Denghuaxiao

Chapter 234 Worry
The north wind was howling outside the house.

The lights in the house froze.

He sat by the fire, his dark eyes were unfathomable, reflecting the jumping flames, shining brightly in the dark night.

Lu Tong was startled.

miss……

Suddenly, a scene from long ago flashed before my eyes.

In the old Lu family residence in Changwu County, she lay on the table and watched Lu Qian write. The young man's handwriting was neat and vigorous, much better than her own handwriting.

"The moon is dark and the lake breeze is blowing, the road to find each other is blocked... The lotus song is not finished, I know it is in this pond..."

"What do you mean by incoherent? What do you mean by incomplete? What's the point of what you wrote?" The young girl grabbed the paper that Lu Qian had written and said, "Why can't I understand a single word of it?"

Lu Qian took the ink and paper back from her and said unhappily, "Read more books, Lu San. If you keep going like this, when you grow up, you won't even understand the love poems people write to you."

"Love poem?" She was suspicious. "Is this a love poem?"

"if not?"

"I don't understand." Lu Tong rolled his eyes: "How can it be called a love poem when there's not even the word 'love' in it?"

“Vague!”

Lu Qian taught her angrily, "Be subtle, be subtle! If you want to express your feelings poetically, you should be gentle and tactful."

She glanced at her brother and stuffed a piece of candy into her mouth: "You understand so well, then tell me, what is love?"

Lu Qian was studying in an academy. He had never even seen a girl before, so he spoke nonsense casually, and it was obvious that he was just pretending to be dissatisfied with her because she was not good at studying.

Lu Qian cleared his throat twice. He had never liked a girl before, so he racked his brains to come up with a sentence: "Love means that you always think about someone, miss someone, always think of him when you have nothing to do, and you are happiest when you are with him..."

"Oh," Lu Tong said, "From what you said, it doesn't seem very subtle! Are you making this up?"

Lu Qian: "...It's like playing the lute to a cow. I won't talk to you anymore. When you grow up and have your own lover, you will understand."

You will understand when you grow up and have your own lover.

She used to think that Lu Qian was just saying this to scare her, but now she gradually understood.

When you are in love with someone, you will actually miss that person inexplicably.

A human voice came from my ear: "Is this question so difficult to answer?"

She came back to her senses and saw Pei Yunying sitting in front of the stove. His handsome features looked even more dazzling under the light, and he looked at her with an ambiguous look.

"No." Lu Tong's heart skipped a beat and he quickly replied, "I haven't thought about it."

"is it?"

He nodded, "That's a pity."

Although he said this, his tone did not sound disappointed, but rather smiling.

The snow water in the kettle had been boiled to warm. He picked up the kettle and poured the water into the red clay teacup, then walked to Lu Tong holding the teacup.

Lu Tong sat on the edge of the couch, watching Pei Yunying lean over and put the teacup in her hands.

"Drink it, 'Laxue'."

Lu Chen: "..."

She was about to retort that this was nothing but snow, but when she looked up, she met the faint smile in his eyes, as if he saw through everything, knew her guilt and secrets, and saw her evasion and sorrow.

Lu Tong held the cup tightly.

For some reason, she felt that Pei Yunying was a little different.

As if putting aside certain concerns, he teased more and more openly. No, that was not teasing. It was like a fisherman holding a fishing rod on the river bank, putting down the bait slowly, approaching and not approaching, waiting patiently and confidently for someone to take the bait.

She felt guilty and could not resist, so she retreated step by step and lost her composure.

Seeing her like this, Pei Yunying curled his lips, retreated back to the table, walked into the room, and picked up the bedding at the foot of the couch.

The bedding was thick and heavy, and the stitching was very rough. Considering his pampered and particular habits, it was really too much to ask of him.

Sure enough, he walked to the bed and glanced critically at the floor: "Here?"

Lu Zhuo nodded.

He didn't say anything, just tidied up the bed and spread the mattress on the floor next to the bed.

Lu Tong drank water while watching his movements. Although this man was a child of an aristocratic family and seemed arrogant and picky at times, he could adapt very well at certain times, which was surprising.

"Don't you want to rest?" He sat on the mattress and looked up at Lu Tong.

Lu Tong put the empty cup on the table, thought for a moment, then looked at the small oil lamp on the table in the room and said, "Don't turn off the light when you fall asleep at night."

