Lu Tong hadn’t expected to meet Pei Yunying here.

Yesterday’s glimpse in the rain had shown Pei Yunying following a monk in a different direction, suggesting he had other business in the temple. She hadn’t expected to encounter him here early this morning.

Before she could respond, a tall man in green clothing beside Pei Yunying asked him: “Who is this…”

He laughed lightly: “An acquaintance.”

Lu Tong felt that one meeting hardly qualified as being acquainted with Young Master Pei. However, now that she was here, ignoring him would only draw more attention. So she nodded gracefully: “Lord Pei.”

Pei Yunying walked up to her with a smile.

Most of the pilgrims at Wan’en Temple were women, and due to the ceremony’s solemnity, they dressed simply. Though his clothes weren’t particularly bright, his gold crown and black robes, against the backdrop of fresh green willows and fragrant spring grass, gave him an elegant charm that others lacked.

A beautiful youth would draw attention wherever he stood. Soon, people began to notice him even amid the panic over the recent death, frequently glancing this way.

Pei Yunying looked at Lu Tong, glanced at the long corridor of Wuhuai Garden behind her, and asked: “What brings Doctor Lu here?”

Lu Tong replied: “I came to burn incense.”

He smiled and said: “They say doctors and the King of Hell are mortal enemies – why would Doctor Lu believe in gods and Buddhas?”

Lu Tong’s tone remained unchanged: “Even doctors must pray for marriage.”

Hearing this, Pei Yunying seemed somewhat surprised, then quickly looked toward the garden entrance where more constables in black were heading toward the dharma hall.

Lu Tong followed his gaze and heard him say: “Someone died in the Release Life Hall.”

Pei Yunying turned back to look at her, his tone unclear whether serious or joking: “Why doesn’t Doctor Lu go take a look?”

Last night’s rain hadn’t dried; behind him, droplets rolled off several banana leaves like scattered crystal beads.

Yin Zheng’s palms grew sweaty with nervousness.

Lu Tong spoke calmly: “Doctors look at the living, coroners look at the dead. I’m not a coroner.”

He nodded: “True.” Then looked at Lu Tong and sighed: “Doctor Lu, why do I feel you’re always so guarded with me? After all, I saved you once, and I’ve never offended you before, have I?”

Though he was sighing, his face held a smile. The light had been dim in the rouge shop last time, but now in the mild sunlight, she could see that when he smiled, a small dimple appeared beside his lips, giving him the bright friendliness characteristic of youth.

If one could ignore the probing look in his eyes.

Lu Tong’s expression remained unchanged as she said flatly: “Lord Pei thinks too much.”

He looked at Lu Tong and was about to speak again when suddenly someone ran over and stopped beside him: “My Lord!”

It was a youth in a wisteria-colored silk robe with a round face and round eyes. Seeing Lu Tong, the youth also started, then exclaimed delightedly: “Isn’t this the lady we met under Baoxiang Tower!”

Lu Tong recognized him too. Last time, Pei Yunying had this youth take Lu Dashan back. She vaguely remembered his name seemed to be Duan Xiaoyan.

Duan Xiaoyan seemed to have much to discuss with Lu Tong, but one cool glance from Pei Yunying made him stand properly and report his recent findings word by word.

“Someone died in the Release Life Hall, drowned in the water vat for the release turtles. The coroner looked and said he was drunk and unclear-minded, fell into the vat, and couldn’t climb out, that’s how he died.”

Beside them, Xiao Zhufeng frowned and asked: “If he was drunk, why would he go to the abandoned side hall?”

Duan Xiaoyan stepped forward and lowered his voice: “That’s just it. They found prayer papers and incense ash in the shrine. He came to worship, but of all things, why a former dynasty’s deity? This is trouble – though the person’s dead, his family will likely face consequences.”

Though there was no explicit ban on worshipping former dynasty deities, everyone knew well whether doing so was a crime or not.

Pei Yunying snorted: “Drinking and then worshipping – he had quite the nerve.”

“I found it strange too,” Duan Xiaoyan continued. “But when they questioned the dead man’s servant, apparently the deceased had been possessed recently, always talking about seeing ghosts. A few days ago they even invited a Taoist priest to their house to exorcise spirits. I heard he came to the ceremony to have the Bodhisattva help pacify vengeful spirits.”

