Chapter 87: Chapter 60 Reading Person_3
The fish stall, filled with its fishy odor, gradually receded behind them; Yin Zheng and Lu Tong walked on in silence without speaking. Upon their return to the medical clinic, Du Changqing was slouched in his chair eating jujubes. When he saw the two return, he immediately sprang up from his chair.
Du Changqing had arrived at the clinic today to find that both Lu Tong and Yin Zheng were not there and thought they had decided to quit and had packed up and left in the night. It wasn’t until Ah Cheng had explained the whole story that he refrained from reporting to the authorities.
He asked Lu Tong, "Ah Cheng said you went to treat Scholar Wu’s mother. How is it, everything’s alright?"
Yin Zheng answered, "The situation was quite dire at the time, but Miss Lu has managed to save her for now, however..."
However, for those whose illnesses have reached an advanced stage, they are essentially counting their days until they are laid to rest.
After hearing Yin Zheng finish, Du Changqing also let out a sigh, his eyes showing a trace of sorrow.
Seeing him like this, Lu Tong inquired, "Do you know Wu Youcai?"
"Everyone knows him on West Street," Du Changqing waved his hand, "Scholar Wu from the fresh fish shop, he’s famously filial on West Street."
Lu Tong thought for a moment, then said, "I saw many books in his house, is he planning on taking the imperial examination?"
"What planning? He’s taken it every time," Du Changqing spoke of Wu Youcai, not sure whether it was out of pity or something else, "It’s a shame about his luck. Originally, everyone around him was certain that with his talent, he might even become the top scholar, but who knew, after so many years, he has not passed the examination."
Du Changqing couldn’t help but curse the heavens: "What is wrong with this damn world, can’t it open its eyes for once?" After saying this, he turned his head, only to see that Lu Tong had already lifted the felt curtain and entered the inner courtyard, and he pointed at the curtain, frustrated, "Why don’t you listen to people when they’re talking to you!"
Yin Zheng "shushed" him with a gesture, "Miss Lu is also tired from seeing patients today, let her rest."
Only then did Du Changqing give up.
In the inner courtyard, Lu Tong entered the room and put the medical box away before sitting down at the desk by the window.
On the desk by the window, there were paper and writing brushes. Since it was daytime, the lamp was not lit. The greenish-bronze lamp, shaped like a lotus leaf, resembled a budding lotus flower and was gently mesmerizing.
In Scholar Wu’s thatched cottage from the fresh fish shop, there was also such a cast bronze lotus lamp.
Lu Tong’s heart stirred slightly.
Scholars often burned such a lotus lamp at their desks, simple and elegant, hoping to "pluck the golden lotus" later in life. Many years ago, there was also such a lamp on Lu Qian’s desk.
Back then in Changwu County, Lu Qian would also study at night by lamplight during spring. Worried that he would be hungry, his mother would bring him honey cakes at night. Seizing the chance when the parents weren’t looking, Lu Tong would sneak in, climb straight onto her elder brother’s desk, and boldly claim the plate of honey cakes as her own. This angered Lu Qian so much that he would scold her softly, "Hey!"
Sitting at the edge of Lu Qian’s desk, with her legs dangling in midair, she protested confidently, "It’s your fault for secretly snacking in the middle of the night behind our backs."
"Who is snacking at night?"
"Then what are you doing?"
"Studying."
"What kind of books require reading at night?" Lu Tong stuffed honey cakes into her mouth and casually picked up the lotus lamp to examine it, "What a waste of lamp oil."
The young man couldn’t help but laugh out of exasperation, snatching the bronze lamp back, "You don’t understand, this is called ’studying long hours by the green lamp, spurred on by the urgency for fame and success’!"
Spurred on by the urgency for fame and success...
Lu Tong lowered her eyelids.
The Wu Youcai she saw today was a scholarly man who had taken the examination several times.
If Lu Qian were still alive, he would likely be of the age to pursue fame and fortune through the exams.