Pei Yunying looked at her, his eyebrows moved: "Lu Tong, you are not worried about what I will do to you at night?"

Lu Tong was speechless for a moment, then mocked, "General Dian also knows that my needles are very powerful. If you are not afraid of becoming the second Jin Xianrong, you can give it a try."

Pei Yunying: "..."

Seeing him being humiliated, she inexplicably felt a little better and just lay down on the bed with her clothes on.

It's strange to say, although she felt subtle and a little uncomfortable when she was in the same room with Pei Yunying, she was indeed not worried at all. This man was clearly not a gentleman and his behavior was not proper. However, it seemed that she believed in him from the bottom of her heart. This trust was terrifying. She felt so at ease with him.

Pei Yunying snorted and laughed, didn't bother with her, and lay down with his hands on his head.

The lamp oil burned quietly in the room, blocking the wind and snow outside the door. The meager warmth from the stove could not actually provide much warmth in this bleak day, but the two people in the room did not feel cold. They sat in silence, each thinking about their own thoughts.

Pei Yunying lay there for a while, and caught a glimpse of a long object at the foot of the bed. He thought it was a snake, so he frowned and sat up. He picked it up with his silver knife, but found it was a rope.

It was a thick hemp rope, neither too long nor too short, and it looked like it had been used for many years, with some signs of wear and tear. If it was used to tie up medicinal materials, it seemed a little short.

He picked up the rope with the tip of the knife and looked sideways at Lu Tong on the couch: "Why is there another rope?"

Lu Tong sat up and saw what he was holding in his hand. His expression immediately changed and he snatched it back.

Pei Yunying glanced at her expression, his eyes moved slightly, and after a moment, he said in a deep voice: "Is this really a shady shop?"

The length of this rope is not enough for hanging, but it is barely enough for tying things. It is most suitable for tying hands and feet. In the trial room of the Palace Front Department, the rope used to tie the hands and feet of prisoners is exactly this length.

Lu Tong's heart skipped a beat and she replied coldly, "You've already moved in, it's too late to say that." But she was afraid that he would see through her expression, so she stuffed the rope under the bed, turned her back and lay down, not saying anything.

Pei Yunying turned his head and looked at her back, without saying anything for a long time.

After a while, he lay down again, looking less relaxed than before. Suddenly he thought of something and raised his eyes to look at the earth wall above his head.

The place where the bedding was laid was next to the wall. When he first entered the room and looked around, he found scratches on the wall.

The scratches were located in subtle locations, not too high, and were more numerous near the base of the wall. The marks were obviously messy, as if someone had fallen to the ground in pain and left fingernail marks on the wall.

In the past, when he was interrogating prisoners in the Dianqian Prison, some prisoners would roll on the ground and scratch the walls when they were in agony. He saw the marks clearly and was very sure of them. When he thought of the rope just now...

Pei Yunying frowned slightly and looked at the couch.

Lu Tong had her back to him, facing the wall in a huff, with only the back of her head exposed to the outside.

He was stunned for a moment, then found it a little funny.

In a deserted mountain, living in the same house, he was a man after all. Lu Tong was always cautious, but he actually exposed his back to the outside world without any defense...

I really had no defense against him at all.

He looked at the scratches on the wall again, looked away, and lay down again.

……

The night was deeper.

The snow on Luomei Peak is getting heavier.

The wind blew in through the window, and I could hear the sound of branches breaking outside the door.

In the past, she always found it difficult to fall asleep on such a cold day. But today, whether it was because she was too tired or because there was one more person in the room, Lu Tong lay on the couch, looking at the dim light in the room. As she looked, she felt her eyelids gradually become heavy and she slowly fell asleep.

The snow fell heavier and heavier, and the silvery white snow drifted and turned into a cloud-like skirt.

Someone called in her ear: "Seventeen."

Seventeen?

She raised her head and looked in the direction of the voice.

Under the bright red plum tree, a woman with delicate eyes and eyebrows was sitting. She put down the book in her hand and waved to her.

"come over."

Yun Niang...

She walked over blankly.

Yunniang sat under a tree, leaning against a small stove in front of her, warming herself against a clay pot. Steam was bubbling out of the pot, condensing into a thin hot mist in the ice and snow.

