The early summer rain was humid, pattering against the window and leaving heavy trails of moisture.

Lin Danqing hugged the wine jar, resting her head on it with a distant look in her eyes.

She recalled that afternoon when she learned of the marriage arrangement. Her first thought was: if she got married, what would happen to her Yi Niang?

The “eye-shooter” poison was getting worse year by year. By the time she would marry in six or seven years, there was no guarantee Yi Niang would still be able to see.

Father wouldn’t mistreat Yi Niang, but he also wouldn’t pay attention to every detail. What if the servants were negligent in their care? What if she was bullied by bad people in the household? What if…

Countless thoughts swirled in her mind, and young Lin Danqing shuddered, not daring to think further.

“I thought to myself, I absolutely cannot marry, at least not before Yi Niang’s eyes get better.”

But as the Yin-Yang master said, each person’s life has its destiny. Some are blessed with good fortune and a life free of worries, while others are born into lowly fates with many obstacles ahead.

An unloved concubine and a concubine-born daughter living in the Fourth Residence—their fates seemed predetermined within these confines, impossible to escape.

“To improve Yi Niang’s situation, I started trying to please him,” Lin Danqing said.

Her personality wasn’t as gentle as Yi Niang’s, nor as moderate as her father’s—she was born strong-willed. Over the years, because of her father’s distance, she harbored resentment and never actively approached him.

But for Yi Niang’s sake, she decided to learn how to please her father.

After all, she couldn’t protect Yi Niang forever.

She thought that if she could please her father and make him truly love this daughter, perhaps after she married, he would remember their father-daughter bond and treat Yi Niang better.

So she began to change her personality, trying to speak in a forthright manner and walk with confident strides. She had heard that everyone likes cheerful, pleasing children, so she strived to make herself appear as bright as the sun.

Her father’s attitude toward her gradually changed, and sometimes he would even joke with her.

But what truly changed her father’s attitude was the day she recited half a medical classic in his study.

After she finished reciting that half volume of medical texts, the way her father looked at her changed.

Amazement, satisfaction, excitement, and a touch of genuine fondness.

Fondness.

Lin Danqing suddenly smiled.

She hugged the wine jar with both hands, tilted her head back for a big gulp, and let out a long sigh.

“My two legitimate elder brothers were mediocre in talent, stumbling through one medical classic for several years, yet I recited it immediately.”

“My father asked how long it took me to memorize it. I said three days, but I had spent an entire month, studying day and night. I deliberately made it sound effortless in front of him, letting him think I was a genius.”

Lin Danqing couldn’t help laughing: “He thought I was a genius!”

Being an Imperial Medical Officer was a good position. Though the salary wasn’t as generous as high officials’, the connections made among nobles and officials brought many benefits.

Medical Officer Lin’s health was failing, and though he left the Hanlin Medical Academy, he was reluctant to let go of these connections.

He needed an heir.

The two sons of the Lin family weren’t suited for medicine, but heaven hadn’t closed all doors—this concubine-born daughter appeared to be a medical prodigy.

“He sent me to the Imperial Medical Bureau,” Lin Danqing stopped laughing.

Most students at the Imperial Medical Bureau were children of medical officers, and they were also candidates for future positions in the Hanlin Medical Academy. Lin Danqing realized that if she could excel at the Imperial Medical Bureau and enter the Hanlin Medical Academy, inheriting her father’s position, she wouldn’t have to follow the predetermined path of early marriage and could continue protecting her mother.

That was another path.

No need to please anyone, but rather take control of her destiny. As long as her abilities surpassed her two legitimate brothers, even a concubine’s daughter could become legitimate, and a daughter could become a son.

“Little Sister Lu, at that time I understood something.”

Lin Danqing said calmly: “Those without skills suffer most; with just one skill, one can stand independently in the world.”

On a rainy night, Lin Danqing reached with her chopsticks and picked up a piece of spicy pork trotter to eat.

The trotter was so spicy that the girl’s face turned red, and her eyes grew moist and bright.

“After that, my father treated me very, very well.”

