Denghuaxiao

Chapter 181 Teacher
There were a few more copper lamps on the table, and the darkroom became brighter.

Whips, knives, sticks, hammers...

The ground was in a mess, with bricks and stones falling all over the floor. Pei Yunying reset the overturned table and stool, and wiped away the dust on the table.

Just now, the guard in green came in, respectfully handed over a mahogany tray, put down the teapot and cups on it, bowed his head and retreated.

Pei Yunying sat down at the table.

The corners of his mouth were slightly swollen and there were bloodstains, and the edges of his lips were black and blue. He looked calm. He picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea. He pushed it across the table and said with a smile: "Master Yan, drink a cup of tea to calm your anger. Don't be angry."

Opposite him, Yan Xu sat down. He was not injured, his face was clean, but his wrinkled robe revealed that he had fought with someone here just now. Yan Xu glanced at the tea cup in front of him and sneered: "Why don't you throw the cup?"

The young man put down the teacup in his hand and sighed: "How dare I, teacher."

As soon as these words came out, the face of the person in front of him suddenly turned cold: "Don't call me that."

Pei Yunying stopped talking.

Up and down the Liang Dynasty, everyone knew that Pei Dianshuai, the former secretary of the palace, and Mr. Yan of the Privy Council were incompatible with each other. If they saw the other party's misfortune, they would be sorry for their own enemies without adding insult to injury. This is certainly due to the old incident stirring up the situation, but people in the officialdom know it very well. The biggest reason is the delicate status of the Presiding Officer and the Privy Council themselves.

The relationship between the San Yamen and the Privy Council made the emperor happy to see it work. The more tit for tat the two of them did, the more relieved Emperor Liang Ming became.

Soldiers and power should not and cannot be mixed together.

Pei Yunying clicked his tongue and said, "I have taken advantage of you so much. If I still can't bear to call you "teacher", wouldn't Master Yan suffer a big loss?"

"shut up."

Pei Yunying stared at him, her smile unabated.

Before he was fourteen years old, he was born into a wealthy family with loving parents. He grew up in fine clothing and fine food, and was a proud man admired by everyone.

Until the Zhaoyang Rebellion.

My maternal grandfather’s family, my uncle’s family, and my mother died one after another. Even the paper money in the mourning hall can't be burned.

At that time, the days suddenly became extremely long overnight. Pei Yunshu was overwhelmed with grief and became thinner day by day. He tried his best to cheer himself up and not indulge in grief, but he accidentally learned a secret rumor.

As a boy, he was horrified by this secret, so he questioned Pei Di, but Pei Di's reaction was beyond his expectation, so that he was completely disappointed in front of his mother's memorial tablet in the ancestral hall, and his relationship with Pei Di and his son was severed in his heart.

He wanted to find out the truth behind his mother's death, but without the identity of Duke Zhaoning, it was difficult for such a prosperous Beijing to do so.

In desperation, he turned to the Privy Council, an old man who had an old relationship with his grandfather's family.

Things in the world are like chess, changing rapidly. The old man who treated him kindly in the past has now changed his face. He begged for many days under the old man. Perhaps because of his old friendship, the other party gave him a ring and asked him to kill someone and find something.

He accepted the ring.

He was young when he left Beijing and did not tell anyone. Even so, he encountered many pursuits along the way. There are countless people who want him dead, including the enemies of the Pei family, the enemies of the grandfather's family, and countless open and covert arrows hidden in the dark.

It was a long journey and a heartbreaking journey, but what I thought was a simple task actually took two years.

In the past two years, he has been betrayed, encountered cold arrows, slept in a righteous village, and hid in the execution ground.

After finally narrowly escaping death, he returned with his things, only to be ambushed in the jungle dozens of miles away from Shengjing.

The reunited man in black made his heart suddenly sink.

On his way back to Beijing, he only spoke to his close associates who stayed in the Pei family.

The ambush was very tragic, and he was seriously injured. Just when he thought he was going to die together with the men in black, men and horses suddenly arrived.

The visitors wiped out all the assassins. The exhausted young man sat by the tree and raised his head warily. He saw the crowd slowly parting. On the leading horse, a man with scars at the corners of his eyes looked at him coldly.

After a while, the man said sarcastically: "You are really lucky."

He looked at his face carefully, as if to identify it clearly. After a long time, he looked away and said, "Take it back."

