled gently with curious concern: “I’ve already told you all the materials for this poison. Little Seventeen, don’t disappoint me.”

Lu Tong tightly hugged her companion, her face deathly pale.

Those were very brief yet very long seven days.

Every moment was torture. She hardly ate or slept, forgot about time, searched through all the medical books, only hating that the pharmacological knowledge she had read wasn’t more extensive, that her medical skills weren’t more sophisticated. She seemed to become a waste—the proud dream she’d had of becoming a female physician suddenly shattered.

Ridiculously stupid.

By the seventh day, Wu Yun’s entire body had festered beyond recognition.

The little dog wasn’t dead yet but could no longer make sounds. Those bright eyes looked at her with infinite attachment. Lu Tong’s tears dripped on the back of her hand, and the little dog struggled to extend its tongue to gently lick her hand.

She couldn’t make an antidote prescription—she couldn’t save her friend at all.

Lu Tong knelt before Yunniang, choking as she pleaded: “Yunniang… Yunniang… please save it…”

Yunniang bent down, gently pulled away her hands that were grasping her skirt, and shook her head with a sigh.

“Little Seventeen, you cannot place all hope on others.”

“Besides,” she smiled slightly, “you now have no consultation fee to pay me.”

Years ago, Lu Tong had used herself as the price to beg Yunniang to save the Lu family.

But now, she didn’t even belong to herself and no longer had the qualifications to make deals with Yunniang.

Outside, dark clouds gathered, and Wu Yun died in her arms.

She watched helplessly as it died.

That warm, furry body gradually became cold and stiff. It would no longer be the first to rush up and lick her hand after each drug test. Those black, bright eyes gradually became scattered, turning into two coagulated, dim dead beads that would never again reflect Lu Tong’s image.

She walked despondently, carrying dead Wu Yun to the pine forest at the peak.

The mountains were covered with evergreen pines and cypresses. Lu Tong found a beautiful small pine tree and began digging a pit under it to bury Wu Yun. When she was halfway through digging, thunder suddenly rumbled, and torrential rain poured down instantly.

Lu Tong hastily picked up Wu Yun, afraid the torrential rain would wet its fur. The little dog’s cold body pressed tightly against her, and she finally couldn’t hold back anymore, holding Wu Yun’s corpse and crying aloud.

The heavy rain was like a bursting dam, wild wind howling, wrapping around her cries.

She just sat there, her pupils reflecting this unexpected summer torrential rain on the mountain. Until the black clouds dispersed and the rain gradually ceased—summer mountain rains came quickly and left quickly too. A rainbow appeared after sunrise, glowing with morning light.

Just as the poem said: Hurriedly crossing the stream in the rain… the rain suddenly clears and the mountains turn green again.

The torrential rain stopped.

But the torrential rain also didn’t stop.

It hung above people’s heads, ready to fall at any time. Wu Yun was dead, but the torrential rain remained. It couldn’t stop forever. You didn’t know when it would fall, like rising tide waves, dragging people to sink to the bottom.

That was the first lesson Yunniang taught her.

People cannot stop torrential rain from falling, just as she cannot stop life from perishing.

“Plop—” A sound.

Lost in thought, the brush in her hand was unsteady and fell on the paper, dragging out a glaring ink stain.

Outside the window, the waning moon was hazy, lamplight filled the room, and the ink stain on the paper was like a black scar, suddenly stinging her eyes.

Lu Tong suddenly felt somewhat irritated.

She grabbed the paper in front of her, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it toward the distance like venting.

The paper ball rolled with the lamplight until it reached a pair of boots.

Someone bent down to pick up the waste paper on the ground and asked with a smile: “Did it offend you?”

Lu Tong’s body stiffened.

She looked up to see Pei Yunying walking in from outside.

Deep into the night, with lamplight illuminating people, the young man had removed his crimson official robes from the day and changed into a moon-white spring shirt with dark floral cloud patterns in jade brocade. Under the candlelight, he appeared like jade mountains walking, light reflecting on him.

Lu Tong steadied herself: “How did you come here?”

This person entered the Medical Academy almost as if it were uninhabited territory. Lu Tong was no longer surprised. If anyone was discovered and suffered consequences, it wouldn’t be her anyway. So she let him be.

Pei Yunying walked to sit across from her at the table, pulling out a paper slip from his chest: “When you came to the Commander’s residence during the day, you dropped a prescription. I specially came to deliver it to you.”

Lu Tong was startled, seeing that the paper slip was indeed one she had lost, probably tucked in her medical texts and dropped while checking pulses with those guards.

