She seed so familiar with Luoi Peak, knowing every dicinal field well.
Lu Tong "hmm"ed in response.
Pei Yunng lifted his eyelids, "When you were with your master in the past, what kind of person was he?"
"You ask too many questions."
"It’s you who say too little." He squinted his eyes, his dark pupils harboring a trace of inquiry, "Why do you never talk about yourself?"
Lu Tong rarely spoke about herself.
Most of the ti, he asked, and she would answer. Even then, her replies were vague, stingy with words. The past of Changwu County was ntioned only briefly, and he knew nothing about the Lu Tong from Su Nan.
Even though the Qi Family case had concluded and she no longer bore a great vengeance, Pei Yunng could still faintly detect that she seed to harbor a secret, a deeper one, one she did not wish to be discovered.
She was too cunning, and well-practiced in endurance; no matter how he probed and interrogated, she did not reveal a single flaw.
The young man’s gaze was too sharp, piercing even through the cover of a black cloth, as though he could see right through a person.
Lu Tong turned her head, as if to change the subject coveringly, "That’s not important. On the contrary, you, I might not be able to find the redwood vine. Aren’t you afraid of being trapped to death in the mountains by following ?"
"Not afraid." Pei Yunng spoke nonchalantly, "After all, you brought enough supplies."
"What if I can’t find the way?"
"Then I’ll just die with you."
Pei Yunng glanced at her with a smile and passed her the water flask, "After all, you said before at the dical hall that you wanted to die with ."
Lu Tong paused in surprise, montarily forgetting to take the water flask from his hand.
It seed that earlier, at the Benevolent Heart dical Hall, he ca to settle the score with her over the corpse that had appeared at Mount Wangchun, accusing Duan Xiaoyan. Ill-intentioned and full of sches, each word and sentence were tests and clashes. She then threatened to die with Pei Yun, who responded neither hastily nor slowly, with a smile, "To share the sa quilts in life, and the sa grave in death is sothing I would only do with my wife."
What was once a sentence filled with probing and sches, now spoken, carried an entirely different aning.
Still dazed, she heard the sound of Pei Yunng’s light chuckle nearby.
"Doctor Lu, if you can’t find the way out, today, we really could end up sharing a grave after death."
He said it flippantly, but Lu Tong reacted as if a cat whose tail had been stepped on, jumping up in an instant, "Who wants to die with you?"
Pei Yunng was taken aback, confused, "It was just a joke, why are you so agitated?"
She pulled down the black cloth from her face, suppressing the anger in her heart as she glared at him.
Pei Yunng sat under a tree, also removing his cloth covering, gazing at her with eyes that flickered slightly.
The lightness of the mont was abruptly shattered, leaving the surroundings in a montary stillness.
"This isn’t funny." After a standoff, Lu Tong said coldly, "Don’t joke about life and death."
Pei Yunng: "You..."
Without a word, Lu Tong turned away, bowed her head to pack the water flask, shouldered her dical box, and walked ahead without looking back, "Let’s hurry along."
She rose swiftly, and Pei Yunng, after contemplating for a mont with downcast eyes, said nothing, picked up the bundle he had set aside, and followed her.
The snow on Luoi Peak was vast and boundless. Apart from the omnipresent red plums, it was hard to discern one part of the mountain from another. No wonder Cai Fang and Lin Wenhu repeatedly warned that ordinary people entering the mountain at this ti would most likely get lost.
The snowstorm was growing heavier.
The snow on the mountain ca faster than at the base, with flurries howling towards them, nearly blinding their eyes. Lu Tong, not paying attention for a mont, stepped into a snow pit and stumbled.
"Be careful."
Pei Yunng steadied her, and once Lu Tong was standing still, she suddenly felt a montary dizziness in her head. This vertigo was so overwhelming that it nearly brought her to her knees, and she had to grasp his arm to stabilize herself.
Pei Yunng lowered his gaze: "What’s wrong?"
Lu Tong shook her head, suppressing the discomfort of that instant, and when her gaze swept ahead, her eyes suddenly lit up.
"We’ve arrived."
In front of them, not far away, there indeed was a winding stream, its waters completely frozen and blending into the snowy landscape, indistinguishable at a casual glance. Only soone extrely familiar with the area could detect any difference.
Lu Tong, with a dical box on her back, hurried over.
Pei Yunng followed close behind her: "Slow down."
Upon approaching, they could indeed see to the north of the stream a steep cliff face, now thickly covered by snow.
Lu Tong looked at the cliff, her heart filled with apprehension for a mont.
Luoi Peak was vast, and the herbs and poisons varied in different areas. Lady Yun always made her run around, and during those years, she etched every plant and tree of the mountain in her mory. She had indeed harvested redwood vine here several years ago, but she didn’t know if it still existed now.
She walked up to the cliff and covered it with the palm of her hand, feeling a bone-chilling cold for an instant.
Pei Yunng looked at her, pulled her aside, and brushed the snow off the cliff himself.
The cleared part of the cliff was empty; there was nothing there but a cluster of withered wood with half of a vine stump attached, all shriveled up, clinging to the cliff.
Lu Tong hesitated for a mont, then bent down to pick up the withered wood.
The withered vine lay in her hands, devoid of life, like a rotten rope coiled in her palm.
She stiffened for an instant, then looked up at Pei Yunng.
Pei Yunng was startled: "What’s wrong?"
"...It’s dead."
Lu Tong muttered, "The redwood vine here has withered away."
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