Chapter 234 Worry

The north wind howled outside the house.

The lights in the house froze.

He sat by the stove, his dark eyes were bottomless, reflecting the jumping flames, shining brightly in the dark night.

Lu Tong was stunned.

Missing...

A picture from a long time ago suddenly flashed before her eyes.

In the old house of the Lu family in Changwu County, she lay on the table and watched Lu Qian write. The boy's handwriting was upright and vigorous, much better than her dog-crawling handwriting.

"The moon is dark and the lake wind is sent, and the road to find each other is blocked... The lotus song is not sung thoroughly, but I know it is in this pond..."

"What is not understood, what is not understood, what is the connection between what you wrote?" When she was young, she grabbed the ink paper that Lu Qian had written, "Why can't I understand a word?"

Lu Qian took the ink paper back from her hand and said unhappily: "Read more books, Lu San, if you keep messing around like this, when you grow up, you won't understand the love poems written by you."

"Love poems?" She was suspicious, "Is this a love poem?"

"What else?"

"I don't understand." Lu Tong rolled her eyes: "There's not even the word 'love', how can it be called a love poem?"

"Vulgar!"

Lu Qian taught her a lesson, "Be subtle, be subtle! If there is any poetry in the love you express, you should be gentle."

She glanced at her brother and stuffed a piece of candy into her mouth: "You understand it so well, then tell me, what is love?"

Lu Qian was studying in the academy, and he had never seen a girl before. He made up a bunch of nonsense, which was just to make fun of her for not studying well.

Lu Qian cleared his throat twice. He had never liked a girl before, so he racked his brains to come up with a sentence: "Love means that you always think about someone, miss someone, always think of him when you have nothing to do, and are happiest when you are with him..."

"Oh," Lu Tong said, "From what you said, it doesn't sound very subtle! Are you making it up?"

Lu Qian: "...playing the lute to a cow, I won't talk to you anymore. When you grow up and have a lover, you will understand."

When you grow up and have a lover, you will understand.

She used to think that Lu Qian said this casually to scare her, but now she gradually understands it.

When you have feelings for someone, it turns out that you will miss someone inexplicably.

A voice came from her ear: "Is this question so difficult to answer?"

She came back to her senses, Pei Yunying was sitting in front of the stove, his handsome features became more dazzling under the light, and he looked at her with an ambiguous look.

"No." Lu Tong's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly answered, "I haven't thought about it."

"Really?"

He nodded, "That's a pity."

Although he said this, his tone did not seem to be lost, but rather smiling.

The snow water in the pot had been heated to a warm temperature. He lifted the pot and poured the water into the red clay teacup, then walked to Lu Tong with the teacup.

Lu Tong sat on the edge of the couch, watching Pei Yunying lean over and put the teacup in her hand.

"Drink it, 'Laxue'."

Lu Tong: "..."

She was about to refute what kind of Laxue this was, but when she raised her eyes, she met the light smile in his eyes, as if he saw through everything, knew her guilty conscience and secrets, and saw her evasion and sorrow.

Lu Tong held the cup tightly.

For some reason, she felt that Pei Yunying was a little different.

As if he had put aside some scruples, he flirted more openly. No, that was not flirting, but like a fisherman holding a fishing rod on the river bank, slowly putting down the bait, approaching and sometimes far away, waiting patiently and confidently for someone to take the bait.

She felt guilty, so she couldn't resist, and she retreated step by step, losing her composure.

Seeing her like this, Pei Yunying curled his lips, retreated to the table, walked into the room, and picked up the quilt at the foot of the couch.

The quilt was thick and heavy, and the stitches were very rough. For his pampered and particular habits, it was really a bit difficult.

Sure enough, he walked to the bed and took a critical look at the floor: "Here?"

Lu Tong nodded.

He didn't say anything, tidied it up, and spread the mattress on the floor at the head of the bed.

Lu Tong drank water while watching his movements. Although this man was a child of aristocratic family, he sometimes looked very arrogant and picky, but sometimes he adapted very well, which was surprising.

"Aren't you going to rest?" He sat on the mattress and looked up at Lu Tong.

Lu Tong put the empty cup on the table, thought for a moment, and then looked at the small oil lamp on the table in the room, and said: "Don't turn off the light when you fall asleep at night."

