After the tapestry sent by Pei Yunyao was hung up, I don't know if it was an illusion, but there were more people who came to Renxin Medical Center to take medicine and see the disease.

It's not all about grabbing medicine, most of the new patients are mainly there to see the blanket.

The shopkeepers of West Street all came to visit, and after Yang Du Changqing agreed, everyone came to touch the gold words on the blanket and be happy. After the blind man at the door, he only said that this place is already a good feng shui, and the plum tree at the door is auspicious.

was so stunned that Bai Shouyi, the shopkeeper of Xinglintang, had a few big bubbles at the corners of his mouth overnight.

The neighbors were envious and jealous, and the Renxin Medical Center was full of joy, only Du Changqing stretched his face all day long, thinking that this golden tapestry hanging on the wall was a grasshopper's chest and a wasp's waist - nondescript.

Yinzheng accompanied Ah Cheng around the small table to peel orange lanterns, and Lu Tong sent away another neighbor who came to "dip in joy", and when he turned around, he was facing Du Changqing's resentful gaze.

Lu Tong bypassed him and walked to the medicine cabinet to dispense the medicine.

Du Changqing followed behind her with a displeased face, "Doctor Lu, look, this is a medical hall, not a Taoist temple, everyone comes to worship this broken blanket, are you still doing business?" He looked at Lu Tong tentatively, "Why don't you make a new medicine and remind everyone?" ”

The season is getting colder and colder, and it is almost winter, and people's clothes are layered up, and they can't see a few inches of waist, and there are many fewer people who come to buy "Slim".

On weekdays, most of the neighbors who come to see patients on West Street are ordinary people, and the consultation fee is very low, and the income of Renxin Medical Center is not as good as in the past. Du Changqing thought about asking Lu Tong to make another medicine similar to "Slender Fiber" or "Spring Water Birth" to subsidize the medical center.

Lu Tong said: "I didn't expect Fangzi." ”

"Mengren," Du Changqing doubted, "You lied to me to invite you to come in and sit in the hall, didn't you say anything 'I can make nasal suffocation medicinal tea, can't I make other medicinal tea', why is Jiang Lang exhausted now?" ”

Ah Cheng really couldn't listen to it, so he helped persuade him: "The owner, making new medicine is not a thatched house, and you will come out when you squat inside, so you have to think." ”

"Vulgar!" Du Changqing pointed at him, then looked at the carpet on the wall and sighed, "I think if you don't put a basin under this blanket and write the sentence 'ten texts and one touch', maybe it will be more profitable than us opening a medical center." ”

Lu Tong nodded the burdock in his hand and asked, "Shopkeeper Du, if I want to be famous, so famous that those high-ranking officials and big families invite me to come to the door for consultation, what do you need to do?" ”

Du Changqing was stunned for a moment, and then sneered: "Aren't you famous now?" Are there not enough high-ranking officials like Taifu Siqing and Junwangfu? ”

"Not enough."

Du Changqing: "......"

He said angrily: "Then what kind of high-ranking official can enter the eyes of your Dr. Lu?" ”

Lu Tong thought for a while: "Now Shengjing's most powerful is the Taishi Mansion, what if it is a family like the Taishi Mansion?" ”

Du Changqing sighed a few times and looked at her in admiration, "I didn't expect you to have such ambitions." The next moment, he put on a loveless look, "But don't think about it, it's impossible." The people in the Taishi Mansion have a headache and brain fever, and it was the envoy of the Hanlin Medical Academy, not to mention that a wild medical hall like ours is a medical officer of the Hanlin Medical Academy, and not everyone is qualified to treat them-"

Seeing that Lu Tong was silent, he glanced at Lu Tong and continued to take the initiative to explain to her, "These high-ranking official families are as precious as gold, and they will not let outsiders know about any diseases. If we have such an identity, at most we will give their family a consultation. No, we are not qualified to enter their house, and their family is probably looking for a doctor from a familiar doctor. ”

Lu Tong's heart sank slightly.

What Du Changqing said was exactly the same as what she had heard.

Qi Taishi is located in the east of Yujie, and there are guards in front and behind the gate of the mansion, making it difficult for ordinary people to enter. When the family members in the house are sick, please come to the Hanlin Medical Hospital for consultation. Qi Taishi has a son and a daughter, and the youngest daughter has not yet left the cabinet at eighteen this year, as for the only son-in-law, Qi Yutai, who is now hanging a vacant position in the household department, and the province of Shangshu is in trouble.

These three people are difficult to approach, leaving Qi Qing aside, Miss Qi and Young Master Qi are always followed by a large number of guards when they travel, and it is difficult for the people around them to pry.

Things seem to be at an impasse.

