Denghuaxiao

After hanging up the tapestry sent by Pei Yunying, whether it was an illusion or not, more people came to Renxin Medical Center to get medicine and see a doctor.

Not all of them are here to get medicine. Most of the new patients come mainly to see the blanket.

Shopkeepers from all over the West Street came here to see it. After Yang Du Changqing agreed, everyone came to touch the gold characters on the blanket and feel happy. After some calculations at the door, Blind He said that this place already had excellent feng shui, and the plum tree at the door was growing auspiciously. Now that this blanket was added, the fortune would increase like a bamboo breaking through the ground.

Bai Shouyi, the shopkeeper of Xinglintang, was so stunned that he had a few big bubbles at the corners of his mouth overnight.

The neighbors were envious and envious, and the Renxin Medical Center was in a happy mood. Only Du Changqing had a long face all day long, thinking that the shiny golden tapestry hanging on the wall looked like a grasshopper's chest and a wasp's waist - nondescript.

Yin Zheng and Acheng gathered around the small table to peel oranges for making orange lanterns. Lu Tong just sent away another neighbor who came to "joy the occasion". When he turned around, he met Du Changqing's resentful eyes.

Lu Tong walked around him and walked to the medicine cabinet to divide the medicine.

Du Changqing followed her with a look of displeasure on his face, "Doctor Lu, look, we are a medical clinic, not a Taoist temple. Everyone comes to worship this old rug, so why don't we get down to business?" He looked tentatively. Xiang Lutong, "Why don't you make a new medicine and remind everyone?"

The season is getting colder, and it is almost winter. People are wearing layers of clothes, and even a few inches of their waists cannot be seen. Many fewer people come to buy "Slim".

On weekdays, most of the neighbors who come to see a doctor on West Street are ordinary people, and the medical fees are very low. The income of Renxin Medical Center is not as good as before. Du Changqing was thinking about asking Lu Tong to make another patent medicine like "Xianxian" or "Chunshuisheng" to subsidize the medicine.

Lu Tong said: "I didn't expect Fang Zi."

"You must be fooling me," Du Changqing suspected. "You lied to me when you recruited you to sit in the restaurant. Didn't you say, 'I can make herbal tea for nasal congestion, but can't I make other herbal teas?' Why is it that Jiang Lang is exhausted now?" "

Acheng really couldn't listen, so he helped to persuade: "Master, making new medicines is not like going to the latrine, squatting in and coming out, so you have to think about it."

"Vulgar!" Du Changqing pointed at him, then looked at the woven rug on the wall and sighed, "I think if you put a basin under this rug and write the sentence 'Ten cents a touch', I might be able to make more money than if we opened a medical clinic. many."

Lu Tong nodded at the burdock seeds in his hand and asked, "Shopkeeper Du, if I want to become famous enough that high-ranking officials and wealthy families would ask me to come to their homes for medical treatment, what needs to be achieved?"

Du Changqing was stunned for a moment, and then sneered: "Aren't you already famous? There are not enough high-ranking officials like Taifu Temple Minister and County Prince's Mansion?"

"not enough."

Du Changqing: "..."

He said angrily: "Then what kind of high-ranking officials can fall in your eyes, Dr. Lu?"

Lu Tong thought for a while: "Now the most powerful person in Shengjing is the Taishi Mansion. What if it is a family like the Taishi Mansion?"

Du Changqing "tsk tsk tsk" a few times and looked at her with admiration, "I didn't expect you to have such ambition." The next moment, he put on a look of despair, "But don't think about it, it's impossible. The people in the Grand Master's Mansion have headaches and fever, and that is something that the Imperial Medical Officer of the Hanlin Medical Academy personally diagnoses. Let alone a wild medical clinic like ours, not everyone is qualified to treat the medical officers of the Hanlin Medical Academy. ——”

Seeing that Lu Tong remained silent, he glanced at Lu Tong and continued to explain to her proactively, "These high-ranking officials and aristocratic families value life as much as gold, and they will not let outsiders know if they have any illnesses. People with our status can only be seen by their servants at most. Just a consultation. No, we are not qualified to enter their house. Their servants are probably looking for doctors from big medical clinics that they are familiar with."

Lu Tong's heart sank slightly.

What Du Changqing said was exactly what she heard.

Taishi Qi is located to the east of Yujie. There are guards guarding the front and back of the palace, making it difficult for ordinary people to enter. If a family member of the family is ill, please ask the Imperial Medical College to come to the house for treatment. Grand Master Qi has a son and a daughter. The younger daughter has not yet left the cabinet at the age of 18 this year. As for the only legitimate son Qi Yutai, he now has an empty post in the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Finance to save trouble.