Pei Yunying looked at her, his eyebrows moved: "Lu Tong, you won't worry about what I will do to you at night, right?"

Lu Tong was speechless for a moment, and mocked: "The Palace Marshal also knows that my needles are very powerful. If you are not afraid of becoming the second Jin Xianrong, you can give it a try."

Pei Yunying: "..."

Seeing him frustrated, she felt a little better for some reason, and just now she lay down on the bed with her clothes on.

Strangely enough, she was in the same room with Pei Yunying. Although she felt subtle and a little uncomfortable, she was indeed not worried. This man was clearly not a gentleman, and his behavior was not very proper. However, it seemed that she believed in him from the bottom of her heart. This trust was terrifying. She felt so at ease with him.

Pei Yunying snorted and laughed, not caring about her, and lay down with his hands on his head.

The lamp oil in the room burned quietly, blocking the wind and snow outside the door. The little warmth from the stove was not much warmer in this cold day, but the two people in the room did not feel cold. They were silent, thinking about their own thoughts.

Pei Yunying lay for a while, and saw a long object at the foot of the bed. He thought it was a snake, frowned and sat up, picked it with a silver knife, but found it was a rope.

It was a very thick hemp rope, not too long or too short, and it seemed to have been used for many years, and there were some signs of wear and tear. If it was used to tie up medicinal materials, it seemed a little short.

He picked up the rope with the tip of the knife and looked at Lu Tong on the couch: "Why is there another rope?"

Lu Tong sat up and saw what he was holding in his hand. Her face changed immediately and she snatched it back.

Pei Yunying glanced at her face and his eyes moved slightly. After a moment, he said in a deep voice: "Is this really a black shop?"

The length of this rope is not enough for hanging, and it is barely enough for tying things. It is most suitable for tying hands and feet. In the trial room in front of the palace, the rope used to tie the hands and feet of prisoners is exactly this length.

Lu Tong's heart jumped and he replied coldly: "You have moved in, it's too late to say this." She was afraid that he would see her expression, so she stuffed the rope under the bed, turned her back and lay down, and didn't speak.

Pei Yunying turned his head and looked at her back, and didn't speak for a long time.

After a while, he lay down again, his expression was not as relaxed as before, and suddenly thought of something, and raised his eyes to look at the earth wall above his head.

The place where the quilt was laid was next to the wall. When he first entered the room and looked around, he had already found scratches on the wall.

The location of those scratches was subtle, not too high, and there were more near the foot of the wall. The marks were obviously messy, as if someone fell to the ground in pain and left nail marks on the wall.

In the past, when interrogating prisoners in the prison of the Palace Front Division, some prisoners would roll on the ground and scratch the wall when they were in pain. The marks were like this. He saw it very clearly and was very sure. When he thought of the rope just now...

Pei Yunying frowned slightly and looked at the couch.

Lu Tong turned his back to him, facing the wall in a rage, leaving only the back of his head to the outside.

He was stunned for a moment, and then he laughed a little.

In the deserted mountain, living in the same room, he was a man after all. With Lu Tong's always cautious personality, he actually exposed his back to the outside like this, without any defense...

He really had no defense against him at all.

He took another look at the scratches on the wall, retracted his gaze, and lay down again.

…

The night got deeper.

The snow on Luomei Peak was getting heavier.

The wind blew in through the window, and she could hear the sound of branches breaking outside the door.

In such a cold day, she always had a hard time falling asleep in the past, but today, whether she was too tired or because there was one more person in the room, Lu Tong lay on the couch, looking at the dim light in the room, and then she felt her eyelids gradually become heavy, and slowly fell asleep.

The snow was getting heavier, and the silvery white snow floated and floated, and then it turned into a cloud-like skirt.

Someone called in her ear: "Seventeen."

Seventeen?

She raised her head and looked in the direction of the voice.

Under the bright red plum tree, the woman sitting had beautiful eyebrows and eyes, put down the book in her hand, and waved to her.

"Come here."

Yun Niang...

She walked over blankly.

Yun Niang sat under the tree, in front of the small stove, a pottery pot was warm, and the pot was bubbling with hot steam, condensing into a thin hot mist in the ice and snow.

A bitter medicinal fragrance emanated from it.

