After the Grain Fills solar term, rainfall increased in the capital.

The river under Luo Yue Bridge swelled with deep water. After the Silkworm Prayer Festival passed, “silkworm women boiled cocoons and prepared carriages to reel silk.” New silk came to market, and business at the neighboring tailor shop and silk shoe shop gradually flourished.

The morning and evening winds were cool. Du Changqing had caught a cold from reducing his clothing too quickly and had rarely come to the medical hall these past few days. Business at the medical hall was slow—after losing “Spring Water Life” sales, very few people came for treatment.

A’Cheng went to the market and bought back bitter vegetables. During the Grain Fills season, it was beneficial to eat bitter vegetables to strengthen qi and lighten the body. Lu Tong cleaned and sorted the bitter vegetables in the medical hall while listening to the casual chatter of the West Street vendors.

In these conversations, they occasionally mentioned the Ke family’s porcelain business in the capital.

It was said that the Ke family porcelain dealers in the capital were having very difficult times lately.

Master Ke had mysteriously drowned at Wan’en Temple. When government officials came to investigate, they found no traces and simply closed the case as accidental drowning while intoxicated. Anyone with eyes could see that Ke Chengxing was deliberately overlooked by the authorities because of his private worship of former dynasty deities.

Since the Ke family had this incident, those who previously did business with them came knocking. Ever since the Grand Tutor’s birthday banquet, the Ke family had used their connection to the Grand Tutor’s manor to secure business with various official households. Now with matters involving the former dynasty, who dared joke with their official caps? They all withdrew their orders from the Ke family.

When Ke Chengxing newly married Mrs. Qin, to win over Qin’s father, Old Madam Ke had handed stewardship authority to Mrs. Qin. Now that Mrs. Qin had angrily returned to her parents’ home, Old Madam Ke discovered that unknowingly, Mrs. Qin had spent large sums supplementing the Qin family, leaving the account books in terrible shape.

Left with no choice, Old Madam Ke could only pawn residences and shops to pay debts, leaving decades of savings nearly exhausted. The household was in chaos—servants scattered and fled, some taking valuables and disappearing. Wan Fu’s family, who had accompanied Ke Chengxing for many years, also departed without farewell one night, secretly leaving the capital.

Lu Tong wasn’t surprised when she heard this news. Wan Fu was a smart man. When Lu Rou had her incident, Ke Chengxing still kept him by his side precisely because he valued his cautiousness. Wan Fu wasn’t greedy, but Ke Chengxing’s death was ultimately connected to him. Now that the authorities were no longer pursuing the matter, if he didn’t take this chance to escape, he might face a bad end if old accounts were dug up later. Better to take his family and disappear while the Ke household was in chaos.

What slightly surprised Lu Tong was the Grand Tutor’s manor.

When Old Madam Ke’s household fell into ruin and she had nowhere to turn, she had secretly gone to the Grand Tutor’s manor once, perhaps hoping they would help. However, she couldn’t even get through the manor’s gates.

Lu Tong had thought the Grand Tutor’s manor would extend aid to the Ke family because Old Madam Ke held compromising information about Lu Rou, but she hadn’t expected the Grand Tutor’s manor to be completely unafraid. Upon reflection, Lu Rou had died at Ke Chengxing’s hands—even if this matter were revealed, the Ke family couldn’t benefit from it. The Grand Tutor’s manor naturally had nothing to fear.

However…

Daring to approach the Grand Tutor’s manor at this critical juncture, regardless of whether Old Madam Ke harbored threatening intentions, the outcome wouldn’t be good.

After finishing with the last bunch of bitter vegetables, Yin Zheng walked in from outside the shop.

A’Cheng was sweeping at the door. Yin Zheng walked to Lu Tong’s side and said quietly: “Miss, I’ve gathered news about the Fan family.”

Lu Tong looked up.

Yin Zheng lowered her voice further: “Detailed Judge Fan of the Court of Judicial Review was promoted in September two years ago.”

Lu Tong was startled: “Promoted?”

September of the thirty-seventh year of Yongchang was three months after Lu Rou’s death. At this time, according to what Wan Fu had originally said, Lu Qian had already come to the capital, met with Old Madam Ke, and somehow became a wanted criminal.

Was Lu Qian’s imprisonment related to Detailed Judge Fan Zhenglian’s promotion?

Yin Zheng continued: “The Criminal Justice Department did indeed have a case in September two years ago. Officials from the Criminal Justice Department mentioned that someone first sought to see Fan Zhenglian to report on official corruption, but later, somehow, the informant was wanted for home invasion and robbery. Master Cao’s people said that at the time there was a city-wide manhunt that caused quite a stir. The suspect hid well, but it was his own relative who righteously eliminated family ties and informed the authorities of his hiding place, which led to his capture. Miss,” Yin Zheng hesitated somewhat, “do you have relatives in the capital?”