There was a bitter medicinal aroma emanating from it.

Yunniang reached out, grasped the handle of the jar with a handkerchief, lifted the medicine jar, and poured the medicine into the empty bowl on the stone table.

The medicine bowl was immediately filled. The woman stood up, walked to her side, took her hand, and said, "You have been in the mountain for three days. Are you used to it?"

"Habit."

Yunniang nodded with satisfaction. "That's good." She smiled. "Since we're on the mountain, I'll introduce you to some friends."

friend?

Lu Tong was stunned.

She followed Yunniang all the way from Changwu County to Luomei Peak in southern Jiangsu. She had not seen anyone in the three days since she went up the mountain. It seemed that there were only her and Yunniang on the entire Luomei Peak. Where did her friends come from?
Yunniang held her hand, like a loving elder, patiently and gently, and walked to a large patch of blooming grass behind the house. Lu Tong didn't know what was planted there, but she felt that the grass was lush and colorful.

The woman stopped in front of the grass.

"Look," she said.

Lu Tong looked over and was immediately horrified.

In the center of the clumps of grass and trees, there were rows of dark mounds rising faintly. Lu Tong couldn't see them clearly at first, but when he saw them clearly, his scalp tingled.

There were rows of graves.

The burial was not done carefully and looked a bit sloppy. However, when there was a major epidemic in Changwu County, countless people died of the disease, and such sloppy graves were often seen on the ridges of the fields. She had seen too many of them.

Lu Tong's voice trembled: "This is..."

"They are your sixteen senior brothers and sisters," Yunniang explained with a smile.

"They are all about your age," the woman said softly, "and they also spent some time with me at Luomei Peak. They are just a little weak, so they spent too little time with me."

"Little Seventeen," Yunniang said, "You have to stay with me a little longer."

Lu Tong trembled with fear.

Yunniang had always called her "Seventeen", but she didn't know what that meant. But now she could see a clue among the rows of graves.

She was going to be the seventeenth person buried here, the seventeenth person to die.

As if amused by her suddenly pale face, Yunniang was surprised: "Why do you look like that? Do you think I will kill you?"

The woman stroked her head and said angrily, "Silly child."

She was so frightened that she dared not move. Her legs were weak and she let Yunniang lead her like a puppet back to the hut.

"Xiao Shiqi, when you asked me to save your family, you told me that you could do anything."

Lu Tong looked at her, his heart sinking: "Miss, what do you want me to do?"

Yunniang walked to the stone table, picked up the medicine bowl filled with medicine and handed it to her with a slight smile.

"Drink it." The brown medicine rippled slightly in the bowl. She saw her panicked face in the bowl, so scared and helpless.

She had no choice.

Lu Tong drank up the medicine in the bowl. Yunniang took out a handkerchief, wiped the medicine from the corners of her mouth, and spoke with a smile.

"Don't be afraid, this is not poison, and it won't kill you. It will just make you feel a little uncomfortable."

"I saw you drink the medicine very quickly just now. It seems that you are a good child who is not afraid of hardship."

Yunniang gently pushed her into the hut, and then with a click, the door was locked. Lu Tong came to her senses, rushed to the door and knocked, and heard the woman's smiling voice coming from outside the door.

"The bowl of medicine just now is called 'Ant Crossing Formation'."

"An hour after taking it, you'll feel a little bit of pain, like a swarm of ants crawling over you, with no relief. If you can endure it for three hours, once the effect of the drug wears off, you'll be fine. But if you can't, be careful."

"The little sister in front of you couldn't bear the medicine, so she hanged herself with a rope. When she was untied, she looked very ugly."

"Little Seventeen," she said, "you have to hold on."

The footsteps outside the door gradually faded away. No matter how she knocked on the door, there was no response. Yunniang had already left.

She was left alone in this room.

The room was dark and the windows were locked. She had nowhere to go, so she stepped back. However, her foot stepped on something and she almost tripped. She looked down and saw that it was a piece of rope.

The rope was quite thick, with dark bloodstains all over it. Lu Tong suddenly remembered what Yunniang had said just now, "The little sister Sixteen before you couldn't bear the medicine, so she hanged herself with a rope."

That was the rope used to hang from the beam left by the man who drank the medicine earlier.