These three people are difficult to get close to. Leaving aside Qi Qing, Miss Qi and Master Qi are always followed by a large group of guards when traveling, and it is difficult for people around them to pry around.

Things seemed to be at an impasse.

As for the Happy Building, it involves the Grand Master's Mansion. The shrewd Mr. Cao will definitely not be willing to take risks for a little money, and he might notice something, which will arouse suspicion.

This road is blocked.

Du Changqing continued to complain: "Isn't it just because Qi Yutai has a grand master that his eyes can reach the sky? I don't know how big a pomp will be put on at Yuxian Tower for his birthday this year. Who cares to see it?"

Lu Tong's eyes moved and she grasped the key point of his words: "Birthday?"

"It's only the first day of October. It's only a few days away." He remembered Qi Yutai's birthday very clearly. "The prodigal son celebrates his birthday every year at Yuxian Tower. Just the tea sets cost thousands of taels of silver."

Yin Zheng couldn't help but ask: "With his extravagance, isn't he afraid that the big tree will attract the wind and cause people to be dissatisfied with the Taishi Mansion?"

"Qi Yutai's maternal ancestor was an imperial merchant in his early years. He said he accumulated wealth in his family. Who knows?" Du Changqing snorted, "No one can say anything without evidence."

At the end of the sentence, the sourness in the words was palpable.

Lu Tong remained silent.

Du Changqing sighed and reasoned with her sincerely, "So Dr. Lu, you should be more down-to-earth and don't think about reaching the sky from the beginning. What's good about the Grand Master's Palace? Apart from more money, higher status, and more power, I It doesn’t look as comfortable as our small medical clinic.”

"dont you agree?"

"Yes."

Du Changqing was stunned.

"you are right."

Lu Tong looked up with a strange look on his face: "People should be more down-to-earth and don't think about reaching the sky in one go."

……

In the Grand Master's Mansion, Grand Master Qi Qing was having a meal.

Grandmaster Qi is good at maintaining health. He is nearly seventy years old and eats little but is fine. He likes to eat fish, among which "Jinyu Yuxi" is his favorite dish.

The so-called "Jin Yu Yu" is a seasoning made from garlic, ginger, salt, white plums, orange peels, cooked chestnut meat and stem rice. Fresh and plump seabass is deboned, peeled, drained, sliced ​​into thin slices, and dipped in " "Golden" to enjoy.

Master Qi ate very quietly, slowly putting a piece of fish meat soaked in dipping sauce into his mouth and chewing it carefully. While the butler poured light tea for him, he said, "Master, it will be the young master's birthday in a few days."

Qi Yutai was also fined and couldn't go out. However, January was almost exhausted. In a few days it would be the first day of October. Qi Yutai couldn't hold it anymore. He wanted to take this opportunity to go out and relax and beg the housekeeper.

"Continue to be banned." Qi Qing lifted his sleeves to drink tea. He was wearing a long black gauze robe and was alone with his bones. He was sitting under the window drinking by himself, like an old Taoist.

The housekeeper lowered his head and said, "Yes." He then mentioned another matter: "By the way, Master, we have some clues about the good woman you asked to investigate before."

Qi Qing said: "Say."

"The good wife's family name is Ke, and she is engaged in the porcelain kiln business in Shengjing. Because of the relationship with the eldest young master, all the cups and cups used by the old lady in the mansion to celebrate her birthday were supplied by the Ke family."

"However, the Ke family is gone."

Qi Qing stopped chewing: "No more?"

"Yes." The housekeeper bowed his head and said: "On the first day of April this year, Ke Chengxing, the eldest son of the Ke family and her good husband, was found drowned in the release pond of Wan'en Temple. The man concluded that he slipped and drowned while drunk. Because he was found dead There was an act of worshiping the statue of the previous dynasty when he died, but there was no follow-up to this matter."

"After Ke Chengxing died, his wife returned to her parents' home. His mother died of illness, and the Ke family had no descendants."

Qi Qing put down his bamboo chopsticks and remained speechless.

The housekeeper said: "Master, this is not right, I'm afraid someone is behind it."

Qi Yutai had no intention of causing the death of a good woman, but it was just a small matter. But now it seems that something happened to Fan Zhenglian, who was helping to deal with the follow-up, something happened to the Ke family, and Fan Zhenglian even brought up rumors about the Qi family before he died.

The rumor came out suddenly and spread everywhere overnight. The Qi family dealt with Fan Zhenglian in prison, and no one speculated that the Taishi Mansion killed someone and silenced him. When Qi Taishi went to court, he dragged a handful of old bones and made a tearful confession. He said that this was not a deception, and there was really no evidence. The emperor was skeptical and did not continue to pursue the case.

But this does not mean that the matter has been revealed.

Someone must be targeting the Grand Master's Mansion behind his back, but there is still no clue as to who this person is or what power he has behind him.

