Wind seeped in through the window cracks, causing the shadows on the ground to sway gently.

If last night had been a tacit probing, today had become a tense confrontation with drawn swords.

Lu Tong looked at the person before her, thinking that this Palace Guard Commander had arrived faster than she had imagined.

A flash of wild joy suddenly appeared in Duan Xiaoyan’s eyes as he shouted, “My lord!”

Pei Yunying glanced at him sideways. “Why are you sitting on the ground?”

The young man’s handsome face flushed bright red, and after a moment of stammering, he opened his mouth in shame: “I was bitten by a venomous snake and have half an hour before the poison takes effect. I dare not move vigorously.”

Upon hearing this, Pei Yunying raised his eyebrows, his gaze falling on the woman grinding medicine in the room.

“What does Doctor Lu mean by this?”

Lu Tong’s expression remained calm, showing not the slightest panic despite another person entering the room. Facing Duan Xiaoyan who was paralyzed on the ground, she even seemed somewhat indifferent.

“Commander Pei, your man infiltrated the medical clinic in the dead of night, rummaging through my kitchen at will, and was bitten by a venomous snake I had collected for medicinal purposes, becoming severely poisoned. Must this also be blamed on me?”

She sneered: “In the Liang Dynasty Code that I have memorized, there is no such provision.”

Pei Yunying glanced at Duan Xiaoyan on the ground, who dared not speak up.

After a moment of silence, he stepped back a few paces, simply crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway, smiling: “Then what does Doctor Lu want?”

Direct and decisive – this man wasted no words.

Lu Tong’s hand movements paused as she put down the medicine hammer. “I don’t want anything.”

“This poison has no antidote, and even if there were one, there wouldn’t be enough time to prepare it in such a short span.”

Duan Xiaoyan’s face turned pale.

She looked at Pei Yunying again, her eyes carrying some mockery: “He’s just a servant. If he dies, he dies. Why would the Palace Commander go to such lengths?”

Duan Xiaoyan’s forehead throbbed.

What did she mean by “just a servant”? What did she mean by “if he dies, he dies”?

What kind of physician could speak such cold words?

He had wrongly thought Lu Tong was like a female bodhisattva before – he would go to the temple tomorrow to apologize to the female bodhisattva!

The room fell silent, with only the night wind stirring the flames, casting shallow lamp shadows. In the courtyard, under the hanging firefly pouches, wind chimes swayed in the breeze, faintly transmitting clear, pleasant bell sounds.

Pei Yunying’s gaze fixed on her, and he suddenly curved his lips slightly.

He said: “Chi Jian.”

As soon as he spoke, a guard-like man had somehow silently appeared at the kitchen door again. Before this guard stood a young woman with her hands bound behind her back, looking at Lu Tong with eyes that held hidden panic.

Lu Tong’s complexion changed slightly.

She had clearly told Yin Zheng to hide well outside the medical clinic…

The young man sighed, took a chair, walked over and sat down across from Lu Tong, his smile particularly bright and brilliant in the firelight.

He said: “Doctor Lu thought thoroughly for her maid, but unfortunately your maid is too loyal – she was worried about you and turned back midway.”

He stared at Lu Tong with interest: “Now, will Doctor Lu still say it’s just a servant, and if she dies, she dies?”

Lu Tong’s eyes darkened slightly.

Many people in the capital called her “Doctor Lu.”

Du Changqing called her that casually, A’Cheng with childlike admiration, Master Hu and the other neighbors called her that with affection and careful respect – that was the reverence born from treating her as a true physician.

But no one called her that with the same mocking tone as Pei Yunying.

His smiling black eyes, contemptuous tone, and casual posture all seemed to clearly proclaim that he had long seen through her – she was not some benevolent “doctor” at all.

Yin Zheng’s regretful voice came from the doorway: “I’m sorry, Miss, I…”

Lu Tong looked directly at Pei Yunying: “What do you want to do?”

Before Pei Yunying could answer, Duan Xiaoyan spoke first: “What else could we do? Doctor Lu, you give me the antidote, my lord releases your maid, everyone’s happy, both sides benefit, and we’ll mind our own business from now on.”

