For several days in a row, Xia Rongrong had been avoiding Lu Tong.

Previously during the day when Lu Tong held consultations at the medical clinic, Xia Rongrong and her servant would follow behind to help. These past few days, however, they hid in the courtyard refusing to come out, and when they did encounter each other, they would take detours to avoid her. This behavior was too obvious. Du Changqing had asked about it several times, both directly and indirectly, but was brushed off by Xia Rongrong, who thought they had quarreled behind the scenes.

Dark clouds rolled overhead as Yin Zheng helped Lu Tong move a white porcelain Buddha statue into the small Buddhist shrine in the room.

The Guanyin statue was one Lu Tong had brought back from an incense and candle shop on West Street. The shop owner claimed it was a blessed spiritual object that had been consecrated by a master from Wan’en Temple. Lu Tong saw that the small Guanyin statue was carved vividly to life, and remembering there was still an empty small Buddhist shrine in her bedroom that could perfectly accommodate this statue, she spent five taels of silver to bring the porcelain Guanyin home.

With the white-robed Guanyin placed in the small Buddhist shrine, it no longer seemed as empty as before.

Yin Zheng looked around from left to right and broke into a smile: “The size is just perfect, but it’s missing a shrine cage. We can look for a suitable one when we have time.”

Lu Tong hummed in acknowledgment, glanced at the courtyard outside, and said: “Let’s go.”

It was afternoon, the air stifling beyond measure, with dark clouds hanging heavily in the sky as if a mountain storm was approaching.

Du Changqing lay on the shop table taking a midday nap. Seeing the two of them heading out, he lazily raised his head: “Don’t forget to bring an umbrella.”

“I know.”

After their figures disappeared outside the medical clinic, Xia Rongrong lifted the felt curtain and came out from inside, following their gaze outward and asking Du Changqing: “It’s about to rain. Where is Doctor Lu going?”

“Scholar Wu’s mother from the fresh fish market died.” Du Changqing wiped his face.

“They’re going to deliver funeral money.”

…

The fierce wind roughly rattled the white paper lanterns hanging under the eaves.

In the courtyard, mourning curtains and funeral banners were layered upon layers, with paper horses and ritual items piled like mountains. In the swaying shadows of the eternal lamps, a heavy black lacquered wooden coffin rested in the mourning hall.

Wu Youcai wore coarse hemp mourning clothes, kneeling beside a wooden basin in front of the coffin, feeding paper money into the fire.

Granny Wu had passed away several days ago. He Xiazi the fortune teller had calculated the auspicious time for burial and left. Wu Youcai had no other relatives in the capital. Neighbors from West Street had helped arrange the funeral and accompanied him in vigil for two days, offering words of condolence before departing in small groups – everyone had their own lives to live.

He kept vigil alone in this place.

His mother’s lifetime clothes and bedding had been folded and placed aside, to be buried together when the time came. Wu Youcai’s gaze fell on those folded garments.

Embroidered on the clothing was a cluster of golden flowers, blooming with six petals like smiling faces.

They were daylily flowers.

As Wu Youcai looked at them, his eyes gradually reddened.

Granny Wu was frugal and rarely bought new clothes. A single hemp garment could be worn for over ten years. Sometimes when the elbows or knees wore through, afraid patches would look unsightly, she would pick up discarded thread from others and embroider flowers to cover them.

“Daylilies grow by the hall steps, while the wandering son travels the ends of the earth; the loving mother leans against the hall door, unable to see the daylily flowers.”

Daylily flowers were mother flowers.

Mother…

The scholar’s tears rolled down.

Of all the sorrows in the world, none compare to death’s parting and life’s separation. Though he had long known his mother’s days were numbered, when that day actually came, Wu Youcai still felt it was sudden.

Just the evening before, she had told him her appetite wasn’t good these days and she wanted to eat mung bean cold noodles with white rice tomorrow to stimulate her appetite. By night when he went to wash his mother’s body, her body was already ice cold.

The neighbors who came to offer funeral money all consoled him, saying his mother passed away peacefully without pain – it was a joyful funeral, telling him not to be sad. But after so many days, Wu Youcai still couldn’t let go.

He still hadn’t achieved success in the imperial examinations, still hadn’t earned an official title for his mother, hadn’t even let his mother enjoy a single day of happiness or receive a word of praise. How could his mother just leave like this?

No longer giving him any chance.

The yellow paper in his hands was wrinkled from his grip. The man choked back sobs, his figure as lonely as a homeless dog, tears falling into the fire basin and turning to ash along with the paper money.

