It rained during the night.

The rain pattered down, striking the newly planted banana leaves in the small courtyard with melancholy sounds.

Lu Tong had a dream.

In her dream, she returned to the Lu family residence in Changwu County. It was the twelfth lunar month, approaching New Year, with gentle wind and snow. Lu Rou walked out from the residence.

Her elder sister clearly still looked like a young maiden, yet she wore a married woman’s hairstyle and a plum-green plain velvet embroidered jacket, as charming and gentle as always.

Seeing her, Lu Rou reached out to take Lu Tong’s hand, saying reproachfully: “You naughty girl, where did you run off to again? Mother has been calling at home for half the day without seeing you respond. Be careful or Father will scold you when he finds out. We’re about to paste the red characters, and Lu Qian is writing them now. Come quickly and change your clothes.”

In a daze, she obediently let Lu Rou lead her toward the house, hearing Lu Rou say softly ahead of her: “You’ve been gone for so long. All these years, Sister has kept that hairpin for you. It’s good that you’ve come back…”

Hairpin?

What hairpin?

Why did Lu Rou say she had been gone for many years? Where had she gone?

As if a clap of thunder exploded beside her ear, Lu Tong suddenly opened her eyes.

The room was filled with dim yellow lamplight. In the pitch-black sky, only the sound of dripping rain remained.

She slowly sat up from the bed, unable to fall asleep again, silently gazing at the yellow lamplight until dawn.

When dawn came, Yin Zheng also got up from her bed. The two opened the medical hall’s main gate, and before long, Du Changqing and A’Cheng arrived as well.

Spring was nearing its end, and after several consecutive rainy days, fewer people came to buy medicinal tea. It was early morning, and the shop was somewhat quiet.

Du Changqing brewed a pot of hot tea and sent A’Cheng to buy two hot pancakes to eat as breakfast.

Lu Tong walked up to him and said: “Shopkeeper Du, I’d like to borrow some silver from you.”

Du Changqing nearly choked on his pancake, and after finally swallowing it down, he looked at Lu Tong: “What did you say?”

“I want to borrow some silver from Shopkeeper Du,” Lu Tong said. “I’ll write you an IOU and repay you in a few days.”

Du Changqing looked her up and down, snorted, walked past her into the interior, and after a while, fished out a key from under the medicine cabinet and retrieved a box from somewhere to hand to Lu Tong.

Yin Zheng eyed the box and asked tentatively: “This is…”

Du Changqing said irritably: “I calculated a few days ago that in these past two months, after deducting materials, the Spring Water Life medicine netted two hundred taels of silver. Doctor Lu, although your monthly wage is two taels of silver, I’m not one to take advantage of people. Moreover, you helped me teach that old bastard Bai Shouyi a lesson, which this shopkeeper very much appreciates. These hundred taels are your share.” He reluctantly moved his gaze away from the box, looking pained. “You don’t need to write me any IOU either. Just make more medicinal teas like this in the future, and that will count as repayment.”

Lu Tong was surprised. This man usually counted every penny, but now he was being quite generous. No wonder he had squandered such a large family fortune.

She looked at Du Changqing: “Thank you.”

Du Changqing waved his hand and just focused on continuing to eat his pancake.

Yin Zheng breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Perhaps because he had inexplicably lost a hundred taels of silver, although he pretended to be generous on the surface, he was still uncomfortable inside. Du Changqing was quite melancholy that day. Before evening had even darkened, he took A’Cheng and went home first.

Yin Zheng closed the main gate and returned to the small courtyard behind the pharmacy. Lu Tong had already changed her clothes.

The outfit was a somewhat worn lotus-gray plain jacket in men’s style, which Yin Zheng had bought from a woman selling old clothes at the temple entrance. Lu Tong arranged her long hair in a man’s topknot, roughly secured with a bamboo hairpin. She was naturally delicate and charming, and in this masculine dress, she appeared even more fair and handsome, making her female identity obvious at first glance.

Yin Zheng shook her head and smiled: “We still need to apply some powder to disguise you.”

After hastily applying some rouge and powder, the sky had turned completely dark. Yin Zheng saw that someone had hung a sprig of mugwort on the shop’s main gate, so she said to Lu Tong: “Miss, we can go now.”

Lu Tong nodded, picked up the bamboo-framed umbrella standing in the corner, and left with Yin Zheng.

…

The spring rain was clear and cold, always seeming like the low weeping of someone departing.

But the southern part of the city was very lively.

Under Luoyue Bridge, painted boats with flutes and drums came and went endlessly. Hundreds of horn lanterns were tied to the bridge railings like scattered silver pearls, illuminating the river surface brilliantly.

Turning past the ward entrance, there was Qinghe Street. Because of its location in the ward, the entire street was filled with teahouses, wine shops, gambling halls, and brothels. High officials and noble young masters often spent entire nights drinking here or gathering to drink and watch performances. On clear nights, fireworks covered the sky, with lights everywhere bright as day—a scene of peaceful prosperity and romance.

Tonight was the same.

A carriage stopped in front of Yuxian Tower.

A young man wearing a gold-woven cloud brocade jacket descended from the carriage. His face was as beautiful as pearls and jade. He stood straight and didn’t carry an umbrella, walking directly into the wine tower through the light wind and drizzle.