This did sound like a good deal – one person for another, very fair.

Lu Tong was quiet for a moment, then raised her head: “What if I said there is no antidote?”

Duan Xiaoyan was stunned.

No antidote?

How could that be possible!

He instinctively felt this was absurd, but facing Lu Tong’s indifferent expression, he suddenly became uncertain and couldn’t help but grow nervous.

“Doctor Lu, you… you must be joking.”

After Pei Yunying appeared, he had completely relaxed, thinking that everything Lu Tong said was just to scare him. She surely wouldn’t really watch him die, right?

What good would his death do for Lu Tong!

But Yin Zheng looked at Lu Tong earnestly and said: “Miss, don’t worry about me. Don’t let me become your burden. The fortune teller said long ago that I have a thin fate and won’t live past nineteen. Dying in exchange for a Palace Guard would be quite worthwhile.”

Upon hearing this, Duan Xiaoyan became anxious: “Not worthwhile, not worthwhile at all! I’m not worth it! Sister, please reconsider!”

“What’s not worthwhile about it? People live one lifetime and are buried when they die. Miss, in our next lives, we’ll still be sisters.”

Their interruption eased the tense atmosphere somewhat, and amid this mixture of tears and laughter, Lu Tong spoke.

She said: “If Young Master Duan dies here today, Commander Pei will avenge him by killing my maid. I imagine he won’t spare me tomorrow either, nor the Renxin Medical Clinic.”

“After all, Commander Pei is an imperial guard with noble status. It would be easy as turning his hand to strike against common people like us.”

“Since we can’t escape death anyway…”

She raised her eyes, calmly meeting the gaze of the person across from her.

“Then let’s none of us leave through that door today. Let’s all die together.”

At these words, not only Duan Xiaoyan but even Chi Jian at the door were shocked.

To suddenly suggest mutual destruction without warning?

What kind of approach was this?

Lu Tong raised her chin slightly, speaking calmly under the shocked gazes of everyone.

“Medical clinics practice medicine and prepare drugs. The storage areas are full of medicinal ingredients and poisonous substances. It’s easy to enter, but not necessarily easy to leave. If someone rashly breaks in and accidentally steps on or touches something poisonous, that’s a common occurrence.”

She looked at Pei Yunying: “Isn’t that right, Commander Pei?”

No one spoke.

In the long autumn night, with tears of candle wax flickering, the dim yellow light filled the room enticingly.

Pei Yunying looked at her, his deep eyes black as obsidian, and suddenly let out a soft laugh.

“You want to die together with me?”

He smiled: “That won’t do. Sharing the same bed in life and the same grave in death, living together in one tomb after death – I only do such things with my wife.”

These words were spoken frivolously, yet he wore a serious expression, his eyes and brows containing laughter, as if the person before him was not a calculating, needle-hidden-in-silk Palace Commander, but a romantic customer seeking pleasure under candlelight and flower shadows.

Lu Tong was silent for a moment, then asked: “Do you have a wife?”

Pei Yunying was slightly taken aback.

Duan Xiaoyan was also stunned. What did this mean? Why was Lu Tong suddenly asking about this? Could it be that Lu Tong wanted to trade Pei Yunying’s heir consort position for his antidote?

A moment of silence.

Pei Yunying said: “No.”

Lu Tong nodded: “That’s perfect then. If you die today, you won’t need to consider the matter of a wife, and the household can save money on betrothal gifts.”

Her tone was so casual that everyone in the room couldn’t quite tell whether she was serious or joking.

The wind rustled outside the window. Pei Yunying looked at her quietly, then suddenly sighed.

“Thank you for thinking so thoroughly for me, but we haven’t reached the point of discussing life and death yet.”

“Doctor Lu, how about we have a proper talk.”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Duan Xiaoyan glanced at the water clock on the table. “Let’s not get so excited first. We can talk things through – everything can be negotiated.”

After a moment of silence, Lu Tong asked: “What do you want to talk about?”

The firelight flickered dimly, the yellow candlelight enveloping the person across from her. The silver threads embroidered into eagle patterns on his arm guards gleamed with scattered cold light, beautiful yet dangerous. The young man’s eyes and brows were bewitching, but his words held hidden coldness.