Hearing this, Lu Tong was also puzzled and shook her head: “No.”

The Lu family had few relatives. If there truly were family connections in the capital, perhaps Lu Rou wouldn’t have been so isolated and bullied.

“I’ve already asked Master Cao to continue investigating who this relative is, but Master Cao said that matters involving the government are difficult to investigate, and there’s the matter of money…” Yin Zheng sighed. “This time the money for gathering information was still taken from the material funds Shopkeeper Du gave us for new medicine. These past few days he’s been sick and hasn’t seen us, but if he knew we spent most of the money and still haven’t produced anything, who knows how angry he’d get…”

Just then, she suddenly saw Lu Tong stand up, lift the felt curtain, and walk inside.

Yin Zheng was stunned: “Miss, what are you doing?”

Lu Tong replied: “Making new medicine.”

A’Cheng followed behind with his broom, puzzled: “Didn’t you say this morning that you didn’t know what new medicine to make?”

“Now I know.”

…

The Marshal’s Manor was located inside Jinmen Gate at the southwest edge of the Imperial City, backed by a large martial arts training ground. Summer sunlight was intense, and the training ground was blazing hot.

The underground prison, however, was cold and chilly.

Dim torches flickered on the walls, and faint screams could be heard from the depths of the prison.

In a torture chamber further inside, six people were locked on a row of iron frames. Two men in black stood before the frames. With a “swoosh,” two buckets of stinging salt water splashed toward those on the frames, immediately filling the prison with screams.

On a heavy wooden chair directly facing the frames sat a person. The young man wore black archery clothing and held iron tongs, casually poking at the branding irons in the brazier at his feet.

Torture instruments were scattered around haphazardly—knives, needles, and iron implements gleamed with a dark, sinister light. Someone’s voice rang out, carrying suppressed pain and anger: “Pei Yunying, if you’re going to kill or torture, give us a quick death. Why drag it out?”

“How could that work?” Pei Yunying laughed. “Now that you’re in here, how can I let you die quickly?”

He stirred the brazier with his iron tongs. The black jade and turquoise ring on his finger reflected a glimmer of green, like a clear, cold stream. In moments, he lifted out a branding iron.

He walked to the person who had spoken.

These six people had all been stripped naked, their eyes bound with cloth and locked to iron frames. Almost no part of their bodies remained uninjured. After torture, they were doused with chili salt water—without exceptional willpower, most would confess after the first session.

But not everyone in the world feared pain.

He stopped before the speaker, tilted his head to examine him, then suddenly thrust the red-hot branding iron toward the man’s chest.

“Sizzle—”

A strong smell of burning flesh shot up, and the prison cell filled with hoarse howls.

This man’s chest had already been tortured and bore old wounds. Adding new injuries to old ones—how could it not hurt? Pei Yunying’s expression was indifferent, showing neither joy nor anger. His hand didn’t loosen at all, pressing the branding iron tightly against the man’s chest as if trying to drill into his flesh and fuse with his bones.

The acrid smell filled the surroundings. Screams echoed through the dungeon for a long time. The blindfolded men couldn’t see what was happening, making the eerie, sinister atmosphere even more terrifying.

After a long while, amid the screams, the prisoner on the far left finally couldn’t bear it and spoke tremblingly: “…I’ll talk.”

“Shut up!” The man being tortured was startled and, ignoring his own pain, shouted: “You dare…”

The next moment, bright silver light flashed, and the reprimand stopped abruptly.

Pei Yunying sheathed his sword at his waist. If not for the blood on the ground, it would seem as if the act of drawing his sword and killing had not come from his hand.

The man on the frame hung his head, blood gurgling from his throat—he was dead.

In the suffocating silence, Pei Yunying turned his head, threw down the iron tongs, looked at the person who had spoken earlier, and said with a smile: “Now you can speak.”

The prison cell was quiet for a moment.

The prisoner was blindfolded—the unknown was more terrifying than the known. Though he couldn’t see what had happened, the person who had just been scolding him was now silent, which was telling enough. Fear showed on the man’s face as he spoke fearfully: “…It was, it was Master Fan.”

“Oh?” Pei Yunying raised an eyebrow. “Fan Zhenglian?”

“Yes… yes,” the prisoner said nervously. “The day Military Horse Supervisor Lu Dashan had his incident, the Criminal Justice Department’s subordinates received advance orders from the master. Master Fan knew about Lu Dashan’s death.”