As he spoke, he felt his skin crawl: “But who would have thought the vengeful spirit haunting him was so powerful – not only wasn’t it destroyed, it confused his mind and made him drown himself in the pool.”

Pei Yunying sneered: “You believe such ghost stories?”

“Of course, I didn’t believe it at first!” Duan Xiaoyan protested. “But the coroner didn’t find anything else wrong – he did drown himself.”

Pei Yunying pondered for a moment and asked: “What was that servant doing last night?”

“He said his master went to bed early. After serving the deceased to bed and seeing him fall asleep, he went next door to play cards with some other servants all night. When the coroner determined the time of death, he had been playing cards for quite a while. People can testify it wasn’t him who killed his master.”

Pei Yunying said nothing.

Duan Xiaoyan cautiously asked: “My Lord, do you think there’s more to this?”

Xiao Zhufeng spoke coldly: “Whether there’s more or not, this person secretly worshipped former dynasty deities – the matter ends here.”

His death was less important than his potential crime. No one would seek the truth for a potential criminal; even the deceased’s family would likely suffer consequences.

Pei Yunying said flatly: “This case isn’t under the Palace Guard’s jurisdiction. Duan Xiaoyan, stay out of it.”

Duan Xiaoyan sheepishly agreed.

They had this conversation without avoiding Lu Tong, perhaps because the content held no secrets. Wan’en Temple had many pilgrims today; this surface-level news would spread to everyone sooner or later.

Lu Tong didn’t plan to stay long. With today’s death, the Blue Lotus Ceremony might not proceed as scheduled, and the constables hadn’t sealed the temple gates yet.

They should head down the mountain early…

Just as Lu Tong thought this, sudden cries of alarm came from the crowd ahead, accompanied by panicked shouts: “Someone’s dead!”

She looked up to see the crowd quickly dispersing as if fleeing a plague. As the scattered crowd cleared the blocked view, she saw a somewhat plump young gentleman half-sprawled on the ground in a small pavilion not far from Wuhuai Garden, gasping for breath heavily.

Lu Tong’s brows furrowed slightly. After only a moment’s hesitation, she stepped forward quickly.

Behind her, Yin Zheng startled: “Miss?”

“It’s fine,” Lu Tong said. “Bring my medical box.”

She walked to the pavilion in a few steps to find the young man red-faced like a dying fish, desperately clutching his throat, gasping uncontrollably, almost about to faint.

Yin Zheng had already hurried back with the medical box. Lu Tong opened it and took out gold needles from the long cloth, then began acupuncture on various points including baihui, fengchi, dazhui, and dingchuan to treat his breathing.

Yin Zheng said: “Miss, he is…”

“Phlegm accumulated in the lungs, triggered by an inducing factor, causing phlegm to obstruct the airways, bronchial spasms, loss of lung qi descent, and reversed lung qi leading to wheezing and shortness of breath,” Lu Tong held down the man’s hands to prevent him from disturbing the gold needles, only saying to Yin Zheng: “It’s nothing serious, acupuncture will help.”

Just as she finished speaking, a woman’s anxious cry came from behind: “Lin’er—”

Before Lu Tong could speak, a bejeweled, plump woman in fine clothes hurried over, quickly pushed aside Yin Zheng and Lu Tong, and threw herself beside the young man, first calling “my darling” and “young master” in distress, then glaring at Lu Tong: “Who are you? How dare you treat my son so rudely!”

Lu Tong saw her hand accidentally touch the gold needles and frowned, stepping forward to say: “His asthma attack…”

Before she could finish, a tall guard suddenly appeared beside the woman and roughly pushed Lu Tong backward: “What are you trying to do?”

The guard was tall and strong, his movement extremely rough. When he pushed Lu Tong, she stumbled back several steps, nearly falling.

But at that moment, someone caught her arm from behind, her back pressing against his chest as if being embraced. Lu Tong smelled a faint orchid and musk fragrance from his clothes, pure and cold.

Immediately after, the hand supporting her arm let go. Pei Yunying stood behind her at a perfectly appropriate distance, his expression neutral, as if the moment of intimacy had been just an illusion.

Before Lu Tong could thank Pei Yunying, the young master’s mother – the finely dressed woman – pointed at her again, shouting angrily: “You wretch, what did you do to my son?”