It was like being pricked by a needle. Lu Tong loosened his grip and the thick rope fell off.

She dodged violently.

Lu Tong rushed to the door and knocked on it again: "Miss, Yunniang! Let me out! I want to go out!"

She was answered only by silence.

There was no echo until she was tired of hitting and slowly slid down from the door. Lu Tong sat behind the door, curled up with her shoulders hugged, looking at the bloody rope, feeling despair in her heart.

She would die. She would never survive. Sixteen people had already died before her. Sooner or later, she would be buried in the grass garden and become a puddle of mud.

She was unable to reunite with her parents, brothers and sisters.

Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister...

She cried for a long time until her voice became hoarse, but in her extreme confusion, she gradually calmed down.

No, she can't die.

If she died here, no one would know, not even her parents would ever know.

At least not now!

Lu Tong got up again with strength from nowhere, and threw the thick blood-stained rope on the ground. She thought, Yunniang only said that she just needed to endure the pain, but she had to endure it, so how could she endure it...

Lu Tong's eyes swept across the room and fell on the scissors on the table.

Those were silver scissors used to cut short wicks. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Yunniang left them in the room.

Lu Tong stood up, picked up the scissors, picked up the long rope on the ground, and made up his mind to cut it in two.

This length of rope is best for hanging, but she wants to use it to tie her hands. She has learned the rope-tying method from Lu Qian, which is to tie her hands so that she can't break free.

She wants to give it a try.

The method of tying the rope was no longer clear in his memory, and he was gradually feeling a pain in his chest. His hands were shaking, and he almost couldn't hold the hemp rope properly. He stumbled as he put the hemp rope around his wrist. At the last moment when the hemp rope was put on, he felt a huge pain.

Yunniang lied to her.

It was not just a little bit of pain. It was enough to destroy a person's will.

She was in so much pain. At that moment, she suddenly understood why the "Sixteen" in front of her would hang himself from the beam with a rope. That was really more painful than death.

When it was most unbearable, she couldn't help scratching the wall. Her nails dug deeply into the mud wall and blood gradually seeped out from between her fingers. She rolled on the ground in pain. There was no light in the dark little room, only hoarse crying sounds.

……

"Yun Niang..."

In the quiet night, a voice suddenly sounded.

Pei Yunying suddenly opened his eyes.

Being alone outside, he always slept lightly. The lights in the room had been blown out by the wind without knowing when, but a more suppressed low voice came from the couch.

"Lu Tong?" Pei Yunying frowned and looked at the bed.

No one answered.

He turned over and sat up, fumbled for the tinder, and lit the oil lamp on the table. The warm flame flickered in the room. He put the oil lamp on the table beside him and walked to Lu Tong's couch.

Lu Tong closed her eyes.

Before going to bed, she faced the wall, but now she had turned over and curled up into a ball. Her usually calm face showed a look of pain, with big drops of sweat oozing from her forehead.

Pei Yunying's expression changed slightly, and he shook Lu Tong's shoulder: "Lu Tong?"

She seemed to be trapped in a dream and had not yet awakened. The next moment, she suddenly stretched out her hand.

Pei Yunying was stunned for a moment and looked down.

Lu Tong grabbed his hand.

She held on tightly, refusing to let go, with great strength, as if a drowning person was grasping at the last straw. Her eyes were tightly closed, and her nails were almost digging into the back of his hand. Pei Yunying let her hold on and whispered her name: "Lu Tong?"

"Yunniang..." She moaned in a daze, and beads of sweat from her forehead rolled down her neck.

It's like being trapped in a dream and unable to wake up.

The lights in the room flickered, Pei Yunying's eyes were deep, and he made a prompt decision. He brushed his fingertips over the acupuncture points on her neck and applied a little more force.

There was a sudden cry and the person on the couch suddenly opened his eyes.

Lu Tong sat up suddenly, gasping for breath.

A hand reached out from behind.

Lu Tong felt herself being pulled into a warm embrace. This embrace carried a familiar crisp fragrance that dispelled the cold and heavy medicinal scent in her dream. The warmth slowly spread from behind her. She raised her eyes and met Pei Yunying's lowered gaze.

Suddenly, Lu Tong understood.

