The rain continued falling, and an eerie deadly silence surrounded them.

Liu Kun felt the cold wind drilling through his bones, and his old knee injury from years of running a noodle stall began to ache again.

He looked at the person before him, speaking frantically and incoherently: “How is this possible? Didn’t little Tong die?”

The person in front of him only smiled slightly, her smile as moving as a silk painting.

Liu Kun remembered little Tong.

His cousin Lu Qilin had two daughters and one son under his knee. Because Madam Lu nearly died giving birth to the youngest daughter, this little daughter was especially treasured. Lu Rou, Lu Qian, and Madam Lu all doted on her. Though Lu Qilin was stern in words, he actually showed rare indulgence toward this youngest daughter.

But the more precious something is, the harder it is to keep safe. The Lu family’s youngest daughter went missing at nine years old. That year, Changwu County was struck by an epidemic. After the rest of the Lu family had just recovered from serious illness, the little daughter went out one afternoon to fetch water and never returned.

At that time, Liu Kun’s entire family had already left Changwu County for the capital. He only learned of this when he received Lu Qilin’s letter. Lu Qilin begged him to help search for her in the capital as well. Liu Kun agreed, but sighed inwardly—in these times, when a nine-year-old girl went missing, she was most likely sold by passing human traffickers. What chance was there of finding her?

After all these years, except for the Lu family who still held hope, everyone else believed the Lu family’s youngest daughter had long since died.

Liu Kun thought so too.

He looked at the person before him—graceful and beautiful, completely different from the plump, spoiled, and childish little girl in his memory. Yet looking carefully, the delicate features between her gentle brows and eyes resembled his deceased niece Lu Rou somewhat.

Thinking of Lu Rou, Liu Kun’s heart shook, suddenly feeling somewhat guilty.

He asked: “Are you really little Tong?”

The other person smiled lightly.

“All these years, where have you been? Your parents searched everywhere for you, your brother worried about you too…” He babbled irrelevant words, not knowing what he was trying to conceal with them. Suddenly coming back to his senses, he stopped abruptly and stared at the person opposite: “You wrote me that letter?”

Why would little Tong write him a letter?

The letter mentioned Fan Zhenglian—had she already learned about the Fan family affairs? How much did she know about the Grand Tutor’s Manor’s inside information?

His eyes scattered in confusion as he thought, involuntarily shivering.

Until the voice opposite awakened him from his bewilderment.

“I wrote it. Uncle, didn’t you already meet my second brother?”

At these words, the surroundings fell deathly silent.

After a long while, Liu Kun heard his own dry voice, carrying a forced smile: “Yes… I met him. When Rou girl died, he came to the capital for the funeral and stayed at my house for a few days.”

“Just staying?”

“Just staying.”

“Not only that.” Lu Tong spoke lightly: “You also betrayed him.”

“I did not!” Liu Kun suddenly shouted, his voice distorting in the cold rainy night, startling even himself.

He lowered his voice, speaking briefly and trying to remain calm.

“It wasn’t me. He committed a crime and was wanted by the authorities. Little Tong, I originally wanted to hide him at home, but the arrest warrants were posted everywhere. When officers searched my house, I had no choice. What could I do?”

He spoke as if stating facts, sounding sincere.

But Lu Tong smiled, her clear cold eyes staring at him as if seeing through his excuses to the unspeakable secrets in his heart.

“Is that so? May I ask, Uncle, what crime did my second brother commit?”

“He… he broke into a private residence to steal property and assaulted the master’s daughter…”

Lu Tong nodded: “Such a serious crime. Uncle harbored a fugitive, yet the officers didn’t charge you with harboring criminals alongside taking away only my second brother. How reasonable of them.”

Liu Kun’s face turned deathly pale, his teeth clenched tightly. He suspected the person before him already knew everything, but he dared not reveal a single word.

Lu Tong looked at him, her eyes gradually growing cold.

The man before her was cowardly and timid, his gaze evasive. On that familiar face, poverty and destitution had devoured his conscience, giving birth to desire and greed.

