Chapter 637: Chapter 218: A Father’s Fault for Not Teaching_4
Ever since Pei Yunmeng’s birthday, Yin Zheng had not seen the other person again.
She did not know what had transpired between Lu Tong and Pei Yunmeng, but for a long time afterward, Lu Tong seemed even more silent than usual. Sometimes she would sit in front of the window, staring blankly into the distance for a long time.
She faintly discerned a clue, and each time she thought to ask Lu Tong, Lu Tong skillfully changed the subject without a trace. After a few such instances, she came to understand.
She felt sorry for Lu Tong but did not know how to comfort her.
Yin Zheng leaned in closer to Lu Tong, "Have you and little Lord Pei made up?"
"It’s not him."
Lu Tong smiled and picked out a jade-colored embroidered dress with folded branch patterns from a bed full of clothes, "How about this one?"
"It’s beautiful!" Yin Zheng nodded, "Light colors like this suit you best!"
Having received the affirmation, Lu Tong set the dress aside and neatly folded the other clothes. She then took out a letter from her bosom and handed it to Yin Zheng.
Yin Zheng was puzzled, "What is this?"
"Tonight, at the hour of the Dog, deliver this letter to Duan Xiaoyan at the Palace Marshal’s Mansion and have him hand it to Pei Yunmeng."
"For Marshal Pei?" Yin Zheng hesitated, "Why don’t you give it to him yourself?"
"There are some words I cannot say to him in person. Yin Zheng, can you help me?"
Yin Zheng paused, then hesitantly spoke, "Miss, you’re not planning to sever ties with Marshal Pei and clear all connections, are you?"
Lu Tong only looked at her without a word.
Yin Zheng sighed and accepted the letter from Lu Tong’s hand, "I understand." After a pause, she asked again, "But why at the hour of the Dog?"
Lu Tong looked out the window, "I won’t go to the Medical Officer Institute until later tomorrow. Tonight, I want to eat Renhe Restaurant’s lychee kidney stewed with duck. Could you go buy a bowl and then take the letter to the Palace Marshal’s Mansion on your way back?"
"You want to eat lychee kidney stewed with duck now?" Yin Zheng found it difficult, "There’s always a queue for Renhe Restaurant’s lychee stewed duck..." As she spoke, she caught sight of Lu Tong smiling at her. She perked up and thought for a moment, "Miss, you do seem to be in a really good mood today." She stood up, "If that’s the case, then I’ll go queue up now and also buy some wine and spiced conch on the way back."
Lu Tong nodded.
Yin Zheng was about to leave when she suddenly heard Lu Tong calling her from behind, "Yin Zheng."
She turned around, "What is it?"
Lu Tong looked at her for a while, shook her head with a smile, and said, "Be careful on the road."
Yin Zheng left, and the yard regained its peace.
Lu Tong gazed at the plum tree outside the window for a while, then took her eyes off it, picked up the jade-colored dress beside the couch, put it on, and sat down in front of the dressing table.
The young woman in the mirror was in the full bloom of her beauty, with bright teeth and sparkling eyes, her black eyes indifferent.
She picked up the wooden comb on the table and carefully combed her raven hair, meticulously styled her hair, wiped it, and inserted a Hibiscus Flower Hairpin.
The hairpin was slender and delicate. Lu Tong looked at it for a moment, then bent down to pick out two paper-cut butterflies made of black gold from the makeup box. These were what Yin Zheng had bought at Jingde Gate during the lantern festival, and she had never worn them before.
Lu Tong pinned the butterflies on either side of her bun, and when she moved slightly, the wings fluttered as if they were about to take flight.
Pretty and clean.
After all this, she left the dressing table, opened the wooden cabinet, and took out four porcelain jars.
The porcelain jars were cool and small. Lu Tong pressed her cheeks against them for a long time, rubbing them fondly.
She carried the porcelain jars to the plum tree, poured out the soil inside, and buried it with the flower mud before returning the jars to the cabinet.
Finally, Lu Tong took one last look at the courtyard, closed the door, and walked out of Renxin Medical Hall with a lantern.
Night fell, and lanterns swayed under the eaves of West Street, casting a peaceful quiet. From the low houses, faint yellow light peeked through the cracks in the windows as a child leaned over a table by the window, stumbling through the Three Character Classic.
"...Dou Yanshan had righteousness. He taught his five sons, and their names were all renowned..."
"...To not teach one’s child is the father’s fault. To teach without strictness is the teacher’s laziness..."
Lu Tong stopped in her tracks.
It seemed like a long time ago, when she had made a mistake and returned home, she was also punished by her father to copy out the Three Character Classic.
Her mother wanted to protect her and was pushed out of the door by her father. The ruler made of wood was wide and long, reflecting her father’s angry face.
"To not teach one’s child is the father’s fault. Lu Tong, you are so stubborn, I can’t teach you well, and someday someone will point at my spine!"
To not teach one’s child is the father’s fault.
The father ought to educate his son who has erred.
So it should be.
It should have been.
Lu Tong looked at the shadows in the window, her eyes indifferent.
A creaking sound — the door was opened, and the dim light spilled onto the ground. Taylor Ge’s wife, carrying a bucket, came out of the house, startled to see Lu Tong standing by the window, "Doctor Lu?"
Lu Tong nodded.
The woman poured the remaining water in the bucket onto the ground outside the house and asked with a smile, "Where are you going so late?"
Lu Tong smiled, "I’m going home."
"Oh." The woman nodded and carried the bucket back into the house.
After two steps, she suddenly realized something, "Wait, isn’t Renxin Medical Hall behind us? Why is Doctor Lu walking towards the south?"
She opened the window to look out but could no longer see the figure of the woman in the night fog.
The lantern’s faint light danced at her feet, and the thick night fog, the warmth of the light dispelling all chill.
Lu Tong smiled as she walked in the night, her expression serene.
She was going home.
Finally, she could go home.