The green mountains were like distant ink wash paintings, low fields bordered by water.

In the patches of verdant green near and far, faint bird songs drifted from within, clear and melodious – whether thrushes or some other birds, one couldn’t tell.

Pei Yunying stood in the shadow cast by the dead tree, gazing toward the floating clouds scattered over distant peaks.

The drifting clouds hung over the village like an oppressive gloom that couldn’t be dispersed, tightly wrapping the long day.

How much could a bird be worth?

Ten taels, twenty taels?

Five hundred taels, one thousand taels?

None of these.

It turned out that when a bird became precious, it could cost four human lives, perhaps more.

How absurd.

The weights on either side of the scales were so unequal as to be laughably grotesque.

Lu Tong heard her own voice: “Where are the other members of the Yang family?”

Pei Yunying had said all four members of the Yang family perished in the flames. She asked: “Are there no other distant relatives?”

“None.”

Pei Yunying said: “The Yang family’s eldest daughter had already died of illness before the incident. Apart from the Yang couple, there was only a son-in-law and a simple-minded son. All are no longer in this world.”

Lu Tong fell silent.

Though she had already guessed this outcome, hearing these words still felt like a shadow falling over her heart.

She looked at that house standing on the wasteland and slowly walked forward.

This house could no longer show its original appearance. The great fire had burned everything away, the ashes long since solidified. Only the collapsed door frame of the dwelling could reveal glimpses of that day’s dire circumstances.

A copper hook still hung beneath the house wall.

Lu Tong reached out, touching that copper hook burned black.

She could almost see what had been before – the green gauze birdcage hanging from that copper hook, the thrush singing joyfully within the cage, while in front of and behind the house door, a family of four smiled as they sifted tea in happy contentment.

She withdrew her hand and said quietly: “So similar.”

Pei Yunying looked at her.

Lu Tong lowered her lashes.

The Yang family’s fate was so similar to the Lu family’s.

The same annihilation of a family of four, the same great fire that destroyed everything. The difference was that the Lu family’s tragedy began with Lu Rou, while the Yang family’s began with a thrush. The innocent man bears guilt for possessing jade – common people suffering undeserved disasters, like pigs and sheep dragged onto the butcher’s felt board, powerless to resist, only able to be slaughtered at will.

Even in the eyes of those nobles, human lives weren’t worth as much as a thrush bird.

Less than pigs and dogs.

Like raging flames rising from her heart, the calmer she appeared, the more turbulent it became. She suppressed the hatred and anger in her heart and asked Pei Yunying: “So you’re saying Qi Yutai killed and stole the bird because the Yang family wouldn’t give him the thrush?” Lu Tong frowned: “But if that’s the case, why would Qi Yutai then detest thrushes?”

People don’t hate something for no reason, and the fact that the Grand Tutor’s residence hadn’t kept birds for years seemed more like avoidance than hatred.

Why did Qi Yutai avoid them?

Pei Yunying said flatly: “When I later learned of this matter, I inquired through the Imperial City Department. The Imperial City Department received information that there had been signs of fighting in the Yang house.” After a pause, he continued: “I heard that during those days, when Qi Yutai was traveling, he encountered bandits and sustained minor injuries.”

Lu Tong’s heart stirred: “This means…”

“Yang Dalang, Old Yang’s son-in-law, had learned martial arts from a martial arts instructor for several years.” He turned to look at Lu Tong.

In an instant, Lu Tong suddenly understood.

The chaotic fog in her mind gradually cleared.

Qi Yutai was determined to have the thrush, so he brought men and horses to Mangming Township. But Old Yang, deeply loving his deceased daughter, ignored the silver Qi Yutai brought and politely declined. Qi Yutai became furious from embarrassment. The two perhaps had a dispute midway, and Yang Dalang, Old Yang’s son-in-law, came to help. Yang Dalang was skilled in martial arts and wasn’t one to submit meekly. Seeing his father-in-law being bullied, he came to help…

Qi Yutai perhaps suffered at Yang Dalang’s hands at that time, sustaining some “minor injuries.”

But no matter how skilled Yang Dalang was, ultimately two fists couldn’t fight four hands, especially after injuring the Grand Tutor’s son. So all four family members, including that simple-minded son who had no ability to fight back, all died.

The departing Qi family members set a great fire that burned down the Yang house, destroying all evidence. However, Qi Yutai developed a heart ailment because of this incident…

This person was rumored to be timid, and his relatives had always suffered from madness. His mind was already unstable, and having been quite frightened by Yang Dalang that day, he kept his distance from thrush birds.