Her father Lu Qilin was rigid and stern, but Uncle Liu Kun was kind and lively. While Lu Rou was quiet, she and Lu Qian always followed Liu Kun around everywhere. Liu Kun would scoop her up and put her on his shoulders, using his coarse whiskers to tickle her face. When Wang Chunzhi returned from doing business at temple fairs, she would bring her bright red candied hawthorns.

They had once sheltered from rain under neighboring eaves and eaten from the same pot. Now they faced each other from opposite ends of the road, with indelible blood vengeance between them.

The night rain continued pattering steadily.

Lu Tong spoke calmly: “Uncle, I’ve been wondering…”

“Do living people who make mistakes feel guilt? Do they have troubled consciences? Do they toss and turn sleeplessly at night?”

“I observed for a long time and found they don’t—not at all.”

Liu’s Noodle House on Sparrow Street was doing excellent business. Liu Zixian had become an official, Liu Zide was preparing for the autumn examinations, Wang Chunzhi had bought gold bracelets, and the Liu family was even planning to move to a larger house.

Everything was good, very good—so good it made one envious.

Liu Kun mumbled with his lips: “Little Tong…”

Lu Tong interrupted him: “But all this goodness was bought by stepping on the Lu family’s blood. How can that not make one angry?”

Liu Kun stepped back in alarm.

“Little Tong, listen to me. Back then officers were searching everywhere and came to my house. Brother Qian didn’t have time to escape…”

Lu Tong smiled.

“Uncle, you know better than I what kind of person second brother is. Once he discovered he was being hunted by officers, with his nature of not wanting to implicate others, he would immediately distance himself from you and hide somewhere no one could find him. Yet in the end, they found him at your house.”

“What did you give him to eat? Sleeping drugs?”

Liu Kun’s fingers spasmed.

Lu Tong paused, her cold eyes fixed on him: “After second brother was captured, you wrote to Changwu County to inform them of this. When my father encountered water disaster on his way to the capital, wasn’t that also Uncle’s doing?”

“You not only betrayed second brother, but also betrayed my parents.”

Liu Kun’s mind exploded with a crash. His foot caught on a black stone and he fell backward onto the ground.

That night, he had handed Lu Qian over to Fan Zhenglian, but he saw the “letter” Lu Qian had left behind—the evidence Lu Qian had risked coming back to retrieve.

He had lived his whole life timid and honest, yet in that moment he developed inexplicable courage and ambition. He wanted to use these things to exchange for enormous wealth, to use them to carve out a bright future belonging to the Liu family in a prosperous place like the capital.

So in the Court of Judicial Review’s secret room, he respectfully said to Fan Zhenglian: “Sir, though Qian boy has been caught, my cousin has a stubborn personality. If he learns of this matter, he might cause trouble. Better to handle everything cleanly to avoid future problems.”

Fan Zhenglian lifted his eyelids to look at him: “Oh? What good ideas do you have? Let’s hear them.”

He bent his already curved spine even lower: “I can write to Lu Qilin and lure him to the capital…”

A crow flew away from a branch, flapping its wings and tearing through the night’s silence.

Liu Kun looked at her, weakly defending: “I didn’t…”

“I heard that Uncle had always wanted to rent a shop on Sparrow Street, but at the last moment the owner backed out and you were short one hundred taels of silver. Shortly after second brother was captured, Uncle rented that shop. Coincidentally, the government reward for capturing second brother was exactly one hundred taels.”

She looked at Liu Kun: “So my second brother’s life was worth one hundred taels of silver.”

“No, no!” Liu Kun wailed and collapsed completely on the ground.

The guilt he had deliberately ignored all along came flooding back, along with panic and fear.

“The world’s rules are decided by those upper-class people. Uncle, facing the Grand Tutor’s Manor, I don’t expect you to stand up heroically, but you at least shouldn’t have aided the tyrant.”

Hearing “Grand Tutor’s Manor,” Liu Kun suddenly came to his senses. He desperately grabbed Lu Tong’s hem, as if this would make his words more convincing: “That’s right, little Tong, you know—Qian boy offended the Grand Tutor’s Manor! That’s the Grand Tutor’s Manor! How could we possibly afford to offend them? They forced me, they forced me!”