“Thank you.” She put away the paper slip.

Pei Yunying nodded and continued: “I also came to ask you for a bottle of digestive pills.”

Lu Tong was startled, then frowned: “Did you finish the bottle I gave you last time?”

Last time Pei Yunying came, he said the Commander’s residence dog had stomach problems and asked Lu Tong for a bottle of digestive pills. That bottle of digestive pills wasn’t small, and not much time had passed since then.

She reminded him: “Dogs cannot eat too many digestive pills.”

Pei Yunying smiled: “It’s for Duan Xiaoyan.”

“…”

She said no more and got up to find digestive pills for Pei Yunying from the medicine cabinet.

Pei Yunying leaned against his chair, watching her back as she stood before the medicine cabinet for a while, then suddenly spoke: “Why are you afraid of dogs?”

Her fingertips trembled. Lu Tong lowered her head, continued pulling open medicine drawers, and said: “I’m not afraid of dogs.”

“Then why did you refuse Duan Xiaoyan’s suggestion?”

“Lord Pei, I spoke very clearly. I dislike dogs, so I refused.”

“Dislike?” Pei Yunying curved his lips slightly. “But you looked like your face was scared white.”

Lu Tong: “…”

She pulled out digestive pills from the medicine drawer, closed the cabinet, and walked to Pei Yunying.

The spring night was gentle, the secluded window half-open. Far away came the soft sound of startled birds taking flight in the forest, and pear blossom fragrance was carried by wind across the pond into the small courtyard, even clothing sleeves becoming fragrant.

In the room at the table corner, in the ancient bronze camel lamp, silver candles burned quietly. Soft colored light filled the entire room, casting slightly swaying shadows on the ground.

The young man’s eyes were also like cool nights in the capital’s spring days—seemingly gentle but with deeper coldness, looking at her with unclear meaning.

Lu Tong remained silent.

This person—this person wasn’t as bright as his appearance suggested. He seemed able to see through all pretense at a glance, perceiving secrets in people’s hearts.

So there was no need to pretend anymore.

“Yes, I’m very afraid of dogs.”

Lu Tong placed the bottle of digestive pills in front of Pei Yunying with a thud, sat back down at the table, and spoke indifferently: “Because I was bitten by a dog when I was young.”

“That dog was very annoying, like a dog-skin plaster, pursuing me relentlessly, impossible to shake off no matter what.”

Pei Yunying was startled.

After a while, he chuckled softly and sighed: “How barbed your words are. It seems Dr. Lu is in a very bad mood today.”

Lu Tong didn’t want to continue this topic with him, glancing at the medicine bottle on the table: “I’ve already given Lord Pei the digestive pills.”

Pei Yunying picked up the porcelain bottle containing medicine but didn’t leave immediately, only saying: “I heard you stood up for me today?”

This came out of nowhere. Lu Tong didn’t understand: “What?”

He lowered his head and smiled, his tone light: “During the day at Jin Xianrong’s residence, didn’t you give him a few extra needles for my sake?”

Lu Tong was first stunned, then suddenly understood.

During the day, Jin Xianrong had spoken disrespectfully about Pei Yunying a few times, and she had indeed painfully needled him several times then.

But that was something that happened at Jin Xianrong’s residence.

At that time, besides herself, only Jin Xianrong and his household servants were in the room…

The Commander’s residence…

His methods were truly far-reaching.

In an instant, coldness arose in her heart.

She looked up at the person across from her. The young man’s features were handsome and gentle in the lamplight, his moon-white brocade robe making him appear noble and mild. But looking carefully, his contours were actually refined and sharp.

Weapons were good at hurting people.

No matter how gorgeous a sharp blade appeared on the outside, it couldn’t hide the dangerous reality.

But Pei Yunying seemed unaware of Lu Tong’s sudden wariness, his face carrying a hint of smile as he asked casually: “Why did Dr. Lu stand up for me?”

Lu Tong remained silent.

Logically speaking, she and Pei Yunying were neither relatives nor friends. Even though Pei Yunying temporarily didn’t plan to obstruct her revenge, Lu Tong always maintained some subtle distance from him. This person’s status was very high, and who knew what schemes he was plotting in secret. She could barely handle her own affairs and truly had neither the energy nor the inclination to be a meddlesome good person.

She wasn’t the type to meddle in others’ business at all.

The spring night was cool, the moonlight shy. A late breeze blew from outside the window, causing even the figures shrouded in lamplight to take on a layer of faint coldness.