And Qi Qing, who deeply loved his son and feared his son would follow his wife’s path, also drove away all the birds from the residence to avoid stimulating Qi Yutai and causing the hidden madness to manifest early.

In this entire incident, the Qi family stood high above, cleaning up the entire Yang family like clearing away fish and meat scraps, erasing all traces. But no one knew of the grievances and hatred within.

Just like when they had cleaned up the Lu family.

The difference was that the Yang family had already fallen, leaving only this burned house and unattended graves, with no survivors. But the Lu family still had herself.

Qi Yutai… couldn’t erase all traces either.

Lu Tong stood before the burned house for a long time.

It wasn’t until people in the tea garden grew impatient, fearing they had delayed too long in this place, that Lu Tong turned to leave with Pei Yunying.

Mangming Township remained as peaceful and tranquil as when they arrived. The Yang family’s burned house had no effect on this place whatsoever. The street was lined with open house doors, and under the eaves, a group of older women sat in the sun sorting tea, picking tender leaves from harvested tea to earn wages.

Tea-drying baskets were everywhere, and the omnipresent green and blue dispersed some of the earlier gloom, bringing a touch of spring warmth. Lu Tong walked beside Pei Yunying, hearing him say: “It’s getting late. Let’s eat here.”

They had left early, but it was now past noon. After traveling all this way without even a sip of water and then searching for the Yang family’s residence, he was right – once he mentioned it, Lu Tong also felt some hunger and thirst, so she agreed: “Alright.”

There was a tea stall ahead. As the two were walking forward, a half-grown yellow dog suddenly darted out from the roadside – probably a watchdog kept by local households. Before Lu Tong could react, she felt someone hook her elbow as Pei Yunying pulled her to the inside.

“What are you doing?” Lu Tong frowned.

Pei Yunying looked at her strangely: “Aren’t you afraid of dogs?”

Afraid of dogs?

Lu Tong’s heart paused slightly.

Back at the Marshal’s residence, when Duan Xiaoyan had brought four black puppies, causing her to lose composure. Later when Pei Yunying asked about it, she had casually deflected, not expecting him to still remember.

The yellow dog wagged its tail and ran ahead. Lu Tong felt his scrutinizing gaze fall on her and spoke calmly: “It doesn’t look like it bites.”

Pei Yunying chuckled.

He said nothing more, and Lu Tong didn’t continue the topic either.

When they reached the tea stall entrance, they could see clearly that rather than a tea stall, it was more like a farming family that had opened their small courtyard. A banner hung from the roof beams over the yard, with red background and white characters spelling “Tea.” The courtyard only had one lame wooden table and a few bamboo chairs, apparently just prepared by the household owner for passing travelers to earn a few tea coins. Since very few outsiders came to this place, it was quite crudely constructed.

A woman wearing a yellow headscarf came out from inside. As soon as she saw them, she smiled: “Oh, the young master has come again.”

It was the same woman who had given them directions at the road entrance when they first arrived at Mangming Township.

Pei Yunying smiled and sat in the chair in the courtyard, handing over an ingot of silver: “Please trouble yourself, elder sister, to prepare some food and tea for us two.”

This address of “elder sister” obviously pleased the woman. Seeing Pei Yunying’s generous payment, the woman smiled even more broadly: “What trouble – it’s only proper. It’s just our coarse food and weak tea, I hope the young master won’t mind.” While speaking, she lifted the teapot from the table and poured two cups of hot tea: “You two drink some tea to moisten your mouths first, just wait a moment.” Having said this, she turned and went into the kitchen.

This courtyard wasn’t large, but it was clean and tidy. Several large baskets of fresh tea leaves were placed on the platform, drying in the sun.

Lu Tong lifted her face veil and picked up the tea bowl from the table to take a sip.

Pei Yunying smiled: “Drinking so readily – aren’t you afraid someone poisoned the tea?”

Lu Tong instinctively looked at the tea bowl in her hands.

The red clay tea bowl was larger than those in the capital, made of rough material like ordinary fired earth, carrying a rustic simplicity. However, the tea was extremely sweet, with emerald green tea leaves floating in the water, tinting the tea a shade of green, with a nose-pleasing aroma.

She looked at Pei Yunying: “So Master didn’t drink just now because he was waiting for me to test the poison for you?”

He smiled, neither nodding nor denying.

Lu Tong snorted inwardly.

Spoiled noble offspring, always being pretentious. She had only heard of the emperor in the palace having servants test for poison before meals, but hadn’t expected this person to do the same.

Thinking of this, Lu Tong said nothing, only waiting until Pei Yunying had also drunk a sip of clear tea before speaking: “Then Master may be disappointed.” She said sarcastically: “I’m immune to all poisons. Perhaps I could drink this tea and remain perfectly fine while Master Pei might die from a single sip.”

