Rain had just begun to fall from the sky when news arrived that Fan Zhenglian had taken his own life in prison.

The Widow Sun had come to the tailor shop across the street to buy fabric when she was blocked by the sudden downpour. She simply sat down under the awning at the entrance to wait for the rain to stop, cracking sunflower seeds while sharing the news she had just heard with the people of West Street.

That “Honest Judge Fan” from the Court of Judicial Review had committed suicide last night.

Perhaps being accustomed to a life of luxury, he couldn’t endure the harsh prison conditions, or perhaps he knew his crimes were grave and death was inevitable. This official who had enjoyed a sterling reputation and once been at the height of his power had hanged himself in his cell during the night using his own belt, suspended from a beam in the prison. When the jailers made their morning rounds, they saw something long swaying in the shadows of the cell. Only when they approached did they discover it was a corpse.

The Widow Sun described it vividly, as if she had witnessed it herself: “His tongue was hanging out long and flat, absolutely terrifying. They say when he died, his eyeballs nearly popped out of his eye sockets, as if he had seen some vengeful ghost. How pitiful—”

Fan Zhenglian had been an “honest official” his entire life, solving many difficult cases, never imagining that in the end he would become a prisoner who took his own life in jail out of guilt. The positions of judge and judged had reversed overnight, truly making one sigh with emotion.

Sister Song spat and cursed, “Serves him right!”

“Who told him to put on such airs, secretly colluding with those people? We poor folk already have it hard enough just trying to survive, and they had the gall to control even the examination halls in their palms. Do they want people to live or not? Good that he’s dead—death was too easy for him!”

Sister Song’s family also had a son who hoped to take the examinations for an official position in a few years. Learning of this corrupt mess in the examination halls naturally made her furious.

With this said, the crowd’s initial sighs of emotion largely dissipated, and they all nodded in agreement: “That’s right, he deserved it!”

Someone said: “That Scholar Wu from Fresh Fish Lane died and went to the King of Hell’s palace but was sent back to life because his family had accumulated merit through good deeds. I wonder how that Fan fellow will be judged when he reaches the underworld—surely they won’t let him return based on his previous accomplishments?”

“Infinite Celestial Lord!” He Xiazi had somehow squeezed over as well. Closing his eyes and pretending to calculate with his fingers, he said: “That’s impossible! This old man calculates that Fan Zhenglian bears a lifetime of karmic debts, responsible for the wrongful deaths of men, women, and children. Once he enters the underworld, I’m afraid he’ll immediately be cast into hell by the King of Hell, never to rise again.”

Hearing this, everyone became interested and gathered around He Xiazi, the conversation gradually shifting from Fan Zhenglian to the arts of selecting burial sites and feng shui after death.

Lu Tong watched the crowd discussing enthusiastically in front of the tailor shop across the street, took an umbrella from beside the wall by the entrance, and was about to go out.

Du Changqing called out to stop her: “It’s raining—where are you going?”

Lu Tong: “To buy some hawthorn.”

Yin Zheng explained with a smile: “It’s already the Cold Dew season. Miss wants to make some hawthorn pills to sell. Sister Song said there’s a fruit shop on Sparrow Street that sells hawthorn that’s big and red. She and I are going to take a look.”

Since it concerned making medicine, Du Changqing said nothing more, only warning: “Someone died on Wangchun Mountain, and the murderer still hasn’t been found. Don’t go wandering around carelessly.”

Lu Tong agreed and went out with Yin Zheng, holding umbrellas.

Outside, it was raining with a white misty curtain everywhere. Once September arrived, the weather had turned completely cold, already showing hints of winter’s shadow. The stone slabs, washed by the fine rain, gleamed with a layer of cold, damp chill.

Perhaps due to the rain, Sparrow Street wasn’t as lively as usual. At the most prominent corner shop, half the door panels had been removed, and several strong men were going in and out, moving things outside.

Lu Tong stopped in front of “Liu’s Noodle Shop.”

