The autumn night was cold and desolate.

The light in the kitchen was weak, like starfire on fine waves, ready to be swallowed by the surging night at any moment.

The woman stood at the door, her camellia-yellow shirt and skirt rustling in the wind, fresh flowers in her hair like dewdrops, as she slowly spoke to the person before her.

“Breaking into a private residence without cause in the dead of night, not even wearing a face covering—truly reckless and bold.”

She paused, looking at his eyes which appeared even rounder due to shock, and continued: “If we weren’t acquainted, I would have thought thieves had entered the medical hall tonight.”

The youth Duan Xiaoyan, sitting on the ground, swallowed hard and felt somewhat guilty.

“Doctor Lu.”

Before he could think of a suitable excuse to deceive the person before him, he heard her calmly ask: “You’ve followed me for an entire day. I wonder what important business Young Master Duan has?”

Duan Xiaoyan’s expression changed dramatically as he stared at Lu Tong.

How did she know!

Early this morning, Pei Yunying had gone out. After last night’s incident with the male corpse at Wangchun Mountain, Duan Xiaoyan was feeling gloomy. Since it wasn’t his turn to stand guard today, he left the mansion planning to visit the marketplace to relax and lighten his mood.

Not far from the marketplace was the Fan family mansion. When Duan Xiaoyan passed by, remembering that this was where he had lost his purse, his steps naturally slowed.

This slowing led him to witness Lu Tong conversing with a man at the Fan mansion entrance.

Duan Xiaoyan was not unfamiliar with this man—Qi Chuan, Fan Zhenglian’s unfortunate trusted subordinate. Nominally a confidant, he was actually a jack-of-all-trades who handled everything from managing maids to purchasing and housekeeping, stopping just short of being a wet nurse. Unfortunately, despite his talent, he remained merely an obscure minor clerk.

Lu Tong was conversing with Qi Chuan at the Fan mansion entrance.

In the past, Duan Xiaoyan wouldn’t have paid this any mind. However, having just experienced being framed by the purse incident last night, and having recently heard Pei Yunying’s warning to stay away from Lu Tong, Duan Xiaoyan now viewed every action of Lu Tong’s as deeply meaningful and calculating.

Lu Tong and Qi Chuan parted after only a few words. Duan Xiaoyan stood in place thinking for a moment, then decided to follow Lu Tong.

He wanted to see if this Doctor Lu really had problems.

For the entire day that followed, Duan Xiaoyan nearly ran his legs off.

Lu Tong didn’t return directly to the medical hall but instead lingered in the marketplace. Duan Xiaoyan guessed she might be meeting someone privately, so he watched with particular care.

When Lu Tong and Yin Zheng watched variety shows, he stared with wide eyes, observing meticulously.

When Lu Tong and Yin Zheng watched craftsmen walking tightropes, he held his breath and watched with complete concentration.

When Lu Tong and Yin Zheng sat under the stage watching shadow plays, he watched Lu Tong more intently than Lu Tong watched the performance, scrutinizing every person who sat beside Lu Tong, trying to discover signs of communication between them.

When Lu Tong and Yin Zheng tasted fish dumplings and fried fish rice at the southern food shop and drank sugar and mung bean soup, he crouched in the corner across the street, swallowing his saliva while staring fixedly.

Finally, Lu Tong and her companion visited a jewelry shop.

Duan Xiaoyan couldn’t understand why they could spend so long looking when they didn’t buy anything. Didn’t they find it a waste of time?

In any case, after the entire day, Duan Xiaoyan felt his eyes were about to fall out of their sockets, yet nothing had happened with Lu Tong. It seemed as if they were simply wandering the streets for leisure and entertainment.

Duan Xiaoyan didn’t know if other women had such stamina when shopping at the marketplace, but from his observation, Lu Tong and Yin Zheng showed no sign of fatigue after their day of entertainment. With so many people in the marketplace, if he weren’t a Palace Guard with training, an ordinary person wouldn’t have been able to follow them for even an hour without losing them in the crowd.