“The Qi family, the Fan family—which one could we afford to offend? Little Tong, even if it were your father, he would have done the same! Against such people, we can only be slaughtered at will, isn’t that right?”

“No.”

Lu Tong coldly pulled out a smile: “Aren’t they in trouble now?”

Liu Kun was stunned.

The woman before him looked at him: “Isn’t Ke Chengxing already dead?”

Liu Kun’s hand loosened and he fell back into the mud, looking at Lu Tong as if seeing a vengeful ghost: “You, you…”

She smiled: “I did it.”

Mountain rain and mist rose like smoke, pattering steadily and washing the tomb mud dark.

The woman in the cloak was dressed entirely in white, cold and ethereal. The plain white silk flower at her temple was like mourning dress, making her look like a beautiful ghost crawling out of a coffin.

What had she just said—the Ke family matter… she did it?

Liu Kun’s gaze was somewhat dazed.

He remembered what little Tong looked like as a child.

Of the three Lu family children, Lu Rou was gentle and magnanimous, Lu Qian bright and elegant. Both inherited good looks from their parents and excelled in learning. Though cousin Lu Qilin didn’t say so aloud, he was extremely proud in his heart. Only the youngest daughter constantly caused headaches.

Little Tong as a child wasn’t as beautiful as Lu Rou, nor as articulate as Lu Qian. She was round and plump, didn’t like studying, and often made her father furious. Lu Qilin often said she was “rebellious to the bone,” but after scolding her, he would secretly have Liu Kun bring sugar buns to her during punishment.

As the saying goes, the crying child gets the milk. Little Tong was the most mischievous of the three Lu children, but also the most pampered. Liu Kun also enjoyed teasing her then—the little girl’s childish round face always showed cleverness in her eyes, endearing her to all who saw her.

Many years had passed. The round little girl had grown into a graceful young lady. Looking carefully, traces of her former appearance could still be found between her brows and eyes, but those black eyes no longer held their former liveliness and playfulness—they seemed to contain stagnant water.

He had heard about Ke Chengxing’s death and the Ke family’s downfall before, feeling only melancholy without thinking further. Now, with little Tong saying she did it, Liu Kun still remembered that little girl from Changwu County—nervous and flustered, jumping far away at the sight of even a mouse, crying with tears and snot…

How could she have done this?

He thought this in bewilderment, then heard the woman before him continue speaking.

“Not only that—the Fan family matter was also my doing.”

Liu Kun’s face turned white as a sheet, staring at her in terror.

She lowered her eyes, looking at Liu Kun as if at a dead man: “Now, it’s your turn.”

“No… no…”

Liu Kun’s mind exploded. Instinctively rolling and crawling, he threw himself at her skirt hem. Rain water streamed down his face as he grabbed Lu Tong’s hem, his teeth chattering, speaking excitedly and frantically: “Little Tong, listen to Uncle—I can help you!”

Lu Tong looked at him in surprise.

“Really!” Liu Kun said urgently: “Fan Zhenglian imprisoned Qian boy in jail and randomly found an excuse to execute him. Little Tong, Uncle can testify for you. Only I knew all the truth back then. Let’s work together to get to the bottom of Rou girl and Qian boy’s cases, alright?” He coaxed the person before him like he used to comfort his little niece who was frightened by mice years ago.

After a brief silence, she said: “Thank you, Uncle.”

Liu Kun forced an ugly smile, about to speak, when the person before him slowly crouched down and opened her palm toward him.

By the lantern’s dim light, Liu Kun could see clearly—in that delicate, pale palm lay an exquisite porcelain bottle.

His throat suddenly tightened. He looked up at Lu Tong: “What is this?”

“An opportunity.”

“…What opportunity?”

“An opportunity for Uncle to bear the family’s sins alone.”

Liu Kun froze.

Lu Tong smiled, speaking to him in whisper-like tones: “This is a bottle of poison. If Uncle drinks it, I’ll forgive my cousins and aunt, pardoning the three of them.”

