Chapter 67: Chapter 54: Examiner Official Fan Zhenglian_3
The servant wiped his sweat and smiled, "Princely Heir, it’s been a long time since you’ve seen your lordship. His lordship has been unwell lately, and he hopes that the Princely Heir..."
"Do you want me to say it again?"
The servant faltered.
This Princely Heir, whose temperament waxed and waned with his heart, seemed genial but was in fact ruthless; he was far less gentle and courteous than the second young master. Even Lord Zhao Ning, who was a dominant figure, could not control this son of his, let alone a lowly servant like him.
The servant nodded his understanding and fled in disarray.
Pei Yunmeng watched his retreating figure, his eyes as dark as the deep black of the dungeon, devoid of sorrow or joy.
Qingfeng asked, "Master, what about those in the prison?"
The interrogation had already ended after obtaining the desired information.
"People trained by the Department of Criminal & Justice are tough in their words but weak in their bones."
He said, "Keep the one from earlier; the others are useless, kill them."
"Yes."
...
"Miss, the two green fish that Sister Song from the silk shoe shop next door sent are all belly-up now, and the scales have already been removed..."
"There’s no use for the rest, just kill them," Lu Tong said.
"This..."
Yin Zheng looked at the two fish gasping for breath in the wooden basin and felt somewhat at a loss.
The vendors on West Street had a good neighborly relationship. Originally, Du Changqing and Ah Cheng, when managing Renxin Medical Hall, couldn’t be bothered to interact with the surrounding peddlers. After Lu Tong and the other person arrived, the situation changed a bit.
Yin Zheng, sweet-tongued and keen at reading others, often shared inexpensive fruits and pastries with the neighbors. Giving and receiving went hand in hand, and since she was also lovely and likeable, she swiftly became familiar with the folks from the small shops along the street, occasionally receiving their gifts in return.
These two large green fish were a gift from Sister Song.
When Sister Song presented the two green fish to Yin Zheng, she instructed her, "Miss Yinzhen, take these two green fish back and make some soup to nourish your mistress. Doctor Lu is too thin, like a sheet of paper; I truly fear a gust of wind might blow her away!"
Yin Zheng brought the green fish back, still undecided whether to steam or stew them, when Lu Tong took a small knife and scraped the scales from the two fish, claiming she needed the scales for a medicinal primer.
The fish, stripped of their scales and belly-up in the water, seemed beyond recovery.
Yin Zheng stood still, and Lu Tong looked up to ask, "What’s wrong?"
"Miss," Yin Zheng began uneasily, "I don’t know how to kill fish."
In the brothel, she learned singing, dancing, and the arts of qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting, but never the art of cooking. She barely learned to cook to the point of making food edible while following Lu Tong, let alone the bloody task of killing fish, toward which she kept her distance.
Lu Tong gave her a glance, stopped grinding medicine, stood up from the stone table, took the knife, and carried the wooden basin to a corner of the courtyard where she squatted down. She grabbed one of the green fish, slammed it against the table, and with its vitality already low, it stopped moving. Lu Tong swiftly sliced open the fish’s belly and removed its innards.
Yin Zheng watched, agape.
"Miss, you even know how to kill fish," Yin Zheng moved a small stool for her to sit on, sitting beside her with her chin resting on her hand, and couldn’t help but speak admiringly, "You seem quite skillful."
Lu Tong scooped water from the water jar with a gourd ladle and splashed it on the fish to wash away the blood. Then she grabbed the other green fish, slit open its belly, and said as she looked down, "I used to kill often on the mountain."
"Ah?" Yin Zheng was momentarily stunned but soon realized, "Is it because you needed components for medicinal purposes?"
Lu Tong continued her work without pausing, and after a long while, she hummed in affirmation.
Yin Zheng nodded, "I see." She glanced again at the fresh blood on Lu Tong’s hands and swallowed her saliva, "It’s just that it’s so bloody, it’s quite frightening."
Lu Tong did not respond.
In truth, Lu Tong was proficient not only in killing fish but also in handling other wild animals, although not for gathering medicinal components. Most of the time, it was simply a matter of survival.
Lady Yun was quite particular about food and also loved cooking. Tea had to be brewed using melted snow collected over an entire winter, pastries were to be shaped like delicate chess pieces, and making a batch of Twenty-Four Seasonal Dumplings required filling materials from twenty-four different seasonal flowers.
It was a pity, though, that Lady Yun spent so little time on Luomei Peak.
Lady Yun often descended from the mountain, and once gone, it would be for many weeks at a time. Sometimes, the remaining rice and grains on the mountain could sustain for a while; other times, when Lady Yun forgot to leave food, Lu Tong would have nothing but an empty stomach.
At that time, she had just arrived at Luomei Peak and couldn’t even find the way down the mountain. During her first bout of dizzying hunger, she found an injured sparrow on the ground in front of the house.
The young Lu Tong struggled for a long time before finally roasting the sparrow.