And on the side of the Happy Building, it is related to the Taishi Mansion, and the shrewd Cao Ye will definitely not be willing to take risks for a little silver, maybe he will notice something, but it will attract suspicion.

This road is not working.

Du Changqing continued to complain: "Then Qi Yutai is just relying on himself to have a Taishi Laozi, and his eyes are going to grow to the sky." I don't know how big a show I want to put in Yuxian Tower on this year's birthday, who is rare to see? ”

Lu Tong's eyes moved, and he grasped the key to his words: "Birthday? ”

"It's just the first day of October, it's only a few days." He remembered Qi Yutai's birthday very clearly, "The son of a loser celebrates his birthday in the Yuxian Building every year, and the cup and cup of tea set cost thousands of taels of silver." ”

Yin Zheng couldn't help but ask: "He is so extravagant, isn't he afraid that the tree will make a big splash and cause people to be dissatisfied with the Taishi Mansion?" ”

"Qi Yutai's maternal grandfather's ancestors were imperial merchants in their early years, and they said that they were accumulating wealth in the family, who knows?" Du Changqing snorted, "No one can talk nonsense about things without evidence." ”

At the end of the words, the sourness in the words was overflowing.

Lu Tong was silent.

Du Changqing sighed and reasoned with her seriously, "So Doctor Lu, people should be down-to-earth, don't want to climb to the sky in one step from the beginning." What's so good about Taishifu? In addition to having a little more silver, a higher status, and a little more power, I don't think it's as comfortable as our small medical hall. ”

"Did you say?"

"Yes."

Du Changqing was stunned.

"You're quite right."

Lu Tong raised his head and looked a little strange: "People should be down-to-earth, don't want to climb to the sky in one step at the beginning." ”

……

In the Taishi Mansion, Taishi Qi Qing was eating.

Mrs. Qi is good at health, he is close to ancient times, and he eats little but fine. He likes to eat fish and meat, and among them, "Jin Ji Yu Guan" is one of his favorite dishes.

The so-called "golden jade belly" is made of garlic, ginger, salt, white plum, orange peel, cooked chestnut meat and stem rice, and the fresh fatty sea bass is selected to remove the bones, peel, dry the water, slice into thin slices, and dip it in "golden fish" to enjoy.

Master Qi ate very quietly, slowly sandwiched a piece of fish soaked with dipping sauce into his mouth and chewed carefully, while the housekeeper poured weak tea for him, and said, "Master, it will be the young master's birthday in a few days."

Qi Yutai was also punished and grounded and couldn't go out, but January was about to suffocate, and in a few days it was the first day of October, Qi Yutai couldn't hold it back, and wanted to take this opportunity to go out and relax quickly, and begged the housekeeper.

"Keep grounded." Qi Qing raised his sleeves to drink tea, his black gauze robe was wide, his bones were dry, he sat under the window and drank himself, Xiao looked like an old fairy and a bone.

The butler bowed his head: "Yes." Then he mentioned another thing: "By the way, sir, the matter of the good woman you asked people to investigate before has eyebrows." ”

Qi Qing mentioned: "Say." ”

"The good woman's husband's surname is Ke, and she is doing porcelain kiln business in Shengjing.

"However, the Ke family is gone."

Qi Qing chewed for a moment: "Gone?" ”

"Yes." The housekeeper bowed his head and said: "On the first day of April this year, Ke Chengxing, the eldest man of the Ke family and the husband of the good wife, was found drowning in the release pond of Wan'en Temple, and the conclusion was that he was drunk and drowned. Because he was found dead and had worshiped the statue of the former god, there was no follow-up to the incident. ”

"After Ke Chengxing died, his wife returned to her parents' home, his mother died of illness, and the Ke family had no descendants."

Qi Qing put down the bamboo chopsticks and was silent.

The housekeeper said: "Master, this matter is not right, I am afraid that someone is manipulating it behind my back." ”

Qi Yutai had no intention of causing the death of a good woman, but it was a trivial matter. But now it seems that Fan Zhenglian, who helped deal with the follow-up accident, had an accident with the Ke family, and Fan Zhenglian brought out rumors about the Qi family before he died.

The rumor came out suddenly, and it spread everywhere overnight. The Qi family dealt with Fan Zhenglian in prison, and it was not that no one speculated that the Taishi Mansion would kill people and kill people. It was when Taishi Qi went to court that dragged a handful of old bones to cry and express his feelings, saying bluntly that this move was not to cover his ears and steal the bell, and he really couldn't find evidence, so the emperor did not continue to pursue the suspicion.

But that doesn't mean the matter is over.

There must be someone behind the Taishi Mansion behind it, but who this person is and what forces are behind it, there is no clue so far.

