Lu Tong was unaware of these events happening at the Fan residence.

Early in the morning, shortly after Renxin Medical Shop opened its doors, a customer arrived. He was a middle-aged man wearing a square headscarf and a worn, faded cotton robe. His black cloth shoes were covered in mud – his appearance suggested he was an impoverished scholar.

The scholar looked panicked, his face pale. Perhaps from running all the way here, he was breathing heavily.

Yin Zheng was sweeping at the entrance. Seeing his state, she put down her broom and asked, “Young Master, are you here to buy medicine?”

Lu Tong glanced at this person, noting his features seemed somewhat familiar. Before she could speak, the scholar had already taken several steps inside, and reaching across the counter, grabbed Lu Tong’s sleeve, pleading desperately: “Doctor, my mother suddenly fell ill. Since yesterday she hasn’t been able to eat, and now she can’t even speak. Please, have mercy and save my mother’s life!”

As he spoke, tears fell from his eyes.

At this hour, Du Changqing had not yet arrived. Besides Lu Tong, only Acheng and Yin Zheng were in the shop. Yin Zheng hesitated, after all, the man was a stranger, and Lu Tong was a young woman – going out alone for a house call could be dangerous.

However, Acheng, who had gotten a clear look at the scholar’s face, exclaimed after a moment of surprise: “Isn’t this Brother Wu?”

Lu Tong turned to ask: “Acheng, you know him?”

The young assistant scratched his head: “It’s Brother Wu who lives at the fish market by the temple on West Street. Master Hu mentions him often.” Being kindhearted, the boy couldn’t help but feel sympathetic seeing the scholar’s miserable state, and helped plead with Lu Tong: “Doctor Lu, please just go take a look. I’ll explain to the owner when he arrives.”

The scholar stood at the doorway, wanting to come in but not daring to, red-eyed as he begged her: “Doctor…”

Lu Tong said nothing, went to the small courtyard to fetch and shoulder her medical box, told Yin Zheng to come along, and said to him: “Let’s go.”

The scholar froze for a moment, then immediately bowed repeatedly in gratitude and led the way. Yin Zheng followed behind, softly reminding: “Miss, wouldn’t it be better to have Manager Du accompany us?”

Lu Tong had been at Renxin Medical Shop for quite some time, but except for treating Young Master Dong, she had only practiced medicine within the shop. Du Changqing never let her make house calls alone, saying that as two young women who hadn’t been in the capital long, they weren’t familiar with the area and might be taken advantage of.

Yin Zheng’s concerns were not unreasonable, but Lu Tong just shook her head: “It’s fine.”

She watched Scholar Wu’s hurrying figure ahead, remembering when she had seen this person once before.

A few months ago, when Spring Water Life had just been made, this scholar had come to Renxin Medical Shop once. He had gathered a few taels of silver from a worn pouch to buy a dose of Spring Water Life.

That medicine tea must have been quite expensive for him – he had hesitated at the shop entrance for a long while, but in the end, still gritted his teeth and bought it, which was why Lu Tong remembered him clearly.

The scholar explained as he led the way: “Doctor, my name is Wu Youcai, I live at the fish market by the temple on West Street. Last night my mother said she wasn’t feeling well, her phlegm was acting up. I messaged her and tried to give her water, but by this morning, she couldn’t eat or drink anything. I know asking you to make a house call breaks protocol, but your medical shop is the only one still open on West Street, I had no other choice.”

Though he looked haggard and exhausted, his manner of speech remained orderly, and he remembered to apologize to Lu Tong – he appeared to be a well-mannered person.

Lu Tong replied gently: “It’s alright.”

She knew Wu Youcai wasn’t lying.

Since Spring Water Life had been taken over by the Official Medicine Bureau last time, for whatever reason, Xinglin Hall hadn’t reopened during this period. If Wu Youcai wanted to find a doctor on West Street, she was his only option.

When one is desperate for medical help, what choice does one have?

Wu Youcai was anxious and rushed, walking unsteadily and stumbling several times. When they reached the end of West Street and went past the temple, he led them into a fish market.

The market had dozens of fish stalls reeking of fish and blood. After passing the last stall, a thatched cottage appeared before Lu Tong’s eyes.