“The male corpse discovered at Wangchun Mountain last night was Liu Kun, the owner of Liu’s Noodle Shop on Sparrow Street in the capital.”

“Coincidentally, Liu Kun’s youngest son happened to participate in this year’s imperial examinations and was imprisoned awaiting punishment for involvement in the examination fraud case.”

“Doctor Lu,” he asked Lu Tong, “do you know Liu Kun?”

“I don’t know him.”

“But before that, you had been to Liu’s Noodle Shop for a meal.” He smiled. “Don’t you remember?”

Lu Tong’s heart stirred.

This man moved so quickly.

Her contacts with the Liu family, Fan family, and even Qi Chuan were all done without deliberate intent, precisely to avoid being discovered. But Pei Yunying had still found out.

He was clearly from the Palace Guard, yet his methods surpassed those of the Imperial City Department.

She raised her eyes, looking directly into Pei Yunying’s eyes, her water-like pupils carrying hidden mockery.

“Commander Pei,” she spoke word by word, “does your Palace Guard Department investigate cases so meticulously? Since you’ve been investigating me for so long without making a move, and now the examination fraud case has settled with all the guilty officials in the Ministry of Rites brought down.”

“You wanted to use my hand to kill people? Then shouldn’t you… thank me?”

In an instant, the air in the room turned cold.

In the swaying bright lamp on the table, the lamp tassels formed tiny star-flowers. A small star-flower was blown down by the wind, its embers vanishing instantly in the night breeze.

No one in the room spoke; everyone was silent as cicadas.

Pei Yunying sat across from Lu Tong, the smile in his extremely black and bright eyes gradually fading, and in a moment, killing intent filled the air.

He slowly leaned forward, staring into Lu Tong’s eyes.

“Doctor Lu, who are you working for?”

She remained unmoved, smiled slightly, and met his gaze provocatively, uttering two words.

“Guess.”

Pei Yunying’s eyes flickered as he stared steadily at the person before him.

The lamp flame burned down to its base, growing ever weaker.

And in the dim firelight, her eyes were clear and beautiful, her form delicate and frail, like the white mist of early autumn mornings that would dissipate into smoke at the slightest breeze or sunshine.

When he had seen her yesterday, her complexion was pale and weak, but today she seemed to have applied light rouge to her face. That faint red was like plum blossoms on branches, making her appear more charming, yet that charm also held coldness.

Such a woman with deep schemes and ruthless methods, duplicitous and harboring ulterior motives, was paradoxically seen by the world as a female bodhisattva who saved lives and filled the apricot grove with spring.

He let out a mocking laugh, his smile somewhat cutting.

He said: “Doctor Lu, is this your confidence?”

“Why don’t you try, Commander?”

The room remained silent for a long while.

Duan Xiaoyan looked at the woman at the table in disbelief, murmuring: “You’re crazy to threaten my lord like this?”

To threaten so blatantly without even bothering to disguise it – wasn’t she afraid of causing trouble later?

Lu Tong lowered her head and smiled, speaking indifferently: “Yes, I’m a madwoman, so don’t provoke me carelessly.”

She looked at Pei Yunying, her voice very soft: “Besides, haven’t you already gained benefits now?”

Pei Yunying’s pupils contracted slightly.

“Commander Pei,” Lu Tong spoke slowly, “you investigate your cases, I practice my medicine. We have nothing to do with each other.”

“Nothing to do with each other?”

He nodded, looking at her thoughtfully: “So this is what Doctor Lu wanted to say today.”

Lu Tong looked at him calmly.

The night was deep, and there were no longer any cold chirping sounds in the courtyard. In the dim yellow shadows, the two faced each other, their gazes meeting where dark currents flowed like the night in the capital.

After a moment, he leaned back, tugging at the corner of his mouth: “I’ll consider it.”

He said “consider.”

Lu Tong’s heart sank, but before she could speak, she saw Pei Yunying turn his head and say to the guard at the door: “Release her.”

The guard called Chi Jian loosened his grip, and Yin Zheng hurried over, running to Lu Tong’s side and watching the people in the room warily.