“Little Tong…”

Her lips still held a smile, her face lovely, but her eyes were like clouds falling into a cold pool—without a trace of mirth.

“Uncle,” she said, “I drowned Ke Chengxing, yet people say he fell and died drunk. The Ke family fell, their vast wealth scattered overnight.”

“I interfered at the examination compound. The Ministry of Rites’ collusion with candidates was discovered. Now Fan Zhenglian is in Zhao Prison, his reputation ruined overnight, losing all support.”

“You see, I did so many things, yet received no punishment at all.”

She looked at Liu Kun: “I can kill them, and I can kill you too. Uncle knows I’m very clever.”

Liu Kun stared at her in disbelief, murmuring: “They are your cousins…”

“I know,” Lu Tong curved her eyes, “precisely because we’re family, I feel compassion. That’s why I’m giving you this opportunity.”

She spoke slowly, each word stabbing into Liu Kun’s heart.

“Both cousins are now in prison. Colluding in examination fraud, though not a small crime, doesn’t threaten their lives. How can this be acceptable? So I think I should do something. I forgot to tell you—I’m now a doctor. If I want to kill a few people without anyone knowing, it’s easily done. Moreover, the brothers aren’t clever—at least it’s easier than dealing with the Ke and Fan families.”

“I’m confident enough to kill them without anyone discovering.”

The last sentence ended with a cold tone, like a ghost’s sigh, echoing eerily among the tombs.

Liu Kun trembled all over.

He knew the person before him spoke the truth.

Though Liu Zixian and Liu Zide were several years older than little Tong, in terms of intelligence and scheming, they couldn’t match Lu Qian, let alone little Tong. There was also Wang Chunzhi, who only knew how to roll noodles and cook, loud but completely lacking brains or cunning. If little Tong could bring down both the Ke and Fan families, she obviously came prepared. His family before her was weak and powerless as lambs for slaughter, with no resistance whatsoever.

Lu Tong looked at him, gently raising her forearm. The medicine bottle in her palm gleamed with an sinister luster in the night.

“Uncle?”

He numbly and stiffly reached out to take the medicine bottle, looking at Lu Tong: “If I drink this, you’ll spare them?”

“Of course.”

“Do you swear?”

Lu Tong smiled without speaking.

“Fine.” Liu Kun pulled out the bottle’s stopper and looked deeply at the person before him: “Little Tong, you keep your word.”

Wind and frost were bitter cold, night rain desolate. The lamp’s ghostly light illuminated nameless lonely graves, as if wronged souls might crawl out from the mud to demand lives at any moment.

Among the shrubs, he brought the medicine bottle close to his mouth, about to drink.

But at the last moment, he suddenly threw the bottle away and gripped the sharp stone in his hand, lunging viciously at Lu Tong.

“You forced me to this—”

Why should he?

Why should he submit so easily? Why should he let himself be slaughtered? No matter how capable little Tong was, she was still just a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl. She looked frail and weak—one strike with this stone could crack her skull! This mass grave was a natural burial ground. Buried here, no one would ever discover her!

He wouldn’t die himself—he would kill everyone who threatened his family, and he would rescue Zixian and Zide!

In the night, that honest face became fierce and savage. Infinite fear and madness scattered the last trace of guilt, chaotically reassembling into a demon’s face.

“Little Tong, don’t blame Uncle. Uncle still has a whole family to care for—he can’t die yet!”

Shouting this, he swung the sharp stone viciously at her head.

This commotion startled crows roosting in the distance, but his hand gripping the stone never reached her head.

At this critical moment, a bone-piercing suffocation suddenly came from his throat, as if someone had suddenly grabbed his neck. He abruptly covered his throat and collapsed to his knees.

Lu Tong sighed.

He covered his neck, rolling on the ground, speaking somewhat frantically: “What did you do?” As soon as the words left his mouth, he was shocked to find his throat unbearably itchy, as if thousands of ants were gnawing at it.

Her calm voice answered him.

“Uncle, you read the letter I sent, didn’t you? Where is the letter?”

