Chapter 145: Chapter 78 Zi Zai Ying_2
She glanced at the rigid expression on Lu Tong’s face and "pfft" laughed.
"Don’t be nervous, Little Shiqi, the medicine just makes your throat uncomfortable, it won’t kill anyone. Even if you take it, you won’t be in danger of losing your life. I just want to know..."
Lady Yun’s slender fingertips brushed across the top of Lu Tong’s head, her tone carrying a naive curiosity, "whether you can truly endure it or not?"
Laughing, she left the thatched cottage with the Silver Jar in her arms. When she was gone, Lu Tong scrambled inside, rummaging through her things until she found two hemp ropes as thick as her fists.
She knew that Lady Yun never lied, and every "casual mention" inevitably led to intense "unbearable pain." Since she had used the word "endure," it meant the itching pain from the "Free-as-a-Bird" would be no small ordeal.
As the afterglow of sunset sank inch by inch, and the mountaintops began to gleam with the rising silver moon, Lady Yun did not return. Alone in the pitch-black hut, Lu Tong curled up and tied her own arms with the hemp ropes to the post at the head of the bed.
The method of tying a secure knot single-handedly was something her brother, Lu Qian, had taught her when she was young. Back then, the siblings would playfully compete to see who could untie the other’s knot.
No matter how tight she tied, Lu Qian could always break free with ease. Having lost many times, Lu Tong simply changed the rules of the game, letting everyone tie themselves up instead.
While Lu Qian called her bossy, he indulged in her antics. In the end, the boy laughed and scolded with hands on his hips, "This game is only something you would play in the whole wide world, who would tie themselves up with a rope for no reason? It can’t save a life."
Little did they know that his words would prophesy the future.
When the moon had climbed to its highest point over the mountain, the effects of the Free-as-a-Bird began to take hold.
The itch and pain in her throat were indescribable, and her hands, self-bound tightly, were unable to break free from the hemp’s restraint. She was grateful and yet resentful, her bent fingertips digging into her palms, attempting to counteract the torture in her throat with pain.
She curled up in agony on the ground, the ropes turning her wrists purple and red, her eyes bloodshot and red. At the peak of her suffering, she wished someone could hand her a knife. To endure like this was worse than a quick death.
Yet reason told her not to think that way. Only by surviving did she have a chance to leave the mountain; her parents and siblings were still waiting for her at home. She couldn’t... she couldn’t just die here for nothing.
So she clenched her teeth and recited from a book she had read during the day, in broken and intermittent whispers.
"Unaffected by honor or disgrace, finds serenity in the liver... Be reverent in action and inaction, and the heart will be calm... Eat moderately to maintain the spleen... Breathe gently and speak sparingly, and the lungs will be whole... Keep the spirit joyful and desires few, and the kidneys will be sufficient..."
The voice of a young girl reading in a spring night always sounds of romantic affairs.
Only the burned-out candle heard her sobs and cries.
When the second day came, there were faint barks of forest dogs outside. She lay on the ground and saw the door being pushed open a crack, golden morning light pouring in through the gap, forcing her to squint her eyes for a moment.
Lady Yun approached her carefully, surprised to see her still responsive. She stooped beside her, pulling out a silk handkerchief to gently wipe the sweat from her forehead, and softly smiled at her.
"Little Shiqi, congratulations, you’ve survived another challenge."
The itch in her throat seemed to linger as the autumn rain drizzled outside.
Lu Tong turned over in the darkness and closed her eyes, thinking calmly, how wonderful.
She had survived another challenge.
...
The rain stopped on the second day.
Just as Du Changqing and Ah Cheng arrived at the medical clinic’s entrance, they ran into Official Hu, who had come to fetch medicine.
Old Scholar’s face was bruised and swollen to the point of being hard to look at, with two particularly conspicuous black eyes and a greenish mark at the corner of his mouth.
Du Changqing gasped, hurriedly pulling him into the shop while chanting Buddhist prayers, "Who the hell has beaten my uncle up like this? Treating the elderly in such a way, is there no law and order left in the world? This is outrageous!"
The whole West Street had heard about the scuffle between Official Hu and the government officer during the raid at the Wu Family and that he had been taken away. Though Lu Tong was aware of the situation, she hadn’t anticipated that Official Hu’s injuries would be so severe.
When Old Scholar mentioned the incident, he was not demoralized but instead, oddly proud. As he waited for Lu Tong to write him a prescription, he hummed, "Don’t just focus on the beating I took; those people didn’t get the better of me either. It’s a pity, Changqing, that you weren’t there that day to see my martial valour."