The fine rain fell like silk, dampening the characters “Liu’s” on the shop sign until they were slightly moist. They seemed to have been freshly painted, red as blood, giving the desolate shop an eerie, tragic appearance.

The proprietress of the neighboring pastry shop was sitting on a stool at her entrance shelling walnuts. Seeing Lu Tong and her companion, she asked: “Are you young ladies looking for someone?”

Yin Zheng pointed at the empty shop in front of them: “Wasn’t this originally a noodle shop? The eel noodles were delicious—why is no one here now?”

“The Liu Kun family?” The proprietress pursed her lips. “They closed down.”

Yin Zheng asked: “When will they come back?”

“They won’t come back,” the proprietress brushed the walnut shells from her hands. “Something happened to them—what would they come back for?”

Lu Tong said nothing and walked into the pastry shop, selecting several date cakes from the wooden compartments. Seeing this, the proprietress got up and went inside to fetch scales. Yin Zheng took the opportunity to ask with a smile: “What happened to the Liu family? Our miss really loved eating their eel noodles.”

The proprietress weighed the date cakes and stood at the counter wrapping them in oil paper. Hearing this, she said: “Liu’s husband died on the mountain last month. The murderer still hasn’t been found, and both sons were thrown in prison too.”

Lu Tong handed over the money: “How is it that when the father had an accident, the sons were arrested instead?”

“It’s not the same matter.” The woman wiped her hands on her clothes and took the money, then lowered her voice: “Have you heard about the imperial examination case?”

“We have.”

“Liu’s second son also took the exam this year, and he was on the list of those who found someone to take the test for them. That’s not all—when the officials investigated, they discovered that Liu’s eldest son had also taken a crooked path when he passed the exam years ago. Once this came to light, didn’t they both end up in prison together?”

When the proprietress spoke of this matter, her tone was full of contempt and disdain: “Back when Liu’s eldest passed, Liu Kun and Wang Chunzhi boasted plenty in front of us neighbors, even saying things like ‘when Liu’s second son becomes an official, we’ll move to the south of the city to do business.’ Hmph, looking down on whom? I said it was too early to boast before even taking the exam—turns out they had already arranged for someone to take the test, shameless!”

It seemed the Liu Kun family wasn’t well-liked by the neighbors, and when trouble struck, everyone just watched the spectacle. Lu Tong lowered her eyes: “So this shop…”

“Sold it! Both sons are in prison—don’t they need money to bribe officials? I heard the buyer knew she was desperate for money and deliberately offered a very low price… Ah,” the proprietress suddenly stuck her head out toward the street and nudged her chin at Lu Tong: “Look, here they come now!”

Lu Tong turned to look.

Sparrow Street was wide, and through the fine rain, a procession of soldiers escorted prison carts. The people in the carts wore cangues and shackles, their disheveled, dirty faces exposed. These were the cheaters from the imperial examination fraud case.

The cheaters were to be publicly displayed in cangues for three months. These people had recently been scholarly examination candidates, but now in such a state, they had truly disgraced all scholarly dignity.

Crowds gradually gathered on both sides of the street, pointing at these criminals from afar.

At the very back of the prison carts, two criminals in tattered clothes wore cangues and shackles. One of them tried to wipe the rain from his face with his hand, but because of the restraints, he couldn’t manage it and could only turn his head to rub against the wooden cart with his eyes.

Those were Liu Zixian and Liu Zide.

When the imperial examination case was investigated backwards, Liu Zide was quickly implicated once Liu Zixian was imprisoned. Ironically, when poor people committed crimes, they were always punished more easily than rich people. The Liu family brothers were arrested almost immediately.

The woman’s laughter faintly echoed.

Lu Tong’s gaze sharpened.