After a long time, Qi Qing suddenly spoke: "What is the name of the dead good woman?" ”

"Back to the master, the surname is Lu. She is a distant married woman from Changwu County. ”

The good woman had been dead for a long time, the wife of a merchant, and her status was so lowly that she didn't even deserve to be remembered when she died.

Qi Qingdao said: "You go and check the house of the good woman." He added: "The population of the family before leaving the cabinet, and the current situation, what are the remaining people in the mother's family?" ”

"Master, this is a suspicion,......" the butler's eyes moved.

"Governing the boudoir with will, there is a deep etiquette, all relatives have kindness, harmony inside and outside, and the family has been completed."

The old lady lifted the jacket again and said lightly: "As a family, it is inevitable to help each other." ”

……

In the middle of September, the air is solemn and condensed, and the dew is frosty.

The grass under the window in the courtyard had a thin layer of frost at night, and the silver kite gathered the half-made orange lantern in a basket and put it back into the house.

Lu Tong sat at the table and combed his untied braids, wearing only a thin middle coat, which was made wide, making the whole person thinner and thinner.

Yinzheng looked distressed and said, "Why do you think the girl has lost weight recently?" It must be that I am too busy these days, and I am already thin, but now I look like a gust of wind can blow away. He said to himself, "Tomorrow, ask Dai Saburo to choose a few meaty bones and meat to stew and eat." ”

She has always paid attention to Lu Tong's food, clothing and daily life, Lu Tong raised her eyes and looked at the person in the mirror.

The woman in the mirror is trimming her neck, her black hair hangs down behind her shoulders like a waterfall, her whole face is less than the size of a palm, she is too delicate, and a pair of cold eyes are staring at her quietly.

Xu rarely looked in the mirror in the years when she was in Luomei Peak, but now she looked at the person in the mirror, staring at that familiar face, and felt a little strange.

Yinzheng was still worried about her emaciation, and said behind her: "Eating on weekdays is obviously the same as ours...... Did the girl not like to eat when she was a child, and she refused to grow up even now? ”

Didn't like to eat when you were a kid?

Lu Tong shook his head, "No, I always ate a lot when I was a child. ”

Yin Zheng looked skeptical: "Really? ”

"Really."

The lady in the mirror looked at her, and her beautiful face was blurred by the lights, and gradually blurred into another round face that was white and full of childishness.

It's a little girl's face.

The little girl wore a double bun with a black butterfly on each side of the bun, which was as pleasing as a white ball. Lu Tong smiled, and the little girl in the mirror also smiled at her, smiling a little sly and proud.

Lu Tong's gaze gradually drifted away.

She wasn't lying.

When I was young, I was greedy and always ate a lot. Before leaving Changwu County, Lu Tong was a fat girl.

Of the three children in the family, Lu Rou was born slender and beautiful, Lu Qian was handsome and smart, Xu is God gave enough preferential treatment to the appearance of the first two children of the Lu family, and when it was Lu Tong's turn, he looked a lot sloppy.

She is greedy, buys some fruits and honey at home, always catches the most, and is hungry quickly, often before the meal is ready, she shouts that she is hungry. Changwu County's neighbors all know each other, when I was a child, I saw her born round and cute, and the neighbors often grabbed peanuts and preserved fruits for her, and gradually her face became more and more full, like a white gnocchi.

The dumplings are certainly blessed, but when they are young, they don't look so smart when they grow up. Especially under the backdrop of the first beauty sister in Changwu County.

Liu Kun's sons Liu Zide and Liu Zixian laughed at her behind her back: "Fat pig, beware that you can't marry in the future!" ”

She learned this from the mouths of others, and cried all the way home, and was bumped into by Lu Qian, who was returning home from school, and went to fight with the Liu brothers after asking the ins and outs.

The fight was fierce, and the father who returned home asked Lu Qian to go to Liu's house to take the blame, and even punished Lu Rou and Lu Tong for copying the notebook together, the tradition of the Lu family has always been that one person makes a mistake and three people are punished.

Lu Tong was already aggrieved, but after this, he was even more aggrieved, scolding the Liu brothers while copying books, and did not forget to gamble and swear that he must lose weight like a slender and slender sister within half a year, and the daily meal amount will be halved from today onwards.

As a result, I was hungry in less than half a day.

I was so hungry at night that my eyes were full of stars, and after my father and mother were asleep, I couldn't help but secretly get up from the bed and go to the kitchen to find leftovers, but I didn't find them, Lu Rou and Lu Qian came in from outside.

Lu Tong cried with a sad face: "Why is there no leftovers?" ”

"Whoever told you to say that you wouldn't eat it during the day, my father gave me all the food." Lu Qian deliberately angered her.

"You!"