Yuxian Tower was bustling inside. Wine banners and embroidered ribbons were everywhere, with shadows swaying in fragrant breezes. The rouge fragrance from the girls mixed with wine scents, warming this lonely rainy night until no trace of cold remained. In the flower hall on the first floor, opera performers were singing “Dian Jiang Chun.”

It was truly a tender land of wealth and pleasure.

The handsome young man entered the tower. Seeing his brocade clothes and fine appearance with outstanding bearing, a beautiful woman in red makeup approached gracefully, extending her hand to take the young man’s arm. But she was pulled back by a friend beside her who quietly reminded: “Don’t go.”

The beauty was startled. In her hesitation, the person before her had already passed by without giving her a second glance.

She bit her lip, feeling unwilling, when she suddenly saw the young man walk directly into an upstairs private room. Her expression changed.

Upstairs… was a place only distinguished guests could go.

She quickly took her friend’s arm and hurried away.

In the upstairs private room, warm jade plum blossom incense burned in the burner.

The rich fragrance filled the moon-colored gauze curtains with additional elegance.

The room was decorated very elegantly. Before a low table sat a green jade bamboo bonsai. The chrysanthemum-petal jade tea cups contained fresh cloud mist tea, and newly picked lychees were arranged in a sapphire blue enamel fruit dish, perfectly vibrant.

The young man sat casually by the window, lifting the bamboo curtain.

From here, the entire lamp-lit scene of Qinghe Street could be seen. The night rain fell steadily, breaking into dim yellow cold threads under the lanterns. A sliver of dim yellow light slipped in, making the young man’s features appear even more refined and striking.

He turned his head carelessly, watching, when his gaze suddenly stopped.

In the deep night with light rain, under the eaves where palace lanterns flickered dimly, two people were folding umbrellas in front of a bustling gate across the street. One had hair in a topknot, with features blurred by the lamplight, leaving only a pair of deep eyes that seemed to carry a thin layer of cold like the long night.

Pei Yunying’s eyebrow twitched.

Lu Tong?

This person’s features were quite similar to the Doctor Lu he had encountered under Baoxiang Tower last time.

He watched the figure under the lamp, feeling something strange in his heart.

Pei Yunying had a deep impression of Lu Tong.

Because of his duties, he inevitably encountered dangerous moments with blades and swords, and had seen quite a few women. Only that Lu Tong was particularly different from other women.

She was very beautiful, with eyes like autumn water and hair like clouds, slender as a willow, seemingly weak and fragile, appearing like a delicate flower that could be broken by a single gust of wind. Yet when she acted, she was more ruthless than anyone.

Pei Yunying had seen Lu Dashan’s face. The entire cheek had deep cuts visible to the bone. If he guessed correctly, Lu Tong had aimed for Lu Dashan’s eyes at that time.

She had originally intended to blind Lu Dashan.

Pei Yunying lowered his eyelids.

When ordinary women were held hostage, their first reaction wouldn’t be to use silk flowers to blind the assailant’s eyes.

Ordinary women’s hairpins wouldn’t be as sharp as blade edges either.

Those three silver needles weren’t hairpins at all—they were clearly hidden weapons.

In the rouge shop filled with sweet fragrance, before a large screen where hibiscus bloomed magnificently, the woman’s gaze was calm to the point of being cold, just like from the moment she was held hostage by Lu Dashan to her escape—from beginning to end, she showed not a trace of panic.

Someone beside him called: “Hong Man greets Your Highness the Heir.”

Pei Yunying collected his thoughts and looked toward the newcomer.

It was a young woman with a double-ring immortal-gazing hairstyle. Her crimson pleated gold begonia flower phoenix-tail long dress made her skin appear snow-white. She had an alluring face that was naturally charming just standing there.

Hong Man of Yuxian Tower was beautiful and bewitching, unmatched among flowers. Countless princes and young masters spent fortunes trying to win the beauty’s smile. Now the beauty stood in the room, facing the young man sitting and drinking tea with an unusually respectful expression that seemed to contain a hint of hidden fear.

Hong Man took a letter from her sleeve, walked forward two steps, presented it to Pei Yunying, and said in a low voice: “The Prince has sent his men to Dingzhou to search for someone. In the Military Horse Supervision case, now that the Right Prime Minister is involved, it’s inconvenient to act. The Prince asks Your Highness to observe and wait for the right moment.”

Pei Yunying hummed and reached out to take the letter.

Hong Man stepped aside, respectfully bowing her head and waiting.

Pei Yunying quickly finished reading the letter, placed the paper before the lamp to burn it, then picked up the tea cup on the table and drank it all, setting the empty cup back down.

He said: “I won’t come here for the next few days. If there’s anything, find Duan Xiaoyan at the Palace Commander’s Manor.”

Hong Man quickly acknowledged.

He stood up, about to leave, when he suddenly remembered something and lifted the bamboo curtain to look toward the street opposite.

The rain had grown heavier. The area in front of the gate was empty, with only a solitary lamp under the eaves swaying back and forth, casting dim yellow reflections on the wet ground.

Pei Yunying asked: “What place is that across the street?”

Hong Man followed his gaze and replied softly: “That’s the Kuaihuo Tower gambling house.” Seeing Pei Yunying’s strange expression as he looked out the window, she carefully inquired: “Did Your Highness see someone there?”

The young man released his hand, and the bamboo curtain fell, concealing the wind and rain outside.

He smiled and spoke casually: “Nothing, I mistook someone.”