Duan Xiaoyan thought he had done everything perfectly. He followed them all the way back to the medical hall and was planning to leave when he saw nothing had happened, but then he noticed her lingering in the small kitchen with a black jar, which aroused his curiosity. Only after she left did he sneak in.

As he was thinking, a cool breeze blew from the courtyard, causing goosebumps to suddenly appear on his back. Duan Xiaoyan came back to his senses and looked at Lu Tong.

“…You discovered me early on?”

Lu Tong remained silent.

During those years on Falling Plum Peak, most of the time she lived alone on the mountain. A girl of ten or so didn’t have as much courage as she did now.

She feared wild beasts, snakes, insects, rats, and ants, feared sudden natural disasters, and also feared ill-intentioned villains.

Sometimes when she woke in the morning, there would be no one else on the mountain, with dead silence all around, giving her a lonely, fearful feeling that she was the only person left in the world. She hid poison powder and scissors on her person, prepared to fight desperately against any danger that might suddenly appear.

Perhaps people who live in fear for long periods develop an instinctive intuition for danger. Or perhaps Duan Xiaoyan’s tracking methods were still too crude, his gaze too intense, making it difficult to ignore.

Almost immediately, she had detected the gaze from behind.

Lu Tong’s gaze moved to Duan Xiaoyan’s elbow area.

On the youth’s forearm, blood flowed freely. In the blurred red, two sharp fang marks were clearly visible.

Those were snake bite marks.

She had detected the gaze from behind while in the marketplace—someone was following her closely, never leaving for a moment, yet taking no other action, as if waiting for something.

Since the other party didn’t act for so long, she changed her mind.

Lu Tong bent down and, under the youth’s surprised gaze, picked up the soft, long creature at the door.

The snake was already dead. The black snake corpse coiled around her pale yellow silk sleeves like a dead thread wrapped around a fresh flower, gleaming darkly with cold light.

Looking at it, Duan Xiaoyan felt his bitten forearm beginning to swell and ache again.

Lu Tong extended her finger, her fingertip brushing over the rough snake head, speaking softly.

“This is called Seven-Step Death. I asked someone to search for it for a long time before finding it. I only put it in this morning, but Young Master Duan found it.”

She glanced at the wound on Duan Xiaoyan’s forearm, her expression hesitant.

Duan Xiaoyan felt his skin crawl under her gaze and couldn’t help asking: “What is Seven-Step Death?”

“Young Master Duan doesn’t know?”

“Seven-Step Death is a type of extremely venomous snake. Anyone bitten by Seven-Step Death will surely lose their soul within seven steps.”

After these words, the room fell silent for a moment.

Shortly after, Duan Xiaoyan, pale-faced, stammered: “You’re… you’re joking, right? Doctor Lu, please don’t deceive me.”

Lu Tong chuckled softly.

“Why is Young Master Duan so frightened? There’s no snake in the world that can make someone collapse within seven steps.”

Hearing this, Duan Xiaoyan immediately breathed a sigh of relief and was about to smile when he heard the person before him continue.

“One hour.”

He looked confused: “What?”

Lu Tong looked at him, her smile gradually fading, her tone calm and steady.

“From bite to poison onset, one hour.”

She said: “Without an antidote within one hour, Young Master Duan, even the King of Hell cannot save you.”

…

The night wind was cold. Under the eaves in the lamplight, a black dog lay in the courtyard, its silhouette merging with the night.

When Pei Yunying returned to the Commander’s Manor, it was nearly the hour of hai.

Fresh osmanthus had been placed in vases throughout the bureau, filling the hall with osmanthus fragrance. Tomorrow was the fifteenth, and the bureau had a day off, so many guards had left.

Early this morning he had entered the palace. The matter of the male corpse at Wangchun Mountain wasn’t necessarily serious, but it wasn’t trivial either. Caught up in the Ministry of Rites imperial examination case, it inevitably gave interested parties something to work with.

The subtle relationships between the Three Courts aside, the Privy Council would certainly not let this opportunity pass. Fortunately, the Emperor currently had no attention to spare for the Palace Command, so this matter was considered settled.

Pei Yunying sat down in the room and picked up the teapot from the table to pour himself some tea.