"Shhhh Lu Rou patted Lu Qian, "Don't tease her." ”

Lu Qian took out a few sweet potatoes from behind him: "It's too late, bake a few sweet potatoes and eat them, so as not to wake up your father, and your father will let you copy books for a few more days." ”

As soon as he thought of copying the book, Lu Tong's head was big, and he hurriedly said: "Okay, okay, let's take sweet potatoes." ”

The stove in the kitchen was troublesome, so Lu Qian took out the charcoal basin for heating, put it at the door and burned it, and buried a few sweet potatoes in the charcoal ash.

The kitchen is filled with the aroma of sweet potatoes.

Lu Qian pulled the iron tongs out of the fire, Lu Rou peeled the skin and handed it to Lu Tong, Lu Tong sat on the ground against the wall, took a bite of the hot sweet potato, and ironed it all over his body.

Lu Rou said: "Eat slowly, be careful of burning." ”

Lu Qian picked out the others and left them for her to dry.

After eating a whole belly, and when he was about to take the second one, Lu Tong glanced at Lu Qian's face with a blue nose and swollen eyes, and suddenly became inexplicably depressed.

Lu Qian stopped eating after seeing her look at herself, and was inexplicable: "What?" ”

"Your face is so ugly......"

The young man was furious: "Lu San, you don't look at who I'm for!" ”

Lu Tong wilted: "I'm thinking, I'm very hungry if I don't eat a meal, is it destined to be a fat pig for the rest of my life?" ”

Lu Rou frowned: "Hitomi, you are now the time to grow your body, how can you do it if you don't eat, don't listen to Liu Zide and Liu Zixian's nonsense." ”

"But they said I wouldn't be able to get married in the future......"

"Who wants them to worry about idleness," Lu Qian said angrily: "I didn't eat his rice, I don't care what he says." ”

Lu Tong came sadly: "But you are not like me...... Could it be that I wasn't born to my parents? ”

Lu Qian: "...... You want your dad to beat you up, right? ”

Lu Rou sighed, reached out and picked up a sweet potato: "Then let's eat with you and become piglets together?" ”

Lu Qian was happy: "Then the Lu family has three little pigs?" Okay, I'll eat one too...... It smells so good! ”

The brothers and sisters sat on both sides of them, the hot sweet potatoes drove away the cold of winter, and in the sweet fragrance in the kitchen, Lu Tong wiped his tears, but for some reason, his heart was not so sad.

On the second day, my mother got up in the morning and went to the kitchen, and found the burned charcoal ash and the sweet potato skin in the corner, she couldn't cry or laugh, and pointed at Lu Tong's forehead to teach a lesson: "I think too much, eat your meal well, rest assured, our Lu family is all beautiful, and we won't be ugly." ”

"In the future, you will be as beautiful as your sister!"

At that time, Lu Tong always felt that it was her mother's words to comfort her.

Afterward......

Later, she was taken by Yun Niang to Luomei Peak, collecting medicine all over the mountains, testing medicine, maybe tired, hungry, or maybe it was time to draw strips, I don't know how long it took, one day when she was washing clothes by the stream, through the stream, she saw the stream reflecting the face of a strange girl.

Peach cheeks and apricot noodles, Shao Yan and elegant appearance, are completely different from the glutinous fat girl.

She lay on her stomach by the stream and watched for a long time.

It turned out that what my mother said was true, she was really as slender and slender as her sister, and she was a beautiful big girl.

Originally...... Before she knew it, she had grown up.

With a soft sound, the movement of Yinzheng closing the window interrupted Lu Tong's thoughts, the autumn night was bleak and cold, and the little girl with crooked smiling eyes in the mirror gradually faded away, turning into another woman with thin makeup, looking at her indifferently.

Lu Tong's eyebrows moved slightly.

She has grown up, from an innocent little girl to a slim lady, but unfortunately her father, brother and sister, no one in the Lu family has seen her.

They didn't get to see her grow up.

Those hugs and tears that have been imagined countless times after the reunion in the dream, the joy and admonition come to an abrupt end, just like the charcoal fire in the small kitchen many years ago, forever extinguished in the cold winter night.

No longer alive.

But the fire in her heart was blazing and getting stronger and stronger.

The windows were closed, and the late autumn nights were cold.

"I want to go to Yuxian Tower." In the silence, Lu Tong suddenly spoke.

Yin Zheng, who was walking to the door, was stunned, subconsciously turned around, and looked at Lu Tong in amazement.

Lu Tong stretched out his finger and gently traced the eyebrows and eyes of the person in the mirror.

The eyes of the people in the mirror are as plain as still water, but in the still water, there is an invisible undercurrent surging.

She withdrew her hand.

"On the first day of October, the day of Qi Yutai's birthday, ......"

"I'm going to Yuxian Tower." She said.