Pei Yunying smiled slightly: “As expected.”

He turned around, took the cloth handed to him by someone nearby, and carefully wiped the blood splattered from killing from his hands. Finally, he walked out the door.

The guard behind him followed: “Master.”

Pei Yunying stopped: “Did you hear clearly just now?”

Before the guard Qing Feng could speak, someone else hurried over—a person dressed as a servant. This servant approached Pei Yunying, bowed, and said respectfully: “Young Lord, this humble one comes under master’s orders. Next month is master’s birthday, and master misses you. He requests that you return home for a gathering.”

Qing Feng stood behind Pei Yunying, not daring to speak.

Everyone around knew that Pei Yunying and Duke Zhaoning had always been at odds. Several years ago, after returning to the capital, he simply bought a residence and lived outside. Except for annual ancestral rites for his late mother, he never stayed overnight at the Pei residence.

When it came to the Pei family, their master’s eyes showed no affection, only disgust. This time, the Pei family’s servant would likely return empty-handed again.

Indeed, Pei Yunying heard this and replied without thinking: “I’m busy.”

The servant wiped his sweat and smiled: “Young Lord hasn’t seen master for a long time. Master’s health has been poor lately, and he hopes you…”

“Do I need to say it twice?”

The servant froze.

This Young Lord was capricious in temperament—seemingly gentle but actually ruthless. His nature was not as mild and courteous as the second young master’s. Even the domineering Duke Zhaoning couldn’t control this son, let alone a small servant like himself.

The servant nodded repeatedly and fled in panic.

Pei Yunying stared at his retreating figure, his eyes as deep and dark as the depths of the dungeon, showing neither sorrow nor joy.

Qing Feng asked: “Master, how should we handle those in the prison?”

Having obtained the desired information, the interrogation was over.

“People trained by the Criminal Justice Department—hard mouths but soft bones.”

He said: “Keep the one from just now. The others are useless—kill them.”

“Yes.”

…

“Miss, the two carp that Sister Song from the silk shoe shop next door gave us have turned belly-up. The scales have all been removed…”

“The rest is useless. Kill them,” Lu Tong said.

“This…”

Yin Zheng looked at the two dying fish in the wooden basin with some difficulty.

The vendors on West Street all had good neighborly relationships. Previously, when Du Changqing and A’Cheng managed Renxin Medical Hall, they were too lazy to interact with surrounding vendors. Since Lu Tong and Yin Zheng arrived, the situation had changed somewhat.

Yin Zheng was sweet-tongued and excellent at reading people’s expressions. She often shared inexpensive fruits and snacks with the street neighbors. People naturally reciprocated—she was also pretty and likeable. Gradually, she became familiar with everyone on the street and occasionally received gifts in return.

These two large carp were a return gift from Sister Song.

Sister Song handed the two carp to Yin Zheng, instructing her: “Girl Yin Zheng, take these two carp home to make soup for your young lady to nourish her body. Dr. Lu is too thin—like paper! I’m really afraid a gust of wind will blow her away!”

Yin Zheng brought the carp back, but before she could decide whether to steam or braise them, Lu Tong took a small knife and scraped off all the scales from both fish, saying she needed the scales for medicine.

After being scraped of scales, the fish floated belly-up on the water’s surface, clearly dying.

Yin Zheng stood still without moving. Lu Tong looked up and asked: “What’s wrong?”

“…Miss,” Yin Zheng said with difficulty, “I don’t know how to kill fish.”

In the brothel, she had learned singing, dancing, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, but never cooking. Her culinary skills were barely learned following Lu Tong—she could only cook food until it was edible. As for bloody tasks like killing fish, she avoided them entirely.

Lu Tong glanced at her, stopped grinding medicine, stood up from the stone table, took the knife and wooden basin, and squatted in a corner of the courtyard. She grabbed one carp and slammed it onto the cutting board. The already weak fish stopped moving. Lu Tong cleanly cut open the fish belly with one stroke and pulled out the internal organs.

Yin Zheng watched with amazement.

“Miss, you even know how to kill fish.” Yin Zheng brought over a small stool for her to sit on, then sat beside her with her chin in her hands, watching admiringly. “You look quite skilled at it.”

Lu Tong took a gourd ladle from the water jar and poured water over the fish to wash away the dirty blood. She grabbed the other carp and cut open its belly with one stroke, saying quietly: “I used to kill often when I was in the mountains.”

“Ah?” Yin Zheng was stunned, then suddenly understood. “Was it for medicinal ingredients?”

Lu Tong’s hands never stopped moving. After a long while, she hummed in agreement.