Pei Yunying: “…”

However, the imagined blood-splattering scene didn’t occur. After drinking this bowl of tea for half an incense stick’s time, both were unharmed.

Birds chirped in the courtyard. After a moment of silence, Lu Tong placed the empty tea bowl back on the table and said: “Master Pei, I don’t understand. Regarding the Yang family matter, you clearly could have told me directly last night. Why did you insist on personally accompanying me here today?”

Last night when she questioned him about this matter in Pei Yunying’s study, he had refused to explain the reason. But coming to Mangming Village today to see the Yang family’s burned house hadn’t yielded any other discoveries either.

Such a simple matter could be explained in a few words – why personally make this trip?

Surely it wasn’t because she had damaged Pei Yunying’s wooden tower last night and he was maliciously retaliating by making simple matters complicated, forcing her to make this troublesome journey.

Pei Yunying stared at her and smiled: “Doctor Lu’s words make it sound like you’re blaming me for meddling.”

“Master Pei is overthinking.”

“You’ve said I’m overthinking many times now, making me seem like a petty, scheming person.”

Lu Tong swallowed back the words “aren’t you?” and only smiled slightly: “Absolutely not my intention.”

He nodded and spoke casually: “I was afraid you wouldn’t believe it.”

“Not believe?”

Just then, the woman with the headscarf came out carrying a large wooden tray, smiling as she placed the hot dishes from the tray onto the table bowl by bowl: “You’ve waited long. We’re country folk here with only coarse food – please don’t mind it.”

Indeed they were simple farm dishes – lard-fried meat, willow flower porridge, buckwheat biscuits, mixed vegetables… steaming hot in red clay bowls with appetizing aromas, plus a basket of golden fresh loquats.

After serving the dishes, the woman said “eat slowly” and was about to leave when Pei Yunying called her back.

“Elder sister,” Pei Yunying smiled, “we just went to see Old Yang’s house – burned very thoroughly.”

“Wasn’t it just,” the woman stopped and sighed along with them, “such a good family, all gone.”

“How exactly did Old Yang’s house catch fire? Why didn’t anyone notice at the time?”

The woman pursed her lips: “How did it start? It just started burning like that. Everyone was working in the tea gardens – by the time we noticed, it was too late.”

“Could it have been arson…”

At these words, the woman was startled and said repeatedly: “That’s not something to say! We’re all just common people here – who would want to burn down Old Yang’s house? Young master, don’t say such things in the future – if word gets out, we’ll all suffer too!” Having said this, as if taboo about something, she hurriedly left the courtyard carrying the empty wooden tray.

The courtyard became quiet again.

Pei Yunying poured tea into Lu Tong’s empty tea bowl and spoke lightly: “Does Doctor Lu understand now?”

Lu Tong said nothing.

This woman had just appeared enthusiastic and hospitable, but a few words from Pei Yunying had scared her into fleeing in panic, clearly terrified into silence about the Yang family matter.

“It’s been five years since the Yang family incident, and Mangming Township has been peaceful.” Pei Yunying pushed the filled tea bowl toward Lu Tong. “If Doctor Lu wants to use the thrush case against the Qi family, you can give up now.”

Lu Tong remained silent.

Setting aside that the Qi family’s fire had already burned all evidence clean, and not mentioning that the Yang family had been completely wiped out with no survivors, just the fact that five years had passed and the Yang family case had never made any waves was enough to show that even if the neighbors in Mangming Township knew this matter was suspicious, no one dared investigate deeply, and no one dared speak up for the Yang family.

The “lowly people’s” fear of “noble people” seemed innately carved into their bones.

Lu Tong now somewhat understood why Pei Yunying had insisted on bringing her on this trip.

He wanted her to see with her own eyes the common people’s fear of the “powerful,” to understand the cruelty of reality – that it wasn’t him exaggerating in words, but that revenge was indeed as difficult as ascending to heaven.

“No matter what price is offered, no one dares speak up, no one dares to talk.”

Pei Yunying looked at her, his expression growing somber.

“Miss,” he said calmly, “the enemies you’ll face in the future will become more and more numerous, more and more powerful. This isn’t a joke.”

Hearing this, Lu Tong actually laughed.

She nodded, her voice gentle: “Thank you for Master Pei’s reminder. I’ll handle it myself.”

“What do you plan to do – poison Qi Yutai?”

“That doesn’t require Master’s concern.”

He ignored Lu Tong’s distancing and smiled indifferently: “The Qi family isn’t like the Ke and Fan families. If you kill Qi Yutai, I’m afraid you won’t escape unscathed.”