He desperately clawed at his throat: “Burned… burned it.”

“How cautious.”

She spoke as if praising him, slowly saying: “Thank you.”

“…for destroying the evidence for me.”

“You poisoned me?” He stared at Lu Tong in terror, an unbearable itching pain spreading from his throat like insects gnawing inside, making him want to find something to dig out whatever was in there.

“This is called Free Oriole.” Her voice was calm, as if patiently explaining to him: “Legend says that many years ago, the Liang Dynasty had a courtesan with a clear, melodious voice that surpassed the free orioles of March. Later, envious rivals poisoned her regular tea. When the poison took effect, she clawed her throat raw. Inside that throat was rotted beyond recognition, like cotton wadding and mud sauce—horrifying to behold.”

“I coated the letter paper with Free Oriole. Are you very itchy now?”

As if to confirm her words, the stinging itch in his throat suddenly became much more pronounced. Liu Kun nearly went mad, clawing at his throat with his hands. In just a few breaths, his throat was scratched red, while his expression showed terror as he screamed: “Help—”

Lu Tong looked down at him from above, speaking indifferently: “Some poisons cause suffering, but others bring relief.”

She walked to the porcelain bottle thrown on the ground, bent down to pick it up, her gaze somewhat regretful.

“I gave you a choice, but unfortunately, you didn’t treasure it.”

Liu Kun painfully clawed at his neck.

So that was it.

She had already poisoned the letter paper from the beginning. If he drank the poison and killed himself, he wouldn’t suffer this gnawing torment. If he refused to drink, he still couldn’t leave Mount Wangchun alive.

She had never left him any way to live from the start!

In despair, Liu Kun felt something moving in his throat. He desperately widened his eyes, as if wanting to deeply imprint the murderer’s face in his mind to take to the hellish underworld. His eyes scattered wildly as he spoke hoarsely: “You’re mad… If you kill me, no one will testify for you. The Lu family’s injustice will never find a judge willing to take the case…”

Suddenly his expression changed drastically, crying and begging for mercy: “Little Tong… Uncle was wrong, Uncle knows he was wrong…”

“Save me, please save me…”

Lu Tong watched coldly as he struggled painfully on the ground. His intermittent sobbing and moaning were layer by layer buried by the autumn rain in the night. The burial ground was desolate and silent.

After a moment, she sighed softly, walked to Liu Kun’s side and crouched down. She picked up the sharp stone Liu Kun had gripped earlier when trying to attack her but dropped midway, and placed it back in his hand.

Liu Kun’s expression was now nearly crazed. Suddenly feeling something in his palm, without thinking, he aimed at his own throat and stabbed down hard—

The night was desolate at this moment.

A “hiss” sound.

The screaming stopped abruptly.

Blood suddenly spurted from his neck, a spray hitting the woman’s face.

She slowly blinked, a large drop of bright red slowly dripping from her eyelashes, then flowing down her face, gradually staining the snow-white cloak.

The man on the ground convulsed and spasmed, then exhaled his last breath after a moment, lying face up on the ground, dead.

Lu Tong stood up, quietly looking at the motionless corpse on the ground. In the fallen lantern, the flame was extinguished by night rain. The surrounding wild grass was hazy, and the shadows among the graves were like a maze that could never be cleared.

She felt no fear, only because this might be Lu Qian’s burial place—the graveyard where death row prisoners from the Criminal Justice Department found their final rest.

Heavenly justice comes sooner or later. Liu Kun dying here was karmic consequence, nothing more.

She murmured: “The Lu family’s case will never find a judge willing to take it?”

This was Liu Kun’s deathbed warning to her.

Perhaps in Liu Kun’s view, high and mighty nobles could manipulate common people’s lives and deaths as easily as turning their hands. For her, a mere commoner, trying to shake powerful aristocratic families was like a fool’s dream—overestimating her abilities.

However…

He was wrong.

The woman wiped the blood from her face and spoke calmly: “Why need others to make decisions?”

“For the Lu family’s case, I can be the judge…”

“And I can be the executioner.”