Yin Zheng nodded: “I see.” She looked again at Lu Tong’s blood-covered hands and swallowed. “It just looks bloody and frightening.”

Lu Tong didn’t speak.

Actually, she not only knew how to kill fish but was also skilled at handling other wild animals. However, it wasn’t usually for medicinal ingredients—most of the time, it was just to fill her stomach.

Yunniang was particular about food and loved cooking. She used accumulated winter snow melted into water for brewing tea, made pastries into delicate chess piece shapes, and even made Twenty-Four Solar Terms wontons using twenty-four different seasonal flower fillings.

Unfortunately, Yunniang spent too little time in the mountains.

Yunniang often went down the mountain, staying away for half a month at a time. Sometimes she left enough rice and grain to last a while; sometimes she forgot to leave food, and Lu Tong could only go hungry.

At that time, she had just arrived at Falling Plum Peak and couldn’t even find the path down the mountain. The first time she was dizzy with hunger, she found an injured sparrow on the ground in front of the house.

Young Lu Tong struggled for a long time before finally roasting the sparrow.

When she lived with the Lu family, she was timid and spoiled. The family doted on her and rarely made her work. Usually, seeing bees or snakes would frighten her into panic. However, when starving to the point of confusion, she couldn’t care about fear—hunger drove her actions.

Lu Tong still remembered how she felt eating roasted sparrow for the first time.

She was inexperienced and clumsy then, not even knowing that roasting birds required plucking feathers and removing internal organs. She just put it whole over the fire, roasting it into a black lump. Thinking it was cooked, she bit down and tasted traces of blood.

Lu Tong burst into tears, the fishy taste of blood rising from her throat. She wanted to vomit, but the hunger in her belly reminded her there was no other food. So she could only endure the unbearable fishy smell and swallow the charred sparrow bit by bit.

That was the most painful meal Lu Tong had eaten since birth.

However, from that day forward, she began to realize something. On Falling Plum Peak, to survive, she couldn’t always place her hopes in others. She gradually learned to make hunting traps to catch small rabbits and learned to clean these wild animals thoroughly, making them into dried meat to store for the next time food ran out.

When Yunniang returned and saw her, she was very surprised that she was still alive. Seeing the dried meat she hid in jars, Yunniang looked at her even more strangely.

“Not bad,” she told Lu Tong. “So far, you’re the one who’s lived longest on Falling Plum Peak.” She leaned close to Lu Tong with a strange smile. “Maybe you’ll actually make it down the mountain alive.”

Maybe you’ll actually make it down the mountain alive.

Lu Tong lowered her eyes.

Later, Yunniang died, and no one else remained on Falling Plum Peak. She indeed made it to the end and came down the mountain alive.

It’s just…

The little child who used to cry while swallowing roasted sparrow had probably disappeared forever.

The carp under her hands suddenly flapped its tail, splashing water that landed on her face with a cool touch. Lu Tong came back to herself.

Both carp had been cleaned thoroughly but still had strength to move. Lu Tong wiped the water drops from her face. Yin Zheng stood up, picked up the two cleaned large carp, and carried them to the kitchen, smiling: “That’s perfect. Miss, how do you want to prepare this fish?”

“As you wish.”

“Then I’ll steam them.” Yin Zheng said. Her culinary skills were mediocre, but fortunately Lu Tong wasn’t picky about food.

Yin Zheng had just put the carp to steam when Lu Tong called her into the room. Upon entering, she saw a thick stack of paper sheets arranged on the table by the window.

“This is…” Yin Zheng picked up a sheet of paper and was immediately stunned.

This paper was very beautiful—a light pink color. Getting close, she could smell a faint floral fragrance. If someone wrote on this paper, setting aside everything else, just looking at it would be quite charming.

Ink and brushes were already prepared. Yin Zheng looked at Lu Tong in confusion.

“The new medicine is almost ready,” Lu Tong said. “I need your help.”

“You want me to write?” Yin Zheng understood.

The previous “Spring Water Life” had become popular in the capital in such a short time not only because of Master Hu’s help at the flower viewing party, but also because the poetry Yin Zheng wrapped with the medicinal tea played a significant role. The capital had many scholars and literary figures, and tea lovers appreciated elegance. Seeing the name “Spring Water Life,” they were willing to spend money for the novelty.

It was all about marketing appeal.

However, this paper looked different from what was used for Spring Water Life. It resembled the floral stationery used by women to convey affection or for boudoir poetry.

“Miss, what do you want me to write?” Yin Zheng asked.

Lu Tong thought for a moment: “Do you have any good verses for describing women’s graceful beauty?”

“I do, but…”

“Write those,” Lu Tong said.