Duan Xiaoyan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what was happening. Breaking out in a sweat from anxiety, he wailed: “My lord, why did you let her go? I haven’t gotten the antidote yet!”

Pei Yunying glanced at him: “Fool, that was just a black snake.”

“A black snake?” Duan Xiaoyan looked at the dead snake on the table, confused for a moment. “Not the Seven-Step Powder?”

Lu Tong’s gaze fell on Duan Xiaoyan, and the corner of her mouth curved upward.

She said: “Seven-Step Powder comes from venomous snakes. Medical clinics and pharmacies save lives and treat illnesses – how could they secretly store deadly poisons? Moreover, Young Master Duan is from the Palace Guard. To harm an imperial guard would be asking for death.”

She returned Duan Xiaoyan’s earlier words verbatim, then looked at him with a sincere expression: “I was just joking with Young Master Duan earlier. Young Master Duan didn’t take it seriously, did he?”

Duan Xiaoyan: “…”

So it was fake?

But her expression and tone just now hadn’t seemed like she was playing around at all.

Pei Yunying lowered his head and chuckled, then stood up.

He said: “We’ve disturbed Doctor Lu tonight. Another day I’ll have Duan Xiaoyan come to your door to apologize.” He glanced at Duan Xiaoyan again. “Why aren’t you getting up?”

Duan Xiaoyan was speechless for a moment, then rolled up from the ground and followed, rubbing his forearm. As he was leaving, he seemed to want to say something but held back, looking full of grievance.

Just as the group was leaving the medical clinic, they suddenly heard someone call from behind: “Wait.”

Pei Yunying paused and turned around to see Lu Tong coming out of the shop carrying a lantern.

The woman walked to the medical clinic entrance carrying the limp dead snake in her hand, waving it at Duan Xiaoyan. Duan Xiaoyan, still shaken from the experience, instinctively stepped back.

Lu Tong said: “Young Master Duan, although it wasn’t Seven-Step Powder, this black snake still cost me two taels of silver. Since you killed it, you should compensate me.”

Duan Xiaoyan: “…”

He had been bitten, he had been thoroughly frightened, and in the end, he still had to pay compensation. How had he never noticed before that Renxin Medical Clinic had the potential to be a black shop?

However, Lu Tong stood right there before him, and after tonight’s ordeal, when Duan Xiaoyan looked at this female bodhisattva again, he instinctively felt somewhat intimidated. Therefore, he could only obediently take out silver from his pocket and hand it to Lu Tong with both hands.

Lu Tong accepted the silver and offered Duan Xiaoyan the dead snake. When Duan Xiaoyan dared not take it, she hung the snake corpse on Pei Yunying’s arm and said flatly: “The snake is yours now.”

With that, she said no more and slammed the medical clinic door shut right in front of them with a “bang.”

The long street was quiet, with tree branches along the road casting uneven shadows in the lantern’s ghostly light.

The young man looked at the tightly closed door before him, his eyes dark and unreadable.

After a long while, Duan Xiaoyan beside him swallowed and carefully asked: “Brother, she’s so arrogant.”

She was clearly just a resident physician at a medical clinic, born delicate and lovely, yet tonight her presence was not diminished in the slightest. Seeing her aggressive manner was quite frightening.

Seeing Pei Yunying’s cold gaze sweep over, he quickly coughed and said: “I know I was wrong today. Don’t worry, I’ll accept punishment myself when we return. But…” He moved closer to Pei Yunying and asked in a low voice: “You investigated for so long before but couldn’t uncover her identity. Just now when you tested her, did she basically admit that someone is backing her?”

Pei Yunying had previously had Mu Lian investigate Lu Tong’s identity, but the household registration that could prove her identity was fake. Refugees coming to the capital often went to the woodworker under the East Gate bridge arch to make fake registrations. Such crude registrations cost only one hundred wen each.

For established medical clinics like Du Changqing’s, they would carefully examine the household registrations of resident physicians. The owner of Renxin Medical Clinic couldn’t have failed to notice. That Lu Tong practiced medicine at the clinic with fake registration only showed her boldness, and that Du Changqing was even bolder. Such a peculiar pair actually made it impossible for Mu Lian to find any trace of evidence proving Lu Tong’s identity.

