Chapter 165: Chapter 83 Trick corpse_4
Du Changqing threw his broom aside, looked at the distant sky, and scoffed at himself with a derisive smile.
What did it matter to him? He wasn’t a "Living Bodhisattva," unable to care for everyone.
At Renxin Medical Hall, having Lu Tong, a "Living Bodhisattva," was enough.
...
The "Living Bodhisattva" of Renxin Medical Hall was currently strolling through the marketplace with Yin Zheng.
Last night’s search and seizure by the pawn shop soldiers had damaged many items, and considering that Lu Tong was also shocked, Du Changqing simply granted her a day off, allowing Lu Tong and Yin Zheng to go out and shop to restock on some necessary items for the medical hall.
With the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching, the city streets were especially bustling with people. In the tile workshops, stages had been set up where performances captivated the audience, making them linger and forget to leave.
Yin Zheng walked beside Lu Tong, her hands carrying newly purchased candied fruits and apricot slices, her gaze hesitating several times as she looked at Lu Tong’s face.
Lu Tong asked, "What’s wrong?"
Yin Zheng smiled, her eyes curving like crescent moons.
"Miss, you’ve put on rouge today!"
Lu Tong was naturally beautiful with rosy lips and pearly teeth. Usually, she never wore any makeup at the medical hall, but today she had exceptionally applied a light layer of rouge on her face.
The rouge was a gift from Du Changqing, who said it was the new merchandise from Mingyu Studio last month and cost him nearly half a guan. Du Changqing complained that Lu Tong dressed more modestly than his deceased grandmother and insisted that she, as a young lady, should occasionally take care to beautify herself.
However, Lu Tong had immediately locked it in her chest, and it was only because Yin Zheng had sneakily taken it out again that it ended up on the dressing table.
Unexpectedly, Lu Tong had used it on her face today.
Lu Tong frowned. "Does it look strange?"
"Not strange at all!" Yin Zheng hurriedly waved her hand, laughing and saying, "It looks very beautiful!"
This compliment was true. Lu Tong’s features were well-formed, but typically she appeared indifferent and had no interest in dressing up, causing her beauty to be somewhat concealed. However, today she was wearing a long skirt of tea-yellow Chang’an bamboo-patterned luocotton fabric, with fresh cassia velvet flowers adorning her hair, her snow-white skin and jet-black hair, willow eyebrows, almond eyes, and her lips painted with the soft red of the rouge, more enchanting than orchids and chrysanthemums.
Yin Zheng thought to herself that such a beautiful young lady would have had numerous suitors trampling over each other’s thresholds if she weren’t working and practicing medicine at the medical hall, especially at her age when she would typically be waiting in her boudoir for marriage proposals.
Just as this thought crossed her mind, she noticed that Lu Tong had stopped walking, lifting her eyes to look ahead.
Yin Zheng followed her gaze.
In front of them stood an empty and desolate mansion.
Outside the vermilion gate, the exquisitely carved lanterns that once hung under the eaves had all been torn down, scattered haphazardly on the ground. The seals from the imperial court hung like two light yet heavy chains, firmly locking the gate. Half of a golden plaque hung askew on the door beam, as if it would completely crash down the next moment.
It seemed that not long ago, this was still the grand and luxurious vermilion gate, but within a few days, it had become desolate and broken, deserted and avoided by passersby like an abandoned haunted house.
Lu Tong lowered her gaze.
This was the mansion of the Judicial Commissioner Fan Zhenglian.
Fan Zhenglian was now incarcerated in the imperial prison, and his family, along with all his relatives, had been implicated, with the servants of the house fleeing or dispersing. Although the Department of Criminal & Justice had not yet announced a verdict, families with members serving as officials in the capital had made inquiries and knew that the Fan Family’s situation was not optimistic.
Even the Assistant Minister of Rites had nowhere to seek help, let alone him, a Judicial Commissioner. The officialdom certainly required ladders to climb up, but when those providing the ladders met with misfortune, those on the ladders couldn’t remain unscathed either.
Fan Zhenglian’s fate seemed more doomed than hopeful, and the fall of the other half of the golden plaque was only a matter of time.
Lu Tong looked up at the Fan Mansion’s plaque, lost in thought for a while, when she suddenly heard someone calling her from behind.
"Doctor Lu?"
Yin Zheng and she both startled, then quickly turned around.
A few steps away from the Fan Mansion stood a tall man. The man had bushy eyebrows and big eyes, his complexion weary and fatigued, his gaze upon Lu Tong full of surprise.
Lu Tong’s eyes flickered as she said, "Record Keeper Qi."
It was the Court Record Keeper, Fan Zhenglian’s most valued subordinate, Qi Chuan.