Though the dwelling was very dilapidated, it had been kept very clean. In the yard enclosed by bamboo fencing, three or four speckled chickens were pecking at grass seeds on either side. Seeing visitors arrive, they flapped their wings and fled to one side.

Wu Youcai paid no attention to Lu Tong and Yin Zheng behind him, rushing into the house and calling: “Mother!”

Lu Tong and Yin Zheng followed him inside.

The simple room was cluttered with various items on all sides. By the doorway sat a stove with a medicinal pot, the dark brown decoction inside had already gone cold.

On the bed by the window, half of a thin cotton quilt had fallen to the ground, which Wu Youcai picked up to tuck around the person on the bed. Lu Tong approached and saw an old woman lying in the middle of the bed, eyes tightly shut, skeletal and ashen, as lifeless as dead wood.

Wu Youcai choked: “Doctor Lu, this is my mother, please save her!”

Lu Tong reached out to check the woman’s pulse, and her heart sank.

This woman’s life force was already depleted.

“Doctor Lu, my mother…”

Lu Tong put down her medical box: “Don’t speak. Open the window, bring the oil lamp closer, and step back.”

Wu Youcai dared not speak, placed the oil lamp by the bed, and stood far back in a corner.

Lu Tong called Yin Zheng over, supported the woman to first pry open her teeth, and poured in some hot water. After drinking about half a bowl, the woman coughed twice and seemed to stir. Wu Youcai’s expression brightened.

Lu Tong opened her medical box, took out golden needles from the velvet cloth, sat by the bed, and carefully began acupuncture treatment for the old woman.

Time passed relentlessly, but Lu Tong’s movements seemed exceedingly slow in Wu Youcai’s eyes.

The scholar stood far back, hands clenched tight, bloodshot eyes fixed on Lu Tong’s movements, sweat continuously rolling down his forehead.

After an unknown period, until the sun had moved from the front to the back of the house and cicada songs deepened in the bushes, Lu Tong finally withdrew her hand and removed the last golden needle.

The old woman on the bed showed some improvement in color, her eyelids flickered slightly as if about to wake.

“Mother—”

Wu Youcai’s face showed both joy and sorrow as he rushed to the bedside, calling for his mother while wiping away tears.

His heart had gone through countless turns – he had thought his mother would surely meet with misfortune today, never expecting this reversal from death’s door. In this world, perhaps nothing brings more joy than regaining what was thought lost, having a false alarm turn out well.

Behind them came the woman’s groans and Wu Youcai’s soft crying. Lu Tong stood up, leaving this tearful scene to the mother and son.

Yin Zheng’s heart had been tightly wound, and now finally relaxed. She let out a breath of relief while helping Lu Tong pack up the medical box on the table, smiling as she said: “Today was truly nerve-wracking, but fortunately Miss’s medical skills are superb and saved her life. Otherwise, such a scene would have been heartbreaking to witness.”

The sight of this mother and son depending on each other to survive and struggle through life naturally aroused sympathy.

Lu Tong was also moved. As she finished packing the medical box and was about to turn around, her gaze passed over a spot and suddenly froze.

Books were piled in the corner.

This dwelling was extremely humble, almost completely bare within its four walls. Besides a bed and a cracked table, two stools with broken legs, there were only piles of pots, bowls, and miscellaneous items. Those items were also worn out, either rusted or chipped – if Du Changqing saw them, he would surely throw them out as trash.

Yet in this empty, broken-down house, all the corners were filled with books. Stacked one on top of another like steep, wondrous mountains, they were astonishing to behold.

A scholar…

Lu Tong stared at those mountains of books in the corner, her expression somewhat strange.

This was a scholar’s house.

She was lost in thought, not even noticing when Wu Youcai approached until the scholar’s voice brought her back: “Doctor Lu?”

Lu Tong looked up. Wu Youcai stood before her, his gaze somewhat nervous.

Lu Tong turned to look – the old woman had fully awakened, but appeared dazed and still very weak. Yin Zheng was helping her moisten her mouth with water.

She turned back and said to Wu Youcai: “Let’s talk outside.”