Yunniang reached out, held the handle of the medicine jar with a handkerchief, lifted it up, and poured it into the empty bowl on the stone table.

The medicine bowl was immediately filled, and the woman stood up, walked to her side, took her hand, and said: "You have been on the mountain for three days, are you used to it?"

"Accustomed to it."

Yunniang nodded with satisfaction, "That's good." She smiled, "Since you are on the mountain, I will take you to meet some friends."

Friends?

Lu Tong was stunned.

She followed Yunniang all the way from Changwu County to Su Nan Luomei Peak. Since she went up the mountain for three days, she has never seen anyone. It seems that there are only her and Yunniang in the entire Luomei Peak. Where did the friends come from?

Yunniang held her hand, like a loving elder, patient and gentle, and walked to a large patch of blooming grass behind the house. Lu Tong didn't know what was planted, but she felt that the grass and trees were lush and colorful.

The woman stopped in front of the grass.

"Look." She said.

Lu Tong looked over and was immediately horrified.

In the center of the clumps of grass and trees, rows of dark earth mounds were faintly raised. Lu Tong didn't see them clearly at first, but when she saw them clearly, her scalp tingled.

Those were rows of graves.

They were not buried carefully and were a little sloppy. However, during the epidemic in Changwu County, countless people died of the disease, and there were often such sloppy graves on the edge of the fields. She had seen too many of them.

Lu Tong's voice trembled: "This is..."

"It's your sixteen senior brothers and sisters," Yunniang explained with a smile.

"They are all about your age," the woman said softly, "and they also spent some time with me on Luomei Peak, but they were a little weak and spent too little time with me."

"Little Seventeen," Yunniang said, "You have to stay with me for a while."

Lu Tong trembled with fear.

Yunniang had always called her "Seventeen", and she didn't know what she meant. But now she saw a clue in these rows of graves.

She will be the seventeenth person buried here, and she is the seventeenth dead person.

As if amused by her suddenly pale face, Yunniang was surprised: "Why do you look like that? Do you think I will kill you?"

The woman stroked her head and said angrily: "Silly child."

She was so scared that she dared not move. Her legs were weak. She let Yunniang lead her like a puppet and returned to the thatched house.

"Xiao Shiqi, when you saved my family, you told me that you could do anything."

Lu Tong looked at her, and his heart gradually fell: "What does the lady want me to do?"

Yunniang walked to the stone table, picked up the medicine bowl filled with soup and handed it to her, smiling slightly.

"Drink it."

The brown soup rippled slightly in the bowl. She saw her panicked face in the bowl, so scared and helpless.

She had no choice.

Lu Chen drank up the medicine in the medicine bowl. Yun Niang took out the handkerchief, wiped the moist medicine from the corners of her mouth, and spoke with a smile.

"Don't be afraid, this is not poison, and it won't kill you. It will just make you feel a little bit more uncomfortable."

"I saw that you drank the medicine very quickly just now. It seems that you are a good boy who is not afraid of hardship."

Yun Niang pushed her gently into the thatched house, and then the door was locked with a click. Lu Zhen came to his senses and rushed to the door to knock on it. He heard the woman's smiling voice coming from outside the door.

"The bowl of medicine just now is called 'Crossing the Ant Formation'."

"One hour after taking it, you will feel a little bit of pain, like a colony of ants crawling over, with nowhere to go. If you can endure it for three hours, once the effect of the medicine wears off, you will be fine, but if you can't endure it, you may have to Be careful."

"The little sixteen sister in front of you just couldn't bear this bowl of medicine. She hung herself from the beam with a rope. When she was untied, she looked ugly."

"Xiao Qi," she said, "you have to hold on."

The footsteps outside the door gradually faded away. No matter how hard she banged on the door, there was no reply. Yun Niang had already left.

She was left alone in this room.

The room was dark and the windows were locked. She had nowhere to go. She stepped back, but her foot stepped on something and she almost tripped. When she lowered her head, she saw that it was a length of rope.

The rope was quite thick, and there were some dark blood stains on the rope. Lu Yan suddenly remembered what Yun Niang said just now, "The little sixteen sister in front of you just couldn't bear this bowl of medicine, so she hung herself from the beam with a rope." ".

That was the rope hanging from the beam left by the medicine drinker in front.

As if being pricked by a needle, Lu Zhuo loosened his grip and the thick rope fell away.