Ironically, neither her years of humble caution nor deliberate attempts to please had been as effective as the medical officers’ praise of her to her father after she entered the Medical Bureau. Her father’s appreciation of her excellence even led to the servants in Yi Niang’s courtyard becoming more attentive—her father had specifically instructed them.

From a mere grain of sand on the beach, she had suddenly become a pearl in his palm.

Father showed concern for her well-being, asked the Medical Bureau’s teachers to take special care of her, sent large boxes of food every time she returned from studies, frequently inquired about her health, and studied medical classics and pharmacology with her.

Her classmates all envied her for having such a good father.

She smiled brightly, accepting everything graciously.

“When I told you earlier that I had been jealous of you, it wasn’t a lie,” Lin Danqing raised her head and looked at Lu Tong seriously.

Lu Tong looked back at her.

“Before you appeared, I had studied at the Medical Bureau for three years and ranked first in every examination. I thought the spring examination’s top spot would certainly be mine, but then you suddenly appeared out of nowhere.”

Lin Danqing spoke resentfully.

Just because she hadn’t secured first place in the spring examination, her father had shown clear disappointment in her. Though he hadn’t said it directly, his gaze revealed his letdown.

“I don’t care about him,” Lin Danqing spat, perhaps emboldened by the plum wine’s effects, her speech becoming increasingly unrestrained, “During his years at the Medical Bureau, he never once ranked first, and in all his years at the Medical Academy, he hasn’t achieved anything noteworthy. What right does he have to be disappointed in me? I should be the one disappointed in him!”

Lu Tong couldn’t help but laugh.

Lin Danqing glanced at her and sighed again: “Fine, actually when I first entered the Medical Academy, I deliberately approached you. I wanted to see exactly where I fell short. As they say, know yourself and know your enemy, and you’ll win every battle. You beat me once, but you couldn’t win every time.”

“But who knew—”

She dragged out her words: “Heaven have mercy, you had it even worse than me!”

She had approached Lu Tong with hostility, even though she pretended to be warm-hearted and helpful.

However, Lu Tong’s situation turned out to be unexpectedly terrible.

Just after entering the Medical Academy, she was assigned to pick poisonous herbs in the South Pharmacy, and after returning from there, she was assigned to that old lecher Jin Xianrong.

Anyone with eyes could see that Lu Tong was being targeted.

Seeing such misfortune, Lin Danqing couldn’t bring herself to continue targeting her.

Even those hostile thoughts made her feel guilty.

“Later I thought, with you being so suppressed by the Medical Academy, you weren’t my competition. Why should I consider you my rival? It would be an unfair victory. Moreover,” she winked, “you told me about the antidote for the ‘eye-shooter.'”

Lu Tong shook her head: “You created the antidote yourself, it had nothing to do with me.”

“But you pointed me in the right direction!” Lin Danqing pushed the wine jar in front of Lu Tong closer to her, “That’s why I’m treating you to wine to show my gratitude! Why aren’t you drinking?”

Lu Tong: “…”

She picked up the wine jar and took a sip.

Very sour.

But Lin Danqing was satisfied.

On this windy, rainy night, with sour plum wine and steaming dishes, her usually high-tied ponytail was completely let down, falling over her shoulders as she leaned against the low couch like young girls sharing secrets while lying on their beds.

She tossed a peanut into her mouth: “Actually, I don’t like the monthly breaks.”

“If it weren’t for Yi Niang, I wouldn’t want to return to that home at all. I don’t want to see my father, nor my two legitimate brothers.”

“They always ask me irrelevant questions.”

Who had newly arrived at the Medical Academy, had she made connections with officials during her duties, how were her relationships with fellow officers, could she gain the favor of the palace ladies in the future…

The casual conversations after returning home weren’t casual—they were just another form of examination.

“You see me returning to the dormitory after breaks with bags full of snacks and clothes, but I think they’re not worth as much as your green-shelled eggs.” Lin Danqing lowered her head and poked at the peanuts in the dish with her chopsticks, sending the round peanuts scattering everywhere.

“That day during break, when I said if you had nowhere to go, you could come to my home. I was so afraid you would agree.”