The room was very small. Once outside, it was much brighter. The speckled chickens, still unaware their owners had just gone through a brush with death, were leisurely sunbathing in the hay.

Wu Youcai looked at Lu Tong, half grateful and half hesitant: “Doctor Lu…”

“You want to ask about your mother’s condition?”

“Yes.”

She didn’t deceive Wu Youcai – such hopeless comfort would only deepen his pain in the end.

Lies ultimately cannot change reality.

Wu Youcai’s joy lasted less than a moment before his eyes reddened again, tears falling immediately: “Doctor Lu can’t do anything either?”

Lu Tong shook her head.

She was just a doctor, not an immortal. Besides, saving lives was not something she excelled at.

“She has at most three months left,” Lu Tong said. “Take good care of her while you can.”

Wu Youcai stood there, taking a long time to wipe away his tears before responding.

Lu Tong returned inside and wrote several prescriptions for Wu Youcai to get medicine for the woman. Though these medicines couldn’t cure the illness, they could make the woman more comfortable in these final months.

When leaving, Lu Tong had Yin Zheng secretly leave Wu Youcai’s consultation fee on the table.

The fish-scented stalls gradually grew more distant behind them. Yin Zheng and Lu Tong walked in silence without speaking. When they returned to the medical shop, Du Changqing was lounging in a chair eating black dates. Seeing the two return, he immediately sprang up.

When Du Changqing had arrived at the shop today and found Lu Tong and Yin Zheng absent, he’d thought they had quit and fled in the night with their belongings. Only after Acheng explained everything did he refrain from reporting to the authorities.

He asked Lu Tong: “Acheng said you went to treat Scholar Wu’s mother. How did it go, is everything alright?”

Yin Zheng answered: “The situation was quite critical at the time. Miss has saved her for now, but…”

But for someone whose illness had penetrated so deeply, they were just counting the days until death.

After hearing Yin Zheng’s explanation, Du Changqing also sighed, his gaze seeming sorrowful.

Seeing him like this, Lu Tong asked: “You know Wu Youcai?”

“Everyone on West Street knows him,” Du Changqing waved his hand. “Scholar Wu from the fish market, famous in West Street for being a filial son.”

Lu Tong thought for a moment, then said: “I saw many books in his house. Is he planning to take the imperial examinations?”

“What planning? He takes every examination,” Du Changqing spoke of Wu Youcai with what might have been regret or something else. “Unfortunately his luck isn’t good. Initially, everyone believed with his talent, he might even become the top scholar, who knew after all these years he still hasn’t passed.”

Du Changqing couldn’t help but curse the heavens: “This broken world, why can’t it open its eyes?” As he finished speaking, he turned his head to see Lu Tong had already lifted the felt curtain and entered the inner courtyard. He immediately pointed at the curtain in exasperation: “How can you not let people finish speaking again!”

Yin Zheng made a shushing sound: “Miss is tired from making a house call today, let her rest.”

Only then did Du Changqing give up.

In the inner courtyard, Lu Tong entered her room, put away the medical box, and sat down at the table by the window.

Paper and brushes were arranged on the window side table. Being daytime, no lamps were lit. The bronze lamp cast in the shape of a lotus leaf looked like a newly blooming lotus flower, elegantly swaying.

In Scholar Wu’s thatched cottage at the fish market, there had also been a bronze lotus lamp.

Lu Tong’s heart stirred slightly.

Scholars often had such a lotus lamp on their study tables, classical and elegant, symbolizing future glory. Many years ago, Lu Qian’s study table also had such a lamp.

Back then in Changwu County, Lu Qian would often study by lamplight on spring nights. Their mother, worried he would go hungry, would bring him honey cakes at night. Lu Tong would sneak in when their parents weren’t looking, climb straight onto her brother’s desk, and righteously claim the plate of honey cakes as her own. Until Lu Qian got angry and whispered fiercely: “Hey!”

She sat on Lu Qian’s desk, her legs dangling and swaying in the air, righteously accusing: “Who told you to secretly have midnight snacks without us?”

“Who’s having midnight snacks?”

“Then what are you doing?”

“Studying.”

“What kind of books need to be read at night?” Lu Tong stuffed honey cakes in her mouth while picking up the lotus lamp from the desk to examine it. “What a waste of lamp oil.”