The firelight in the darkroom was bright, and Yan Xu's cold voice came to his ears: "You will only make people feel sick if you call me like that."

Pei Yunying looked at him, pretending not to believe it: "Really?"

Yan Xu never let Pei Yunying call him teacher.

After returning to Beijing from Sunan, he did not return to the Pei family for the time being. Pei Di has married and has a new wife, his confidants have rebelled, and the Pei family can no longer stay.

There seemed to be so many people in Shengjing who wanted him dead that when he returned to Shengjing, he suddenly found that without the Pei family, he had nowhere to go.

The elder of the Privy Council whom he had begged for mercy also died not long after he left Beijing. The current commander of the Privy Council is Yan Xu.

He learned about the relationship between Yan Xu and his mother and gave the things to Yan Xu.

Yan Xu collected the things and still ignored him.

In fact, he didn't just ignore him. In fact, Yan Xu hated him very much at first.

He could feel the indifference and boredom of Yan Xu's eyes every time he fell on him, but he couldn't explain why, but Yan Xu still saved him from that ambush, and later saved him many times.

At first, he was full of hostility and suspicion towards this man who had been entangled with his mother, but later...

The relationship between people is difficult to describe without the word "wonderful".

He held his head, picked up the tea cup, took a sip, and sighed: "That being said, when you hear me calling you that, don't you feel a little bit happy in your heart?"

Yan Xu's eyes revealed and he sneered: "You are much more sentimental than your mother."

Pei Yunying nodded and curled her lips, "If my mother were still alive and saw you hanging her paintings in the study and carefully collecting them, she might regret not being more sentimental back then."

Yan Xu choked.

A trace of discomfort flashed across his eyes, and the man sneered and turned away: "That's nice to say. You really respect your teacher. Why did you draw your sword just now?"

He sarcastically said: "Those who shouted to kill, those who didn't know, thought they were going to kill the enemy."

"I didn't pull it out just now." Pei Yunying said innocently, "And it's not that you are too fierce, I was afraid that you would scare others."

"scare?"

Yan Xu seemed to have heard a joke: "There was a half-person in front of me, and she sewed up the wound in a hurry. I remember you vomited for a long time when you first saw a dead person."

"She's much better than you were back then."

Pei Yunying pondered for a moment and looked at him seriously: "You appreciate it so much? Don't you also want her to call you teacher?"

Yan Xu did not answer his words and just said indifferently: "A common medical woman single-handedly killed Qi Yutai's dog. Her expression remained unchanged in front of the dead body. She dared to drink my tea and threaten the officials with the "Xingtong". This woman is so bold that she is not a beauty in the boudoir.”

He raised his eyelids: "Is this the Crown Princess you chose?"

"Cough-cough-"

Pei Yunying almost choked on her tea.

He put down the teacup and looked helpless: "I told you he was a creditor."

"Which creditor is so troublesome and how much do you owe?"

Pei Yunying rubbed his forehead and heart, and had to tell everything about Sunan's execution ground. At the end, he sighed: "She helped me save my life. She also said that I would never forget the day we meet again. Now the Qi family has repeatedly made things difficult for me. I am not an ungrateful person either.”

"We can't just sit there and watch."

There was silence in the room.

After a while, Yan Xu suddenly said: "She doesn't like you?"

Pei Yunying was startled: "No..."

Yan Xu scorned: "Incompetent."

"..."

Pei Yunying was speechless for a moment. When she saw Yan Xu picked up the tea cup and took a sip, his face finally looked better. He thought for a while before speaking: "However, after this incident, the Qi family should be able to convince the prince to give up on me completely. Maybe, Tomorrow we will instigate the Privy Council to attack the Palace Secretary."

Yan Xu smiled contemptuously: "The Qi family is nothing. Sooner or later they will be the guests of the King of Hell. But that Cui Min," he glanced at Pei Yunying, "I just sent the message from the Privy Council, and I asked your benefactor to send it to my door right away. I wish I could never come back.”

"This benefactor of yours has made many enemies."

Pei Yunying nodded and changed the topic: "Don't you care about her?"

Yan Xu became furious: "Take your knife and get out of here right now."

Pei Yunying: "Oh."

……

After coming out of Yan Xu's residence, Pei Yunying did not return to the palace commander's residence immediately.

He deliberately walked around the east corridor of Youye Gate, causing countless people on the road to see the bruises on the corners of his mouth. It was not until the sunset gradually set that he returned to the Palace Commander's Mansion without haste.

