Pei Yunmeng looked at her.
When she spoke of the matter, her tone was calm, clearly a result of deep thought and deliberation, although the excuse she found was quite clumsy.
He then laughed, "Indeed, compared to the people in the Imperial City, the commoners at the West Street Temple Entrance obviously need Doctor Lu more."
Lu Tong was startled.
Pei Yunmeng watched her with a smiling gaze.
She didn’t speak.
There were Chang Jin, Ji Xun, Lin Danqing at the Medical Officer Institute, and many students from the Imperial Medical Bureau who were training there. There were many, many doctors like her.
But there was only one Benevolent Heart Medical Hall on West Street.
She liked being a healer, but she liked it even more to be a healer outside the Imperial City.
The demand for medical officers inside the Imperial City, compared to outside, was truly too light.
"However," Pei Yunmeng’s voice reached her ears, "if you don’t like gentlemen like Ji Xun who have the world in their hearts, what kind do you like?"
Lu Tong looked up.
This person was resting his head on his hand, looking at her with a teasing smile, the dimples at the corners of his mouth faintly visible, as if deliberately amusing her.
So she spoke plainly, "I’m rather superficial; I like good-looking ones."
Pei Yunmeng paused, feigning surprise, "The implication in those words sounds like a confession."
Lu Tong spoke matter-of-factly, "After all, the selection at the Palace Front Office always depends on appearance."
He stared at Lu Tong and couldn’t help but laugh.
Others always felt that Lu Tong was cold and detached, yet the secret letter from Changwu County described the Third Miss Lu as arrogant, capricious, and whimsically clever. He once regretted that she had become so completely opposite in temperament, but now he was glad that, in certain moments, she was gradually finding her way back to her original self.
"Lu Tong," Pei Yunmeng suddenly spoke, "let’s get married."
Everything around them suddenly fell silent.
Lu Tong was momentarily stunned, "What did you say?"
He looked down, pulling out a green jade bracelet from his chest.
"This is the jade bracelet left by my mother." He took Lu Tong’s hand and slipped the bracelet onto her wrist.
"My grandmother left this jade bracelet to my mother as a dowry, and later my mother left it to my sister. She told me that if I ever found someone I wanted to spend my life with, I should give this jade bracelet to her."
The jade bracelet, its color like solidified greenery, sat on her wrist, making her skin seem as white as frost and snow. Lu Tong looked up, and Pei Yunmeng watched her calmly and tenderly, in the dark rainy night, his pair of pitch-black eyes calm and gentle, sparkling with fine, dim yellow lamplight.
"I’m serious," he said.
Lu Tong’s fingertips trembled, and she found herself at a loss for words.
She hadn’t expected Pei Yunmeng to propose so suddenly and so naturally, leaving her completely unprepared. She had always thought she was good at dealing with unexpected situations, but now she felt an unfamiliar panic, not knowing how to react.
After a moment, Lu Tong steadied herself and then tried to speak light-heartedly, "Ordinary people your age usually don’t discuss marriage so early. If you marry now, the people of Shengjing will definitely say you’ve married young."
With the new Emperor’s ascension, the situation in the Imperial City was complicated. Yet he, the Commandant of the Palace Front Office, remained as stable as ever. Clear-sighted people could tell that the Emperor currently favored him. A young talent like him with such a promising future ought to take his time choosing a spouse. Even among common folk, there was never such haste.
Pei Yunmeng simply looked at her, "Sooner or later it’s all the same, Lu Tong. I’m very sure; I only want to spend the rest of my life with you."
It was like something sour and sweet was welling up from her heart, like the candied hawthorn she had just eaten.
Lu Tong spoke softly, "Aren’t you afraid I’m crazy?"
She was inherently obsessive and crazed, protective to a fault, with a possession desire so intense it could prove fatal. At times, she even despised herself. She had walked this path, Pei Yunmeng should have understood her personality the best. Holding hands, embracing, or even kissing was fine, but when it came to sharing a life together, sharing a bed over the next decades, without a hundred thousand percent love, it would be hard to endure for long.
Pei Yunmeng chuckled.
"The person I like, I don’t think she’s a madwoman."
He touched Lu Tong’s head, his tone gentle, "She’s clever and cunning, enduring and strong, fearless for her family, and unwilling to bow even in front of the powerful."
"If it were me, I couldn’t do better than her. I don’t think she’s crazy. If she thinks she’s gone mad, I’ll just be mad with her."
Lu Tong stared at him blankly.
"You are... the Commandant of the Palace Front Office," after a long moment, she found her voice, "I’m just a common female doctor, our statuses are different."
"Who says?" he laughed, "Aren’t you the fearsome doctor? I’m the assassin young master, now we’re a perfect match."
Outside the pleasure boat, the spring rain was dense like mist, and Lu Tong felt as if her heart too had been drenched by this spring shower. The black-painted small boat floated in the light rain of Shengjing’s spring night, its lamp flickering on and off, while the look he gave her was fervent and resolute.
She found herself unable to refuse.
"If you’re worried about people’s gossip, I can ask His Majesty for an imperial marriage decree. Once it’s issued, no one would dare to say you’re not worthy."
"Right now you’re practicing in West Street, earning two taels of silver a month, which can’t compare to the Medical Officer Institute. I have fields and shops in my estate, the salary will all be given to you, and in the future, whether you want to open your own medical hall or do something else is fine. In the Palace Marshal’s Mansion, you can order as you please."
He had thought it through very carefully.
Carefully enough that Lu Tong "pfft," laughed out loud.
From a distant pleasure barge, the Zither Girl sang with clear and melodious voice, the song went, "Flowers never fade, the moon is eternal. Two hearts in harmony. I wish to become, like the willow’s thousands of strands, entwined with the spring breeze..."
Lu Tong looked up, "Wouldn’t you be at a loss this way?"
"After all, you’re my creditor."
"Old debts from years past have long been repaid. Why does the marshal harbor such a grudge?"
He sighed, "It’s different, debts of romance are hard to repay."
Lu Tong watched him.
The spring rain was fine like dust, beneath the riverside lantern-lit willows soaked by the wind and rain, the boat’s green cloth canopy dyed the night with a layer of pale aquamarine. In the tranquil night by the seclusive window, his handsome and spirited face was close at hand, yet in those pitch-black eyes, there was an imperceptible agitation.
Lu Tong’s heart, which had been slightly in disarray, without direction, settled down within those eyes.
With the man before her, she had always been retreating, continuously evading, desperately suppressing her own heart. But strangely, or perhaps due to some fate that can’t be severed, after many twists and turns, people who were destined to meet would always end up back where they started.
She would eventually be attracted. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
Leaving the future aside, she had never been one to look before and after, so there was no need to be hesitant on this matter. Life is but a few decades, it is worth being brave, seizing the happiness before her.
She smiled faintly.
Pei Yunmeng softly said, "I want to become a bond for Doctor Lu."
"There’s no need."
Hearing Lu Tong’s response, he paused for a second, and at the next moment, he heard the person in front of him speak.
"You’ve already become one."
In the deep spring night, the endless rain soared, as songs of love from the pleasure boat lingered on.
He hesitated for a moment, then suddenly laughed softly, leaning in to kiss the person before him gently.
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