“You’re so clever, if you came to my home, you would immediately see that I’m not as good as others say… How embarrassing would that be! Thankfully you refused.”

Lin Danqing hiccupped from the wine and looked at Lu Tong: “Little Sister Lu, after telling you all this, will you look down on me?”

Outside the window, the night rain continued to fall. Lu Tong said: “No.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Lin Danqing was delighted, raising her wine jar to gesture a toast toward Lu Tong: “Good sister!” She tilted her head back for a big gulp, grimacing at the tartness.

Lu Tong quietly watched her.

She knew Lin Danqing had always been clever.

Though this girl appeared bright and straightforward on the surface, seemingly casual, she was quite meticulous, skillfully maintaining good relationships with everyone in the Medical Academy. Medical Director Chang Jin was traditionally strict and proper, but when Lin Danqing bought late-night snacks behind his back, he would only verbally scold her a bit, never truly getting angry. Even someone as dark and narrow-minded as Cui Min, though stung by Lin Danqing’s words a few times, had never really made things difficult for her.

Lin Danqing skillfully navigated among these people, maintaining a delicate balance. This made her boldness and openness seem somewhat oddly mismatched, but tonight, the answer had been found.

Her brightness and straightforwardness were her mask.

Under this carefree smiling face, discontent and darkness were the truth.

This was the real Lin Danqing.

The plum wine was almost gone. She set the jar down on the table with a thud and looked at Lu Tong, leaning in mysteriously: “Little Sister Lu, let me tell you, I have a wish.”

Lu Tong: “What wish?”

“I,” she pointed at herself, declaring grandly: “want to become an Academy Officer!”

“Academy Officer?”

Lin Danqing giggled, propping her face with her hand and speaking hazily: “Originally, I wanted to become an Academy Officer for Yi Niang’s sake. As long as I became a high official, my father wouldn’t dare neglect me, and I wouldn’t have to marry, I could spend my whole life accompanying Yi Niang.”

“But not anymore.”

“Now, I want to become an Academy Officer for everyone in the world.”

Her expression changed suddenly, and she slammed the table, making the wine and dishes jump, angrily saying: “Look at the current bunch in the Medical Academy, puffing out their chests and pointing fingers, acting like they know everything, but hardly any of them write proper medical cases. Someone with real skills like you gets sent to the South Pharmacy to pick poisonous herbs, while someone like Cao Huai who barely passed the Medical Bureau’s spring examination gets a good position.”

“What a ridiculous world! That Cui Min himself rose from common origins, yet he suppresses commoners so harshly.”

“If I become an Academy Officer, I’ll naturally promote based on merit alone, regardless of whether they’re commoners or officials, treating everyone equally! The talented should rise to the top! The Medical Academy is for saving people, not for networking and making connections. I want to give all commoners in the world a chance, to fight for fairness!”

The rain continued to fall, with only the gloomy sound of rain in heaven and earth.

After finishing the last sip of plum wine, Lin Danqing looked at Lu Tong. She was already so drunk she could barely keep her eyes open, but her lips still curled into a habitual smile, “In the future, when I become the Chief Academy Officer, Little Sister Lu, you can be the Deputy Academy Officer…” She shook her head, “No, that’s not right, your medical skills are superior to mine, you should be the Chief Academy Officer, and I’ll be the Deputy…”

“Together, we’ll join forces and show them what we’re made of.”

Her voice gradually grew fainter.

“Okay?”

Lu Tong: “Okay.”

Lin Danqing gave her a thumbs up: “…Good sister.” Then swaying, she picked up the wine jar, making a gesture to toast with Lu Tong: “Come, let’s drink to us becoming Academy Officers!”

Lu Tong lowered her head, just managing to grab the mouth of the wine jar, not yet raising it—

With a “thud.”

Lin Danqing collapsed face-first onto the table, sound asleep.

The wine jar rolled onto the cushion by her feet, and the room fell back into silence.

Lu Tong held the heavy wine jar for a long while, then quietly took a sip.

The plum wine was tart and sweet at first taste but left only bitterness after swallowing.

Outside the window, the wind gusted through the thinning rain.