The father was always strict. Just like this Wu Youcai, the many books that had filled their home over the years probably remained grounded nowhere. The light over the Lu Family’s desk in Changwu County would only have burned longer than those spring nights of yesteryear.
But Lu Qian was already dead.
He died in the Department of Criminal & Justice’s main prison in Shengjing.
Lu Tong couldn’t help but clench her fist tightly.
Yin Zheng once helped her inquire, and just like other places, after the execution of death row inmates at the Department of Criminal & Justice, if there were family members who gave silver, the bones could be claimed by the family. Without family members, the bodies would be carelessly buried at the foot of the hill behind Mount Wangchun.
Later, Lu Tong visited the hillside graves at the foot of Mount Wangchun, where wild grass stretched endlessly and human bones gnawed by wild beasts were everywhere. She could smell a faint scent of blood, and a few wild dogs stopped in the distance behind the hill, tilting their heads and watching her.
Standing in that desolate land, she suddenly felt the blood throughout her body turn cold, unable to accept that the carefree and bright young man from her memories had finally come to rest in such a muddy place, buried together with countless deceased prisoners and fragmented remains.
She couldn’t even distinguish Lu Qian’s remains from the numerous graves.
He had died, all alone.
The sound of cicadas in the yard became desolate and empty in her ears, and the hot sun of the summer afternoon was fierce, barraging her face with a chill that held no hint of warmth, like a suffocating nightmare.
It was not until a voice came from close by, rudely tearing a gash in this oppressive dream—
"Doctor Lu, Doctor Lu?" Ah Cheng stood in front of the felt curtain between the yard and the shop, calling out loudly.
Lu Tong turned her head blankly, her eyes still clouded with a daze.
Yin Zheng, who had been washing her hands in the courtyard, walked over, lifted the felt curtain, and invited Ah Cheng to come in and speak, "What’s the matter?"
"Someone in the shop wants to buy medicinal tea. We’ve sold out the batches on display outside, and Shopkeeper Du has asked you to bring out some more from the storeroom."
The "storeroom" was actually the kitchen in the courtyard. Sometimes Lu Tong would prepare extra medicinal teas in advance and store them in a chest to avoid running out at the last minute.
Yin Zheng agreed, and as usual, she asked a question, "Whose family name did they give?"
Recently, Lu Tong had made a register to record the names of all the medicinal tea customers. Du Changqing once said it was too much trouble, but Lu Tong insisted on doing it this way.
The young clerk, hearing this, joyfully announced, "This time, it’s someone important. They said it’s from the household of the Judicial Commissioner Fan Zhenglian of the Trial Court. They are waiting outside the shop right now!"
Yin Zheng’s steps toward the kitchen paused.
Lu Tong suddenly looked up.
The Guan Xia Banquet was still some days away, and even if Lady Dong was willing to help drop a hint at the banquet, it would take quite a while for Fan Zhenglian’s wife, Zhao Shi, to take the bait.
She had been prepared to wait patiently, yet unexpectedly it seemed that heaven took pity on the plight of the Lu Family, allowing this good news to arrive ahead of schedule.
Ah Cheng, oblivious to their reactions, was still excited, thinking of Fan Zhenglian, the Judicial Commissioner of the Trial Court, known in the Capital City as "Fan Qingtian"! Who could have imagined that their remote clinic would attract someone from the household of Fan Qingtian to buy their medicine—a fact that if shared, would be the envy of every merchant on West Street!
After the clerk had spoken for a while and not received a response from Lu Tong, only then did he belatedly sense that something was amiss, "Miss Lu?"
"No need to fetch it."
Ah Cheng was taken aback and instinctively looked at Lu Tong.
The woman stood by the table, staring at the bronze lamp at the corner of the desk, as if lost in thought, her gaze flashed with a momentary, fleeting sorrow.
After a long while, she finally spoke.
"Tell the people from the Fan Family that the medicinal tea is sold out, there’s none left."