After a long time, Qi Qing suddenly said: "What is the name of a good woman who died?"

"Master Hui, my surname is Lu. She is a married woman from Changwu County."

The good woman had been dead for a long time. The wife of a merchant had a low status, and her name was not worthy of being remembered even after she died.

Qi Qing said: "Go and check the good woman's family." He then added: "The population of the family before leaving the cabinet, what is the current situation now, how many people are left in the natal family."

"Master, this is suspicion..." The butler's eyes moved.

"If you manage your boudoir with good intentions, you will have deep etiquette and laws. All your relatives will be kind and kind. There will be harmony inside and outside, and your family will be well established."

The old teacher picked up the dumplings again and said calmly: "As a family, it is inevitable to help each other."

……

In mid-September, the air is solemn and condensed, and the dew is condensed with frost.

The grass under the window in the courtyard was covered with a thin layer of snow-white frost at night. Yin Zheng gathered the half-finished orange lanterns in a basket and put them back into the house.

Lu Tong sat at the table, combing her unbraided hair. She only wore a thin middle coat. The middle coat was made too wide, making her whole body even thinner. Yin Zheng looked distressed and said: "Why do you think the girl has lost weight recently? She must be too busy and tired these days. She was already thin, but now she looks like she could be blown away by a gust of wind." Then she said to herself, "Tomorrow Ask Dai Sanlang to choose some meaty bones and stew them for dinner."

She always paid attention to Lu Tong's food, clothing and daily life. Lu Tong raised her eyes and looked at the person in the mirror.

The woman in the mirror has a slender neck, her black hair hangs down behind her shoulders like a waterfall, her entire face is no bigger than a palm, and is too delicate, and a pair of cold eyes stares at her quietly.

Xu rarely looked in the mirror during those years in Luomeifeng, but now she looked at the person in the mirror, staring at that familiar face, and she actually felt a little strange.

Yin Zheng was still worried about her thinness, and said from behind: "We eat the same as us on weekdays... Did the girl not like eating when she was a child, and she doesn't even want to grow now?"

Didn't you like to eat when you were a kid?

Lu Tong shook his head, "No, I always ate a lot when I was a kid."

Yin Zheng looked suspicious: "Really?"

"real."

The lady looked at her in the mirror, her beautiful face blurred by the light, and gradually blurred into another round face that was white, tender, plump and full of childishness.

It's the face of a little girl.

The little girl wears a double bun with a black golden butterfly on each side, which is as cute as a white dumpling. Lu Tong smiled, and the little girl in the mirror also smiled at her, with a hint of sly pride in her smile.

Lu Tong's eyes drifted away.

She didn't lie.

When I was young, I was greedy and always ate a lot. Before leaving Changwu County, Lu Tong was a fat girl.

There are three children in the family, Lu Rou is slim and beautiful, and Lu Qian is handsome and intelligent. Perhaps God gave the first two Lu children enough preferential treatment in terms of their appearance, but when it was Lu Tong's turn, they looked much more careless.

She is greedy and always grabs the most candies when she buys them at home, and she gets hungry quickly. She often complains that she is hungry before the meal is ready. Everyone in the neighborhood in Changwu County knows her. When she was a child, she was round and cute. The neighbors often gave her preserved peanuts. Gradually, her face became fuller and fuller, like a white glutinous rice ball.

Rice dumplings are certainly a sign of good fortune, but when they were young, they were good signs of good fortune. When they grow up, they do not look so smart. Especially with the most beautiful sister in Changwu County.

Liu Kun's sons Liu Zide and Liu Zixian laughed at her behind her back: "Fat pig, be careful that you won't get married in the future!"

She learned this from others and cried all the way home. She was bumped into by Lu Qian who was returning home from school. After asking about the whole story, she went to fight with the Liu brothers.

The fight was fierce. When his father returned home, he asked Lu Qian to go to the Liu family to plead guilty, and even punished Lu Rou and Lu Tong to copy copybooks together. The tradition of the Lu family has always been that one person makes a mistake and three are punished.

Lu Tong was already aggrieved, but now she felt even more aggrieved. While scolding the Liu brothers and copying books, she also swore that she would become as slim and slim as her sister within half a year, and that starting from today, her daily food intake would be halved.

As a result, I was hungry within half a day.

At night, I was so hungry that my eyes were filled with stars. After my parents were fast asleep, I couldn't help but get up from the bed secretly and go to the kitchen to look for leftovers. After searching around, I couldn't find it. Lu Rourou and Lu Qian came in from outside.

Lu Tong cried sadly: "Why is there no leftover food?"

"Who told you to eat whatever you said you wouldn't eat during the day? Dad would eat it for me." Lu Qian deliberately made her angry.

"you!"

