It rained during the night.
The rain pattered down, striking the newly planted banana leaves in the small courtyard with melancholy sounds.
Lu Tong had a dream.
In her dream, she returned to the Lu family residence in Changwu County. It was the twelfth lunar month, approaching New Year, with gentle wind and snow. Lu Rou walked out from the residence.
Her elder sister clearly still looked like a young maiden, yet she wore a married woman’s hairstyle and a plum-green plain velvet embroidered jacket, as charming and gentle as always.
Seeing her, Lu Rou reached out to take Lu Tong’s hand, saying reproachfully: “You naughty girl, where did you run off to again? Mother has been calling at home for half the day without seeing you respond. Be careful or Father will scold you when he finds out. We’re about to paste the red characters, and Lu Qian is writing them now. Come quickly and change your clothes.”
In a daze, she obediently let Lu Rou lead her toward the house, hearing Lu Rou say softly ahead of her: “You’ve been gone for so long. All these years, Sister has kept that hairpin for you. It’s good that you’ve come back…”
Hairpin?
What hairpin?
Why did Lu Rou say she had been gone for many years? Where had she gone?
As if a clap of thunder exploded beside her ear, Lu Tong suddenly opened her eyes.
The room was filled with dim yellow lamplight. In the pitch-black sky, only the sound of dripping rain remained.
She slowly sat up from the bed, unable to fall asleep again, silently gazing at the yellow lamplight until dawn.
When dawn came, Yin Zheng also got up from her bed. The two opened the medical hall’s main gate, and before long, Du Changqing and A’Cheng arrived as well.
Spring was nearing its end, and after several consecutive rainy days, fewer people came to buy medicinal tea. It was early morning, and the shop was somewhat quiet.
Du Changqing brewed a pot of hot tea and sent A’Cheng to buy two hot pancakes to eat as breakfast.
Lu Tong walked up to him and said: “Shopkeeper Du, I’d like to borrow some silver from you.”
Du Changqing nearly choked on his pancake, and after finally swallowing it down, he looked at Lu Tong: “What did you say?”
“I want to borrow some silver from Shopkeeper Du,” Lu Tong said. “I’ll write you an IOU and repay you in a few days.”
Du Changqing looked her up and down, snorted, walked past her into the interior, and after a while, fished out a key from under the medicine cabinet and retrieved a box from somewhere to hand to Lu Tong.
Yin Zheng eyed the box and asked tentatively: “This is…”
Du Changqing said irritably: “I calculated a few days ago that in these past two months, after deducting materials, the Spring Water Life medicine netted two hundred taels of silver. Doctor Lu, although your monthly wage is two taels of silver, I’m not one to take advantage of people. Moreover, you helped me teach that old bastard Bai Shouyi a lesson, which this shopkeeper very much appreciates. These hundred taels are your share.” He reluctantly moved his gaze away from the box, looking pained. “You don’t need to write me any IOU either. Just make more medicinal teas like this in the future, and that will count as repayment.”
Lu Tong was surprised. This man usually counted every penny, but now he was being quite generous. No wonder he had squandered such a large family fortune.
She looked at Du Changqing: “Thank you.”
Du Changqing waved his hand and just focused on continuing to eat his pancake.
Yin Zheng breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Perhaps because he had inexplicably lost a hundred taels of silver, although he pretended to be generous on the surface, he was still uncomfortable inside. Du Changqing was quite melancholy that day. Before evening had even darkened, he took A’Cheng and went home first.
Yin Zheng closed the main gate and returned to the small courtyard behind the pharmacy. Lu Tong had already changed her clothes.
The outfit was a somewhat worn lotus-gray plain jacket in men’s style, which Yin Zheng had bought from a woman selling old clothes at the temple entrance. Lu Tong arranged her long hair in a man’s topknot, roughly secured with a bamboo hairpin. She was naturally delicate and charming, and in this masculine dress, she appeared even more fair and handsome, making her female identity obvious at first glance.
Yin Zheng shook her head and smiled: “We still need to apply some powder to disguise you.”
After hastily applying some rouge and powder, the sky had turned completely dark. Yin Zheng saw that someone had hung a sprig of mugwort on the shop’s main gate, so she said to Lu Tong: “Miss, we can go now.”
Lu Tong nodded, picked up the bamboo-framed umbrella standing in the corner, and left with Yin Zheng.
…
The spring rain was clear and cold, always seeming like the low weeping of someone departing.
But the southern part of the city was very lively.
Under Luoyue Bridge, painted boats with flutes and drums came and went endlessly. Hundreds of horn lanterns were tied to the bridge railings like scattered silver pearls, illuminating the river surface brilliantly.
Turning past the ward entrance, there was Qinghe Street. Because of its location in the ward, the entire street was filled with teahouses, wine shops, gambling halls, and brothels. High officials and noble young masters often spent entire nights drinking here or gathering to drink and watch performances. On clear nights, fireworks covered the sky, with lights everywhere bright as day—a scene of peaceful prosperity and romance.
Tonight was the same.
A carriage stopped in front of Yuxian Tower.
A young man wearing a gold-woven cloud brocade jacket descended from the carriage. His face was as beautiful as pearls and jade. He stood straight and didn’t carry an umbrella, walking directly into the wine tower through the light wind and drizzle.
Yuxian Tower was bustling inside. Wine banners and embroidered ribbons were everywhere, with shadows swaying in fragrant breezes. The rouge fragrance from the girls mixed with wine scents, warming this lonely rainy night until no trace of cold remained. In the flower hall on the first floor, opera performers were singing “Dian Jiang Chun.”
It was truly a tender land of wealth and pleasure.
The handsome young man entered the tower. Seeing his brocade clothes and fine appearance with outstanding bearing, a beautiful woman in red makeup approached gracefully, extending her hand to take the young man’s arm. But she was pulled back by a friend beside her who quietly reminded: “Don’t go.”
The beauty was startled. In her hesitation, the person before her had already passed by without giving her a second glance.
She bit her lip, feeling unwilling, when she suddenly saw the young man walk directly into an upstairs private room. Her expression changed.
Upstairs… was a place only distinguished guests could go.
She quickly took her friend’s arm and hurried away.
In the upstairs private room, warm jade plum blossom incense burned in the burner.
The rich fragrance filled the moon-colored gauze curtains with additional elegance.
The room was decorated very elegantly. Before a low table sat a green jade bamboo bonsai. The chrysanthemum-petal jade tea cups contained fresh cloud mist tea, and newly picked lychees were arranged in a sapphire blue enamel fruit dish, perfectly vibrant.