Lu Tong tightened her clothes. After a long while, she finally spoke: “Meal money.”

“Meal money?”

Lu Tong nodded, looking directly into his eyes: “When I first entered the Medical Academy, I ate Lord Pei’s lotus pastries, and Lord Pei didn’t take any silver.”

“This is to settle the meal debt.”

She spoke completely seriously, as if discussing some business deal worth millions of taels, which made Pei Yunying slightly stunned.

That night, Lu Tong had just been assigned to the Southern Pharmacy. The small kitchen was cold with no fire, and she happened to encounter Pei Yunying passing by.

She ate Pei Yunying’s lotus pastries, but Pei Yunying didn’t take her silver and just left like that.

Pei Yunying nodded: “I see.” Then he looked at her and smiled: “It was just a basket of pastries. Why does Dr. Lu need to keep such clear accounts?”

It seemed she always kept these debts very clearly—ointments, pastries, life-saving favors…

As if afraid of owing others or being owed by others.

Lu Tong said lightly: “Lord Commander doesn’t know, but ‘repaying the smallest resentment and the smallest kindness’ is a rule of our Lu family.”

Pei Yunying looked at her thoughtfully.

The woman sat under the lamp reading medical books. The dim yellow light was hazy. She had let down her hair from its bun, and it flowed like satin over her shoulders. Against her water-blue dress, she was like a flower blooming in the mountains at night—quietly and serenely.

His hand playing with the medicine bottle paused. After thinking, he asked again: “Why don’t you ask about my family’s affairs?”

Lu Tong was startled and couldn’t help but look up.

The young man propped his chin up, smiling lightly as he looked at her, his tone casual, but his eyes were as still as deep water, hiding ripples she couldn’t understand.

Extremely faint orchid and musk fragrance floated in the air, or perhaps the newly bloomed pear flowers outside the courtyard were too fragrant, always making it hard to ignore.

Lu Tong withdrew her gaze and said lightly: “I’m not interested in other people’s family affairs.”

Hearing this, Pei Yunying was startled, looking at her with somewhat complex expression.

The dense small characters in the medical text before her appeared blurry in the firelight. Lu Tong suddenly lost interest in continuing to read. After being silent for a while, she asked: “Why doesn’t Lord Pei ask why Jin Xianrong said such things?”

Jin Xianrong’s words had been utterly insulting to the Pei family. Given Pei Yunying’s ruthless methods in dealing with Prince Wen based on what she’d seen before, this Commander seemed vindictive and would retaliate for the smallest offense. He really didn’t seem like the type to let things slide. Moreover, since he had planted people in Jin Xianrong’s residence, it was quite audacious. Lu Tong had thought he would retaliate, but unexpectedly he seemed not to care much.

As if he didn’t care about Duke Zhaoning’s residence or Duke Zhaoning’s reputation at all.

Pei Yunying blinked and sighed very lightly: “Who in the capital doesn’t know about my family’s affairs?”

“Isn’t the Commander angry?”

He shrugged: “What he said was also the truth.”

Lu Tong fell silent. She couldn’t understand Pei Yunying.

A gust of wind blew, causing the camel lamp on the table to flicker twice. Pei Yunying reached out to adjust the wick, and the light brightened. He said: “Bao Zhu’s medicine is almost finished. Sister asked me to ask you when to change to a new prescription.”

Originally, when Lu Tong was at the Renxin Medical Hall, she would go to Pei Yunshu’s residence every few days to treat Pei Yunshu and her daughter, and incidentally change Bao Zhu’s prescription according to her condition. Since coming to the Hanlin Medical Academy, she had been busy every day without touching ground, and had forgotten that the time to change prescriptions was approaching.

“The Medical Academy has two rest days each month,” Lu Tong said. “I didn’t leave last month, so I’ll return to the medical hall this month. I’ll examine Bao Zhu personally then before changing her medicine.”

Pei Yunying nodded: “That’s good.”

Another silence fell.

He picked up the medicine bottle from the table and stood up. When he reached the door, he stopped again: “Dr. Lu.”

Lu Tong: “What?”

The young man stood with his back to her. After a while, he smiled and said: “Thank you.”

Without saying anything more, he left.

The room became quiet again. Lu Tong put down the medical text in her hands and looked ahead.

The moon broke through light clouds, flower shadows were scattered, cool moonlight flowed across the ground, reflecting pale cold frost.

His shadow was no longer outside the door.

“We must return even the kindness of a single meal, and must repay even the smallest grudge.” — Records of the Grand Historian