In the small courtyard, the kennels were empty, and Duan Xiaoyan was not seen feeding the dogs in the courtyard. As soon as Pei Yunying entered the room, he saw Duan Xiaoyan sitting at the table in the hall of the Palace Commander's Mansion, with one hand spread out on the table and listening carefully to the person in front of him.

Seeing him entering the door, Duan Xiaoyan hurriedly waved to him happily: "My lord is back!"

The person sitting with his back turned around after hearing this.

Pei Yunying was stunned for a moment and asked, "Why are you here?"

Before Lu Zhuo could speak, Duan Xiaoyan at his side responded first: "Medical Officer Lu said that he would take a break for more than half a month and come over to deliver summer prescriptions. It just so happens that I haven't been able to heal recently, and I always feel overwhelmed. Anyway, I have nothing to do, so let me Dr. Lu also prescribed some prescriptions for digestion."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Pei Yunying's face clearly. He jumped up and shouted loudly: "Who in the world hit you? Who? What did the murderer do to your beautiful face? This is us The face of the front secretary!"

Pei Yunying was amused: "Didn't you say before that Gardenia is the face of the front minister?"

Duan Xiaoyan replied seriously: "That's different, you two are a man and a woman."

"..."

Lu Yan raised his eyes, his eyes fell on the bruises at the corners of his mouth, and his heart moved slightly.

When we parted ways on the veranda during the day, he didn't have this wound on his face.

Duan Xiaoyan was still making a fuss: "I'm not going to slap someone in the face. Shouldn't someone pay for such a serious injury? Bro, tell me who hit you, and I'll file a complaint against him right away!"

Pei Yunying touched the corners of her slightly swollen mouth and smiled: "It's quite heavy."

"Since Medical Officer Lu is here," he looked at Lu Huan, "please ask Medical Officer Lu to prescribe a prescription for me."

……

At dusk, the lights in the house came on.

Pei Yunying walked to the table and sat down, reaching out and taking off the knife: "Didn't you say I would come to you later? Why did you come here by yourself?"

Lu Yan closed the door: "There are many people in the medical hospital, so it's not convenient. I thought about it. Instead of you coming to me, it's better for me to come to you."

At least this side of the Palace Commander's Mansion is all Pei Yunying's own people.

He smiled when he heard this and said, "But you took the initiative to run to the Palace Commander's Mansion, aren't you afraid of damaging your reputation?"

Lu Yan also sat down at the table, "Now everyone knows the rumors about you and me. If I avoid it, but instead deliberately do it, outsiders will call me pretentious and deceiving others."

In romantic rumors, for men it is glamor and glory, but for women it is the shackles of fame.

Hearing this, Pei Yunying's eyes moved, he looked at her deeply and said, "I'm sorry, it was me who caused you trouble." Lu Yan said calmly: "I don't blame you."

This is true.

She would rather do this than kneel down to the murderer who killed her whole family in full view of the public. Her humiliation will not come from the useless reputation of a woman, but will come from bowing to her enemies.

"Besides," she raised her head and stared at Pei Yunying's face, "aren't you also relaxed?"

Pei Yunying was startled.

The bruises at the corners of his mouth became more obvious at this time, and the dark purple marks were particularly clear on his clean face.

"Did you go back to see Yan Xu again?"

He didn't say yes or no, he just lowered his head and smiled, which seemed to touch the scar at the corner of his mouth and let out a "hiss".

Lu Zhen paused, put the medical box on the table, took out a medicine bottle from it and handed it over.

"Jade muscle cream?"

Pei Yunying looked at her and said, "Why are you useless?" He then said, "I have no use for my slight injury, so you should keep it."

"I have another bottle." Lu Yan interrupted him and gave him another piece of bamboo.

He stopped talking.

After thinking about it, Pei Yunying reached out to pick up the medicine bottle, pulled out the stopper, picked up the bamboo slices Lu Zhu handed him, dipped the bamboo slices in the medicinal mud and applied it to the corners of his lips.

There was no mirror in the room, so he didn't apply it accurately, and the green mud stuck to his lips, making a mess.

After wiping it on twice, he suddenly looked at her and handed the piece of bamboo to her like a rogue.

"How about you come?"

Lu Yan ignored him.