The tea was warm, clear, and bitter. After drinking two sips, not hearing the familiar chatter, he asked the guard Qing Feng beside him.

“Duan Xiaoyan isn’t here?”

Qing Feng replied: “Reporting to master, Duan Xiaoyan left early this morning, saying he was going to browse the marketplace.”

Pei Yunying paused in his tea-drinking.

After a moment, he asked: “What time did he leave?”

“Nearly the hour of si.”

Pei Yunying frowned slightly.

Duan Xiaoyan had left at the hour of si, and it was now nearly hai. A full six hours had passed. Tomorrow the bureau had the fifteenth off, and he needed to return to check the roster, but there was still no sign of him.

Seeing this, Qing Feng asked: “Does master feel something is amiss?”

Pei Yunying pondered for a moment: “Did he say anything before leaving?”

Qing Feng shook his head: “No. He just looked dispirited, probably troubled by the Wangchun Mountain corpse incident.”

Wangchun Mountain…

Thinking of something, Pei Yunying’s eyes grew slightly cold.

Outside the window, night had fallen, and the cool breeze made the plane trees in the courtyard rustle.

He suddenly stood up, picked up the silver sword from the table, and strode toward the door.

…

The night grew deeper.

In the tree groves of the small courtyard, several crickets chirped softly. The fireflies A’Cheng had hung under the eaves had long since dimmed, leaving only the silver wind chimes beneath the pouches spinning in the wind.

The cold lamp flickered in the night wind, as if it might go out at any moment. Mottled light and shadow fell on the face of the person at the table, making her distinct features appear even more gentle.

The youth sat motionless on the ground, rigidly watching the person at the table who was unhurriedly grinding medicine.

She felt nothing was amiss. After telling him he was poisoned, she had sat down at the table, removed the dried herbs from the bamboo trays, and matter-of-factly continued her usual work as if nothing had happened.

Completely disregarding his life or death.

Duan Xiaoyan gritted his teeth and spoke threateningly: “Doctor Lu, I’m from the Palace Command. Murdering an imperial guard—you don’t want to live anymore?”

“Murdering an imperial guard?”

She seemed to have heard something amusing and actually laughed, giving him a meaningful glance: “Young Master Duan broke into a private residence without cause in the dead of night, suspected of stealing property, but was accidentally bitten by a venomous snake I had collected for medicinal purposes.”

“You came to the medical hall uninvited, and you opened the jar without permission. The thief opened a jar containing a venomous snake and lost his life as a result. If this story gets out, others would say it’s divine justice and perfect retribution. How could they blame me, and how could the word ‘murder’ be applied?”

Her gaze was calm, but her tone carried some mockery.

“Are all you people from the Palace Command so unreasonable?”

Duan Xiaoyan was speechless.

To be fair, Lu Tong’s words weren’t wrong. He had secretly followed Lu Tong, snuck into Renxin Medical Hall in the dark, and seeing her linger at the table for so long had aroused his curiosity, which led him to touch the jar containing the snake.

However… since this was a snake jar, why had she lingered at the table for so long, examining it so carefully, inviting wild speculation?

As if thinking of something, Duan Xiaoyan’s body suddenly trembled.

He looked up at Lu Tong in disbelief.

“You deliberately lured me to touch the jar?”

If she hadn’t deliberately lingered and acted mysteriously at the counter, why would he have gone to rummage through the bamboo basket?

She had deliberately lured him into the trap!

Lu Tong smiled faintly: “Is Young Master Duan trying to throw dirty water on people again without cause?”

The youth was furious and suddenly laughed coldly.

“Medical halls and pharmacies are for saving and treating people. Why would you secretly store such poisonous creatures? Even if you didn’t deliberately lure me here, you must have harbored ill intentions, waiting for some day to use this venomous snake to bite someone!”

Such dangerous poison, just casually placed in a jar without even a warning note—it looked suspicious no matter how you viewed it.

Lu Tong’s medicine-grinding motion slowed slightly. Looking at the wooden jar before her, she sighed softly, her expression somewhat regretful.

“Snakes by nature rise upward, making them excellent as guide medicine. That Seven-Step Death was bought to use as a medicinal catalyst. It was very precious and hard to find—just the material cost was two taels of silver.”