She jerked away.

Lu Zhen rushed to the door and knocked on it again: "Miss, Yun Niang! Let me out! I want to get out!"

She was answered only by silence.

There was no reply until she was tired from filming and slowly slid down from the door. Lu Zhuo sat behind the door, huddled up with his arms crossed, looking at the bloody rope, feeling despair in his heart.

She will die. She will never survive it. Sixteen people have died before her. Sooner or later, she will be buried in the grass garden and become a puddle of mud.

She could no longer reunite with her parents, siblings.

Parents, brothers and sisters...

She cried for a long time until her voice became hoarse, but in the extreme panic, she gradually calmed down.

No, she can't die.

If she died here, no one would know, and her parents would never know.

At least not now!

Not knowing where the strength came from, Lu Zhu climbed up again. The thick blood-stained rope was still on the ground. She was thinking about it. Yun Niang only said that she could get through the pain. She wanted to get through it, how to get through it...

Looking across the room, Lu Zhuo's gaze fell on the scissors on the table.

Those were the silver scissors used to shorten the wicks. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Yun Niang left them in the house.

Lu Tong stood up and picked up the pair of scissors, then picked up the long rope on the ground, and made up his mind to cut it in two.

This length of rope is best for hanging, but she has to use this rope to tie her hands. The rope-tying method she had learned from Lu Qian once bound her hands, making it impossible to break free.

She wanted to give it a try.

The method of tying the rope was no longer clear in his memory, and the pain was gradually coming from his heart. Lu Zhu shook his hands and almost lost his grip on the hemp rope. He stumbled and put the hemp rope on his wrist. At the last moment of putting it on, huge pain hit my face.

Yun Niang lied to her.

It wasn't a little painful at all. It was pain that was enough to destroy one's willpower.

She was in too much pain. At that moment, she suddenly understood why the "Sixteen" in front used a rope to hang from the beam. It was really more uncomfortable than death.

When she was most unbearable, she couldn't help scratching the wall, her nails dug deeply into the mud wall, and blood gradually overflowed from her fingers. She rolled on the ground in pain, and there was no light in the dark little room. There was only a hoarse cry.

…

"Yun Niang..."

In the quiet night, someone suddenly heard a voice.

Pei Yunying opened his eyes suddenly.

Alone outside, he always slept lightly. The lights in the room had been blown out by the wind at some point, but an even more depressing low voice came from the couch.

"Lu Yun?" Pei Yunying frowned and looked at the bed.

No one answered.

He turned over and sat up, touched the fire stick, and lit the oil lamp on the table. The warm flame swayed in the room. He put the oil lamp on the table aside and walked to Lu Shuo's couch.

Lu Chen closed his eyes.

Before going to sleep, she faced the wall. Now she had turned over and curled up into one body. Her face, which was always calm, looked painful, and large drops of sweat oozed from her forehead.

Pei Yunying's complexion changed slightly, and he shook Lu Zhuo's shoulder: "Lu Zhuo?"

She seemed to be trapped in a dream and was not awake. The next moment, she suddenly stretched out her hand.

Pei Yunying was stunned for a moment and looked down.

Lu Zhuo grabbed his hand.

She held on tightly, refusing to let go, with great strength, like a drowning man holding on to the last life-saving straw. Her eyes were closed tightly, and her nails almost dug into the back of his hand. Pei Yunying let her hold on, Call her name in a low voice: "Lu Huan?"

"Yun Niang..." She moaned drowsily, beads of sweat rolling down her forehead into her neck.

It's like being stuck in a dream and it's hard to wake up.

The lights in the room flickered, Pei Yunying's eyes were dark, and he made a prompt decision. His fingertips brushed the acupuncture points on her neck and applied a little more force.

There was a sudden exclamation, and the person on the couch suddenly opened his eyes.

Lu Zhuo sat up all of a sudden, gasping for air.

A hand reaches out from behind.

Lu Tong felt herself being pulled into a warm embrace, which carried a familiar and refreshing fragrance, dispelling the cold and heavy medicinal fragrance in her dream. The warmth slowly spread from behind her. She raised her eyes and met Pei Yunying's gaze.

Suddenly, Lu Tong understood.