This was not the first time she had to drink medicine since she had just climbed Luomei Peak. The "crossing the ant array" was just a painful dream in the past. She was now a medical officer at the Shengjing Hanlin Medical Academy. Yunniang was dead, so she didn't have to take bowl after bowl of unknown medicine in anxiety and fear. She went up the mountain to find herbs to cure the epidemic.

She was dreaming again.

She has been dreaming a lot lately.

If this continues, she won't be able to distinguish between dreams and reality.

"Lu Tong." Pei Yunying's voice came to her ears, and Lu Tong looked up.

Pei Yunying frowned and looked at her.

That young face was no longer as calm as before, and he raised his hand to touch her forehead.

"What's the matter with you?" he asked.

Lu Tong calmed down and avoided his gaze, "I just had a dream."

He took back the hand that was covering Lu Tong's forehead: "Who is Yunniang? You kept calling Yunniang's name in your dream."

Lu Zhuo stiffened.

Pei Yunying frowned and stared at her.

Her face was very pale and she was usually very thin. Now that she had been working hard to fight the epidemic in southern Jiangsu, she had become even thinner than before. Her face was only the size of a palm, and her eyes were no longer as calm as usual. They were a little distracted and confused, and her lips were as white as paper.

Lu Tong had been either calm or crazy since he first met her, but this was the first time he saw her "fear".

In her dreams, there were things she feared.

"Is he your enemy?"

Lu Tong shuddered and came back to his senses.

He was always sharp.

Lu Tongbie started: "No."

He didn't say anything, just stared at her. His eyes, which had always been gentle, now seemed to be stained with the frost and snow on the plum branches on the Fallen Plum Peak, and were slightly cold.

Outside the door, the north wind and snow were heavy, and inside the house, the lamp was dim. The two looked at each other, one was aggressive, and the other was dodging.

After a moment of silence, Pei Yunying looked away, as if he had finally let her go, and stood up and said, "You were sweating all over just now. There is a handkerchief in the medical box. I'll get it for you."

Lu Tong breathed a sigh of relief.

The young man walked to the table in the room, where Lu Tong's medical box was placed. He opened the box and reached in to take out the white cloth inside.

Lu Tong watched his movements, and suddenly remembered something. She froze, jumped off the bed, and ran to Pei Yunying without even putting on her shoes: "Wait--"

The panic didn't help.

She watched Pei Yunying pick up something from the medical box.

It was a colorful silk ribbon, delicate in shape, perfectly woven, and a beautiful pomegranate color. In the dark night, it looked like a thin, colorful cloud in full bloom. When the shadow was cast on it, the color of the light also became gorgeous.

Pei Yunying once asked her to make a birthday gift, which she spent a long time making, but ultimately never gave away.

"What is this?" He turned around.

Lu Tong pursed her lips and reached out to grab it, but he held it slightly higher, making it difficult for her to reach.

Pei Yunying asked: "Why do you want to carry this colorful ribbon?"

"It belongs to someone else," Lu Tong said stubbornly, "I just kept it."

"is it?"

He nodded, and lightly wrapped his fingertips around the colorful ribbon, revealing a small, not-so-round piece of wood under the tassel.

"And what is this?"

Lu Tong froze.

The tiny piece of wood dangled between his fingertips.

Lu Tong clenched his fists slightly.

That was a piece of wood she took from Pei Yunying's wooden tower.

On the day of Chinese Valentine's Day, his ambiguous words made her waver for a short time. At that time, Pei Yunying offered to give her a piece, but she refused it outright. But in the end, for some unknown reason, she took another piece.

Later, she left Shengjing and came to southern Jiangsu, where she kept the piece of wood. She wanted to throw it away many times, but in the end, she never succeeded.

The colorful ribbons and the wooden blocks concealed her secret thoughts. She carefully guarded the secret, but it was suddenly exposed on this snowy night.

In the quiet and silent night, there was a whistling snow outside the door. The young man lowered his eyes, looked at Lu Tong's embarrassed appearance, and said calmly: "Lu Tong."

He stared into her eyes: "Let me ask you again, are you really honest with me and have no selfish motives at all?"

Lu Tong's breathing stagnated.

She instinctively wanted to refute, but when she met those dark eyes, she couldn't utter a word.

"I..." she stammered.

The pair of beautiful black eyes stared at her, the light flickering in his eyes, flowing as if a long and unfinished song.

He said coldly: "I see the answer."