He sighed, as if he had expected this, and was about to pick up the piece of bamboo to continue. Lu Yan suddenly stretched out his hand, took the piece of bamboo he handed over, and raised his hand to rub it on his face.

Pei Yunying paused.

She was very close to him.

The sun had completely sunk, and the small courtyard of the front office was extremely quiet. In the dark night, the lanterns hanging on the trees swayed in the wind, casting a hazy silence.

She raised her head slightly and carefully applied the ointment on the bamboo slice in her hand to the corners of his lips. There was wind blowing through the window, and there was a faint hint of medicinal fragrance.

For some reason, at this moment, he suddenly remembered what the teacher had just asked him in the darkroom.

"You like her that much?"

He smiled and replied: "The relationship between me and her is pure and innocent."

Yan Xu sneered: "Don't like it? I don't like that you rushed here to get someone, and you don't like that you risked being discovered by the Qi family to speak for her. You know that now is not the best time."

"In all these years, I haven't seen you caring about anyone else."

Pei Yunying lowered his eyes.

The plaster on his lips was cool, but he felt that the place where the bamboo board brushed was slightly hot, clear and shallow, if there was nothing there.

There was no sound in the room for some time. Lu Zhuo raised his eyes and was suddenly startled.

Pei Yunying was looking at her with lowered eyebrows.

The young man's eyebrows were immersed in the moonlight in front of the window, looking soft and gentle. His dark and bright eyes were fixed on her, bright and clear, but bottomless.

Lu Yan curled his fingertips.

Her shadow fell on his eyes, causing ripples of light. Lu Zhuo was startled for a moment, subconsciously avoiding his gaze, but his eyes followed the bridge of his nose and landed on the corners of his lips.

She always knew that Pei Yunying was good-looking.

It is the kind of appearance that is loved by all men and women, old and young. His facial features are handsome and delicate, but his eyebrows are handsome and not a trace of makeup. On weekdays, she always wears a three-pointed smile, which looks bright and warm like a warm breeze. When she is not smiling, the pear dimples are not visible, and her lips are rosy and have distinct lip peaks, which actually makes her look a bit alluring.

It's a good night, and the flower energy is overwhelming.

She tilted her head slightly and moved closer to him, and could smell the light and cold fragrance of the other person's body, if it was there or not.

Pei Yunying lowered his eyes and stared at her, seeming to notice her momentary daze. He suddenly smiled inexplicably and said meaningfully: "Doctor Lu, do you want to..."

Lu Chen's eyelashes twitched.

The cool floral scent in the air suddenly becomes passionate, gradually creating ripples under the light.

The young man leaned closer, his black eyes were as bright as stars, and the smile on his lips was bright, and he said the rest of the words slowly.

"...molested me?"

Lu Chen: "..."

The breeze and ripples disappeared instantly. Lu Zhu dropped the bamboo in his hand and said coldly: "You can do it yourself."

He couldn't help but laugh again, his brows and eyes were very happy.

Pei Yunying took the piece of bamboo and wiped it casually twice. Suddenly he thought of something and looked at Lu Yun.

"Doctor Lu," he said, "can I ask you something?"

"What's the matter?"

"When there was a plague in Changwu County, and you disappeared afterwards, were you really abducted by a kidnapper?"

Lu Zhen didn't expect him to ask this, and couldn't help but be stunned.

Pei Yunying looked at her silently.

Qing Feng found out that in the 32nd year of Yongchang, a major epidemic occurred in Changwu County.

The epidemic was so severe that almost every household in the county died of the disease.

The Lu family was unharmed during the epidemic.

Since there were very few survivors of the great epidemic at that time, and knowing that most of the Lu family's neighbors were no longer alive, it was very difficult for Qing Feng to find out the news about "Lu Min".

The informant found said that the Lu family said that Miss Lu San was abducted by a kidnapper after the epidemic and her whereabouts are still missing. However, most children abducted by kidnappers end up miserable. However, Lu Yan reappeared in front of everyone seven years later. Her superb medical skills are really eye-catching. It is difficult for people not to think of the Lu family's epidemic seven years ago. The whole person escaped.

He had wanted to ask Lu Zhen for a long time, but he always felt that it was inappropriate to pry into other people's secrets rashly, not to mention that Lu Zhen was a very defensive person.

Now that we know who was at the forefront of the execution ground in southern Jiangsu, we are also considered old friends. Moreover, from the past to the present, at least their current friendship is much better than when they were at war with each other.