This was not the first time she had taken medicine since she went up to Luomei Peak. "Crossing the Ant Array" was just a difficult dream in the past. She is now a medical officer of the Shengjing Hanlin Medical Officer Institute. Yunniang is dead. She doesn't have to take bowl after bowl of unknown medicine in anxiety and fear. She went up the mountain to find herbs to save the epidemic.

She dreamed again.

She has been dreaming recently.

If this continues, she will not be able to distinguish between dreams and reality.

"Lu Tong." Pei Yunying's voice came to her ears, and Lu Tong looked up.

Pei Yunying frowned and looked at her.

The young face was no longer calm as before, and raised his hand to touch her forehead.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked.

Lu Tong calmed down and avoided his gaze, "I just had a dream."

He took back the hand covering Lu Tong's forehead: "Who is Yunniang? You kept calling Yunniang's name in your dream."

Lu Tong's body stiffened.

Pei Yunyi frowned and stared at her.

Her face was very pale. She was usually very thin. Now that Sunan was working hard to fight the epidemic, she was thinner than before. Her face was only the size of a palm. Her eyes were no longer calm as usual. They were a little scattered and confused. Her lips were as white as paper.

Lu Tong, since I met her, was either calm or crazy, but it was the first time I saw her "fear".

In her dream, there was something she feared.

"Is it your enemy?"

Lu Tong shuddered and came back to her senses.

He was always very sharp.

Lu Tong turned his head: "No."

He didn't say anything, staring at her closely. His eyes, which were always gentle in shape, seemed to be stained with frost and snow on the plum branches of Luomei Peak, with a faint and cold look.

Outside, the north wind and snow were thick, and the lamp in the house was dim. When the two looked at each other, one was aggressive and the other dodged.

After a moment of silence, Pei Yunying moved his eyes away, as if he had finally let her go, and stood up and said: "You just sweated all over. There is a handkerchief in the medical box. I'll get it for you."

Lu Tong breathed a sigh of relief.

The young man walked to the table in the room, where Lu Tong's medical box was placed. He opened the medical box and reached for the white silk inside.

Lu Tong watched his movements, and suddenly remembered something. She froze, got off the bed suddenly, and ran to Pei Yunying without bothering to put on shoes: "Wait--"

This panic did not have any effect.

She watched Pei Yunying pick up something from the medical box.

It was a colorful silk ribbon, with a delicate shape and complete weaving. It was a beautiful pomegranate color. In the dark night, it was like a thin and weak colorful cloud blooming. When the shadow was reflected on it, the color of the light became gorgeous.

Pei Yunying had asked her to make a birthday gift. She had been weaving it for a long time, but she didn't give it away in the end.

"What is this?" He turned around.

Lu Tong pursed her lips and reached out to grab it, but he raised it slightly, making it difficult for her to reach.

Pei Yunying said, "Why do you want to take this colorful ribbon?"

"It belongs to someone else." Lu Tong said stubbornly, "I kept it."

"Really?"

He nodded, and his fingertips gently wrapped around the colorful ribbon, revealing a small, not round piece of wood under the tassel.

"Then what is this?"

Lu Tong froze.

The tiny piece of wood swayed at his fingertips.

Lu Tong clenched her fists slightly.

It was a piece of wood she took from Pei Yunying's wooden tower.

On the day of the Qixi Festival, his ambiguous words made her waver for a short time. At that time, Pei Yunying said he would give her a piece, and she refused, but in the end, for some reason, she took another piece.

Later, she left Shengjing and came to southern Jiangsu, and she kept the piece of wood well. She wanted to throw it away many times, but in the end, she never succeeded.

The colorful ribbon and the piece of wood hid her secret thoughts. She carefully kept the secret, but it was suddenly exposed on this snowy night.

In the quiet and silent night, the wind and snow whistled outside the door. The young man lowered his eyes, looked at Lu Tong's embarrassed appearance, and said calmly: "Lu Tong."

He stared into her eyes: "I ask you again, are you really open and honest with me, without any selfish intentions?"

Lu Tong's breathing stagnated.

She instinctively wanted to refute, but when she met those dark eyes, she couldn't say a word.

"I..." She stammered.

Those beautiful black eyes stared at her, and the lights flickered in his eyes, and as they flowed, it seemed like a long song that had not been finished.

He said coldly: "I see the answer."