He had once asked Lu Tong with a smile, "There’s a saying, ’Spread kindness widely, and you’ll meet friends everywhere. Don’t foster grudges, for you can’t avoid an enemy in a narrow path.’"
"Doctor Lu, our fate—is it one of kindness or enmity?"
Lu Tong lifted her eyelids to look at him and coldly replied, "It’s a karmic bond."
Karmic bond.
This fate truly wasn’t a pleasant one.
Especially when he discovered his own name was also on Lu Tong’s kill list.
He had imagined many identities for Lu Tong—the Crown Prince, the Third Prince, Emperor Liang Ming, and even someone else—but he had not expected her to be just an ordinary, lone female doctor who had come to the capital alone for the sake of her family. No background, no one to support her, she had deceived him with a made-up "important figure" to gain leverage for herself.
Everything was for revenge.
Those at a dead-end often take desperate, mad risks. The fragrance mixed with drugs split the air, her dagger as fragile as her person, fireworks reflected on the muddy ground, the woman sitting amid the mess, her voice strained as if holding back sobs.
"I don’t need fairness, I will find my own justice."
He stopped.
The person before him suddenly overlapped with the young boy in the ancestral hall of his childhood.
Back then, he too had nothing but himself.
Time flowed swiftly, and he had almost forgotten what his fourteen-year-old self felt, yet he saw his past self in the woman before him.
So he handed her a handkerchief.
On New Year’s Eve, the fireworks at Dechun Platform would last a long time. By the time he returned home, it was already very late. Pei Yunshu and Treasure Bead had gone to sleep; he entered the study, and on the desk, the wooden pagoda he hadn’t touched for a long time stood quietly.
He sat down and that night, added a piece of wood to the wooden pagoda.
...
Long after, he and Lu Tong had become husband and wife. The Imperial Guards from the palace front chatted over drinks, debating whether a woman’s tears were of any use to a man. As he passed by, his subordinates stopped him to ask for the answer to this question.
He answered, "It depends on the person."
Another asked, "What about Doctor Lu’s tears?"
Teased by another guard, "Doctor Lu doesn’t cry!"
Lu Tong handled situations with such calm and coolness, indeed, she did not seem like someone who would cry.
Pei Yunmeng said nothing, but his mind flashed back to the tears of New Year’s Eve night.
He thought to himself, he actually couldn’t withstand her tears.
It seemed that since that night of New Year’s Eve, the wooden pagoda that he had not added to in a long time began to grow taller again.
Lu Tong was assigned to the Southern Pharmacy to pick red Phyllodes, harried by Zhu Mao, and Medical Officer Cui Min, influenced by the Minister of Imperial Treasury, intentionally sent her to treat Jin Xianrong... She always had a lot of troubles, many of which were self-inflicted. He watched with detachment, wanting to remain an indifferent outsider, yet time and again he found himself involuntarily attentive.
His feelings for Lu Tong were complex.
On one hand, he thought she was overestimating herself, trying to challenge the Qi Family was like striking a rock with an egg. On the other hand, he strangely believed that as long as she wanted to, she could succeed, she had to succeed.
But he couldn’t help worrying, so he secretly assisted her, as if investing some expectation in her, thus acting beyond his own measure. Going to Mangming Township, speaking to the Yang Family...
The wooden pagoda she knocked down lay in disarray; some things had started to spiral out of control from that moment.
Xiao Zhufeng saw through it at a glance, always teasing and mocking. He didn’t take it to heart.
Until the hunting trip in the suburb of the capital.
The anger at seeing Lu Tong injured almost made him draw his sword and slay Qi Yutai on the spot; he could not stand to see Lu Tong being humiliated before others, could not bear to see her bowing her head before her enemies. The person he wished to protect—why should she be trampled by others?
The emotional heart, undeniable.
Pei Yunmeng wanted to help her take revenge, but was firmly rejected. Lu Tong always refused help from others. He approached time and again, only to be pushed away each time. The wooden pagoda in the study had been toppled by her once; he had not continued to rebuild it, yet his distress did not diminish by an ounce.
She had become a new problem.
There are always many problems in the world, and he had heard that men find women’s hearts difficult to understand. Lu Tong was among the most difficult of them all.
Sometimes he felt she might not be completely indifferent to him, yet the next moment, she would throw away her comb and brush, coldly pushing him away.
He did not understand what Lu Tong was thinking.
After the Nuoyi ceremonial rites, Qi Yutai died at his birth father’s hand, Qi Qing was at his wits’ end—she was ready for death, resolved to perish together with Qi Qing. He rushed to stop Lu Tong, but upon seeing her eyes, he suddenly realized—she did not want to live at all.
Fortunately, Chang Jin took her to Su Nan.
Everything had been arranged properly, he had no worries left behind and stayed in Shengjing, putting the final touch on the long-planned revenge.
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