What you couldn't ask before, you can try asking now.

"The person who took you away was the master who taught you medical skills?"

After a long time, Lu Zhen said "hmm".

"Since you are the master," he asked, "why didn't you tell your family when you left?"

People investigating the news said that the Lu family still did not give up searching for Lu Min after many years of disappearance, firmly believing that one day their missing daughter would be found. Due to physical and mental exhaustion, the Lu family's hair became gray when they were in their prime, and they aged far better than their peers.

In fact, if you think about it carefully, it is not difficult to guess.

Xiao Zhufeng said to him: "It seems that the matter is very clear. There was an epidemic in Changwu County seven years ago, and a miracle doctor passed by here. Perhaps he valued Lu Min's talent and wanted to accept her as his disciple on the condition of reviving the Lu family. Take away Lu Min.”

His intuition was wrong, "If you want to recruit a disciple, you can do it openly, so why keep it quiet."

"Miracle doctors all have a bit of a weird temper," Xiao Zhufeng disagreed, "Maybe he was afraid that the Lu family would be reluctant to let go of their little daughter, so they secretly took her away."

It seems to make sense.

But Pei Yunying always felt that there was something wrong with this.

He couldn't tell what was wrong, but his intuition was that no matter how weird the miracle doctor was, he wouldn't be so careless in accepting a disciple.

What's more, many years ago, Lu Yun was only nine years old. Before that, she had never been heard to be proficient in medicine. There was no doctor in the Lu family, so how could she come up with such a talk about talent?
Bizarre everywhere.

The bamboo slices were placed back on the table, and the white porcelain medicine bottle shimmered under the light.

The young man's words were calm and gentle, but they made Lu Chen's eyelashes tremble.

Why don't you say something?
When I left Changwu County, there were so many opportunities, so why couldn’t I find a chance to say something?

She clenched her fingers tightly, her fingertips digging into her palms.

The shadow of Yun Niang wearing a power fence suddenly appeared in front of her eyes.

She was sitting on the carriage, and the hem of her light skirt blended in with the snow outside.

The young Lu Zhenzhu looked at her uneasily: "Miss, can you let me say goodbye to my parents before leaving?"

The woman under the power fence seemed to be smiling: "No way."

She said: "This is a secret between you and me. Your parents will take the antidote for seven days and the epidemic will be eliminated. But if you reveal the secret, the antidote will turn into poison on the last day. None will survive."

"do you understand?"

Lu Chen shuddered.

Later, she followed Yun Niang's advice and boiled medicine every day and fed it to her family. It was not that her parents had never suspected it. She only said that the county magistrate kindly distributed it to the poor. At that time, her parents and siblings were too sick to get out of bed. Even if she had suspicion, it was difficult to prove it.

However, the ulcers in the family were indeed stopped, and the rashes no longer occurred, and the epidemic came back angrily.

Yun Niang didn't lie to her.

When he was young, Lu Zhen was overjoyed and thinking in his mind. Yun Niang said that the antidote turned into poison on the seventh day, so she kept silent about it for the first six days. On the seventh day, after she saw her parents take the antidote, she told her everything. out.

She just wanted to say goodbye to her parents, otherwise her family would be worried if she disappeared for no reason.

On the sixth day, after feeding his family the antidote, Lu Zhuo went to the city gate to ask Yun Niang to get the medicinal ingredients for the seventh day. Yun Niang asked her to get on the carriage and handed her a cup of hot tea. She had no doubt that he was there. I raised my head and drank it. When I woke up again, the mountains and roads were far away, and the familiar streets and alleys in Changwu County were no longer there.

She opened the curtain of the carriage and looked at the unfamiliar scenery outside in panic: "Didn't you say... that you have to take the antidote for seven days?"

The woman in front of her had taken off the power fence, revealing a fragrant and delicate face, and said: "It only takes six days."

She couldn't believe it: "You lied to me?"

"Yes."

The woman laughed, like a mother tolerating an ignorant child, and touched her head, her tone was so gentle that it was almost weird.

"Otherwise, wouldn't you have had the chance to tell them?"

The departure came in a hurry, and she was not asked to make any preparations. She sat blankly in the carriage, forgetting to react for a moment, until Yun Niang reached out and lowered the curtain, covering up all the grass, frost branches, smoke and water along the way.

Only the woman looked at her with a smile.

"Little girl."

She said, "This is called regret."

(End of this chapter)