The wind outside grew stronger.

The long wind swept up the white soul-summoning banners hanging in the courtyard. The sky was as dark as evening, with thunder light faintly shuttling through the black clouds.

In this rustling wind, the faint sound of knocking on the wooden gate could be heard. Wu Youcai was startled.

At this hour, who would still come?

The neighbors who had come to help had all returned home long ago. Even Master Hu, who cared most about him, had his own family to tend to. The neighbors on West Street with any connection had already sent funeral money. The Wu family had no other relatives.

As he thought this, he heard the knocking outside stop, followed immediately by a “creak.”

The door was pushed open and someone walked in.

Wu Youcai raised his head.

Dark clouds pressed the sky into murky darkness. The mourning hall was desolate and bleak, with paper money fluttering like snow in the courtyard. Someone’s footsteps slowly approached, unhurried and composed.

The woman was entirely wrapped in a plain white long dress. The fierce wind made her hem billow, yet the frost-colored silk flower in her hair remained pure as mutton jade. In the flickering candlelight of the precarious mourning hall, amid the flying paper money filling the courtyard, her features gradually emerged, like a fleeting ghostly dream, seeming false yet real.

Wu Youcai gazed blankly at the woman before him, thinking: Why is she also wearing mourning clothes?

The woman stopped before him, lowering her eyes to look at him: “Young Master Wu.”

Wu Youcai suddenly came to his senses.

“Doctor Lu?”

The visitor was Lu Tong, the resident physician from Renxin Medical Clinic.

He shuddered and quickly stood up: “Why has Doctor Lu come?”

Since his mother’s death, he had been in a daze. Only now did he realize he hadn’t seen Lu Tong for quite some time.

Wu Youcai was extremely grateful to this Doctor Lu. Previously, this Doctor Lu had made house calls for his mother, rescuing her from death’s door once, and later regularly had Miss Yin Zheng deliver medicinal materials for his mother.

Wu Youcai knew that the small amount of medicine money he gave was far from enough to cover what Lu Tong had sent him. Unable to repay her, he could only keep this gratitude in his heart.

Lu Tong placed the funeral money wrapped in white cloth into Wu Youcai’s hands.

Wu Youcai hesitated: “Doctor Lu, I cannot…”

But Lu Tong had already walked into the mourning hall, crouching down by the burning fire basin and picking up yellow paper from the side to feed into the fire.

Wu Youcai was stunned.

The daylight was gloomy, but the mourning hall was brightly lit. She wore white and plain clothing with snow-like flowers in her hair. In this dim, overcast sky, she looked like a bride ghost crawling out from graves – young and beautiful, yet thin and eerily cold.

Wu Youcai inexplicably felt somewhat chilled.

Lu Tong asked: “The autumn examinations are on the first of next month. Will you be taking them?”

Wu Youcai paused briefly and answered: “Yes.”

He crouched down by the fire basin with her, burning paper money together. The living actually didn’t know whether the dead could receive this money, but they needed some form of remembrance.

Wu Youcai said: “Unfortunately, Mother won’t be able to see…”

In past years, every time he returned home from the examination hall, his mother would wait for him at home. But this year, only he remained. When he returned from the examinations, no light would shine through the window, and when he pushed open the door, he would no longer see his mother’s figure sewing by lamplight.

As he was immersed in grief, he suddenly heard Lu Tong speak: “Actually, this is a good thing.”

Wu Youcai raised his head, not understanding what she meant.

“Even if you take the examinations this year, you won’t pass. Rather than letting her be disappointed once again, isn’t it better to let her depart with hope? For her, isn’t this a good thing?”

The woman’s tone was as pleasant as always, but the words she spoke were entirely different from her usual gentleness – cutting and harsh.

Wu Youcai was stunned for a long while before understanding the sarcasm in her words. He looked at Lu Tong angrily, his face flushing red.

“You!”

“Angry?” Lu Tong smiled slightly, raising her hand to feed another piece of paper money into the fire basin. “Do you know? Your mother’s illness wasn’t terminal. If treated a few years earlier, she wouldn’t have had only these few years to live.”

“Unfortunately, it was delayed.”

Wu Youcai’s face suddenly turned deathly pale.

He naturally knew this.

When his mother first felt unwell, she didn’t tell him. At that time, she was completely focused on the fresh fish stall, thinking only of selling a few more fish each day to save money for his ink, paper, and books, unwilling to let this delay the fish stall’s business.

