Chapter 444: Chapter 162 Embrace_2
But Lu Tong had not.
Far from being utterly dispirited or enraged, she had even taken the top spot on the red list in the spring examination, smoothly gaining entry into the Hanlin Medical Institute, shocking the entire Shengjing medical community.
Dong Lin felt both ashamed and admiring.
He was ashamed that such an embarrassing situation had been caused by him, yet he could find no way to assist Lu Tong and was even confined to his home by his mother. He admired that even without anyone’s help, and with an uncertain future ahead, Lu Tong could still make her own way.
After Lu Tong had joined the Medical Officer Institute, Lady Dong no longer confined Dong Lin, but with Lu Tong not at the Renxin Medical Hall, it became much harder to meet her at the Institute.
Dong Lin had people convey messages to Lu Tong, hoping she would come out to meet and personally clear up past misunderstandings, to offer her an apology. But each time, Lu Tong politely declined, saying that it was inconvenient for her to meet him while working at the Medical Officer Institute.
Today was the same, he had gone to the Medical Officer Institute, where he learned that Lu Tong was diagnosing the Imperial Guards at the Capital Marshal’s Mansion, so he waited at the entrance of the Mansion.
He waited and waited, and as dusk fell, he finally saw the person he had been longing for. Dong Lin’s heart surged with excitement, and he hesitated before making his move, when he saw that she suddenly froze.
Lu Tong stopped in her tracks.
She hadn’t expected to encounter Dong Lin here.
The intentions of this Young Master Dong were all too clear.
Initially, she had allowed Dong Lin to express his fondness for her to make use of the relationship between the Minister of Imperial Treasury and Lady Dong. But now that Lady Dong was already incensed with her for causing a rift between mother and son, persisting in this would only be harmful and not beneficial.
She had declined Dong Lin’s invitations repeatedly and had also hinted at rejection indirectly in her words. However, this Young Master Dong was exceptionally persistent.
Dragging things out was not a good thing, but to make him back off...
Lu Tong’s eyes flickered as she slowly took a few steps back, then suddenly turned around and quickly ran back towards the direction of the Marshal’s Mansion.
Dong Lin, in a panic, hurriedly followed.
At the entrance to the small courtyard of the Capital Marshal’s Mansion, Pei Yunmeng was still standing there.
The setting sun cast slanting rays, and a gentle breeze arose. The young man stood under the sycamore tree at the entrance to the Mansion, seemingly lost in thought. The remaining warmth of the sunset fell upon him as he turned, about to walk inside, when he suddenly heard rapid footsteps from behind.
Pei Yunmeng looked up to see Lu Tong running toward him.
She was always calm, serene, like a quietly flowing underground river with an unseen turbulence beneath its peaceful surface.
But now she was in a hurry.
Like the ice-bound streams thawing, the flowing water shone even more dazzlingly in the fading light of the sun, leaping joyfully, vividly roaring into his view, as if about to crash into his embrace the next moment.
Pei Yunmeng was momentarily stunned, but the woman had already rushed up to him. Just as she was about to reach him, she suddenly stumbled as if on a stone; instinctively, he reached out to support her, and she took the opportunity to grasp his arm and crash solidly into his embrace.
Caught off guard, he wrapped his arms fully around her.
Time seemed to stand still.
The golden afterglow became more brilliant.
The flowers in the courtyard seemed to fade.
Day was ending, and so was the sunset, the clouds, the tilted rays of sun on the ground, the last sliver of daylight became tender, flowing over the people leaning on each other in the courtyard.
The person in his arms clutched tightly at his sleeve, like a drowning person clinging to a floating log, her posture was soft yet odd; he hesitated for a moment, sensing something, and his gaze swept past the door of the courtyard behind him.
Not far from the courtyard door stood a man in a fragrant-colored robe, the young master from the Imperial Treasury Chancellor’s Residence holding a food box, standing there dumbfounded, his eyes full of disbelief looking at the two of them. In this lonely dusk, it created a somewhat desolate and pitiable scene.
Pei Yunmeng’s eyes flickered as he looked down.
She kept her head down, as if curling up in his arms, her slender and frail body reminiscent of the thin wings of a butterfly, seemingly easily torn apart.
Delicately pitiful.
One hand wrapped around her waist, a protective instinct from when she had rushed toward him, and the other hand...
After a moment’s hesitation, he extended the other hand.
It was long, slim, and white, moving slowly, tenderly towards the back of the person in his embrace.
It was the gesture of someone welcoming another into their arms.
The evening breeze was cool and light, gently brushing over the fragrant grass in the courtyard.
Yet that hand ultimately did not land.
It just hovered behind her, maintaining a restrained distance that could not be bridged.
The fragrance of the spring flowers in the courtyard turned slightly bitter as dusk fell, and the closely entwined shadows on the ground seemed intimate as well.