The young man laughed in exasperation, snatching the bronze lamp back: “What do you know? This is called ‘green lamp and yellow scrolls accompany the long night,’ ‘rushing by lamplight toward fame and glory!'”

Rushing by lamplight toward fame and glory…

Lu Tong lowered her eyelids.

The Wu Youcai she met today was a scholar, having taken the examinations multiple times.

If Lu Qian were still alive, he would also be at the age to take the examinations and seek glory.

Father had always been strict. The books piled up in their home over the years would probably have left no room to step, just like Wu Youcai’s home. The lamplight on the desk of the Lu family in Changwu County would have burned longer than on those spring nights of the past.

But Lu Qian was dead.

Dead in the Zhao Prison of the Capital’s Criminal Court.

Lu Tong couldn’t help but clench her hands.

Yin Zheng had helped her inquire – like other places, the Criminal Court’s death row inmates, if they had family and money was paid, could have their remains claimed by family members. Those without family were buried carelessly at the foot of Wangchun Mountain’s back mountain.

Lu Tong had later visited that burial ground at the foot of Wangchun Mountain. There, endless wild grass grew among bones left by wild animals, with a faint smell of blood. Several wild dogs stood far back behind the burial ground, tilting their heads to watch her.

Standing in that wasteland, she felt her whole body’s blood suddenly turn cold, unable to accept that the bright and graceful young man in her memories had finally come to rest in such a muddy place, buried together with countless dead prisoners and dismembered remains.

She couldn’t even distinguish which of the countless graves contained Lu Qian’s remains.

He had died, so lonely.

The cicada songs in the courtyard became desolate in her ears. The fierce afternoon summer sunlight rushed up to people’s faces, cold without a hint of warmth, like a suffocating nightmare.

Until a voice came from nearby, brutally tearing open a hole in this stagnant dream—

“Doctor Lu, Doctor Lu?” Acheng stood before the felt curtain between the courtyard and shop front, calling loudly.

Lu Tong turned back dazedly, confusion not yet cleared from her eyes.

Yin Zheng, who was washing her hands in the courtyard, walked over and lifted the felt curtain, calling Acheng in to speak: “What is it?”

“Someone in the shop wants to buy medicinal tea. The tea displayed on the counter outside is sold out. Manager Du asked you to bring more from the storehouse.”

The “storehouse” was the kitchen in the courtyard. Lu Tong sometimes made extra medicinal tea in advance and stored it in boxes to avoid running out of stock.

Yin Zheng acknowledged this while asking as usual: “Which household should we record?”

Recently, Lu Tong started keeping a register, recording the names of all customers who bought medicinal tea. Du Changqing had said this was too troublesome, but Lu Tong insisted on doing it this way.

Hearing the question, the young assistant’s face lit up with joy: “This time it’s someone important – they say it’s from Official Fan Zhengxian’s household of the Criminal Review Court. They’re waiting outside the shop right now!”

Yin Zheng’s steps toward the kitchen halted.

Lu Tong also suddenly looked up.

The Guanxia Banquet wasn’t starting for some time yet. Even if Madam Dong was willing to help drop hints at the banquet, it would take quite a while for Fan Zhengxian’s wife Zhao to take the bait.

She had prepared herself to wait patiently, not expecting that perhaps heaven, seeing the misery of her Lu family, would let this good news arrive early.

Acheng hadn’t noticed anything unusual about the two women, still excited in his heart. Fan Zhengxian of the Criminal Review Court – that was the “Upright Fan” everyone in the capital praised! Who could have imagined that even people from Upright Fan’s household would come to their remote medical shop seeking medicine? If word got out, all the merchants on West Street would be envious!

The young assistant finished speaking but received no response from Lu Tong for a while. Only then did he belatedly sense something was wrong. “Miss Lu?”

“No need to bring any.”

Acheng froze, instinctively looking toward Lu Tong.

The woman stood at the table, gazing at the bronze night lamp in the corner, lost in thought about something, a flash of grief seeming to pass through her eyes.

After a long while, she finally spoke.

“Tell the Fan household the medicinal tea is sold out. We have no stock.”