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

Yesterday in the rain, she had caught a glimpse of Pei Yunying leaving with a monk beside him in a direction not toward this area, presumably having other business in the temple. She hadn’t expected to meet him here early this morning.

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

He chuckled lightly: “An acquaintance.”

Lu Tong considered herself to have only met this Heir Pei once, hardly enough to be called familiar. But since he was here now, ignoring him would only draw more attention. So she nodded toward him openly: “Master Pei.”

Pei Yunying smiled and walked up to her.

Most of the pilgrims who came to Wan’en Temple to burn incense were women and family members, and because of the dharma assembly’s solemn nature, they mostly dressed simply. This person’s clothing colors weren’t bright either, yet the golden crown and black robes worn on him, with layers of fresh green willows and fragrant spring grass behind him, always added a few touches of elegant charm that ordinary people lacked.

Beautiful young men always drew attention wherever they stood. Before long, people began to recover from the panic over the recent murder case and frequently glanced in this direction.

Pei Yunying looked at Lu Tong, glanced toward the long corridor of Wuhuai Garden behind her, and asked: “How does Doctor Lu come to be here?”

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

He smiled and said: “Isn’t it said that doctors and the King of Hell are mortal enemies? How does Doctor Lu still believe in gods and Buddhas?”

Lu Tong’s tone remained unchanged: “Doctors also need to pray for marriage prospects.”

Upon hearing this, Pei Yunying seemed somewhat surprised, then quickly looked toward the garden entrance where more black-robed officials were walking toward the dharma hall.

Lu Tong followed his gaze and heard him say: “Someone died in the Hall of Releasing Captive Animals.”

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 rainwater hadn’t dried yet. Behind him, remnants of rain rolled off several banana leaves like scattered crystal pearls on the ground.

Yin Zheng was so nervous that fine sweat seeped from her palms.

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

He nodded: “True.” Looking at Lu Tong again, he sighed: “Doctor Lu, why do I feel you’re always very guarded against me? Speaking of which, I even saved you once, and I’ve never offended you before.”

Though this person was sighing, his face bore a smile. Last time in the rouge shop the lighting was dim, but now under the gentle warm sun it was clear that when he smiled, there was a small dimple beside his lips, adding much of the bright warmth that only young people possess.

If one could ignore the probing intent in his eyes.

Lu Tong’s expression didn’t change, saying flatly: “Master Pei overthinks.”

He glanced at Lu Tong and was about to speak again when suddenly someone ran over, stopping beside him: “My lord!”

It was a young man in a purple wisteria-colored silk robe with a round face and round eyes. Seeing Lu Tong, this youth was also stunned, then said with pleasant surprise: “Isn’t this the young lady we met downstairs at Baoxiang Tower last time!”

Lu Tong also recognized him. Last time, Pei Yunying had this youth take Lu Dashan back, and she vaguely remembered this youth’s name seemed to be Duan Xiaoyan.

Duan Xiaoyan seemed to have much to chat about with Lu Tong, but unfortunately Pei Yunying only glanced at him lightly, so he could only stand properly and report the news he had just received word by word.

“Someone died in the Hall of Releasing Captive Animals, drowned in the water vat containing the captive turtles. The coroner came to examine and said he was mentally unclear from drinking, accidentally fell into the water vat and couldn’t climb out, so he died.”

萧逐风 beside them frowned upon hearing this: “If he was drunk, how would he end up in an abandoned side hall?”

Duan Xiaoyan stepped forward and lowered his voice: “Exactly! They also found paper horse offerings in that hall, and there was incense ash in the shrine. This person came to worship gods—of all gods he could worship, he chose to worship former dynasty statues. This is big trouble now. Though the person is dead, I’m afraid his family will still be implicated.”

There was no explicit prohibition against worshipping former dynasty divine statues, but whether worshipping former dynasty statues was a crime, everyone in the world knew in their hearts.

Pei Yunying scoffed: “Drinking and worshipping—this person had quite a broad mind.”

“I find it strange too.” Duan Xiaoyan continued: “But later when they questioned the deceased’s servant, it seems the deceased had been acting strangely recently, constantly saying he saw ghosts. A few days ago he even hired a Taoist priest to come to his mansion to exorcise evil spirits. I heard this time he came to the dharma assembly specifically to ask the Bodhisattva to help transcend the vengeful ghost.”