“I had someone search for many days and finally found one with great difficulty, but you killed it for no reason, wasting a month’s wages.”

Hearing this, Duan Xiaoyan nearly spat blood.

He was in mortal danger, yet she only cared about her two taels of silver. Did she have any regard for human life at all?

Lu Tong glanced at him, her gaze slowly moving to the wound on the youth’s arm, speaking consolingly.

“Young Master Duan, you’d better not get angry. Though Seven-Step Death won’t kill you in seven steps, it most fears agitated blood flow. The more excited you get, the more you move, the deeper the snake venom spreads. So don’t move around.”

Duan Xiaoyan’s body stiffened.

The reason he had remained sitting here not daring to move was precisely because he feared this thing. Otherwise, with his martial arts skills, he would have long since subdued Lu Tong and forced her to provide the antidote.

The youth looked at the person before him.

Lu Tong sat at the small kitchen table, one hand supporting the medicine jar, the other gripping the medicine pestle as she ground medicine forcefully. Her light-colored skirt was like a budding flower in the firelight, and the woman had elegant, beautiful features with cloud-like hair—like Chang’e from the moon palace, her lunar essence leaving fragrance.

Pei Yunying’s words before leaving echoed in his ears again.

“She’s a madwoman. Stay away from her. Otherwise, if something happens, I can’t save you either.”

Was she really a madwoman?

If someone had said this to Duan Xiaoyan before, he would have scoffed and refused to believe Lu Tong harbored evil intentions, absolutely refusing to believe she would really kill someone.

But now he wasn’t certain.

Lu Tong had refused to provide him with an antidote until now, seeming quite willing to watch him die with her own eyes.

He regretted deeply—he shouldn’t have disobeyed Pei Yunying’s words to stay away from Lu Tong, shouldn’t have followed her here alone on impulse.

Duan Xiaoyan steadied himself and decided to try a different approach.

He said: “Doctor Lu, actually you and I have no grievances. Why must we fight to the death? Today’s events are my fault. Give me the antidote, and we can discuss things properly.”

While speaking, he looked around. Having left in haste today, he hadn’t brought signal flares. Pei Yunying had probably returned to the Commander’s Manor by now—would he be able to discover that he had been captured?

Just as he was thinking this, he heard Lu Tong speak: “Who are you waiting for? Your Commander Pei?”

Duan Xiaoyan was startled.

Lu Tong stopped her work and looked at him with clear, bright eyes, as if seeing through everything in his heart.

“Young Master Duan, why don’t we make a bet?”

“Bet on what?”

“Let’s bet on whether your Commander Pei can find you.”

Duan Xiaoyan was stunned: “What?”

Lu Tong rubbed her wrist, sore from grinding medicine. “Half an hour has passed since you were bitten. You have another half hour left.”

“Within this half hour, if your Commander Pei can find this place, perhaps you can survive.”

“Young Master Duan, will you take the bet?”

Duan Xiaoyan’s whole body trembled.

When she said this, her tone was indifferent, even carrying a trace of smile at the corner of her mouth. Duan Xiaoyan suddenly had a strange feeling—treating human life so casually, as if he had become a helpless lamb awaiting slaughter while she was the butcher with power over life and death, mockingly looking down at her prey’s struggles.

A bit of lamp wick fell spiraling onto the table. The small courtyard was cold with frost and moon, and autumn insects chirped mournfully.

In this deathly silence, suddenly a voice came.

“Then you’re likely to lose this bet.”

Lu Tong looked up.

In the distance, someone lifted the felt curtain, and a figure walked into the courtyard. The young man’s handsome features became even more distinct in the moonlight. As he approached, there seemed to be a very faint orchid and musk fragrance.

He stopped at the kitchen door, wearing an elegant deep red brocade robe with treasure flower patterns, the silver sword at his waist gleaming coldly.

Pei Yunying glanced at Duan Xiaoyan in his wretched state on the ground and suddenly smiled.

“Doctor Lu.”

He looked at Lu Tong indifferently. “I thought that before detaining my people, you should at least give me a heads up first.”