Later, when she gradually felt worse, she secretly went to see a doctor without telling Wu Youcai. The doctor told Granny Wu that this illness required proper rest and expensive medicinal materials for recovery. Granny Wu couldn’t bear the expense and worried about missing the fish stall’s business, so she gritted her teeth and endured.

It wasn’t until she could no longer hide it that Granny Wu told Wu Youcai about her condition. When he took her to see doctors again, it was already too late. It wasn’t something that could be cured through rest and recuperation alone.

The person before him continued speaking, each word stabbing into his heart: “This illness could have been completely cured if discovered at the beginning with nourishing medicinal materials and rest. But because she wanted you to study peacefully without delaying your examinations and fame, the opportunity was missed.”

“It was you who delayed her.”

“Rumble” – thunder suddenly sounded in the distance.

Wu Youcai covered his face, a painful moan escaping from his throat.

He murmured: “It was me, it was my fault… it was my incompetence, my lack of ability…”

If not for him, if not for his sake, how could his mother have sacrificed so much! He had spent his life pursuing fame and glory, thinking himself unrecognized for his talents, when in reality he was just unwilling to admit his mediocre learning and lack of achievement!

He had killed his mother!

The scholar buried his face in his hands, tears dripping through his fingers. The grief and regret in his sobbing moved even the person beside him.

Lu Tong raised her head, looking toward the distant sky.

Common people were always like this. When encountering problems, they blamed themselves, regretted, always looking for reasons within themselves, wishing they could take responsibility for all the world’s faults.

Had Father and Mother been the same?

When they learned of Lu Rou’s death and Lu Qian’s imprisonment, would they also have tossed and turned in self-blame for failing to protect their children? Would they suffer like Wu Youcai, unable to let go? Would they weep blood from their hearts? Would they cry?

The flames licked at the yellow paper, illuminating the dim mourning hall.

Lu Tong looked down at the weeping man. After a long while, she said: “Wu Youcai, you first took the examinations at eighteen. It’s been twelve years now.”

“Twelve years – have you never wondered why you haven’t passed even once?”

The crying stopped abruptly.

The scholar raised his head, his face streaked with tears. He opened his mouth in bewilderment: “What?”

“If you were truly mediocre in learning, why persist in taking examinations for a full twelve years? Isn’t it because you believe in your essays, certain you can achieve fame and glory?”

She drew a folded paper from her sleeve and placed it before Scholar Wu.

The scholar looked at the paper before him and murmured: “What is this?”

“Since your first examination, the list of successful candidates from the capital’s autumn examinations. Those circled are famous wastrels from the capital.” Lu Tong said: “With just a little inquiry, you’d know these people have shallow learning. Why can they pass when you cannot?”

Wu Youcai looked at her, unconsciously repeating: “Why?”

“Because of luck.” She curved her eyes slightly. “Do you believe that?”

Like a bright light flashing in his mind, Wu Youcai vaguely guessed something but dared not voice it, only staring at the person before him.

“There are many possibilities.” She spoke, her tone still light. “For instance, they bribed Ministry of Rites grading officials to manipulate rankings. Or they bribed chief examiners and had others take the examinations for them. Or perhaps your examination papers were switched with someone else’s, so your ranking naturally became another’s.”

“You have only paper, ink, and learning, but no silver or connections. Young Master Wu, with just these things, how can you compete fairly with others?”

“Rumble—”

Another thunderclap exploded. The shivering cold wind wailed from outside the door, as if trying to blow into his heart.

Wu Youcai shook his head: “Impossible… this is impossible…”

“Why is it impossible?” Lu Tong smiled. “Think carefully – were the essays you wrote over these years truly so terrible?”

Like a dull thunder striking his face, Wu Youcai couldn’t speak at all.

If he hadn’t been confident in himself, why would he have persisted for twelve years? He wasn’t someone stubborn and inflexible. If he truly felt hopeless, he would seek other paths – there were many ways to live in this world, and he wasn’t someone who had to pursue one path to the bitter end.

He was simply unwilling to accept it.

Scholar friends all said his essays were brilliant and unmatched by others, and he believed the same. Who knew that twelve years later, he had changed from a spirited young man to a mediocre middle-aged person. Year after year, plucking the golden lotus remained endlessly distant.

The neighbors’ gazes gradually changed from envy to mockery and teasing, perhaps with sympathy and pity. He couldn’t avoid those expectations, asking himself every night: Did he really have talent? Would there really be a day when he achieved success?

Yet today someone was telling him that his long-held dreams remained unfulfilled because someone had taken away “fairness.”