Beside the prison cart carrying Liu Zixian and Liu Zide, there was also a woman in pitiful condition following along. This woman wore a short brown robe covered in stains, had lost one shoe, and had a vacant yet somewhat crazed expression. She giggled as she walked beside the prison cart, clapping her hands and laughing: “My son passed! My son passed! From now on I’ll be an official’s wife, and later I’ll become a titled lady!”

Yin Zheng was surprised: “Isn’t that…”

The proprietress’s voice came from beside her ear: “The Liu brothers are being exiled to serve in the military. When Wang Chunzhi learned of this, she went mad. Every day she follows behind the prison carts wandering around, telling everyone she meets that her son passed the exam.” She sighed again, sympathy appearing in her eyes: “What a sin.”

Lu Tong looked toward Wang Chunzhi. The prison cart wheels slowly rolled closer, and the shackled prisoners hung their heads, some with vacant eyes like puppets. The Liu Zide brothers stood there dully, their eyes dry as stagnant water.

“It was promised, it was promised. The great lord said he would give us official positions… The great lord keeps his word. My son will pass soon, hehe…”

Wang Chunzhi walked past Lu Tong with a smile, not even glancing at her.

Lu Tong half-lowered her eyes.

For this imperial examination fraud in the capital, the emperor was furious, so the punishments were severe. The involved candidates would be displayed in cangues for three months, then exiled to serve in the military in remote frontier regions, and receive one hundred lashes upon arrival at their destination.

Though the Liu family was poor, her cousin Wang Chunzhi had always doted on her sons. Liu Zide and Liu Zixian had been pampered and spoiled, unable to lift their hands or carry anything on their shoulders—they probably wouldn’t survive until reaching their place of exile.

Wang Chunzhi was probably driven to mental collapse by this very fear, which caused her to lose her mind and become crazed.

Mental collapse and madness…

Lu Tong gripped the oil paper package in her hand tightly.

The people of Changwu County said that before her mother died, she too had completely lost her mind, going mad day after day, sitting by the river with the rattle drum their three siblings had played with as children, muttering to herself. She could never know what pain her mother felt in her heart at that time, only remembering that in her childhood she had rarely seen her mother truly anxious or angry. Her mother was always broad-minded and cheerful, peaceful and vast like a long river, slowly enveloping all the world’s disappointments.

But that long river later shattered.

Family destruction and death, flesh and blood scattered—this was what her mother had suffered then.

Loss of both people and wealth, misfortunes never coming alone—this was also what Wang Chunzhi was suffering now.

She could no longer see her mother. But there were people in this world who suffered her mother’s pain and went mad with her mother’s madness, showing that in the unseen realm, cause and effect truly existed.

Lu Tong watched the prison cart procession gradually disappear into the distance, her eyes completely indifferent.

Yin Zheng took the oil paper package from her hands to carry it, thrust the umbrella into Lu Tong’s hands, and took her arm to walk back.

Just then, they suddenly heard urgent hoofbeats from ahead, accompanied by a driver’s loud curses. Lu Tong looked up to see a carriage racing toward them from the far end of the long street. The carriage was elegantly decorated, charging through this small alley like a gust of wind. Yin Zheng was startled and hastily moved aside with Lu Tong toward the side of the street.

The carriage barely brushed past them as it sped by, its wheels splashing mud all over the pedestrians on both sides. Yin Zheng angrily said: “This…”

But Lu Tong suddenly looked toward the departing carriage.

The carriage’s canopy was exquisite, spacious and luxurious. She had seen it once before, long ago at Baoxiang Tower.

That was the Grand Tutor Manor’s carriage.

The sky was overcast, autumn rain dreary, people and horses hurrying through the streets. She stared intently at the gradually departing carriage, as if trying to see through the layers of rain, through the carriage’s heavy felt curtains, through this coming and going crowd to clearly see what was inside the carriage, to see the face of whoever sat within it with perfect clarity.

Until she heard an unfamiliar man’s voice beside her: “Miss?”

Lu Tong paused, then turned around.