As he spoke, he himself felt chills: “Who would have thought the vengeful ghost haunting him was so powerful—not only wasn’t it eliminated, but it confused his mind and made him drown himself in the water tank.”

Pei Yunying sneered: “You believe such ghost stories too.”

“Of course I didn’t believe it at first!” Duan Xiaoyan protested: “But the coroner couldn’t find any other problems either—he really drowned himself.”

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

“He said his master went to bed early last night. He served the deceased to bed, and after the deceased fell asleep, he went next door to play leaf cards with several other servants all night. When the coroner determined the time of death, he had already been playing cards for a long time. There were witnesses—it wasn’t him who killed his master.”

Pei Yunying said nothing.

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

Xiao Zhufeng spoke coldly: “Regardless of whether there’s more to it, this person secretly worshipped former dynasty gods and Buddhas—this matter ends here.”

His death was less important than his private crimes. No one would seek the truth for a potential criminal, and even the deceased’s family would probably be implicated by him.

Pei Yunying said flatly: “This case doesn’t fall under the Palace Command’s jurisdiction. Duan Xiaoyan, don’t get involved.”

Duan Xiaoyan agreed awkwardly.

They didn’t avoid Lu Tong during this conversation, perhaps because the content wasn’t particularly confidential. With so many pilgrims at Wan’en Temple today, this surface information would become common knowledge sooner or later.

Lu Tong didn’t plan to stay here long. With someone dead in the temple today, the Blue Lotus Dharma Assembly might not proceed as scheduled. Right now those officials hadn’t sealed the temple gates yet.

She should leave the mountain as early as possible…

Just as Lu Tong thought of this, she suddenly heard a series of alarmed cries from the crowd ahead, accompanied by panicked shouts: “Someone’s dying!”

She looked up to see the crowd ahead rapidly dispersing, avoiding like the plague, and as the scattered crowd gradually cleared the blocked view, she saw in a small pavilion not far from Wuhuai Garden, a slightly plump young master was half-sprawled on the ground, gasping heavily.

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

Behind her, Yin Zheng was startled: “Miss?”

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

She walked to the pavilion in a few steps and saw the young man’s face was flushed red. Like a dying fish, he was desperately clawing at his throat, gasping in such distress he seemed about to faint.

Yin Zheng had already fetched the medical box from the room and hurried over. Lu Tong opened the medical box, took out golden needles from the long cloth, and aimed at the young master’s Baihui, Fengchi, Dazhui, Dingchuan and other acupoints for needle insertion.

Yin Zheng said: “Miss, he is…”

“Chronic phlegm lodged in the lungs, triggered by inducing factors, causing phlegm to block the airways, airway spasms, lung failure to descend and clear, resulting in phlegm-induced wheezing from reversed lung qi.” Lu Tong held down the person’s hands on the ground to prevent him from continuing to scratch and disturb the golden needles, only saying to Yin Zheng: “It’s nothing serious, needle insertion will suffice.”

Just as she finished saying this, a woman’s anxious long call suddenly came from behind: “Lin’er—”

Before Lu Tong could speak, she saw a richly dressed woman covered in gold ornaments with a plump figure hurrying over. In two or three moves she pushed aside Yin Zheng and Lu Tong, throwing herself beside the young master, first calling out “my darling” and “Brother Lin” in succession, then glaring angrily at Lu Tong: “Who are you? How dare you treat my son so rudely!”

Lu Tong saw her hand accidentally touch the golden needles and couldn’t help frowning, stepping forward: “He’s having an asthma attack…”

Before she could finish, a tall guard appeared from nowhere beside this woman and pushed Lu Tong heavily backward: “What do you think you’re doing?”

This guard was tall and large, and his actions were extremely rough. With this push, Lu Tong staggered backward several steps and nearly fell to the ground.

But at this moment, someone behind her supported her arm, her back pressed against his chest, as if being embraced. Lu Tong smelled the light orchid and musk fragrance from his collar, subtle and cool.

Immediately after, the hand supporting her arm released upon contact. Pei Yunying stood behind her at just the right distance—neither too far nor too close—his expression very calm, as if the previous intimacy was just an illusion.

Before Lu Tong could thank Pei Yunying, the richly dressed woman—the young master’s mother—pointed at her again with fierce anger, scolding harshly: “Scoundrel, what did you do to my son?”