"Shh, keep your voice down." Lu Rou patted Lu Qian, "Stop teasing her."

Lu Qian took out some sweet potatoes from behind his back and said, "It's too late. Let's bake some sweet potatoes and eat them, so as not to wake up your parents and make you copy books for a few more days."

The thought of copying books made Lu Tong feel dizzy and he said hurriedly: "Okay, okay, just sweet potatoes."

It was troublesome to light a fire on the stove in the kitchen, so Lu Qian found a charcoal pot for heating, placed it at the door to burn, and buried a few sweet potatoes in the charcoal ashes.

The aroma of sweet potatoes gradually filled the kitchen.

Lu Qian pulled the iron tongs out of the fire, Lu Rou peeled the skin and handed it to Lu Tong. Lu Tong sat on the ground leaning against the wall, took a bite of the hot sweet potato, and felt the iron all over his body.

Lu Ju said: "Eat slowly and be careful not to burn it."

Lu Qian picked out a few others for her to dry.

When he finished eating the whole thing and was about to get the second one, Lu Tong glanced at Lu Qian's face with a bruised nose and swollen eyes, and suddenly felt depressed for no reason.

Lu Qian saw that she stopped eating after looking at him, and he was confused: "What?"

"Your face is so ugly..."

The young man was furious: "Lu San, you don't even know who I am doing this for!"

Lu Tong said wiltedly: "I was thinking, if I don't eat even one meal, I will be very hungry. Am I destined to be a fat pig for the rest of my life?"

Lu Rou frowned: "Tongtong, you are growing tall now. How can you do it without eating? Don't listen to Liu Zide and Liu Zixian's nonsense."

"But they said I can't get married in the future..."

"Who wants them to worry about it?" Lu Qian said angrily, "I haven't eaten his rice, so I don't care what he says."

Lu Tong felt sad: "But none of you are like me... Could it be that I am not my parents' biological child?"

Lu Qian: "...you want dad to beat you, right?"

Lu Rou sighed and reached out to pick up a sweet potato: "Then let's eat it with you and become piglets together, okay?"

Lu Qian was happy: "Then the Lu family has three little pigs? Okay, I'll eat one too...it tastes so good!"

The brothers and sisters sat beside him, and the hot sweet potatoes drove away the cold winter. In the sweet fragrance that filled the kitchen, Lu Tong wiped his tears. For some reason, he didn't feel so sad anymore.

The next day, my mother got up in the morning and went to the kitchen. She found the burnt charcoal ashes and the sweet potato peels in the corner. She couldn't laugh or cry. She tapped Lu Tong's forehead and taught her a lesson: "You don't have to think too much. Eat your food well. Don't worry, our Lu family is all here." She is a beauty, not ugly.”

"In the future, you will also be as beautiful as your sister!"

At that time, Lu Tong always felt that it was her mother's words of comfort to her.

later……

Later, she was taken to Luomeifeng by Yun Niang, and they collected and tested herbs all over the mountains and plains. Maybe she was tired, hungry, or it was already time to draw strips. I don’t know how long it had passed, but one day she was washing clothes by the stream. , through the stream, I saw the face of a strange girl reflected in the stream.

Her peach cheeks and apricot face, her beautiful face and elegant appearance are completely different from that fat girl who is round and round.

She lay down by the stream and watched for a long time.

It turned out that what my mother said was true. She was as slim and slender as her sister, and she was a beautiful girl.

It turned out that...she had grown up before she knew it.

There was a soft sound, and the sound of Yin Zheng closing the window interrupted Lu Tong's thoughts. The autumn night was desolate and cold. The little girl with crooked eyes in the mirror gradually faded away, turning into another woman with thin makeup, looking at her indifferently. .

Lu Tong's eyebrows moved slightly.

She grew up, from an innocent little girl to a graceful and graceful lady. Unfortunately, no one in the Lu family saw her parents, brothers and sisters.

They didn't get to see her grow up.

The hugs, tears, joy and admonitions that had been imagined countless times after the reunion in the dream came to an abrupt end, just like the charcoal fire in the small kitchen many years ago, forever extinguished in the cold winter night.

No more life.

But the fire in her heart was burning and getting stronger and stronger.

The window was closed, and the late autumn night was very cold.

"I want to go to Yuxian Tower." Lu Tong suddenly spoke in the silence.

Yin Zheng, who was walking to the door, was stunned for a moment, subconsciously turned around and looked at Lu Tong in astonishment.

Lu Tong stretched out her fingers and lightly traced the eyebrows of the person in the mirror.

The eyes of the person in the mirror are as plain as still water, but in the still water, there are invisible undercurrents.

She pulled back.

"On the first day of October, the day of Qi Yutai's birthday..."

"I'm going to Yuxian Tower," she said.