Two steps away from her stood a young man in white robes, a large wet patch soaking the front of his garment. Her umbrella handle was pressed against the man’s chest, and the cold rainwater from the beautiful hibiscus flower on the umbrella surface had dripped along the flower stem onto his clothing.

She must have accidentally poked a passerby with her umbrella while dodging the carriage just now, not paying attention.

Lu Tong said: “I’m sorry.”

She had expected the man to scold her, but only received a simple “It’s nothing.”

Lu Tong looked up, and when she clearly saw the man’s face, she couldn’t help but freeze.

The man had a jade-like bearing, his black hair arranged with a jade hairpin, his white robes making him appear like a scholar under the trees or a white crane in the clouds, exceptionally elegant and refined. Seeing Lu Tong withdraw her umbrella, he opened his own umbrella and nodded slightly at her before passing by.

He said nothing more.

Lu Tong stood in place, staring at his retreating figure in a daze, the umbrella in her hand tilted, rainwater flowing down from the umbrella surface and pooling in a small puddle on the ground.

Yin Zheng looked at the man and servant gradually walking away, then back at Lu Tong, somewhat puzzled: “Miss, do you know this person?”

Even though this man was handsome and ethereally beautiful, it wouldn’t be enough to make someone stare at him in such a daze. That Young Master Pei was quite attractive too, but her miss looked at him as if he were a block of wood.

Lu Tong withdrew her gaze, shook her head, and properly held up her umbrella: “Let’s go.”

At the same time, the servant walking in the crowd looked at the wet stain on the man’s clothing and couldn’t help saying: “Such a fine garment ruined like this, really…” He looked back again and said indignantly: “The Grand Tutor Manor’s carriage is getting more and more arrogant—aren’t they afraid of running into pedestrians?”

The man said: “Enough.”

The servant couldn’t say more and only asked: “Young master, you still need to return to the Hanlin Medical Academy later. This clothing…”

“No matter, I’ll just change into another.”

…

When Lu Tong returned to the medical clinic, the rain had almost stopped.

Leaves from the plum tree by the entrance had fallen all over the ground. It was no longer as shady and lush as in summer, appearing bare and showing something of the loneliness of approaching winter.

Yin Zheng carried the purchased hawthorn and date cakes to the small courtyard. Du Changqing was lying in the shop in a daze. Seeing Lu Tong return, he glanced at her gloomily with a look of wanting to speak but hesitating. A’Cheng happily called out: “Doctor Lu!”

Lu Tong asked: “What’s wrong?”

The young assistant came around from inside, presenting a paper invitation to Lu Tong with shining eyes: “An invitation from the Prince’s Manor!”

The Prince’s Manor?

Lu Tong looked down and opened the invitation to read. It was actually an invitation card.

Princess Consort Pei Yunshu of the Prince’s Manor planned to hold a “washing ceremony” on the fifteenth of this month for her newborn young miss’s full month celebration. Because Lu Tong had previously helped Pei Yunshu with childbirth, the Prince’s Manor had specially sent an invitation, asking Lu Tong to attend this grand event as well.

Du Changqing glanced at Lu Tong and poured cold water on her enthusiasm: “Don’t get too excited too early. If you ask me, you’d better not go to this washing ceremony. Last time you went to help with the delivery, what with detoxifying and inducing labor, you saved the Princess Consort and her daughter—who knows what other people you might have offended. We have no power or influence. You’re just a clinic doctor, rushing to make yourself a target—do you think your life is too comfortable?”

He coughed twice more: “Besides, the friends and relatives who go will give expensive gifts, and you don’t have money for gifts. Anyway, I won’t lend you money to keep up appearances, so give up that idea early.”

Lu Tong pondered for a moment, put away the invitation, lifted the felt curtain and walked toward the small courtyard.

Du Changqing stretched his neck from behind: “Hey, are you still going?”

“Yes.”

“…”

He became anxious: “Going for what? What are you trying to join in on?”

Lu Tong’s voice was calm: “Not joining in—going to give a gift.”