Chapter 198: Chapter 92 Breaking Dan Gui_3
Lu Tong listened intently for a while, only to feel that the sound of the zither was wailing and desolate, which, amidst this festive reunion, evoked a sense of an imperfected moon and the most painful realization of life’s gatherings and partings.
She slightly furrowed her brows and, lifting her eyes, met Pei Yunmeng’s thoughtful gaze.
Seeing her look over, he smiled, "This is the ’Breaking the Osmanthus’ section from ’Tour of the Moon Palace’."
Lu Tong remained silent.
There were many books at home, but there was no zither, as a good zither was very expensive. Lu Rou loved playing the zither, and her parents had saved up some silver to buy her an old one.
Lu Rou played the zither beautifully and was herself very pretty, so there were always some young men secretly in love who would squat outside the Lu Family’s door late at night, listening to the beauty play the zither, often startling the neighborhood seed-seller as he closed up his stall at night when surrounded by these youths. Later, the zither was sold—the neighbors’ resentment was too deep.
"I heard Doctor Lu is from Su Nan?" The voice interrupted her recollections, and Pei Yunmeng looked at her with a smile: "How did Doctor Lu use to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival?"
She snapped out of her reverie and responded coldly, "Never used to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival."
Her words were indeed not a lie. At least during the years at Luomei Peak, the moon on the fifteenth of August was no different from any other night’s moon.
Hearing her dismissive answer, Pei Yunmeng sighed and looked at her with a gaze that was half sincere and half teasing, "Doctor Lu doesn’t have to be so guarded with me, at least tonight, we should not be enemies."
She had just saved his sister and niece, so in the short term, he certainly wouldn’t turn on her.
Lu Tong calmly lifted her gaze, watching the man before her.
The night wind was silent; the moonlight spread a layer of silvery frost over the young man’s crimson official robe, rendering his handsome face even more striking and stunning.
His voice was clear, his smile bright, and at first glance, it was clear he was well-bred, very measured, and courteous to others. Even when he had been suspicious and aggressive about her potentially committing murder, he still wore a smile as if he were carefree.
But Lu Tong recalled a moment not long ago, through the gap in the curtain around Pei Yunshu’s bed, when she saw Pei Yunmeng unsheathe that long, silver blade. That was the first time she saw such a cold side of him.
All along, he had been lofty and confident, like an unsolvable puzzle with no vulnerabilities laid before everyone, leaving one no way to proceed. However, at that moment, she glimpsed the vulnerability or weakness hidden deep within this puzzle.
Pei Yunshu was his weakness.
His weakness was his family.
Seeing her remain silent, Pei Yunmeng looked at her and asked, "Why aren’t you speaking?"
Lu Tong replied indifferently, "What would Lord Pei like to discuss?"
Pei Yunmeng thought for a moment, put down the cup in his hand, and looked at her.
Under the shade of the osmanthus trees, the lamplight on the stone table was hazy; he looked at her dark pupils reflecting the bright moonlight, losing their usual probing and arrogance, displaying an uncharacteristic openness.
He said, "Thank you."
His tone was serious.
Lu Tong was slightly startled.
Although she hadn’t interacted much with Pei Yunmeng, she considered herself to have some understanding of him. To noble young masters like them, cordiality was but a mask to show their upbringing, politeness equated to distance, and courtesy was arrogance.
But at this moment, his thanks seemed genuinely heartfelt, perhaps because Pei Yunshu and her daughter truly did mean so much to him.
A person with weaknesses can always be dealt with.
She thought this to herself, hearing Pei Yunmeng say, "Thank you for lending a hand today. To tell the truth," he looked down at the cup in front of him and smiled slightly, "I thought you wouldn’t save them."
Lu Tong snorted softly in her heart.
In Pei Yunmeng’s eyes, she was a murderer, a schemer, a heartless manipulator with malicious methods. To make him believe that she was a living Bodhisattva who cured the sick and saved lives was indeed a tall order.
She stirred the sweet dumplings in the small bowl in front of her with a silver spoon and replied, "I originally didn’t plan on saving them."
Pei Yunmeng raised an eyebrow, "Then why did you change your mind?"
Lu Tong smiled faintly, looking straight into his eyes.
"Because if I hadn’t saved them, I wouldn’t have had the chance to have Lord Pei owe me a favor."
At her words, Pei Yunmeng was momentarily taken aback.
A gust of wind blew, rustling the osmanthus leaves; the night wind mingled with a golden shower of flowers that fell thickly, leaving a fragrant scent upon the person they touched.
It seemed like it was also on some afternoon on Qinghe Street, in front of the pawnshop, where the young Commander paid the silver for the hairpin for the cash-strapped Doctor Lu and stood in front of her with an ambiguous smile.
"Because if I had said it, I wouldn’t have had the chance to have Doctor Lu owe me a favor."
In just a few months, she had returned his exact words; it was uncertain whether to call it coincidence or a grudge.
The young man "tsked" and reminded her, "That can’t be said; counting the incident at Baoxiang Tower, I’ve saved you twice now."