“But at least he’ll be dead, won’t he?”

Pei Yunying paused.

Lu Tong said flatly: “I’m going to die anyway. If I offend you in the future, Master should be somewhat forgiving of a dying person.”

Pei Yunying’s brows furrowed slightly.

She always casually spoke of death, appearing very indifferent, as if she didn’t cherish her own life.

Was this fearlessness, or a death wish?

Lu Tong didn’t notice his thoughts, only removed her face veil and used bamboo chopsticks to pick up a piece of crispy sugar cake: “Master should eat quickly. The food will get cold soon.”

She didn’t seem to want to continue this topic.

Pei Yunying paused for a moment, said nothing more, and also picked up his chopsticks.

Lu Tong had already bitten into the crispy sugar cake.

Fresh-from-the-pot crispy sugar cakes could burn the mouth, but after cooling a bit they were just right. One bite released the sweet fragrance of sesame and brown sugar flooding the tongue – a very happy taste.

Pei Yunying looked at her thoughtfully.

He asked: “Does Doctor Lu particularly like sweet things?”

Previously at Renxin Medical Hall, Lu Tong had given him a bamboo tube of sickeningly sweet ginger honey water. The honey water was so sweet you couldn’t distinguish other flavors – even Duan Xiaoyan couldn’t stand it, but she seemed accustomed to it.

It seemed several times when he went to Renxin Medical Hall, he’d seen sweet syrup water placed on the small tables… and lotus flower pastries. Lu Tong had an extremely sweet tooth.

Lu Tong paused and hummed in agreement.

He nodded: “I see.”

He didn’t say anything more.

This meal was very good.

Farm food was always substantial. Compared to the refinement of capital restaurant food, it had more natural flavor. After the two finished eating and Qing Feng inside had also finished, the three returned together to the tea garden entrance where they’d first arrived. Qing Feng brought the carriage, and all three descended the mountain together.

By this time the sun was gradually setting in the west. The entire Tuoluo Mountain wasn’t as verdant as when they’d arrived, being illuminated by crimson flowing clouds into a bloody hue. Along the way, two white egrets flew over the lakeside, gradually disappearing among the distant mountain peaks.

Downhill roads were always easier than uphill ones. When the carriage passed the mountain foot, the sun had just set, and lanterns lit up at the doors of houses at the mountain’s base.

Vague sounds of commotion came from outside the carriage. Lu Tong lifted the carriage curtain and saw at a temple entrance on the long street where their carriage was traveling, a group of people were lined up in a long queue. At the very front was a porridge stall where several people dressed like household servants in dark clothes were ladling rice porridge from iron pots into bowls held by the queuing people.

All these people were ragged and sallow-faced. Lu Tong watched for a moment and suddenly understood – this was porridge distribution?

During the great epidemic year in Changwu County, initially there had also been kind-hearted wealthy merchants distributing porridge on the streets.

“Those are people from the Grand Tutor’s residence providing relief,” came Pei Yunying’s voice from beside her.

“The Grand Tutor’s residence?” Lu Tong spun around abruptly.

Pei Yunying leaned against the carriage, glancing at the lively scene outside, his voice very flat: “You should know about Qi Qing having a son in his old age.”

Lu Tong frowned.

Miao Liangfang had told her that Qi Qing had had two wives. The first wife, married to him for many years, never conceived and died without leaving any children. It was the later second wife who gave birth to Qi Yutai and Qi Huaying, a son and daughter.

But what did this have to do with Qi Qing distributing porridge?

Pei Yunying curved his lips: “Qi Qing had been childless for years. A master calculated his fortune and said his ancestors had committed grave sins, telling him to provide more charity and give benevolently.”

He smiled at the corners of his mouth, but his eyes held mockery: “Later Qi Qing annually provided relief to the hungry, invited high monks to hold ceremonies, built bridges and roads. After marrying his second wife, he indeed had a son and daughter in succession.”

“After that, our Grand Tutor Qi became quite a believer in fate and karma.”

He spoke mockingly, but Lu Tong found it only laughable.

If Qi Qing truly believed in fate and karma, how could he have ruthlessly killed the Lu and Yang families? If there truly was karmic retribution in this world, could distributing a few bowls of porridge and holding a few ceremonies really offset the Qi family’s sins of annihilating entire families?

How ridiculous.

Pei Yunying glanced at her: “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that the Grand Tutor’s residence acts this way simply because they believe ‘people can be deceived, but gods and Buddhas cannot be deceived.'”

“But he’s wrong.”

Lu Tong said coldly: “People are the ones who cannot be deceived.”