She was like someone who had appeared in the capital out of thin air.

Duan Xiaoyan lowered his voice further: “Who do you think is behind her? The Third Prince?”

In this examination fraud case, the Ministry of Rites was most heavily implicated. The Crown Prince had been in a mess recently, while the Third Prince’s faction was quite pleased. If the Third Prince had sent Lu Tong to secretly manipulate things, it wasn’t impossible.

Pei Yunying didn’t speak, seeming lost in thought.

Duan Xiaoyan looked at the faintly aching wound on his forearm and sighed again: “She tormented me all night just to vent her anger. Brother, if she really is the Third Prince’s person and has such a vengeful nature, what if she complains to the Third Prince later and causes trouble for us?”

Pei Yunying came back to his senses, let out a mocking sneer, and with a wave of his hand, the dead snake fell into Duan Xiaoyan’s arms, startling him.

He turned around, his voice cold.

“If she really is the Third Prince’s person, take her to Zhaoyu Temple for severe interrogation. Perhaps then she’ll be willing to have a proper talk.”

…

In the room, Lu Tong set the lantern on the ground and went inside to sit down.

After the people left, she felt as if a thousand-pound burden had been lifted from her entire body. She opened her palm – it was completely wet with sweat.

Yin Zheng looked full of self-reproach: “Miss, it’s all my fault. If I hadn’t turned back then, you wouldn’t have been threatened by them.”

Lu Tong shook her head: “It’s fine. He never intended to harm us anyway.”

Yin Zheng was startled: “Why?”

Lu Tong smiled gently: “You don’t really think he hasn’t arrested me because he can’t find evidence, do you?”

“Isn’t that the case?”

“Of course not.”

Lu Tong spoke calmly: “The capital’s waters run deep. Don’t think he’s some good person.”

Pei Yunying had suspected her from very early on – at least after Ke Chengxing’s death – and had repeatedly tested and probed her since then, including Duan Xiaoyan’s surveillance at the Fan residence gate. These were all the Commander’s methods.

Actually, as Palace Guard Commander and heir to Duke Zhaoning, if he truly suspected someone, he wouldn’t need evidence. He could use other methods to make her suffer. For the powerful, manipulating common people was always easy as turning their hands.

But he hadn’t.

Lu Tong had thought about this for a long time and gradually formed a suspicion.

Perhaps he was being cautious of someone.

Just as Liu Kun had Fan Zhenglian behind him, and Fan Zhenglian was connected to the Grand Tutor’s Manor, officials always looked out for each other. The small person arrested today might become a relative of some important figure tomorrow.

That Pei Yunying had delayed taking action against her suggested that in the examination fraud case, her actions hadn’t harmed his interests, or perhaps he even welcomed them.

Duan Xiaoyan’s appearance today was an accident, but her confrontation with Pei Yunying was intentional. He was testing her, and she was testing him too.

Pei Yunying’s reaction told her she had guessed correctly – he was indeed suspicious that someone was backing her.

Since that was the case, she would go along with Pei Yunying’s suspicions, confusing his vision and letting that non-existent “important figure” become her false protective talisman.

Yin Zheng handed her a handkerchief, which Lu Tong accepted and used to wipe the sweat from her palms.

The other party appeared bright and cheerful but was actually sharp and dangerous. In confronting him, she had to appear confident and unfathomable, showing no weakness and not letting him see her true cards.

It was all pretense.

Yin Zheng asked: “Will Commander Pei come again?”

Lu Tong shook her head: “Not for now. He thinks I have backing and wants to use me, so he won’t move against me in the short term. However…”

However, whether Pei Yunying had the ability to use her remained to be seen.

Hearing this, Yin Zheng became more worried: “But paper can’t wrap fire. What if he discovers that Miss has no one behind her? He has an official position – wouldn’t it be easy for him to find an excuse?”

Lu Tong paused in her hand-wiping motion.

After a moment, she said: “What’s there to fear?”

“If that day really comes and he tries to block my path…”

“I’ll kill him.”