"Don’t leave, don’t leave alone..."
Mournful sobbing echoed through the Plague Hospital, quickly drowned out by the wind and snow outside the door.
Lu Tong tried to pull her up, but Cuicui suddenly turned her head, glaring at her fiercely.
"Didn’t you say," she demanded, her grip on Lu Tong’s dress desperate, "that doctors are supposed to save lives?"
"Didn’t you say we wouldn’t die?"
"Didn’t you say that candles bursting into bloom were a sign of great joy, and that my dad and I would be alright?"
"Why did my dad die?" she scread, "Why did he die?"
The girl suddenly pushed her, and Lu Tong stumbled back, caught by soone behind her.
Lu Tong looked back to find Pei Yunng releasing her, frowning down at her. He must have just rushed over, his saber not at his waist.
Cuicui let go of Lu Tong’s dress hem and collapsed to the ground, sobbing painfully.
A pang of sorrow hit Lu Tong, and she could no longer stay in that place. She turned away abruptly and strode out of the Plague Hospital.
"Younger Sister Lu—" Lin Danqing was calling out.
Pei Yunng turned and followed her.
Lu Tong walked quickly.
Outside, the wind howled, and the snow was heavy. It was pitch-black outside the dilapidated temple in Su Nan. She walked and walked, gradually breaking into a jog, as if afraid to look back at the small, sorrow-filled temple behind her, as if fearful of glancing back.
There’s so much suffering in the world, and she had realized this long ago.
She was always a monster without an ounce of compassion, here only for revenge. Running a dical clinic, being a doctor, it was all just a ans to an end for vengeance. She never cared about "benevolence to the world" or "saving lives and helping the injured." Aside from revenge, she didn’t care about anything else in this world.
But at this mont, at that mont just before, how desperately she wanted to save him.
How desperately she wanted to save them all.
Just as Lady Yun had saved her parents years before.
The little girl’s cheerful voice echoed in her ears.
"Grasshopper! For you, Doctor Lu. These past days, my dad and I have felt much better. Dad says it won’t be long before we can leave the Plague Hospital. Co next spring, I can go with him to catch crabs by the stream."
The voice grew fainter, turning into a man’s final lingering wish.
"Girl, dad’s gotta go... don’t, don’t keep thinking about dad. I’ve told you before, you need to look forward, don’t dwell on the unhappy things. You must study hard in the future, live well, and if you marry, dad will be watching from the heavens. You must live to a hundred years... Next life, dad will make you more grasshoppers..."
"Dad’s good daughter..."
"You must... live well..."
The cacophony of sounds followed her, echoing constantly in her mind as she ran aimlessly forward, not knowing where she was headed until soone behind her grabbed her, forcing her to stop.
"Lu Tong," the person called her na.
Lu Tong was dazed.
"Lu Tong," he called again, his voice heavier than just before, as if trying to jolt her completely out of her daze.
Lu Tong looked up blankly.
Pei Yunng stood in front of her, staring intently at her, his voice cold: "Where are you going?"
As if doused with a bucket of cold water, Lu Tong suddenly ca to her senses.
This was Su Nan, not Changwu County.
Ding Yong was dead, she hadn’t been able to save him.
Feeling suddenly drained of strength, Lu Tong swayed, and Pei Yunng caught her.
Pei Yunng looked at her.
Her face was deathly pale, her lips colorless, and her eyes vacant, she looked even more precarious than Cuicui had before, as if she might lt away the very next mont.
The young man gazed downward for a mont, then suddenly bowed his head and held her in his arms.
In Su Nan, the snowflakes continued to flutter down, and the night wind wailed. Amidst the darkness and fierce wind, his embrace was filled with warmth.
Lu Tong huddled in his arms while his hand gently patted her back, over and over, as if to comfort. Yet, that simple gesture made Lu Tong’s eyes brim with tears.
Ding Yong’s dark face suddenly shifted, morphing into her father’s face, which then rged with her mother’s voice, her Siblings’ counsel...
She’d always wondered what her family would say if they could see her one more ti, what last words and admonishnts they’d have for her. She’d guessed at countless possibilities: perhaps they’d want her to seek vengeance or to endure and seek completeness. But tonight, amidst the goodbyes of death, she caught a glimpse of a hint.
The last thing her struggling father wanted to say to his daughter was: live well.
If her parents and Siblings could see her one last ti, perhaps that’s what they would say too.
Live well.
Look forward.
She closed her eyes, and tears fell uncontrollably.
...
The snow in Su Nan didn’t stop all night, and by dawn, the sky began to turn white.
In the early morning, Ding Yong’s body was taken to the execution ground.
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