Chapter 620: Chapter 214: Unintentional_3
Lu Tong didn’t say anything else.
Qingfeng quickly drove the carriage over, realizing that the atmosphere between the two was unusual. Not daring to speak, Lu Tong got into the carriage, pulled down the curtain, and did not look back again.
The carriage gradually drove away.
The surroundings fell into total darkness.
Pei Yunmeng returned to the Tea Pavilion.
The food had gone cold, and the emptied sake cup was overturned on the table, signaling that the birthday had been quite miserable.
He sat down at the table, silent for a while, then took out a bracelet from within his robe, blue-green as if made from jade.
That bracelet, given to him by Pei Yunshu, who wished for him to give it to the person he held dear, had not been given away in time.
He looked down at it for a long time.
After a while, Pei Yunmeng reached out and took the sake pot from the table.
The Silver Sake Pot felt ice-cold in his hand, and the "Happy Uncle" sake within was as clear as tears, startling him slightly as it touched his lips.
It was cold.
That warm, gentle sake that could have warmed one’s chest and stomach on a rainy night, at some point, had turned ice-cold.
...
The carriage stopped in front of the West Street Clinic.
The door of the clinic was ajar, and Yin Zheng waited for her at the doorway with a lamp in hand.
Lu Tong entered the inner room, and the carriage disappeared into the rain, Yin Zheng closed the doors of the clinic, took the paper umbrella from Lu Tong’s hand and placed it in the corner, saying, "Miss, why did you come back so quickly?"
During the day, while Qingfeng’s carriage waited outside, Lu Tong had no intention of going out.
Later, as the night deepened, Yin Zheng asked several times, and Lu Tong asked her to tell Qingfeng that she would not be going to Danfeng Pavilion tonight.
Just when Yin Zheng also thought Lu Tong would no longer leave the clinic and that today would pass quietly without incident, Lu Tong suddenly stepped out of the house.
In the dead of night, she went to the trouble of hiring a carriage and headed for Danfeng Pavilion.
Yin Zheng wanted to accompany her, but Lu Tong bluntly refused.
Unable to persuade her, Yin Zheng had no choice but to wait at the clinic. But unexpectedly, Lu Tong returned within less than an hour.
With the lantern lighting up the inner room, Yin Zheng scrutinized Lu Tong’s face: "Miss, why does your complexion look so bad?" She then grasped her hand and suddenly gasped, "Your hand is so cold, what happened?"
Lu Tong’s face was pale as she lifted the felt curtain and walked into the courtyard.
"It’s nothing, I’m just tired."
"But..."
Yin Zheng looked at her anxiously, following Lu Tong. After entering the room and closing the door, the window immediately reflected a shadow, accompanied by the pattering of rain in the courtyard.
"You should go back to your room, I want to rest for a while."
Lu Tong’s voice was calm.
Yin Zheng stood at the door of Lu Tong’s room for a while, until the light inside went out, and no more movements could be heard, as if the person inside had gone to bed to rest, before she sighed, took the lamp, and left.
Lu Tong sat at the desk.
The room was pitch black, and the lantern hanging under the small courtyard eaves provided only a faint light in the rainy night. She sat there woodenly, like a doll; although she had brought a paper umbrella when she left today, and was not exposed to wind or rain while sitting in the carriage, at that moment, she felt an icy chill to her bones.
The sound of rain outside the window was incessant, and someone’s voice seemed to carry the cold of the rainy night, echoing over and over in her ears.
"From the very beginning, have you truly been open and honest, without a trace of selfish intent towards me?"
Open and honest?
Without a trace of selfish intent?
A deep and slow pain began to emerge from the bottom of her heart, and she thought that after so long, having lost everything, she would have lost her heart as well and would no longer feel pain. But at that moment, she understood.
It turns out it still hurt.
Perhaps it wasn’t pain.
It was the reluctance and unwillingness to let go of something precious, something treasured, about to be stripped away.
She understood what it was.
She had genuinely liked someone before, and someone had genuinely liked her too. There was a bit of regret, a bit of unwillingness, an unwillingness to let go of that bit of warmth, that momentary thrill that was so real in an otherwise mundane life.
A wave of unbearable pain surged from her chest, and Lu Tong could not tell whether it originated from her heart or somewhere else. She could only helplessly press her hand over her chest, bend down in spasm, and as her sleeve brushed by, scrolls and papers on the desk were knocked to the ground, and beads of sweat rolling down her cheeks wet the pages on the floor drop by drop.
She remembered the surprise on Yin Zheng’s face when she saw the storybook earlier in the day.
"Huh," exclaimed Yin Zheng. "This is the storybook I bought earlier from the study. How come it’s here with you, Miss?"
Lu Tong replied, "Just taking a look."
"Oh," Yin Zheng nodded, "I haven’t had the chance to read this one yet. What is it about?"
"It’s about a woman suffering from a terminal illness who falls in love with someone."
Yin Zheng was taken aback: "Ah? Did the woman eventually cure her terminal illness?"
"No."
Lu Tong’s eyes were indifferent, "She died, and her lover, overwhelmed with grief, soon followed her in death, and they were buried together."
Yin Zheng couldn’t help but sigh, "Such a storybook makes for a sad read. Even the writer, if they wanted to depict a blissful union, why write about parting through death? Choosing a dying person as the protagonist surely pains the readers."
"It’s not a happy ending."
Lu Tong lowered her gaze until Yin Zheng left, then softly "mm-hmmed."
Indeed, it was not a happy ending.
Just like herself.
Destined for an unhappy ending, why start at all? Better to fulfill oneself and others too.
The woman curled up into a ball, as if a fetus curled up in the womb, desperately trying to draw a bit of warmth on a cold rainy night.
On the ground, next to the sweat-drenched storybook, lay a brightly colored, eye-catching red ribbon, intricately made.
Already meticulously woven.