“If it’s true,” the scholar mumbled with trembling lips, his eyes bright as if burning with fierce fire, “I must report them. Such examination fraud is a grave evil – the Ministry of Rites will investigate thoroughly—”

“Who would believe you?”

“The authorities will investigate!”

“The authorities themselves are involved – would they investigate themselves?” Lu Tong spoke mockingly. “I’m afraid you’d report this to the authorities with your front foot, and with your back foot you wouldn’t even make it out the government office door.”

Her voice was soft, yet it made Wu Youcai’s heart sink completely.

What Lu Tong said was very likely true.

Over the years, he hadn’t been without suspicions, but whenever his doubts reached this point, like a forbidden topic, he didn’t dare think further. As if intuitively sensing that continuing would lead to a bottomless abyss. Yet today someone was tearing away the false facade without reservation, showing him this difficult-to-face, naked reality.

His thoughts in turmoil, Wu Youcai looked at Lu Tong and asked hoarsely: “Why are you telling me this?”

Why tell him these things?

Revealing the truth to him in his confusion, then after telling him the truth, forcing him to acknowledge a reality that absolutely couldn’t be changed, making him recognize his own powerlessness.

“Because,” she said, “I want to help you.”

“Help me?”

Lu Tong smiled slightly.

The coffin was black, the funeral banners white. The boundaries between cold and warm blurred completely. Her features were incredibly beautiful in the lamplight, yet the silk flower by her temple bloomed intensely. Like those evil spirits from supernatural tales wearing beautiful women’s skin, walking out from books on some rainy day to make deals with people.

You knew she meant no good, but you couldn’t refuse.

She said: “Now the entire examination system has been bought off, people in the Ministry of Rites have been corrupted. In twelve years, countless chief examiners have changed, yet every time you fail, every time people who shouldn’t pass do pass. Do you know what this represents?”

“It means every year’s chief examiner has been bought.” Wu Youcai answered woodenly.

“Yes. If examination fraud isn’t addressed, then after you finish mourning, buy burial ground, and bury your mother, you’ll continue as before for the rest of your life – forever stumbling, remaining among the mediocre. This is your fate.”

These words were too terrifying. Wu Youcai couldn’t help but shiver.

He looked at Lu Tong like looking at a bodhisattva goddess suddenly descending in hell, his gaze even carrying a hint of devotion, hoping she could point out a clear path for him in this bottomless abyss.

“Doctor Lu, what should I do?”

Lu Tong asked: “Wu Youcai, do you want fairness?”

“Yes.”

“If Ministry of Rites officials have truly been bought, and your repeated failures over the years were actually due to examination fraud, would you be willing to expose this, regardless of the cost, even your own life?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’ll tell you what to do.”

Wu Youcai looked at her in confusion.

“Reporting before the examinations – without evidence, government officials will likely arrest you or even silence you. Unless it’s after the examinations.”

“After the examinations?”

“Correct. After the examinations, all candidates are in their quarters. If there are substitute test-takers, both people and papers will be caught together. However…”

“However what?”

“However, your words carry little weight, and corrupt officials collude. They might find an excuse to arrest you, release you after the autumn examinations, and the evidence would be gone.”

“Then isn’t there no solution?”

“There is a way – make it a big incident.”

Wu Youcai was stunned: “Make it a big incident?”

“Correct,” Lu Tong’s tone was relaxed. “If someone dies in the examination quarters – if one or two people die – it won’t be a small matter that just the Ministry of Rites can suppress. The Criminal Court, Zhao Prison Bureau, and even the Military Commissioner’s Office will get involved. The more people involved, the harder it is to minimize the matter. When various interests get mixed up, originally simple matters become complex.”

Wu Youcai grasped the key point in her words: “What do you mean by someone dying?”

Lu Tong smiled without answering.

The sky grew darker. Fierce winds howled in the courtyard, with lightning flickering in and out of the clouds. The storm was coming.

Wu Youcai looked at Lu Tong.

The woman’s thin silhouette was shrouded in plain white garments. In her delicate palm, at some point, appeared a paper package wrapped in oil paper.

Even her voice was gentle, containing subtle, unmistakable temptation.

“Those chief examiners are beasts in human clothing, disrupting the government, causing talented people to be suppressed by the talentless. If it were me…”

Wu Youcai murmured: “If it were you, what would you do?”

She smiled slightly, placing the paper package in her palm into Wu Youcai’s hand. Leaning close to his ear, she spoke word by word.

“Of course – kill him.”

“Rumble—”

Thunder rolled past. A flash of lightning illuminated the dark mourning hall and her indifferent eyes.

In the courtyard, heavy rain began to fall.